Luxor after Red Sea

[Dan]

In my previous trip there, Trip Report - BDE Trip Report, 21-28 December, 2019 (last post in page 2), I mentioned briefly about doing a land tour to Luxor on the way back home. Since the return flight was around 3AM on the next day after disembarkation in Port Ghalib, I had over a day in Marsa Alam, so I decided to have this Luxor tour on my way back to Hurghada. I would highly recommend it for those who haven’t been to Luxor.

Here are some detail and tips about the tour & logistics. It’ll be a long day, but you can always take a nap in the car on your way to Luxor & on your way to Hurghada after the tour, as the view out the window is either desert or dark. There are some interesting view of the rural area as you get closer to Luxor, around 9AM. You can ask the driver to wake you up as you get closer to Luxor.

It’s about 5-hour drive from Port Ghalib to Luxor. So you’ll leave Port Ghalib around 4AM. In Luxor you will visit three tombs in the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon and then lunch in an oriental restaurant. Then enjoying a boat trip on the Nile for around 45 minutes till the car make it back to the city around the bridge. Next, you will explore the vast Temple of Karnak, then can have a walking tour around the town center. Afterwards, around 5PM, the driver will take you to Hurghada airport, arriving there around 10PM.

I arranged my group transportation & land tour with marsaalam.com.

Now I’m retired, every day is a holiday, I could be more relax and spend more days there when I come back to dive in Red Sea.

 

[Dan]

Ha. We booked our guide through Aggressor, but booked hotels ourselves because it seemed easy to get a better price ourselves. The cost of the guide through Aggressor's booking service seemed comparable to what independent guide outfits were advertising (though I'm sure a lower fee can be negotiated on the ground).

MarsaAlam.com - Guide to the region, excursions, taxis and more. quoted me 60% less than Aggressor on ground transportation, hotel & tour of Luxor. Plus they gave me a simcard for local call and texting while I’m in Egypt, which was very very useful, especially when I need to be picked up at 4am at the Hurghada port while everyone on the boat was still sleeping.

My tour guide, Safwat of Marsaalam.com, +20 101 094 5699, is very knowledgeable Egyptologist. He used to work with Aggressor.

My liveaboard trip was supposed to be with Red Sea Aggresor 1 that burnt & sank before my trip. So, they replaced it with a temporary replacement boat, Scuba Scene.

 

[Sunn]

Timing, conditions, prices must be discussed in advance.
You may call or send a message to Walid +201006434242 (whatsapp).
He can guide you and even arrange transportation and lodging.

 

[Pillpusher]

In my previous trip there, Trip Report - BDE Trip Report, 21-28 December, 2019 (last post in page 2), I mentioned briefly about doing a land tour to Luxor on the way back home. Since the return flight was around 3AM on the next day after disembarkation in Port Ghalib, I had over a day in Marsa Alam, so I decided to have this Luxor tour on my way back to Hurghada. I would highly recommend it for those who haven’t been to Luxor.

Here are some detail and tips about the tour & logistics. It’ll be a long day, but you can always take a nap in the car on your way to Luxor & on your way to Hurghada after the tour, as the view out the window is either desert or dark. There are some interesting view of the rural area as you get closer to Luxor, around 9AM. You can ask the driver to wake you up as you get closer to Luxor.

It’s about 5-hour drive from Port Ghalib to Luxor. So you’ll leave Port Ghalib around 4AM. In Luxor you will visit three tombs in the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon and then lunch in an oriental restaurant. Then enjoying a boat trip on the Nile for around 45 minutes till the car make it back to the city around the bridge. Next, you will explore the vast Temple of Karnak, then can have a walking tour around the town center. Afterwards, around 5PM, the driver will take you to Hurghada airport, arriving there around 10PM.

I arranged my group transportation & land tour with marsaalam.com.

Now I’m retired, every day is a holiday, I could be more relax and spend more days there when I come back to dive in Red Sea.

Apologies for the necro-bump here. I'm looking to do something very similar when I'm there in May. After two back to back dive weeks, I'll be looking to be picked up in Port Ghalib early in the morning (boat arrives late the afternoon before), then spend two days in Luxor before being transferred to Hurghada. My question is, what did they do with your dive gear and luggage while you were in Luxor? Until I'm able to check into my hotel in Luxor, I assume it would all have to stay in the car. Did your guide just stay with the car and all your gear all day?

 

[Dan]

Apologies for the necro-bump here. I'm looking to do something very similar when I'm there in May. After two back to back dive weeks, I'll be looking to be picked up in Port Ghalib early in the morning (boat arrives late the afternoon before), then spend two days in Luxor before being transferred to Hurghada. My question is, what did they do with your dive gear and luggage while you were in Luxor? Until I'm able to check into my hotel in Luxor, I assume it would all have to stay in the car. Did your guide just stay with the car and all your gear all day?

The tour cost included renting the taxi & driver for the whole day. So my luggages stayed in the trunk of the car. The driver stayed with the car all day. My Egyptologist guide, who was also the driver manager, joined us in Luxor and guided me to the end of the tour. He then got dropped off around town center at 5pm, before I continued my journey with the driver to Hurghada airport.

 

[Pillpusher]

The tour cost included renting the taxi & driver for the whole day. So my luggages stayed in the trunk of the car. The driver stayed with the car all day. My Egyptologist guide, who is also the driver manager, joined us in Luxor and guided me to the end of the tour. He then got dropped off around town center at 5pm, before I continued my journey with the driver to Hurghada airport.

Ah, so you had a driver AND a guide. Nice. Ok, that makes more sense. I'll be sure to give them a shout and see what itinerary they can figure out. Thanks!

 

[nippurmagnum]

Ah, so you had a driver AND a guide. Nice. Ok, that makes more sense. I'll be sure to give them a shout and see what itinerary they can figure out. Thanks!

Last year i did the Luxor visit, but I set it up before my Port Ghalib liveaboard. My two cents of advice would be (1) drop off your gear at your hotel, give the bellhop a few bucks, and they’ll keep it safe until you return to check in, (2) do NOT expect a real “Egyptologist” on any tour, regardless of how you booked the tour, as most of what you will get is very superficial convention wisdom learned from the same guidebook that you could buy at any gift shop — so you might as well just find a cab driver with a sense of humor, and a good guidebook, and do your own itinerary at your own pace, and (3) take MASSIVE amounts of water with you any time you head out to see the sights. It was 112 degrees in the shade in Luxor during our trip last May. At least 20 degrees hotter than at Port Ghalib.

 

[jborg]

When I was doing similar things in India I found that one of the best aspects of a guide was that they acted as an effective deterrent for other would-be guides who would otherwise hassle us roughly every two minutes. YMMV.

 

[Lorenzoid]

My question is, what did they do with your dive gear and luggage while you were in Luxor? Until I'm able to check into my hotel in Luxor, I assume it would all have to stay in the car.

I did the same thing with my luggage that I would have done in any hotel anywhere: left it with the hotel in their baggage room until I could formally check in later in the day.

 

[Pillpusher]

Last year i did the Luxor visit, but I set it up before my Port Ghalib liveaboard. My two cents of advice would be (1) drop off your gear at your hotel, give the bellhop a few bucks, and they’ll keep it safe until you return to check in, (2) do NOT expect a real “Egyptologist” on any tour, regardless of how you booked the tour, as most of what you will get is very superficial convention wisdom learned from the same guidebook that you could buy at any gift shop — so you might as well just find a cab driver with a sense of humor, and a good guidebook, and do your own itinerary at your own pace, and (3) take MASSIVE amounts of water with you any time you head out to see the sights. It was 112 degrees in the shade in Luxor during our trip last May. At least 20 degrees hotter than at Port Ghalib.

To be honest, I'll probably just be walking around doing my own thing with my camera. The main purpose of a guide would be for better communication when needed and to keep me from doing anything stupid...lol. But that being said, I would rather hire a guide from a company that I can look up reviews from so that I somewhat know what to expect, rather than leaving the entire experience to the luck of the draw of hiring a random cabby.

Yikes. And when I'm in Luxor, I guess it'll actually be the first week of June.

When I was doing similar things in India I found that one of the best aspects of a guide was that they acted as an effective deterrent for other would-be guides who would otherwise hassle us roughly every two minutes. YMMV

Very true.

I did the same thing with my luggage that I would have done in any hotel anywhere: left it with the hotel in their baggage room until I could formally check in later in the day.

I read in a couple of places that while that's an option, you "do so at your own risk". But I figure the guide would be able to advise on my best option. I was just asking Dan how it worked in his case since he didn't stay there overnight, so leaving them at a hotel wasn't an option.