Luxor Day Trip Experience
My wife and I were staying in Cairo, we wanted a day trip to Luxor, it absolutely is worth checking out, the temples, valley of the kings. We found this trip, I would say this was an okay experience overall, I’d recommend considering other tour companies that can take one to Luxor back and forth from Cairo.
Pros:
-It’s all arranged for you from pick up at hotel in Cairo to pick up in Luxor to visiting sites and dropping you back at the airport and pick up in Cairo back to the hotel.
-Company graciously provided us bottles of water and snack for my wife and I, this was a very kind gesture.
-Tour guide we had was extremely knowledgeable, he knew his history really well, I asked lots of questions he was very happy to answer and help me learn. He did show us all the sites as well the key information about each monument.
-Driver was wonderful and courteous the whole trip.
-Always had good promptness for pick up with all drivers tour guide
Cons:
-It seemed that the tour guide was really busy although he was extremely knowledgeable and went through all the info, my wife was a bit slower due to the heat, the tour guide was always so ahead of us where we had to catch up to him. It seemed he had to be elsewhere could be wrong, but this is the perception
-Tour guide when not with us when we were taking pictures and exploring quite often seemed to be on the phone, nothing wrong once in a while but it gives a perception of being preoccupied with something else
-This was a little frustrating, we paid to have a light lunch, what we expected and was present in our other tours was sitting in a proper restaurant and eating a lunch for 45 mins to an hour, what we got was 2 falafel sandwiches per person, 2 for my wife 2 for me, they were small, and we ate them driving in the car to the next site, we were dropping some of the vegetables in the car. We paid for a proper lunch (although light) the 2 small falafel sandwiches although tasty were not very filling and not worth paying multiple US dollars to add on to the trip, it would be easier to eat a lunch restaurant yourself for a cheaper price and better setting. Easily get cheap shawarmas on the street or local restaurant. This was disappointing, perception seemed we needed to rush through this tour. Mind you, we did have to pay flights and tours this cost us $1100, so it would have been nice to have a proper lunch, maybe just sit outside eat some shawarmas, anything would be better than eating in the car, seemingly in a rush. We were still hungry shortly later. We were given two water bottles with the lunch, 1 for each of us. Perhaps our expectations were a bit higher for a light lunch. My suggestion to the company is to set expectations on what will be offered, perhaps consider shawarmas or something with a little meat it is more filling.
-The tour guide, and this may not be his fault, and could be his company, could be pushing this, but we were asked to consider doing an additional banana island boat tour with a lunch for $35 each. I was a bit shocked I thought we paid for lunch why is there an additional add on? We declined, we already expected a proper lunch.
-There were multiple requests if we wanted to add on extra visit to a tomb for example, add on the banana island boat lunch. I can’t remember the other requests, but I felt there could be more if not at least those two were asked. My point is when paying 1100 dollars we would expect to see most sites not be constantly requested to add on more, make the customer feel appreciated. By saying add extra we may feel that why is this not included, we paid so much.
-There seems to be on every tour we took some visit to a local merchant, where the merchant would like us to purchase something, they may teach you something (one tour how papyrus paper works or how fragrance may be made), this tour we went to textile area which to be fair the tour guide asked if we wanted to go and I did say yes, but it also was another area that would like one to purchase clothing. To give credit this is probably the best scarves clothing hand made Egyptian cotton, excellent quality but I would recommend if these places are visit to not make the customer feel like they need to buy something. We also were brought to Alabaster stone making which is pretty cool, hand made solid stone goods, excellent quality, but once again pressure to buy. I would advise the company perhaps some people will buy but there should be no pressure felt. Personally I am not a fan of the trips to local merchants. Quite likely everyone is getting a deal if a sale is made, meaning commission to company/tour guide for a customer buying something (I cannot prove this) but this seems to be the feel.
-My suggestion if visiting one of the local shops do not accept tea or juice or anything, nothing is free in Egypt, you likely will be pressured to pay something, similarly do not sit when offered, just be respectful and decline if not interested.
-Since my wife and I declined the extra optional add ons for the trip, we also went through the day trip quickly through the sites we visited, we finished by 2 pmish. Mind you, we got picked up at 5 am for a flight around 715 am and got to Luxor by 8 something am. Our flight back was at 810 pm. So now we have 6 hours. The tour was done and there was really nothing to do but drop us off to the airport. I do credit the tour guide for finding an alternative, and dropping us elsewhere to have some ac as the airport may not have been able to get us in so early. But what we expected being done early would have been the tour guide perhaps spending time with us or dropping us off at a company office or lounge or cool park area, something like that, tour guide dropped us to Steingenberger Hotel, which is a 5 star beautiful hotel. However we do not have a reservation at the Luxor Steingenberger Hotel, so it was odd being dropped of their till close to 522 pm, just over three hours. It’s like we were dropped off to a random hotel to wait, I did ask the tour guide like is this okay? He advised just get a drink there is a cafe area and we could sit. We did exactly this. But this is quite awkward we didn’t expect to sit in a hotel that did not expect us. We did perhaps get some looks as to who we are or perhaps I was just thinking someone was looking at us as we did not have reservations to the hotel. We stayed in the hotel cafe, we did buy a coffee and charged our phones and used their 5 star bathrooms. This was awkward felt like we just got dropped off to a hotel that we didn’t belong to and to stay by purchasing a beverage. To the company please plan for alternatives as mentioned above.
-There are way too many locals that swarm the tourists to purchase something, it is difficult to get around, I do feel for these people they are trying to make money for their families and it’s a tough economy for them, and typically the tourists are quite blessed, but it something to mentally prepare for.
In summary, I would not recommend this, not worth $1100 to go through the tour at least with this company. If it’s someone staying in Luxor it’s fine to use they did keep their word in visiting basic sites and were overall professional. Does not need a full day. Too many requests for add ons. Would advise the tour guide to perhaps slow down a bit, if the customer is slower let’s sit down together and talk about the history just be more in tune with the needs.
Also question some trip advisor reviews we went off of 98% rating that was positive for this, but on one tour in Egypt we literally had a tour guide ask us to use their hot spot to post a review and ask what we posted. Kind of defeats the purpose of a review, if they ask what you posted. Try and be honest so others can learn and the whole system can improve.
477arsalank · oct 2024 · vía Tripadvisor