Red Sea Aggressor Trip

[scubadada]

If I can hop onto this thread because there have been lots of interesting discussions, I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations for a company or guide that could do a trip to Luxor? I'm going to do the BDE trip out of Marsa Alam (not with Aggressor though) in August and would love to fit in a Luxor trip a day before or after my liveaboard. Thanks!

If you have not been to Egypt, it would be a shame to miss seeing some of the country. There appears to be many day trips from Marsa Alam, or, even Port Ghalib to Luxor. They all leave early for the 3 1/2-4 hour trip and then see some combination of Temple of Karnak, Temple of Luxor, Colossi of Memnon, Hatshepsut Temple, and Valley of the Kings. There is so much to see, I can barely imagine doing it in one day, but, that would be much better than not going. There is a lot of info available online, including TripAdvisor. You might want to ask your liveaboard operator if they have recommendations for a trip

 

[Lorenzoid]

Not all in one day, but all that scubadada mentioned can be seen in two days if your guide schedules it well. We had three days, and we found it wasn't necessary--at least in the low season and with a group of only two people. There was never a wait to enter any site when we were there in December 2017. The itinerary we paid for in advance through Aggressor's travel agency listed three "full-day" tours of the sites, but we found we were done in half a day. What happened was that after finishing our "full day" around noon, the guide attempted to sell us add-on tours for which we were to pay him directly. We relented in one instance and spent another hour or two at the Artisan's tombs near the Valley of the Kings, and it was very worthwhile. We just felt a little scammed because we could easily have included this on our itinerary had the agency given us the option up front. Instead we felt like the guide was trying to skirt the agency and have us pay him directly. This is Egypt. I think the best way to schedule a tour is work directly with an independent guide rather than an agency if at all possible. I'm sure Aggressor's travel people here in the US worked with a tour agency in Egypt, and I suspect the Egyptian agency suggests a loose itinerary so that the guides have an opportunity to sell add-ons once you arrive.

 

[scubadada]

We spent 2 full, busy days in Luxor with a small group and our own Egyptologist. This was part of a 2 week visit to Cairo, cruise on the Nile from Luxor to Aswan, and a fantastic side trip to Abu Simbel in February 2016

 

[Lorenzoid]

We spent 2 full, busy days in Luxor with a small group and our own Egyptologist. This was part of a 2 week visit to Cairo, cruise on the Nile from Luxor to Aswan, and a fantastic side trip to Abu Simbel in February 2016

Our guide was supposedly an "Egyptologist" as well--maybe all the official guides get that title? He certainly was knowledgeable, articulate, etc. The only thing that left a bad taste in our mouths was the sales pitch for add-ons that he gave at the end of the first day's tour. When he tried it again after the second day, we made our feelings clear. The last day with him was great. Three days in Luxor was okay--at least we didn't feel rushed. We had the afternoons to chill. We took long walks along the corniche, checked out a market, stopped for tea in some hole-in-the-wall. We figured that if the airline had lost our baggage, spending three days touring Luxor would give it time to catch up with us before the liveaboard.

 

[JBFG]

Check out viator.com

They offer tours pretty much anywhere.