Touring Egypt and Diving Red Sea

[sveston]

I need help...
I thot that I got everything settle when I thot getting this tour package solve my diving and exploring Egypt at the same time. The package goes like this:-

Day 1 - Arrive Cairo
Day 2 - Giza Pyramid Tour
Day 3 - Cairo Museum
Day 4 - Free and Easy
Day 5 - Free and Easy and overnight train to Aswan
Day 6 - Cruise to Luxor
Day 7 - Cruise to Luxor
Day 8 - Cruise to Luxor
Day 9 - Luxor and to airport
Day 10 - Back home

I intend to arrive a day earlier and hence Day 1 is Free and Easy for me. So I have altered the plan in () as follows for Day 0 to Day 5:-

Day 0 - Arrive Cairo
Day 1 - Free and Easy (Go Diving)
Day 2 - Giza Pyramid Tour
Day 3 - Cairo Museum (Go Diving)
Day 4 - Free and Easy (go Diving)
Day 5 - Free and Easy and overnight train to Aswan (Go Diving)

However, I realised that Sharm El Sheikh is 500km away from Cairo and hence I am now skeptical that this plan will work.

I would truly appreciate if anyone can advised me whether is there an alternative to allow me to efficiently max the number dive day and yet be able to tour Giza Pyramid (be it on my own) and still be back on Day 5 to get onto overnight train to Aswan. Thanks...

 

[Potapko]

We also attempted to see all of Egypt in one trip :11:

you could easily spend an entire day in the museum but the question is this. How many fragments and artifacts can YOU look at before you have seen enough. We did the Pyramids and teh museum in one day and this is what I would reccommend for you.

As soon as you arrive head to your chosen dive location. spend days 1-3 diving, Get back to Cairo and do the pyramids and museum on day 4. Then you can make your train on day 5. Missing the guided tour portions should not be a big deal as you can get with a group there for a very low price.

Or since your train doesn't leave Cairo till evening, dive the morning of day 4 as well before heading back to Cairo.

One consideration will be of course how you plan to travel to Sharm, (if you are diving there).

We traveled by bus and found that they only go in a particular direction once per day and travel in caravans with police escort for protection.

Good luck, wish I was going back
Oh, my .02, Under water in the Red Sea is the only part I will go back for

Jeff

I need help...
I thot that I got everything settle when I thot getting this tour package solve my diving and exploring Egypt at the same time. The package goes like this:-

Day 1 - Arrive Cairo
Day 2 - Giza Pyramid Tour
Day 3 - Cairo Museum
Day 4 - Free and Easy
Day 5 - Free and Easy and overnight train to Aswan
Day 6 - Cruise to Luxor
Day 7 - Cruise to Luxor
Day 8 - Cruise to Luxor
Day 9 - Luxor and to airport
Day 10 - Back home

I intend to arrive a day earlier and hence Day 1 is Free and Easy for me. So I have altered the plan in () as follows for Day 0 to Day 5:-

Day 0 - Arrive Cairo
Day 1 - Free and Easy (Go Diving)
Day 2 - Giza Pyramid Tour
Day 3 - Cairo Museum (Go Diving)
Day 4 - Free and Easy (go Diving)
Day 5 - Free and Easy and overnight train to Aswan (Go Diving)

However, I realised that Sharm El Sheikh is 500km away from Cairo and hence I am now skeptical that this plan will work.

I would truly appreciate if anyone can advised me whether is there an alternative to allow me to efficiently max the number dive day and yet be able to tour Giza Pyramid (be it on my own) and still be back on Day 5 to get onto overnight train to Aswan. Thanks...

 

[sveston]

Thanks for the reply... and yes, it definitley make sense to go straight to Sharm when I arrived in Cairo.
So question... my plane touch down at Cairo at 1520 ++.
Will I still have time to get to Sharm on the same day...
What is the best way to get to Sharm?
Plane? and how much is one way...
Coach - 2way? any recommendation of where I can booked that?

So
Day 0 - Arrived Cairo and get myself to Sharm
So that Day 1 to 4 for diving and depart on Day 4 afternoon to Cairo via coach...
Day 5 - Giza Pyramids and Museum if got the time

Is this feasible?

Sorry, this is my first time I'm in Egypt.

By the way, how is Red Sea Diving like?
My good experience are in Bali, Tioman, Aur, Tenggol, Dayang, Maldives, Sipadan, Malapascua and Phuket...
Is Red Sea better? I just want to get a feel of what to expect...

 

[Potapko]

I would say you will have to fly, provided you can book the flight. I would suggest trying on-line. I do not know the distance but you mentioned 500 km. That would take 6-7 hours by bus (including stops) and probably only leaves once per day. Just guessing, they may have an evening return to Sharm but you would have to find it. The tours run a caravan from Sharm to Cairo daily but again, you have to find them. There is also a travel office on every corner and you may find a bus to catch through them. My suggestion would be to book it before you leave.

No idea on the prices you will have to research it. The diving (to me) was unbelievable. I was there in December and we did not see a lot of fish but the coral was incredible. Visibility to 100 feet in several locations, like diving in an aquarium.

Have fun,

Thanks for the reply... and yes, it definitley make sense to go straight to Sharm when I arrived in Cairo.
So question... my plane touch down at Cairo at 1520 ++.
Will I still have time to get to Sharm on the same day...
What is the best way to get to Sharm?
Plane? and how much is one way...
Coach - 2way? any recommendation of where I can booked that?

So
Day 0 - Arrived Cairo and get myself to Sharm
So that Day 1 to 4 for diving and depart on Day 4 afternoon to Cairo via coach...
Day 5 - Giza Pyramids and Museum if got the time

Is this feasible?

Sorry, this is my first time I'm in Egypt.

By the way, how is Red Sea Diving like?
My good experience are in Bali, Tioman, Aur, Tenggol, Dayang, Maldives, Sipadan, Malapascua and Phuket...
Is Red Sea better? I just want to get a feel of what to expect...

 

[sveston]

Sound really good to me...
Boy... now I really have to figure how to get there an back to Cairo w/o any complication...

Thanks for the info...

 

[stefo2]

There are several daily buses from Cairo to Sharm and tehy don't have to go in a convoy, this is only the case with buses in the Nile valley and the ones crossing the desert from the coast to the Nile, e.g. Hurghada to Luxor.
Arriving in Cairo in the afternoon would give you enough time to catch the night bus to Sharm and get there first thing in the morning, so you may be able to dive in the afternoon. Beware, though, that the dive operators will not take you to the best sites (like Ras Mohammed, Tiran Island) straight away but will have you dive locally for at least a day.
Alternatively you could fly (Egypt Air, they do have a website), but I doubt that you'll be able to get on a flight the same day. Flights are about 700 LE (100 EUR), the bus is about 8-10 EUR.
Your trip will be very rushed and probably not very enjoyable the way you're planning it. If I were you, I'd forget about the cruise and just visit Luxor and Aswan independently and take the train between the two (if you like you can get off in between and visit the sights you visit on the cruise). Aswan to Luxor is not very far, and the cruise ships spend a lotof time just moored up, so it's not actually that much of a Nile experience. Just my opinion, but I guess you have booked that part of the trip anyway?

Another option may be not to go to Sharm but to Hurghada for diving. It's not as nice, but the boat diving is meant to be good, and it's kind of on the way to Luxor:

Spend 2 days in Cairo, then take bus to Hurghada, dive there for a couple of days and then travel to Aswan from there.

 

[sveston]

Thanks stefo2...

Honestly, I have not booked the tour package as yet...
I've never been to Egypt and always I felt that it is safer and cheaper to follow tour group. But definitely, doing it free and easy is still the best experience but I'm just feeling insecure about it.

The coach seems to be the best way to go if I want to maximise my dive days and yet fit into the iteinery. Do you have a recommendation of a good coach company that I can rely on to get me to Sharm and back?

What about taxi for a group of three people?

 

[sveston]

After much searching, two bus companies seems to take the route from Cairo to Sharm.
East Delta and SuperJet. The journey taken by East Delta seems to be 7 hours and reported that SuperJet is faster though I saw that it only depart 2300hrs.
Coming back to Cairo schedule is almost the same for both.
Looks great so far.
Now to tackle the question "booking in advanced" as was recommended ... I guess I call them then...

Any idea will it be difficult to get a taxi after midnight when I reached Sharm. The East Delta Bus stops at a Mobil petrol station between Nama Bay and High Noor.

or should I just take a taxi from Cairo...

 

[stefo2]

Have only uses East Delta myself and they are absolutely fine and reliable (I think Superjet are good as well). East Delta have a bus leaving central Cairo at about 5 pm, which will stop at two stations along the way, the second one in or near Heliopolis, which is very close to the airport. I have forgotten the name of the station, but if you tell the taxi driver that you want to go to the East Dellta bus station in Heliopolis they should know. I think the bus doesn't leave there until 6 or 6:30, so you should be able to make that bus (which is the one that gets to Sharm around 1 am). If not, or if they are fully booked, you can still take a taxi into town and take the night bus.

Getting a taxi in Sharm should be no problem at all, if there is a bus coming in there will be people there looking for business.

I think a taxi or minibus from Cairo to Sharm will cost about the same as the flight (LE 500-700), not too bad if you split the costs. It won't necessarily be more comfortable than the bus and those minibus drivers are mad...

In Sharm you should book some accomodation and preferable diving as well (try and find a dive shop that will arrange accomodation for you), since it's mainly package holiday makers there, so not so much a place for walk-in customers. If you're looking for a more backpackers type of place consider Dahab an hour further up the coast (same bus).

Enjoy, Egypt is brilliant.

 

[sveston]

Looks like I got an alternative...
I'm not sure how to book the coach in advanced but I will call East Delta tomorrow... whatever it is, I can still get a taxi if the coach did not work out.

Thanks for all the inputs
Truly appreciated.