I need to know if this 2-day Cairo itinerary is too ambitious

[havcamwiltravel]

My wife and I are booked on Mariner of the Seas next June, arriving in Alexandria at 7am, leaving next day at 10pm.

Having read so many posts about the 2-day Cairo itinerary I booked a two day excursion for me and my wife with Ramses Tours (we will probably stick to having a private tour) and below is the itinerary I've worked out. For those who have been there and done the tour, I could really use your advice as to whether this itinerary is too ambitious, missing something or badly ordered (MercedMike and CruiseMom?):

Day1

-Saqqara: to see Step Pyramid and the mastaba of Ti

-Memphis: Ramses II Colossus and Hathor Temple

-Dahshur: Bent Pyramid and Red Pyramid, interior visit (if available)

-Giza Plateau: Pyramids (interior visit if Red Pyramid was not possible), Great Sphinx (+Valley Temple)

Go to Hotel (Mena House) spend evening, catch Dinner (maybe show in Abu Nawas nightclub) and enjoy hotel, instead of S&L Show at Giza

 

Day2

-Morning visit to Giza if we were unable to visit Solar Boat

-Museum of Antiquities

-The Citadel and Mohammed Ali Mosque

-Khan el-Khalili bazaar

Leave Cairo at 5pm to Alexandria

 

Thanks for any help you can give.

[Grannycb]

Your plan looks good for content, but my advise is to let the guide and driver determine the order. They know from experience when to go to each of the locations to give you the best tour. Traffic, buses and opening & closing hours all factor into timing. Our guide changed up the order more than once to make sure we got to see everything.

 

Note: When visiting the Step Pyramid area make sure you go into the two pyramids that are available. They aren't difficult to enter and are so interesting to see. They were one of the highlights of our time in Egypt.

[havcamwiltravel]

Your plan looks good for content, but my advise is to let the guide and driver determine the order. They know from experience when to go to each of the locations to give you the best tour. Traffic, buses and opening & closing hours all factor into timing. Our guide changed up the order more than once to make sure we got to see everything.

 

Note: When visiting the Step Pyramid area make sure you go into the two pyramids that are available. They aren't difficult to enter and are so interesting to see. They were one of the highlights of our time in Egypt.

Thanks, Grannycb. I will definitely try to fit in the pyramid inside visits at Saqqara. That's a suggestion I hadn't seen yet. And you're right, of course, to let the tour guide decide how and when to get to each site. I want to hear from others, like you, whether I am trying to pack too much in. My wife and I are fit but we don't want to wear out our guide and driver.

[paul929207]

It is certainly ambitious. I am not sure you will get to everything on Day 1. It will probably be at least 10am when you reach Cairo and traffic is a joke there.

[havcamwiltravel]

It is certainly ambitious. I am not sure you will get to everything on Day 1. It will probably be at least 10am when you reach Cairo and traffic is a joke there.

Thanks, Paul. having put Giza at the end of the day, I expect we may not have much time there, as I understand that they close the entrance gate at 4:30. That's why I am leaving open the possibility of returning there in the morning. I've also heard that the Museum is crazy busy at the opening, so this might be a good plan of attack. I'm worried though that a morning visit to Giza will really cut into the Day 2 itinerary, especially if traffic is as usually busy. We may have to drop something (i think, probably the visit to the Citadel)

[paul929207]

We spent a half day at giza and a half day at the museum.

[Turtles06]

Thanks, Paul. having put Giza at the end of the day, I expect we may not have much time there, as I understand that they close the entrance gate at 4:30. That's why I am leaving open the possibility of returning there in the morning. I've also heard that the Museum is crazy busy at the opening, so this might be a good plan of attack. I'm worried though that a morning visit to Giza will really cut into the Day 2 itinerary, especially if traffic is as usually busy. We may have to drop something (i think, probably the visit to the Citadel)

 

Another possibility is to make a cut on day one to give yourselves sufficient time in Giza. I'm assuming you don't really want to just do a drive by of the Pyramids and the Sphinx. :)

 

Unless you've been to Egypt, you really can't imagine how insane the traffic is; it takes forever just to go a few blocks in Cairo.

 

Also, it's a good three-hour drive from the port to Cairo (and Sakkara is south of Cairo). Even if your ship is cleared immediately and you are the first to disembark, it will be very late in the morning before you get to Sakkara.

 

In any event, as others have said, you'll need to be flexible and let your guide and driver help determine the order of things, given the traffic when you are there and anything else going on.

 

Have a great trip!

[havcamwiltravel]

Thanks, Turtles06. Good advice.

[paul929207]

I would also prioritize the stops in advance. That way if you are running behind, you are know which site(s) you don't want to miss. Obviously, don't put the least important sites first.

[mcneesj]

Don't plan on much time enjoying the hotel. We went stright to bed.

[mcneesj]

Don't plan on much time enjoying the hotel. We went stright to bed.

[cccruisin]

My wife and I are booked on Mariner of the Seas next June, arriving in Alexandria at 7am, leaving next day at 10pm.

Having read so many posts about the 2-day Cairo itinerary I booked a two day excursion for me and my wife with Ramses Tours (we will probably stick to having a private tour) and below is the itinerary I've worked out. For those who have been there and done the tour, I could really use your advice as to whether this itinerary is too ambitious, missing something or badly ordered (MercedMike and CruiseMom?):

Day1

-Saqqara: to see Step Pyramid and the mastaba of Ti

-Memphis: Ramses II Colossus and Hathor Temple

-Dahshur: Bent Pyramid and Red Pyramid, interior visit (if available)

-Giza Plateau: Pyramids (interior visit if Red Pyramid was not possible), Great Sphinx (+Valley Temple)

Go to Hotel (Mena House) spend evening, catch Dinner (maybe show in Abu Nawas nightclub) and enjoy hotel, instead of S&L Show at Giza

 

Day2

-Morning visit to Giza if we were unable to visit Solar Boat

-Museum of Antiquities

-The Citadel and Mohammed Ali Mosque

-Khan el-Khalili bazaar

Leave Cairo at 5pm to Alexandria

 

Thanks for any help you can give.

We have a similiar 2 day tour booked with Nile Blue for Dec. From past experience and talking with Nile Blue you can see alot more as a private group (we are 3 persons).We are doing Memphis and Saqqara the 2nd day and hope to stop at the Alexandria library if time permits on the way back. The 1st day we are hoping to do Giza, the musuem with the Tut exhibit, the bazaar and the hanging church and benezra synagogue - also with luck the dinner cruise and light show. It is an awful lot but we do not expect too much sleep that night. I think the key is the number of persons in your group. Have fun....

[Grannycb]

Maybe seeing our itinerary will give you some ideas. Here's how our two days were spent:

 

Day One

Museum (hot and very crowded, don't miss mummies and King Tut room)

Fellucca ride on the Nile (Glad we did this)

Guide picked up falafel sandwiches to eat in the car (delicious)

Giza (we skipped the camels)

Solar Boat

Sphinx (extremely hot and crowded)

Dinner (it was a very late lunch that doubled as our dinner)

Papyrus Institute (nice, could easily skip)

Perfume factory (I finally found frankincense, could easily skip)

Driving through Cairo at night (the city came alive with sidewalk shops and colorful shoppers - not to be missed)

Walked outside the hotel to look at the pyramids before falling asleep

 

Day two:

We were up, had breakfast and were out by 7 AM

Citadel and Mohammad Ali Mosque

Step Pyramid (inside visit to two pyramids)

- saw Red Pyramid and Bent Pyramid in distance

Memphis: Ramses II, etc

Baazar (could skip)

Lunch

Alexandria Library (wish we could have gone inside but ran out of time)

 

Wish we could go back and do it all over again. Cairo was the most interesting place we've ever visited.

[texancruzer]

We just returned from our 15 day tour of Egypt. While our experience was very different than yours since you will be arriving from Alexandria I think I still have some tips........

 

First I will say, I didnt find the traffic to be THAT bad - at least in our experience. I was expecting alot worse. However your trying to do alot.

 

We did Pyramids, Solar Boat and Sphinx in the MORNING on day 1. Dh wanted to go inside but our guide suggested he go the next day in the afternoon when the line would be much shorter. We had some free time the next afternoon so he did just that. The line was almost non-existent in the afternoon on day 2. And not near as many people in and out so a better experience overall.

 

We did the Citadel/mosque and the Cairo museum in the AFTERNOON on day 1. We did a sandwich to go and ate in the bus between Sphinx and Citadel. No wasted time here :) I could have skipped the Citadel/Mosque as we had visited the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and it was much more impressive. I could have spent more time in the Cairo museum.

 

Day 2 MORNING we headed to Memphis and Saqqara. Did the open air museum in Memphis and the Step pyramid complex in Saqqara. Took most of the morning. Also a quick visit to papyrus factory. Back to hotel (Le Meridien Giza) by 1:00+

 

Even with the traffic not being as bad as I had expected it takes time to get from one place to the other. Not sure you will have time to fit all this in based on that factor. We did not get to Bent pyramid - saw it from the Step pyramid in the distance. It is some ways away.

 

The Solar boat museum is literally right behind one pyramid..... so doesnt make sense to go back just for that.

 

June will be hot hot hot !!!! It will wear you down - even fit people ! We had wonderful weather but our guide told us when it is hot it is very hard to cover everything in the itinerary.

You will be very tired at the end of Day 1...... rest !

 

Bear in mind that their "weekend" is Friday and Saturday. This does affect how you get around.

 

We visited the bazaars in Luxor and Aswan so skipped Khan el Khalili.

 

Thats all I can think of for now.... hope it helps.

[cruisemom42]

I think your schedule is doable assuming all goes well, but it may be a bit of a marathon. Here are my suggestions, fwiw.

 

On Day 1, I agree with visiting the inside of the small pyramid at Saqqara; it doesn't take long but it is very worthwhile.

 

If you have to omit something from your schedule, I'd omit the Red and Bent pyramids in order to have more time at Saqqara, Memphis, and Giza. Unless pyramids are your "thing" ...... in that case, do them all and move Giza to the morning of Day 2. Giza is great in the early morning; the light is nice and the crowds are very light.

 

Also the Egyptian museum is much less crowded in the afternoons. All tour groups seem to visit in the mornings.

 

If you have to skip something on Day 2, skip the Citadel and Alabaster mosque. (Especially if you have been or are going to Istanbul.)

 

I love the Khan el Khalili, but keep in mind it is more for photo ops than serious shopping. If you go, make sure your guide gets you well inside and past the more touristy areas.

 

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

[dileep]

Stay close to the pyramids to avoid traffic delays. It can take 2 hours from downtown to Giza on a bad day.

 

The ask everyone to leave at 4 pm in Giza.

 

You can do Saqqara and Dahshur in the same day and Giza in half a day.