Absolutely not what we paid for
It started with our guide not even knowing we had booked a VIP tour to go inside the pyramid, we had to show her the booking and after a call to the agency they changed the plan. We had paid for an Egyptologist and what we thought to be an expert 3h tour of the pyramids, sphinx and in depth explanation of the architecture, building methods, reason for building them and more. What we got was a 5 min explanation outside looking at the map of the chambers, 15 min in and out of the Cheops pyramid without guide as no guides are allowed inside, and when we asked our guide about her education it turned out she was not even an Egyptologist. She didn’t even bother to tell us that the passages in the pyramids are EXTREMELY narrow, steep, hot and FULL of people! Instead of a fascinating tour of these ancient monuments, this tour became a day of (quite forcefully) being driven around to different bazars, restaurants and perfume shops in Giza which we had 0 interest in. At several occasions we tried to rid ourselves of the guide and driver and continue our day according to our own schedule but they were extremely persistent. The tour of the pyramids was by far the most important thing we did during our stay in Egypt and we thought we had selected a tour with a real expert. As we only stayed 2 days in Giza we didn’t have time to revisit the pyramids, and will have to come back another time in life. The description of this tour is a complete lie and we couldn’t be more dissapointed.
GilbertJosef_K · квіт. 2024 р. · через Viator
Great tour!
I went to the Great Pyramid just before sunrise and it was a magical experience. There is nothing quite like being in an ancient structure with just two other people (tour guide and the security guard).
I got to explore the Kings, Queens and the lower chamber. My tour guide was Mahmoud, and he was incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the information he was sharing. I would definitely book more tours with him!
We exited the pyramid just as the sun was rising, so got to watch the beautiful sunrise from the steps of the pyramid.
I also want to thank Zahra, who helped me book the tour and was very helpful and quick to reply to any queries I had.
(Do bring extra cash with you for tipping).
ritabY7269RJ · квіт. 2024 р. · через Tripadvisor
Treated like kings and queens
VIP tour with Mr Aref, our driver and Tour Club Egypt for a wonderful day exploring the pyramids plateau. All made possible with Yoma's kind helpful assistance. Highly recommend them!
273carolem · бер. 2024 р. · через Tripadvisor
Neither VIP, nor inside the pyramids, be aware
This activity is very deceptive. First thing to know is that there is no guided tours allowed inside great pyramids unless you are spending thousands of dollars and going outside of public hours. All other options are crap "tours" sold at high prices to unsuspecting tourists.
The guide who joined me on 4 hour tour during the public hours stayed outside all monuments the whole time. I was paying him for basically to wait for me. Even worse thing was that the guide constantly kept trying to sell me all the other tours instead of focusing on the tour that we were on. So, I was paying not only for him to stand outside but also have a privilege of him doing a constant sell speeches to me the whole time.
To add insult to the injury, the guide managed to sell me camel ride telling me it was 45 mins and very reasonable. It turned out the official price for exact same ride was 1/3rd! To add extra insult, the camel ride only actually lasted for 20mins. Then to make this whole "guided tour" a big sham, the guide didn't even bothered to do actual tour of the pyramids complex and left out 75% of places of interest. So, I ended up visiting all the places by myself.
Overall, I paid 4X of the price than other pyramid complex tours while receiving incessant sells pitches and deceptive cross sells. My thought that this is some reputed guiding company and would have some high standard and trained guide was 100% completely wrong.
If you have procured, enough of "guided tours" in Egypt, you will know that this is apparently a normal practice. A vast majority guided tours are simply a waste of your valuable time. The high prices is no indicator of quality either.
In retrospect, you will be much better off visiting the whole pyramid complex by yourself. Tickets are plenty (even in spring) and the whole complex is very easily walkable. Most guides are not even that knowledgeable, are lazy, in rush and basically just hustlers trying to make their ends meet. There is absolutely nothing you will learn from them that you cannot learn in a 20 min YouTube video tour. Don't fall for these "guided tours".
If you must take a guided tour, make sure that the company is owned by the guide and he/she is doing all the work. For the companies (like this one) who can do great marketing, they hire basically anyone and give them peanuts so those people end up doing big hustle even while you are paying a lot. Also, in my experience, female guides are far more reliable and knowledgeable. Don't trust any good reviews where people are mentioning employees by the name. They are mostly fake.
Shital_S · бер. 2024 р. · через Viator
Scam!!!!!
Absolutely broken promise, invalid tickets, not the right type of ticket to enter the pyramid, forget the VIP, everyone has access, without our guide it would have turned into a real fiasco
We had to buy everything back, real scam
A shame for tripadvisor
You pay to get nothing, I call it a scam and nothing else.
793sebc · лют. 2024 р. · через Tripadvisor · Перекладено
Cairo and Giza, Egypt
I had an amazing tour guide named Mr. Aref. He went above and beyond to make sure this was a wonderful experience. As a solo female tourist in Egypt it was important for me to feel safe and secure both of which I felt with Mr. Aref. I highly recommend you seek him out as a guide… you will not regret it!!!!!
valeriehV4971CR · лют. 2024 р. · через Tripadvisor
(2/5*) – The worst tour guide experience I’ve ever had but Management at least does seem to care
It’s been a few days since I actually had this experience, so I don't think I'm being overly-emotional when when I write that this was easily the worst tour guide experience I’ve ever had in my entire life.
The complete disorganisation and lack of consideration for customer experience was borderline comical and would have been genuinely funny if not for the fact that they charge a premium for the service.
To give some lowlights (I could go on but I won’t bore you with them all):
• I organized an individual private tour, costing just under $100, to get to the pyramids as early as possible to see the sunrise. Having woken up at 5:50am for a 6:10am pickup, the guide, Hazem, told me he would actually be there at 6:40am, with no apology or real explanation. He also then asked where my location was at 6:10am, which was astounding that he had clearly woken up without any planning as to where or when he was going for the pickup the next day (I had provided my location several times to TourEgypt the day before)
• Having eventually arrived to pick me up with a driver (so there was a driver and a guide), we then drove around in circles for a bit, before getting on the motorway and heading in the opposite direction out of Cairo, at which point, having only been in the country for 4 days, I had to get GoogleMaps up and guide the driver and Hazem to the pyramids. Hazem insisted that it was not his fault, and kept on blaming the driver, but there was just so much blaming other people, without any ownership or responsibility himself.
• Having arrived an hour late, Hazem then tried to get me to pay for my ticket, even though this was covered in the $90 tour price
• Once we made it inside, he spoke a bit about the pyramids, but his English was pretty poor and after attempting to ask a few basic questions about the pyramids and Egypt in general, which were met with puzzled looks or just completely misunderstanding as to what I said, I just gave up
• He was however very interested in asking me what my favourite type of girl was, and then, when not making sexist remarks about his female colleagues at TourEgypt, got very excited about the opportunity to tell me what his favourite type of girl is (Spoiler: it’s Brazilian).
• The highlight had to be when he genuinely suggested that the pyramids may have been built using dinosaurs to carry the stones. Whilst this is absolutely hilarious, it is indicative of the lack of knowledge about Egyptian history he appeared to have
• In the end the whole experience made me so frustrated I left pretty early, and when I complained to TourEgypt, the sales rep, Zahra tried to then blame me for the reason the driver was late as I did not provide any location, at which point I had to send over 4 screenshots from the day before, where I stated multiple times where my address was, including screenshots from GoogleMaps
• The assistant CEO, Salma, then got involved, and to be fair to her, did seem genuinely apologetic and is main reason that this tour doesn’t get 1 star, as she did make a concerted effort to make amends and provided a full refund which was much appreciated
• Overall the poor management, awful tour, complete lack of internal communication in TourEgypt between Sales Team/Guide/Driver would mean that I absolutely would not recommend this tour to anyone, especially the guide Hazem. Perhaps they will make some changes as Salma does seem to care but who knows. Or maybe I just got really, really, really, really, really unlucky that day. But I doubt it.
williammI9088HN · січ. 2024 р. · через Tripadvisor
Sweet Samaa
Samaa is exceptionally sweet, kind, knowledgeable, intelligent, helpful and very professional.
She can relate easily to her client with great sense of humor and compassion.
She is definitely the best and we strongly recommend her. If you want knowledge and fun trip you can definitely rely on Samaa.
551klaraz · січ. 2024 р. · через Tripadvisor
EXCELLENT RATING OF THE TOUR AND THE TOUR OPERATOR
The tour was excellent from all points of view: driver, guide, hotels and places visited.
We were continuously looked after by Yoma, agent of the "Tour Egypt Club" and by all his colleagues who always proved to be available and efficient. The whole group that was with me was satisfied. Therefore, an experience absolutely worth having and, if possible, repeating as soon as the Great Egyptian Museum opens.
O1664DScarloc · січ. 2024 р. · через Tripadvisor · Перекладено
Amazing private tour of the Great pyramid
The private tour provided by Tour Egypt Club was a spectacular experience. They were very prompt to respond right from my first enquiry about the tour and provided all the info I needed to decide whether my family group of 6 could do this. It is quite expensive because it involves getting the required permissions from the Ministry of Antiquities, the police etc. Tour Egypt Club took care of all the details and got everything ready before our tour. They also arranged a wonderful guide, Mahmoud Zaghloul, who helped to make it a great experience for us. It was truly amazing to see the work of humans from so many centuries ago. I highly recommend this tour if you’re able to accommodate the high price tag.
558meerak · груд. 2023 р. · через Tripadvisor
