When a few friends of mine planned a trip to Egypt right before my tour in Morocco I decided to join in the plan. We only had a four days to explore the country so we divided them between Cairo and Luxor. While the Pyramids were incredible to see I was more taken away with Luxor, where the temples and tombs are incredibly well-persevered. Before our trip I was a little nervous to visit because several blogs I had seen that vendors were known to hassle tourists, especially women. Luckily we didn’t have too many issues with aggressive vendors. I think we were partially protected by our tour guides. I noticed that if we were walking with our tour guide then the vendors or other guides would not bother us. Overall we had a fantastic time in Egypt and I think its a great country for anyone interested in historical sites to visit.

Day 1 – Cairo Citadel, Egyptian Museum

Our redeye flight from DC landed at 5:30 am in Cairo since we couldn’t check into our hotel so early we decided to go ahead and get started on our day. After a quick breakfast in the near the hotel we grabbed an uber to the Citadel, built by Salah ad-Din and further developed by subsequent Egyptian rulers. It was the seat of government in Egypt and the residence of its rulers for nearly 700 years from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The Ottoman-style mosque here reminded me of the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul and was beautiful to look around. The Citadel also had a beautiful few of the city.

After the visiting the Citadel we hopped in ubers again to head to the Egyptian museum. Sadly we our trip a little too early to visit the brand new Egyptian Museum in Giza which was still not open. When we walked in a tour guide approached us and asked if we wanted to pay to take a tour of the museum. Since we were jetlagged and exhausted we decided to just pay him for an hour long tour to the make the most of our time. I’m glad we did because the museum is huge and we would have never found all of the most famous antiquities there like Mask of Tutankhamun, Statue of Triad and Statues of Prince Rahotep and his wife Nofret. It was nice to get explanations of ancient Egyptian history and the statued historical figures. We ended up stopping at Pier 88 to grab a lunch before heading back to the hotel. We picked the restaurant because it was on the Nile River but ended up regretting our choice because it was very pricy and the food wasn’t even that good. We stayed at the Jewel Zamalek which was an affordable but not the best hotel. But the Zamalek neighborhood was fantastic. It felt really safe to walk around and there were lots of great restaurants and shops to pop into in the evenings. For dinner we went to Zooba which was right across the street from our hotel and had class Egyptian dishes like Kosheri (a mix of rice, spaghetti, small round macaroni, vermicelli, fried onions, black lentils, topped with thick tomato sauce, garlic and vinegar sauce, and chilli sauce), Ta’meya (falafels made of crushed fava beans) and delicious rice pudding.

Day 2 – Giza, Memphis and Step Pyramid

For our main Pyramid day we had booked a tour through Airbnb Experiences for about $30 per person that included our transportation, tour guide and visiting several sights like the Great Pyramids, a camel ride near the pyramids, the tombs and step pyramid in Sakkara and the Colossus statue of Ramsyes II in Memphis. I’m so glad we booked a tour because not only was it helpful to get history and transportation but also once the vendors saw we were with a guide they left us alone. I don’t think we would have had as wonderful of an experience if we went on our own. Our guide first took us to the Pyramids because we were visiting on a Saturday he said later in the day it would get very crowded with locals. After walking around the main pyramid we went over to a spot where we could take a quick camel ride. There there were a LOT of people here because some large flights from Spain brining tourists to Cairo for the weekend. I somewhat regret riding a camel here because I felt like the camels were overworked and not treated well in comparison to the camel I rode in Morocco a few weeks later. But I will say that the pictures of us riding camels in front of the pyramids were pretty cool.

After seeing the pyramids, taking a camel ride and seeing the sphynx we were quite tired of being in the sun so our tour guide took us to an essential oil store in the town of Giza. While I’m sure that our guide was getting a kick back in this shop I did trust that their quality was better than something I might find in a souk. I was planning to buy some essential oils in Egypt and did end up buying a small bottle of Lotus flower oil that could be used as perfume to help focus. Apparently ancient Egyptians were using essential oils for medicinal benefits, beauty, and spiritual enhancements as far back as 3000 BC so I felt it was a great souvenir to bring back. After resting and doing a bit of shopping at the store we drove to Sakkara where we visited a step pyramid and some tombs. While the step pyramid seemed small in comparison to the pyramids of Giza it was still cool to see the different shape. In addition the tombs next to it had incredible hieroglyphics with the paint still visible. Afterwards, our last stop before heading back to Cairo was Memphis where there is a collossal status of Ramsses II.

We reached Zamalek around 3pm in afternoon and were starving since we had skipped lunch to finish sightseeing before it got too hot. We decided to grab some food at Zaza where we had a massive Egpytian feast. The food was quite food and reasonably priced. In the evening, we enjoyed some shopping and dessert in the neighborhood since it was our last night in Cairo.

Day 3: Luxor, Karnak Temple

This day we didn’t get a chance to see too much since we had to take a flight from Cairo to Luxor. While the flight was only 1 hour, by the time we all reached our hotel the Steigenberger Resort Achti it was already past 1pm. We really liked our stay at this resort. The hotel was located right on the Nile with a pool, a few restaurants, wonderful breakfast buffet and even Feluccas (sailboats) we could rent from the property. After having a chill afternoon at the resort we headed to Karnak Temple where we booked the light and sound show which narrates history of the temple.

Day 4: Luxor- Luxor Temple and Avenue of Sphinxes, Valley of the Kings, Ramses II Temple

Our last day in Egypt was my favorite day. We had scheduled another Airbnb experience tour to pick us up from our hotel at 8am. The temperature was supposed to get up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit this day so we wanted to get an early start to avoid visiting sites in the peak afternoon sun. First we stopped at Luxor Temple Luxor Temple which was was built by Amenhotep III in the 14th century BCE and is connected to Karnak Temple by the Avenue of Sphinxes.

Afterwards we visited Valley of the Kings where many pharaohs from the New Kingdom period, including Tutankhamun, were buried. The dry climate of the region, the isolation of the valley, and the careful construction and decoration of the tombs meant that we could still very clearly see the hieroglyphs even including the paint in the tombs that were thousands of years old. I was blown away by how clearly we could see this ancient artwork. Included in the ticket is we could visit 3 tombs and decided that was enough for us since most of the tombs look similar on the inside.

Last, we visited the Temple of Ramses II located on the west bank of the Nile River. It was built in the 13th century BCE to honor the pharaoh and his reign, and features numerous impressive statues and reliefs depicting scenes from his life and military campaigns. This was my favorite site visited during our short trip to Egypt. The temple columns and sculptures were incredible and the hieroglyphs were so clear to see.

After resting a bit in the afternoon we decided to close out our time in Luxor with a beautiful Felucca ride along the Nile from the dock at our hotel. It was the perfect way to end the quick but fun trip. I think if I ever had the chance to come back to Egpyt I would see the country via cruise on the Nile since that is where all the major cities and attractions are and the Nile is beautiful.