UK citizens need a visa to visit
Egypt. You can buy this in £ sterling or US$ on arrival
for stays of up to one month. For more information contact the Egyptian Consulate-General, 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.
Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable...
The best source for train, bus
& ferry times and route maps for Egypt
and all the other countries in Africa, Asia, America and Australasia
is the excellent Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable - it's
probably the most adventurous timetable ever produced.
Updated every two months, it costs £13.99
from any UK high street branch of Thomas Cook or online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com
(with worldwide delivery). Alternatively, you can
buy the twice-yearly Independent Traveller's edition
at Amazon.co.uk, also with shipping worldwide.
Definitely buy a copy, it's both an investment and an
inspiration for any traveller!
You cannot book Egyptian trains online, so you'll
have to buy tickets at the station or
through
one of these suggested local travel agencies by email or
(if you want the Cairo-Luxor sleeper trains) direct with El
Watania
by phone or email (see below). There is in fact now an
online reservation facility on the Egyptian Railways website
(www.egyptrail.gov.eg,
click 'English' then 'Reservation services'), but as this doesn't accept non-Egyptian credit cards (I've
tried!) it isn't any use for non-Egyptians (though
feedback from anyone who knows differently would be
welcome!).
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 deluxe Abela
Egypt 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 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 an explanation!
If you
want to
book Egyptian train tickets in advance before you leave home,
try arranging tickets by e-mail through an Egyptian
travel agency. Reputable agencies include
www.egyptiants.net,
www.safariegypt.com, www.osoris.com,
www.paradisetravelegypt.comand (in Luxor)
www.sunrisetours-eg.com. Osoris charges fares 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, on days when they
feel like accepting credit cards rather than Western Union
transfers, at least! To book, 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.
Osoris has been recommended by several travellers, but 1
traveller reports 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.
How to buy tickets for the Cairo-Luxor-Aswan sleeper: call+ 202 2 574 94 74or fax +202 2 574 90 74
The best way to book the deluxe sleeper train between Cairo, Luxor
&
Aswan is direct with El Watania (which took over from Abela
in January 2010) who run
these trains, by phone, fax or email. Times & fares are on
the sleeper train website, www.sleepingtrains.com.
You can in theory e-mail your booking request to reservation@sleepingtrains.com,
but travellers report that they don't usually get a reply.
Instead, fax your request to + 202 2574 90 74 or
phone their reservation office on + 202 2574 94 74 or + 202 2574 92 74. Travellers report that the reservations
office responds to faxes quickly. They will give you a
booking reference and you can pick up the tickets and pay
for them (in US Dollars or euros) at the sleeper
reservation office at Cairo station. You must collect
them at least 24 hours before departure. If you cannot
pick up tickets at least 24 hours in advance, the
alternative is
to book through a travel agency as recommended above, paying
slightly higher fares plus 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
from 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, ask 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.
Option 2, 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(!)
Here's a report from someone who did just that (February
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: "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 more feedback... 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."
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, not dissimilar to
European trains, 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
Exp
Special
Exp
Ord+
Special
Exp
Exp
Ord
Special
Exp
Exp
Special
Exp
Cairo
depart
depart
0500
0600
0700
0800
0815
0830
0900
1000
1115
1030
1200
1215
1300
1400
1415
Alexandria arrive
arrive
0955
0915
0925
1025
1105
1115
1125
1230
1410
1440
1430
1510
1530
1625
1740
Cairo
► Alexandria (continued)
Train
type:
Ord
Exp
Exp
Ord+
Exp
Exp
Exp
Special
Ord
Ord
Special
Exp
Ord+
Exp
Exp
Exp
Cairo
depart
1245
1500
1515
1525
1600
1615
1715
1800
1715
1825
1900
2015
2030
2100
2215
2300
Alexandria
arrive
1615
1725
1810
1836
1825
1925
2015
2030
2100
2140
2120
2310
0020
2325
0110
0130
Special= Extra-fast train, until
a few years ago operated by a French
gas-turbine 'turbotrain', but as of December 2007 operated by
normal air-conditioned express carriages
as the fuel-thirsty turbotrains were getting too expensive
to maintain. Air-conditioned 1st &
2nd class with refreshments. Recommended.
Ord =
Ordinary train, not normally used by tourists. Basic 2nd & 3rd class.
'Ord+' = also has air-conditioned 2nd class. Not all
ordinary trains are shown here, only a selection.
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 $45 one-way for Cairo-Luxor or Cairo-Aswan.
Due to
engineering work, the sleeper trains are leaving
from Giza station, not Cairo
To save time
and travel in comfort, take the deluxe overnight sleeper
train, now run by a private company called 'El Watania'
(they took over from previous operator Abela Egypt in
January 2010).
This train has modern air-conditioned sleeping-cars with
secure and lockable 1 & 2-berth rooms, and a bar-lounge car, see the
photos below. The fare includes a basic airline-style
tray-meal in the evening and breakfast. Room service
can serve drinks in your compartment at extra cost.
The fare is US$ 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.
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.sleepingtrains.com. To book the deluxe
sleeper, either go in person to the sleeper reservation
ticket windows at Cairo, Luxor and Aswan stations, or e-mail
El Watania at
reservation@sleepingtrains.com. Recent reports
suggest they aren't very good at replying, so you can also
fax them on +202 2 574 90 74 or call them on
+202 2 574 94 74 or +202 2 574 92
74. Reports suggest they answer faxes within a
few hours. You will be given a booking reference and
can pick up and pay for the tickets at Cairo station at
least 24 hours before departure.
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."
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 LE60 (£6 or $11). 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.
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. There's also a
weekly bus direct from Cairo, on Wednesday nights, 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 are
currently NO passenger ferries between Egypt and anywhere in
Europe, as the services from Greece via Israel were all
suspended in 2001.
Cairo - Amman (Jordan) - Damascus (Syria) - Istanbul
(Turkey)...
There is a daily direct bus from
Cairo to Amman, run by JETT of Jordan and taking 19 hours,
exact times 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.
Alternatively, if you want to avoid Israel:
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 trains and
buses onwards to Damascus, see the Jordan
page. For trains from Damascus to Aleppo & 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.
London to Egypt by train & ferry...
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. However, a new weekly ferry service
started on 20 May 2010 linking Venice in Italy with Alexandria
in Egypt, see
www.visemarline.com.
Once more you can easily visit Egypt from the UK without
flying! London to Cairo takes 5 nights outward,
4 nights on the return, including a day in Venice. By
all means stop off for longer in Venice if you like.
Step 1 is to travel by train from London to Venice,
taking 1 night. You can hop on a Wednesday afternoon Eurostar
to Paris and
take the sleeper to Venice, arriving Thursday morning. Or travel from London to Switzerland by
Eurostar & TGV on Tuesday, stay the night in Zurich, then travel through
the Alps to Venice on Wednesday, staying Wednesday night in
Venice. See the London to Italy page
for train service from London to Venice.
Step 2 is to take the Visemar Lines ferry to Egypt,
sailing every Thursday afternoon all year round, arriving in
Egypt on the following Monday.
The voyage from Venice to Alex takes 4 nights as she sails via Tartus in Syria
(the Alexandria to Venice northbound sailing takes only 3
nights as she sails direct). See the timetable below and confirm details at
www.visemarline.com.
Visemar Lines 'Visemar One' is comfortable and modern ferry
taking foot passengers, cars and freight vehicles.
Brand new (she was built in 2010), she is also fast, capable
of 24 knots, and has comfortable en suite cabins,
waiter-service restaurant, self-service restaurant, bar,
cinema and shop.
On the return journey, the ship sails from Alexandria
on Mondays and arrives Venice on Thursday morning. You can
take the sleeper to Paris on Thursday night and be in London
on Friday.
London to Egypt by train & ferry costs around £420 return in
total for both train and ferry, depending on what sleeping
accommodation you choose on the train and the ferry and on
what price you manage to find for Eurostar & the Paris-Venice
sleeper train. For the ferry alone, fares from Venice to
Alexandria start at 290 euros (£263) return, including a bed
in a shared 4-berth cabin, or 202 euros one-way. Two
passengers sharing a private 2-berth en suite cabin would page
416 euros return per person. You'll find London-Venice
train fares on the London to
Italy page.
How to buy tickets...
Start with the ferry. You can book the
ferry online at the Seat61 Ferry
Shop. To book it by phone, call Visemar's UK agents,
Southern Ferries, on 0844 815 7785. Then book
train travel to Venice as shown on
the London to Italy page.
The overland alternative:
London to Egypt 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, there is a daily long-distance bus leaving at
03:00 and taking some 19 hours to reach Cairo. It is run
by Jordan Express Tourist and Transport Co (JETT), telephone
Amman 662722, fax 601507.
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.
Find
a hotel
in Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria...
A good guidebook like the Lonely Planet or
Rough Guides will point you at some good hotels in each town
or city when you get there, or you
can pre-book hotels in Cairo,
Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria & other Egyptian cities using
www.hotelscombined.com, just use the search box
below. This is not a hotel booking website, but a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites for you (AsiaRooms,
Opodo, Expedia, Travelocity, LateRooms and many others) to
find the cheapest hotel rates on the net. Set up in
2005, it's an amazing system and probably the best place to
start for booking any hotel online in any country, worldwide.
In Cairo, try
ww.windsorcairo.com. 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 historic hotel is the
Cecil Hotel (from about $114 or £75 a room), though the
Metropole Hotel across the square is a cheaper but still a
classic choice for faded grandeur, from $64 or £32 a night.
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..!
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 pre-paid currency MasterCard from Caxton FX...
You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX currency card, available in euros, dollars or the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' 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 sleeper
reservation office at Cairo station. You must collect
them at least 24 hours before departure. If you cannot
pick up tickets at least 24 hours in advance, the
alternative is
to book through a travel agency as recommended above, paying
slightly higher fares plus 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
