UK citizens need a visa to visit
Egypt. You can buy this in £ or $ on arrival
for stays of up to 1 month. For information, see
www.egyptianconsulate.co.uk or contact the Egyptian Consulate
at 2 Lowndes
Street, London, SW1X 9ET (call 020 7235 9719).
Egypt is fabulous, and Cairo one
of the most fascinating cities in the world. There's no
need to book a tour, it's easy to travel round Egypt
independently. Egyptian Railways are easily the most
comfortable way to travel between Cairo, Luxor, Aswan,
Alexandria, Port Said & Suez. The views from the train
can be wonderful, especially on the Cairo-Luxor-Aswan and
Cairo-Alexandria routes.
Right: A
street scene in old Cairo. Visit the street called 'El Muiz el
din Allah', where tour groups never go, yet where 10th century
mosques are two a penny. Climb the crumbling minarets for
a view over the roofs of old Cairo.
How
to
check Egyptian train times...
Train times for key routes are shown below. Egyptian National Railways
now have a website,
www.egyptrail.gov.eg, and you can use this to check
timetables. There is limited train information on
the Egyptian national tourist office
website
www.touregypt.net. It you're travelling between
Cairo, Luxor & Aswan, remember the read the section about
tourist train travel
restrictions.
You can now book some Egyptian train tickets online,
including air-con express tickets for journeys between Cairo
and Alexandria, Luxor and Aswan:
What tickets can it book? The system will
book 1st & 2nd class tickets on the main air-conditioned
express trains between Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor & Aswan,
up to 2 weeks ahead.
What won't it book? It will not book
the deluxe sleeper trains between Cairo and Luxor or
Aswan, for these use a travel agency or call direct,
as
shown below. It will not book 3rd class
tickets, or tickets for slow trains, or tickets to other
destinations such as Mersa Matruh or Port Said or
smaller stations such as Edfu or Kom Ombo. Or book
tickets further ahead than about 2 weeks. It also
seems to book trains from Aswan to Luxor, but not from
Luxor to Aswan.
Can foreign tourists use this system? Yes.
It allows you to select 'United Kingdom' and other
overseas countries from a drop-down list when
registering and when booking a ticket. After
selecting 'United Kingdom' it will happily book a
daytime seats train from Cairo to Luxor, with no sign of
any problem with the
tourist
restrictions. Result! The small print
says it only accepts Egyptian credit cards, but I can
confirm it accepts my own UK Visa credit card, and it
uses the 'verified by Visa' additional security system.
So give it a go.
Limitations: You can only book a maximum of
2 seats on Cairo-Luxor-Aswan trains and 5 seats on
Cairo-Alexandria trains. If you want to buy more
tickets than this, you'll have to book via a travel
agency or at the station as below (or perhaps create two
separate accounts using a different name and credit
card). There are a few other limitations, see
their terms and conditions.
How to buy tickets online: Go to
https://enr.gov.eg and sign up, a simple process.
Enter your passport number in the 'National ID' box.
You are emailed an activation code to start your
account.
When activated, log in again and click on 'Make
reservation'. Select stations, class, and a date
within the next 2 weeks. It will not book further
ahead than this. You can leave 'offset' and time
blank.
You print out your own reservation details with date,
time, train number, car & seat number.
You can board the train with just this printout and the
credit card used to make the booking, as long as the
main named traveller is the owner of the credit card.
If you've used someone else's card, then you'll need a
photocopy of the front of the credit card, passport, and
reservation details.
Feedback would
be very welcome if you use this system, successfully or
unsuccessfully.
Traveller Ian Green booked tickets from Cairo to
Luxor in 2011: "We bought our train tickets
online at the Egyptian National Railways website
https://enr.gov.eg having followed your link and signed
up. It took 2 or 3 days until I could log in
successfully, but I managed to book tickets online from
Cairo to Luxor and from Aswan back to Cairo. We
caught train 980 from Cairo to Luxor in first class
leaving at 8am (platform 8) with self-print online
tickets costing 187.20 Egyptian pounds between us [about
£24, just £12 per ticket] and later took train 983 from
Aswan to Cairo again in first class, leaving at 7am,
costing 226.72 Egyptian pounds between us [about £29 or
£14.50 each]. We had no troubles with our
print-at-home tickets, as soon as the conductors saw
them they spoke in English. Quite simple really.
We saw a few other non-Egyptians on the trains, all of
whom had had to get around the system by getting people
to buy tickets for them, or getting split journey
tickets, costing around an extra 100 Egyptian Pounds."
How to buy tickets: At the station...
It's easy to buy tickets at the station ticket office when
you get to Egypt,
although a degree of patience is called
for. Cairo main station has several booking windows,
one for each class and group of destinations, so check that
you are joining the right queue. You can pay for train
tickets in Egyptian pounds, except for the Cairo-Luxor-Aswan deluxe sleeper which must be paid in foreign currency
(dollars, euros or pounds sterling) at the El Watania sleeper office. Except during
busy periods, it's normally easy to get
1st class tickets on the day of travel or the day before.
The deluxe overnight sleeper train from Cairo to Luxor and
Aswan often has places available if you book a day
or two in advance, but at peak tourist times such as Easter it can
get fully-booked by tour groups, so pre-booking
from outside Egypt is recommended if you cannot afford to
take a chance. On the Cairo-Luxor-Aswan route, you
won't be sold tickets for the 'restricted' daytime trains,
so either buy a ticket online as
shown above, or just get on the train without a
ticket and pay on board, see the section on
tourist train travel
restrictions for a full explanation!
If you
want to
book Egyptian train tickets in advance before you leave home
and the Egyptian Railways online
system doesn't work for you, or you want to book the
deluxe sleeper from Cairo to Upper Egypt,
you can easily arrange tickets by e-mail through an Egyptian
travel agency. Reputable agencies include
www.osoris.com,
www.egyptiants.net,
www.safariegypt.com,
www.paradisetravelegypt.comand (in Luxor)
www.sunrisetours-eg.com. Osoris has been
highly recommended by quite a few seat61 correspondents. They charge about
$10 higher than the normal ticket
price, plus a $5 booking fee if you collect the tickets from their office in Cairo,
a $25 booking fee if you want them delivered to your hotel,
$25 for delivery to the airport to meet your flight, or $20 to
meet you with the tickets at Cairo railway station.
They also make a 6% credit card charge, at least on days when they
feel like accepting credit cards rather than Western Union
transfers! To buy tickets through them, e-mail them at egypt@osoris.com,
call + 20 2 302 8561 or
fax + 20 2 3464146.
Feedback on agencies, good or bad, is always welcome.
Although Osoris has been recommended by several travellers,
one
traveller has reported poor service. Paradise
Travel & SafariEgypt have had no reports as yet. I have removed Egyptlegend (www.egyptlegend.com/trainreservation.htm)
after two bad reports. Bear in mind that credit cards
are not always accepted by small Egyptian travel agencies, a
Western Union transfer is often necessary. On the Cairo-Luxor-Aswan
route, these agencies may or may not be prepared to sell you
a ticket for the 'restricted' daytime trains, so if they
won't, simply forget trying to book, just get on the train
without a ticket and pay on board, see the section on
tourist train travel
restrictions for details. One report says that
www.osoris.comwill book seats on the 'restricted' daytime trains
from Cairo to Luxor & Aswan.
How to buy tickets for the Cairo-Luxor-Aswan sleeper trains:
Use an agency or phone
El
Watania on
+ 202 37 489 488
There are two ways to pre-book the
deluxe sleeper train
between Cairo, Luxor & Aswan. You can contact a travel
agency such as
www.osoris.com,
www.egyptiants.net,
www.safariegypt.com,
www.paradisetravelegypt.comand (in Luxor)
www.sunrisetours-eg.com, see the section above.
You'll pay a fee for their services, but you usually get a
reply! The other way, which avoids a fee but may take
more persistence, is to book direct with the operator El
Watania by phone, fax or email. Times & fares are on
the sleeper train website,
www.wataniasleepingtrains.com. You can e-mail your
booking request to
info@wataniasleepingtrains.com, or fax it to +
202 37 489 680 quoting your email address or simply
phone their reservation office on + 202 37 489 488
(lines open 09:00 to 15:00 Egyptian time, daily except
Fridays, English spoken,
feedback
is always appreciated!). They will email you a booking
reference and you can pick up the tickets and pay
for them in US Dollars or euros at the Watania reservation
office, 48 Giza Street, Orman Building, first floor
apartment No.14, at least 24 hours before departure between
09:00 & 15:00 any day except Fridays. It's in the same
block as the Cairo Sheraton Hotel, next to the HSBC Bank.
If you cannot pick up tickets at least 24 hours in advance
at these times, then book through a travel agency as
recommended above, paying a booking fee.
Learn Arabic numbers...
A top tip for train travel in Egypt is to learn Arabic numbers. The indicator boards at main
stations often use Arabic numerals to show train numbers, departure times and platform
numbers, only main ones show western numbers. If you know Arabic numbers,
you can read these, making it easy to find your train from the
departure time, even if you can't read the destination. Arabic numbers are written left-to-right, exactly like
western numbers, even though Arabic words are written
right-to-left. To print these Arabic numbers,
right-click the image and click 'print picture'.
Taxis in Cairo & Alexandria...
Always use a white taxi as these are metered, and are a
fairly cheap way to get from anywhere in central Cairo to
the station, typically LE10-LE15 (£1-£2 or $2-$3)a trip.
Make sure the meter is switched on. Black & white
taxis do not have meters and you will need to agree a price
before you get in, so they usually work out much more
expensive. Alexandria's yellow & black taxis do not
have meters, so agree a price before getting in.
Cairo-Luxor-Aswan
train restrictions for tourists...
Since the terrorist attacks in Egypt some years ago, the Egyptian government
has put restrictions on which trains foreigners may take between Cairo
and Luxor/Aswan, allegedly so that the government can
assure tourists' safety.
There are no restrictions on other routes such as Cairo to Alexandria
or Suez or Port Said, where you can take any train you
like, it's just the Cairo-Luxor-Aswan route. Details are almost impossible to confirm,
and it doesn't help that the UK Egyptian Tourist Office denies
any knowledge of these restrictions. However, it's reported that
since 1 March 2009, the ONLY trains between Cairo and
Luxor or Aswan for which tourists will be sold tickets are
the overnight deluxe sleeper trains, either in the sleeping-cars or
the seats cars, and possibly also the 22:00 ordinary
seats express from Cairo (train number 2000). The
daytime trains are officially 'for Egyptians only'. You can take a wider selection of
trains if you're only travelling between Aswan & Luxor.
If you have more information
please email me,
as there is little or no concrete information on the net about
these restrictions.
...and here's how to get around these silly restrictions:
Naturally, you may want to get around these unfair restrictions, and travel on a daytime air-conditioned
express along the scenic Nile Valley just for the
experience, or use an ordinary train if the deluxe sleepers
are fully-booked (as they often are at Easter, for example),
or simply to save a few pounds if you're on a very tight
budget. Or just to strike a blow for freedom!
In practice, all these restrictions really mean is that the ticket offices at Cairo,
Luxor & Aswan will refuse to sell you a ticket for any train
except those trains which tourists are officially allowed to take,
so here are the options.
Option 1, book online! The Egyptian Railways
online booking system will now book daytime express trains
and overnight seats trains between Cairo-Luxor and Aswan up
to 2 weeks ahead, and will allow overseas users to buy
tickets without any apparent problem with the travel
restrictions. See the online
booking section above. If it works, let me know.
If it doesn't, try options 2 or 3...
Option 2, ask an Egyptian travel agency or your hotel to buy your ticket:
One traveller suggests asking your hotel to send someone to
buy a ticket for your chosen (restricted) train for a small
fee, then you can board the train. This may or may not
work, some reports suggest it will, some that it won't.
Two reports have said that travel agency
www.osoris.comis prepared to book seats for westerners on the
'restricted' daytime trains from Cairo to Luxor & Aswan,
if you politely decline the tourist sleeper train and
politely insist that you're only interested in the day
train, not the sleeper, even if they at first tell you that
it's for 'Egyptians only'.
Option 3, board without a ticket & buy on the train:
The simplest option is just to board whatever train you
like and buy tickets on board, which you can do on payment
of a small surcharge (a mere pound or two!). There are
no barriers to stop you, and it saves you the hassle of
trying to buy a ticket beforehand!
Update for 2012: Have the tourist restrictions been
lifted?
One report suggests these tourist restrictions have now been
lifted, but no firm reports have yet been received of anyone
actually going to the ticket office and being sold a ticket
for the Cairo-Luxor daytime trains. If you try this,
please email me!
Travellers' reports...
Here's a report from someone who successfully booked
their Cairo to Luxor daytime tickets online (Sept 2011):
"We bought our train tickets online at the Egyptian National
Railways website having
followed
your instructions and signed up. It took 2 or 3
days until I could log in successfully, but I managed to
book tickets online from Cairo to Luxor and from Aswan back
to Cairo. We caught train 980 from Cairo to Luxor in
first class leaving at 8am (platform 8) with self-print
online tickets costing 187.20 Egyptian pounds between us
[about £24, just £12 per ticket] and later took train 983
from Aswan to Cairo again in first class, leaving at 7am,
costing 226.72 Egyptian pounds between us [about £29 or
£14.50 each]. We had no trouble with our print-at-home
tickets on the train, as soon as the conductors saw them
they spoke in English. Quite simple really. We
saw a few other non-Egyptians on the trains, all of whom had
had to get around the system by getting people to buy
tickets for them, or getting split journey tickets, costing
around an extra 100 Egyptian Pounds."
And here's a report from someone who simply got on the train
and paid on board (Feb
2010): "I wanted to use daytime train number 980
leaving Cairo at 08:00 for Luxor [and why not, that's
precisely the train I'd want to use!]. I arrived in
Cairo on the Sunday and went to the station in the
evening to try book my ticket to Luxor for the next day.
I was told that this train was 'for Egyptians only' but was
advised to return early on the Monday morning. I did
this, only to be given the same story. Someone then
suggested I board the train and pay on board. I did
this and plonked myself in a first class seat and hoped it
was not reserved. I paid 97 Egyptian pounds (£9 or
$16) when asked by the conductor on board and held the seat
all the way to Luxor. When I wanted to return from
Luxor back to Cairo I was told the same story, that train
number 981 leaving Luxor at 08:30 was not for tourists.
So once again I simply boarded the train and paid on board.
I did get moved from seat to seat this time, but ended up
meeting several interesting people.
More feedback (Jan 2011): "My wife and I
were keen to travel from Cairo to Aswan on daytime express
train number 980 and attempted to buy tickets at the ticket
office. We were, of course, refused, and pointed
towards the overnight train ticket window. We'd
previously used your website when travelling by train
through India and, after reading the Egypt section, thought
we'd give train 980 a go anyway. We arrived at Cairo
train station at around 7:00am on the 9th of January, 2011
and headed straight for platform 8 (another traveller on
your site mentioned this platform for the 980 service); we
also confirmed with a few snack-shop owners that this
platform was correct. The train pulled up at 7:30am,
departed on time at 8:00am, and we bought tickets from a
ticket inspector about 30 minutes into our journey with no
questions asked. The rest of the trip went smoothly
and we arrived at Aswan on time, at around 9:00pm."
More feedback (Oct 2010): "You can indeed
still buy tickets on board the daytime train from Cairo to
Luxor. The ticket inspector was knowing and affable and had
no qualms with selling it to me. He even confirmed that I
was indeed in first class and charged me just 96LE to Luxor.
I'd like to voice my gratitude to others who have left
feedback here because I met not one person in Cairo who
could confirm the situation, and every Egyptian (including
the folks in the hostel) advised me strongly against it,
some for their own gains (selling tours etc). However some
just didn't know for sure and strangely took the rigid
approach. Have confidence! The trip is scenic and
worth it. A day of the interesting countryside of Egypt
without the hassle. A winner!
...and some more feedback: "On Friday 28/05/2010 we
travelled on the 7am train from Aswan to Luxor 1st class air
con. My girlfriend had tried to get tickets the night
before in the somewhat shorter female-only queue, but was
told they couldn't sell tickets to tourists and to buy them
on the train. The next day we did as told, waltzed
through the security barrier, asked a policeman and he
showed us where to get the 1st class train. There were
only about 10 passengers in total in the three 1st class
carriages, so no problems at all. The cost was 47 LE
each, and arrived on time. A good experience, just
shame we wasted 20 minutes trying and failing to buy a
ticket at the ticket office the previous day!"
...and yet more feedback:
One correspondent reports (January 2010) "At both Aswan
and Luxor, but not the smaller stations, there was an
airport-style security barrier, where they X-ray selected
passengers' baggage. However, there was no ticket
check at the barrier. Everyone including the tourist
office, police, and railway staff said we could go on the
ordinary [restricted] trains if we paid the small surcharge
for buying a ticket on board, the restriction was only on
buying the tickets in advance." Another
report (February 2010) confirms that there are no checks or
barriers in Cairo main station preventing you accessing the
platforms and boarding any train you like and paying on
board.
and a bit more... I travelled in June 2010,
and nothing has changed, there are no barriers, you can just
board the train. I boarded the 08:00 air-con express
train from Cairo to Luxor & Aswan (always go for first
class!) and simply paid on board. The same worked on
the return journey. However, as you haven't got a
booked seat you may find yourself moved about. I had
no problem keeping my seat down to Aswan on the outward
trip. But the train was very crowded on the return and
as we got nearer to Cairo many people were standing
including me. But no one got angry or stressed.
A kind Egyptian bloke then let me perch on his arm rest and
shared his sandwich with me. Great journey -13 hours !
Great country. Great people."
and here's some more... "In August 2010 my wife and I
took the day train leaving from Cairo and it worked out just
as it was detailed on this website and reported by others.
If you find it useful, here's another case study for your
site. We arrived at the train station at 07:15.
We heard the train pull into platform 8 around 07:30 and
proceeded straight through the security checkpoint. I was a
little nervous with the large, blue signs saying "please
present your ticket", but no one was checking tickets and we
were soon standing on platform 8. The 1st class cars
were closer to us with the 2nd class cars further down the
platform. An attendant was standing in the doorway and we
enlisted the help of another Egyptian to get us seated on
the train and gave him a bit of baksheesh for his efforts.
The train departed right on time and around Giza the
conductor came through. We paid him 192 EP for the two
of us. We kept our seats the whole way and the train pulled
into Luxor at 18:00."
If you have any more
feedback on the 'restrictions' issue,
please email me.
The train service between
Alexandria and Cairo is excellent. There are broadly two sorts
of train: Modern air-conditioned express trains
with comfortable 1st & 2nd class seats, not dissimilar to
European trains, using either 'Spanish' or 'French' carriages, and ordinary trains with very basic
non-air-con 2nd & 3rd class (plus air-con 2nd class on some
trains). A 1st class
one-way ticket for an air-conditioned express from Cairo to
Alexandria costs about LE 50, less than £6 or $9!
Cairo
► Alexandria
Train
type:
Ord
Exp
Ord
Special
Exp
Ord
Special
Exp
Ord
Special
Ord
Special
Ord
Special
Exp
Train
number:
119
903
7
905
901
197
909
911
11
89
13
913
15
917
919
Cairo
depart
depart
0500
0600
0625
0800
0815
0825
0900
1000
1010
1100
1115
1200
1245
1400
1410
Alexandria arrive
arrive
0940
0900
1005
1030
1100
1115
1130
1250
1410
1340
1420
1430
1610
1630
1730
Cairo
► Alexandria (continued)
Train
type:
Ord
Exp
Ord
Exp
Ord
Exp
Ord
Special
Ord
Ord
Special
Ord
Exp
Ord
Special
Special
Train
number:
21
915
27
923
199
925
33
921
25
31
927
157
931
29
1919
935
Cairo
depart
1430
1510
1525
1600
1615
1715
1725
1800
1810
1840
1900
1920
2015
2030
2100
2230
Alexandria
arrive
1830
1800
1845
1825
1940
2015
2110
2030
2120
2215
2120
2210
2310
0030
2330
0100
Special = Extra-fast
air-conditioned express train using
Spanish carriages, 1st & 2nd class with refreshments,
either non-stop or only stopping at Tanta. These are
the best trains. Originally operated by a French
gas-turbine 'turbotrain', but since December 2007 by regular air-conditioned carriages
as the fuel-thirsty turbotrains were too expensive to
maintain.
Exp
= Fast air-conditioned express train using
French-built carriages with 1st & 2nd class and
refreshments, usually making several intermediate stops.
Also recommended.
Ord = Ordinary train,
not normally used by tourists. Basic 2nd & 3rd class,
not air-conditioned.
Spanish trains:
At Alexandria's main Misr station, an
air-conditioned 'Spanish' express train has just arrived from Cairo.
Photo courtesy of Adrian Smith.
Air-conditioned 1st class
on a Cairo-Alexandria 'Spanish' train. Photo courtesy
of Adrian Smith.
Fares are one-way fares, the price is the same in either
direction.
* not sold to tourists, so see the section about
travel restrictions
& how to get round them.
** fare may be paid in US$, euros, sterling or Egyptian
pounds, includes evening
meal & breakfast.
*** As from March 2009, this is the only
seats option officially permitted for tourists, see the
section about travel
restrictions & how to get round them.
**** daytime journey, using sleepers in daytime mode.
LE = Egyptian pounds. If you have an ISIC student
card, this gives you a 33% reduction.
How to buy tickets
Children aged 0 to 3 travel free,
children 4 to 9 travel at two-thirds fare, children 10
and over pay full fare. On the deluxe
sleeper train, children aged 4
to 9 pay $45 one-way for Cairo-Luxor or Cairo-Aswan.
Due to
engineering work at Cairo's main Ramses station, sleeper trains
84, 85, 86 & 87 are leaving
from Giza station, not Cairo. The sleeper times above are
current as at winter 2011.
To save time
and travel in comfort, take the deluxe overnight sleeper
train, now run by a private company called 'El Watania',
who took over from previous operator Abela Egypt in
January 2010.
This train has modern air-conditioned sleeping-cars with
secure & lockable 1 & 2-berth rooms, and a bar-lounge car, see the
photos below. The fare includes a basic airline-style
tray-meal in the evening and breakfast. Room service
can serve drinks in your compartment at extra cost.
The fare is US$ 60 per person one-way sharing a
2-berth compartment or US$ 80 in a single-berth
compartment from Cairo to either Luxor or Aswan, payable
in Egyptian pounds, US$, euros or pounds sterling, US$
or euros preferred.
Children aged 0-3 travel free, children 4-9 $45. Passengers travelling alone who don't want to pay the
single-berth fare can book a berth in a 2-berth
compartment and share with another passenger of the same
sex. For more information, see
www.wataniasleepingtrains.com. To book the deluxe
sleeper, either go in person to the sleeper reservation
ticket windows at Cairo, Luxor and Aswan stations, e-mail
El Watania at
info@wataniasleepingtrains.com or phone them on
+202 37 489 488, lines open 09:00-15:00 Egyptian time
daily except Fridays. They will email you a
booking reference and you can pick up the tickets and
pay
for them in US Dollars or euros at the Watania reservation
office, 48 Giza Street, Orman Building, first floor
apartment No.14, at least 24 hours before departure
between 09:00 & 15:00 any day except Fridays. It's
in the same block as the Cairo Sheraton Hotel, next to
the HSBC Bank.
Alternatively, if you don't mind paying a small booking
fee, you can book from overseas via one of the
agencies recommended above. If you book in
person at the station a day or two before departure, you
may find places
available, but at peak tourist times it can get
fully-booked by tour groups, so if a specific departure
date is important to you,
you may want to pre-book from outside Egypt.
These have comfortable 1st & 2nd class seats, see the
photos below. The journey
takes most of the day, but it's a very pleasant ride all along the
Nile Valley, so just relax and enjoy the
scenery. The trains run along the Nile for much of
the journey, past palm trees, feluccas, camels, and
fellahin working in the fields. You will see how the
Nile makes a small strip of land green either side of the
river before the desert resumes. Cairo to Luxor
costs about LE 90 (£11 or $17) 1st class one-way.
Cairo to Aswan costs about LE 109 (£13 or $21) 1st class
one-way. See
the section about government tourist restrictions,
also see a
traveller's report about these trains.
The night trains also have 1st & 2nd class
seats (see the photos above) and one coach with Nefertiti class seats. If you
don't mind sleeping in a seat, which not a very nice or
comfortable experience, these
overnight trains
save time compared with daytime trains but cost much less
than the deluxe sleeper. Cairo to Aswan costs LE 170 (£21
or $30) 1st class one-way. Take a fleece or jumper
as the air-con can be
quite powerful. The photos below show a Nefertiti
class air-con 6-seat compartment on the overnight Cairo-Luxor-Aswan
train. They are converted from a
sleeping-car with the berths removed and two compartments
knocked into one.See the section
about government tourist restrictions.
Above:
Nefertiti class compartment, Cairo-Luxor-Aswan overnight
seats train.
The 2nd
& 3rd class non-air-con slow trains are fairly basic and
only
recommended for the more adventurous visitors, see the 'ordinary trains' pictures
further up this page.
Government restrictions prevent tourists from being
sold a ticket for these
trains, although you could get on without a ticket
and pay the conductor on board.
Above: A 2nd & 3rd class ordinary train. Photo courtesy of Edwin
van den Bergh
Above: Ordinary 2nd class (non-AC). 3rd class can be
left to the imagination...
Traveller
Jerome Wise reports: "We took the daytime air-conditioned express train
from Cairo to Luxor, which took 10 hours or so. It
was great fun, a bit of an adventure and a great way to
see the real Egypt. The children (8 and 6) even
enjoyed it. The great thing about the first class
seats is that, whilst they are in an airline
configuration, you can swivel them so you have facing and
back - great for four people travelling together."
Traveller Ian Green took a Cairo to Luxor then Aswan to
Cairo daytime trains in 2011: "We bought our train
tickets online at the Egyptian National Railways website
having
followed your instructions and signed up. We
caught train 980 from Cairo to Luxor in first class leaving
at 8am (platform 8) on 30.09.11 costing 187.20 Egyptian
pounds between us and the 983 train from Aswan to Cairo on
the 07.10.11 first class, leaving at 7am, costing 226.72
Egyptian pounds between us. The tea was lovely,
service pretty good, seats comfy. Toilets passable. Both
trains left on time, both were in the station half hour
early, but both were about 3 hours delayed getting to the
final stop. Take supplies!"
Visiting the temples at Abydos & Dendera...
Traveller
Krys Garnett reports: "Visiting the temples of
Abydos and Dendera from Luxor is easy by train, and much
more convenient than the convoy or bus. For Abydos take
any train headed to Cairo and get off at Qena, where the
station master will arrange a taxi and inform the tourist
police. A policeman will accompany you in the taxi,
but you won't get a convoy. All trains except the
Abela sleepers stop at Qena. Visiting Abydos, take
the train to El Balyana. Again, all trains except sleepers
stop here, but it's a smaller, older station. El
Balyana is around 3 hours from Luxor, Qena between 1½
& 2 hours."
There are no trains to Abu Simbel, but a bus
service operates from Aswan (275 km). It departs Aswan
at 07:00, arriving Abu Simbel at 10:00. It leaves Abu
Simbel at 13:00 arriving back in Aswan at 16:00. There
are also many tourist day tours, most leaving Aswan very early
- for example, 04:00 - for about LE55 (£5 or $9).
There are no trains to Sharm el
Sheik, but there are buses to and from Cairo, most run by the
East Delta Bus Co, some by the Super Jet Bus Co. (neither
company has a website, but try
www.ask-aladdin.com for bus times). Sharm el
Sheik to Cairo (485 km) takes about 7 hours by bus, and there
are about 6 or 7 buses daily including an overnight bus.
The fare is around LE68 (£8 or $12). Sharm El Sheik is
the far side of the Gulf of Suez from the Nile Valley, so for
Luxor you either need to return to Cairo by bus, then travel
by train from Cairo to Luxor, or you can cross by ferry (3
weekly) from Sharm el Sheik to Hurghada, spend the night there
then continue to Luxor by bus. There is a
three-times-weekly fast ferry from Sharm el Sheik to Hurghada,
plus a three-times-weekly slow ferry, although as at June 2011
these ferries have not been running for the past few months.
Buses to Hurghada
There are no trains to Hurghada but
there are buses from both Cairo and Luxor, run by Super Jet or
El Gouna bus companies (no website, but try
www.ask-aladdin.com for bus times). Hurghada to
Cairo (500 km) takes about 7 hours by bus with 3-4 departures
daily, fare around LE55 (£5/$10). Hurghada to Luxor
(255 km) takes 4 hours by bus, with 2 departures daily (around
06:00 and 12:00 from Luxor, 05:00 and 17:00 from Hurghada.
There is a three-times-weekly fast ferry from Hurghada to Sharm el Sheik, plus a three-times-weekly slow ferry.
Siwa
Oasis
There are no trains to Siwa. A
daily bus links Siwa with Alexandria (590 km), departing
Alex at 08:30, returning from Siwa at 08:00. It's
reported that there's now a daily overnight bus from the
Turgoman garage in Cairo at 18:45 to Siwa, arriving around
05:45 next morning. The fare is around LE 60.
It's run by the West Delta Bus co.
There are no international trains
from Egypt, but buses will get you to Libya, there's a ferry
to Jordan and a Nile steamer from Aswan to Sudan.
There's now a weekly ferry from Egypt to Venice in Italy, see
the UK to Egypt
section below, this is the ONLY passenger-carrying ferry
between Egypt and anywhere in Europe & the Mediterranean.
Cairo - Amman (Jordan) - Damascus (Syria) - Istanbul
(Turkey)...
There is a direct bus from
Cairo to Amman four times a week, fare around £70 or $100, run by JETT of Jordan
(www.jett.com.jo) and taking
20 hours,
exact times & days of running northbound not known - note that
this crosses Israel, and you may be refused entry to Syria
later on if you have any sign of a visit to Israel in your
passport. To buy northbound tickets or ask about the
schedule northbound, email their Egyptian agents,
superjet@post.com tel. 00 202 2290 9013.
Alternatively, if you want to avoid Israel, use a bus & ferry
route:
Take a bus from Cairo to Nuweiba on the Red
Sea. A bus leaves Cairo main bus station at around
08:00, taking about 6 hours to reach Nuweiba. It's run
by the Shark el Delta Bus Co.
Take the daily fast catamaran
(departing 15:30, crossing 1 hour) or the daily conventional ferry
(departing 14:00, crossing 3-4 hours) from Nuweiba to Aqaba in
southern Jordan. The fare is about $60 for the ferry or
$90 for the fast catamaran. You must check in at least 2
hours before departure, and pay your fare in US$ cash.
There may also be an Egyptian exit tax to pay, about $10.
You will probably need to spend the
night in Aqaba. There are regular buses and service
taxis from Aqaba to Petra and Amman, costing around 3 or 4 JD,
see the Jordan
page.
For buses from Amman to Damascus in
Syria, see the Jordan
page.
For trains from Damascus to Aleppo &
from Aleppo to Istanbul,
see the Syria page.
Details of the southbound journey
from Amman to Cairo are shown on the
Jordan
page.
IF you have a Libyan visa, there are
buses from Egypt into Libya. However, at present the
Libyan government will not grant visas for independent travel
to Libya, only for people on tours organised by a recognised
Libyan travel agency. There are buses from Libya into
Tunisia, but it's not possible to travel on to Morocco
overland, as the Algerian/Moroccan border is closed and
Algeria has security problems which make it a no-go zone for
westerners.
Above: The
entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings at
Luxor.
Option 1:
London to Egypt by train & ferry. Not currently possible!
Adriatica Line's 'Espresso Egitto' used to sail weekly from Venice and Piraeus to Alexandria. Michael Palin used it in 1989 and I used it in
1990 - Michael gets everywhere a year or two before I do, and
he doesn't have to pay for his own ticket. Sadly,
the terrorist problems in Egypt ended this service. Until
2001, Salamis
Lines sailed weekly from Greece
to Egypt via Cyprus, but their services are now suspended
because of the problems in Israel, the ship's ultimate
destination. Then a new weekly ferry service
started on 20 May 2010 linking Venice in Italy with Alexandria
in Egypt, see
www.visemarline.com.
However, sorry as I am to be proved right, this service
didn't last more than a year - it ran in a circle via Syria,
and has fallen victim both to the problems in Egypt reducing
tourist numbers and the current problems in Syria. The
Visemar service was cancelled from May 2011, and although it
may be reinstated from October, this will be a s a
freight-only operation. So although the Mediterranean
is full of useless cruise ships going round in circles,
there are now sadly no proper scheduled shipping services at
all linking Europe with Egypt.
Option 2:
London to Egypt overland via Paris, Vienna, Istanbul, Syria & Jordan...
The alternative is to travel overland
from the UK to Egypt via Istanbul, Syria and Jordan.
This can be done mostly by train, with the odd bus and short
ferry ride, in about 9 nights in total, including hotel nights
in Istanbul, Adana, Aleppo, Damascus & Amman. However, this option is more of an adventure
with many separate stages, rather than as a simple A to B
means of transport. You may be inspired by a
blog written about travel from the UK to Egypt this way,
www.unplaned.com. Here are the stages, with links
to the relevant seat61 page where each stage is explained:
See the
London to Turkey page for details of train
travel London-Istanbul. The journey takes 3 nights, and
departures are daily.
Then see the
Syria & Jordan
pages for info on the train journey from Istanbul to Damascus
and on to Amman. Expect this stage to take around 3
nights, depending on where and for how long you want to stop
off.
From Amman, a long-distance bus leaves every Saturday, Sunday,
Tuesday & Thursday at 14:00 from the Abdali bus station, taking some
20 hours to reach Cairo. It is run
by Jordan Express Tourist Transportation (JETT), see
www.jett.com.jo, telephone
+962 6 5664146. The fare is 75.5 JD, about £69 or
$102. For
northbound buses from Cairo back to Amman,
contact
superjet@post.com,
timetable not known. Note that this bus
passes through Israel, so when travelling back north there
will be problems re-entering Syria with evidence of a visit to
Israel in your passport.
A better option, avoiding Israel is to take a bus or taxi from Amman or
Petra to Aqaba for the ferry to Nuweiba in Egypt, for buses to
Cairo. See the section above
for more information on how to do this part of the journey.
To make a journey like this, you'll probably want to book the
London-Istanbul part in advance (see the
Turkey page), and arrange visas for Syria, Jordan & Egypt
before you leave, but buy tickets for the parts of the journey
beyond Istanbul as you go along, with no pre-booking necessary
(or in some cases, possible). In planning a trip like
this, you may find this
technique helpful.
www.hotelscombined.com
is probably the best hotel search system I've seen, a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites (Opodo, Expedia,
Booking.com, Hotels.com, AsiaRooms, Travelocity, LateRooms and
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates. Set up in
2005, it's probably the best place to start for booking any
hotel online in any country, worldwide.
Personal recommendations:
In Cairo, try the
Windsor Hotel for old-world charm and character. I have yet to stay there myself, but it's been
recommended to me, so take a look.
In Luxor, easily the most classic place to stay if your budget
will stretch is the famous and fabulous
Old Winter Palace Hotel, from $109 or £55 a night.
At least have a drink in the bar!
In Alexandria, the
most famous & historic hotel is the
Cecil Hotel (from about $153 or £100 a room),
now part of the Sofitel chain, though the
Metropole Hotel across the square is a cheaper but still a
classic choice for faded grandeur, from $80 or £55 a night.
Both are in a great location.
Tripadvisor hotel reviews...
www.tripadvisor.com is a good place
to find independent travellers' reviews of the main hotels.
It also has the low-down on all the sights & attractions too.
Paying
for a guidebook may seem an unnecessary expense, but it's a
tiny fraction of what you're spending on your whole trip.
You will see so much more, and know so much more about what
you're looking at, if you have a decent guidebook. For
independent travel, easily the best guidebook is either the
Lonely Planet or Rough Guide. Both books provide an
excellent level of practical information and historical and
cultural background. You won't regret buying either of
them..!
Click the images to buy at Amazon.co.uk
Or buy direct from the
Lonely Planet website, with shipping worldwide.
Alternatively, you can download just the chapters or areas
you need in .PDF format
from the Lonely Planet Website, from around £2.99 or
US$4.95 a chapter.
Travel insurance, SIM card
Get travel insurance, it's essential...
Never travel overseas without travel insurance from a reliable
insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover
cancellation and loss of cash (up to a limit) and belongings.
An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
Columbus Direct or
Go Travel Insurance, or go to
Confused.com to run a price comparison on a whole range of
travel insurance providers for your dates of travel, seeing
their policy's features at a glance..
Get a spare credit card, designed for foreign travel with no currency
exchange loading & low or no ATM fees...
It costs nothing to take out an extra credit card.
If you keep it in a different part of your luggage so you're
not left stranded if
your wallet gets stolen, this is a form of extra travel insurance in itself. In addition,
some credit cards are significantly better for
overseas travel than others. Martin Lewis's
www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money explains which
UK credit cards
have the lowest currency exchange commission loadings when you buy something
overseas, and the lowest cash withdrawal fees when
you use an ATM abroad. Taking this advice
can save you quite a lot on each trip compared to using your
normal high-street bank credit card! You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX euro currency Visa Card, or indeed the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' Visa Card,
find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up a £1,000 bill
in data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. It
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also works for laptop or PDA data
access. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
for them in US Dollars or euros at the Watania reservation
office, 48 Giza Street, Orman Building, first floor
apartment No.14, at least 24 hours before departure between
09:00 & 15:00 any day except Fridays. It's in the same
block as the Cairo Sheraton Hotel, next to the HSBC Bank.
If you cannot pick up tickets at least 24 hours in advance
at these times, then book through a travel agency as
recommended above, paying a booking fee.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
If
you're resident in
Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the EU, try
If you're resident in the USA or Canada, try
