Touring around Cairo with a local

Posted By Jon Nickel-D'Andrea on Jul 3, 2016 | 5 comments

Of all the things that we did on this trip, and all the things that we planned, I came to a stark realization the day before our trip to Cairo. We’d completely forgotten to book any tours, any tour guides, or any activities at all for Cairo. At this point we were kind of freaking out, but it actually all worked out better than expected.

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I did a quick google search for “Cairo tour guides” and found a lot of options. I suppose that’s a sign of the economy and the need for tourists to come back.  Rather than try and find the best option and review every single one, I chose the first six that popped up and emailed them all. “Hey there, we are two men arriving tomorrow and we’d like to know if we could book your services for airport transfer and also some tours. Could you please let me know if you are available and what you would charge? Thanks!”

Sphinx and Pyramid at Giza

I mentioned two men because a couple of the tour guides were women, and I didn’t want any uncomfortable surprises when we arrived.

Luckily, we had the pleasure of getting a very timely response (8 minutes) from Hanan. She was reviewed highly on Tripadvisor and she mentioned that she had the day free to take us around for tours and include an airport pickup. The prices were very reasonable and the activities she offered were pretty much everything that we wanted to do.

Here’s a short video that shows some of the amazing adventures that we had with Hanan in Cairo!

Cairo Airport and Arrival

The mess of people at the Cairo Arrivals Terminal

Originally we had decided to do Giza and the pyramids on our own, but she told us that since it was the mid school year vacation, it would be very crowded and going with a guide and a car would be highly recommended.

Included for our price of roughly $100 per person were round trip airport transfers with a private driver and a car with AC, a tour of Giza and the pyramids, a tour of Saqqara, Memphis, old town Cairo with mosque visits, and the Egyptian museum. Talk about a value! There was also an option for a Nile dinner cruise but we were so tired from all the traveling that we opted for a quick dinner on the street instead.

On the way to the Egyptian museum in Cairo, we had a chance to talk to Farag and learn a bit about him and his likes.  Turns out that he’s a huge fan of Lindsay Lohan and Jean Claude Van Damme.  And “that woman from the X-Men movie… Berry… Berry…”  He’s got an amazing sense of humor and a great command of the English language.  He even had his English study guide in the car, and while we were touring inside the sites, he was in the car brushing up on his English.  Well done!

Egyptian Museum

Traffic outside the Egyptian Museum

Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Egyptian Museum, Cairo

King Tut, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Part of KIng Tut’s Tomb

Anubis guarding King Tut, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Notice the eyes, glass, they almost “watch you” as you move

Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Ancient Legos, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Old Town Cairo

Walking around Old Town Cairo

Walking around Old Town Cairo

A version of pizza, and Feteer Meshaltet

Mosque in Old Cairo

Giza

The Great Pyramid

Pyramids of Giza

Hanan and Us at the Pyramids

Climbing out of the Pyramids in Giza

The Great Sphinx, Giza

The Sphinx

Saqqara and Memphis

The step pyramid of Saqqara

Hieroglyphics in Saqqara

Hieroglyphics in Saqqara

After all of this, our whirlwind tour of Cairo was complete, and we were off to the airport to head to Luxor.

Driving around Cairo

Driving around Cairo

Driving around Cairo

Driving around Cairo

We wanted to take a moment to thank both Hanan and Farag for being such amazing hosts and guides in Cairo. If you’re interested in heading to Cairo, have any questions, or would like to use their services, please don’t hesitate to let us know, and we are happy to put you in contact with them!

Cairo Driver, Farag

Our wonderful driver Farag and tour guide Hanan

Cairo is an amazing and gorgeous city full of history and culture, and in our opinion a must visit place with a guide. Sure, you could do it on your own, but I certainly felt safer and more secure knowing that I had a private driver waiting for us at every step, and a guide who spoke the language to take care of us if we needed anything. Don’t hesitate for a minute to visit Cairo, and if you’re going, go with Farag and Hanan!