Pros and Cons of Group Travel to Egypt
This is a Guest Post by Robert Schrader of Leave Your Daily Hell.
When I approached the receptionist at Cairo’s Wake Up! Hostel to inquire about the best way to travel through southern Egypt, it was extremely easy for the young woman to talk me into an organized tour. Weary from having been taken advantage of in Sinai a couple days prior — a psychopath taxi driver violently extorted more than double his quoted price from me — her suggestion that I might be hustled if I said “no” sent me into a frenzy.
I won’t lie: Several aspects of having traveled Egypt on an organized tour disappointed me, which isn’t surprising since I’m not usually an “organized tour” kind of person. No matter which proverbial travel mold you fit into, use my experience to help yourself weigh the advantages and disadvantage of taking the road more traveled.
Price and Logistics
Traveling Egypt on a tour may help you avoid some hassles of doing it on your own, such as hustlers.
One aspect of traveling Egypt on an organized tour that seemed most attractive to me was the price. At just $250 for six days and five nights, the price for my tour averaged out to about $42 per day for lodging, transport and transfers. According to the receptionist, train tickets alone — specifically, from Cairo to Aswan and then from Luxor back up to Cairo — would have cost me about $120.
Even if I conservatively added $20 per night for hotel accommodation, I would save about $10 overall to travel independently, or so I thought. Why not pay a little more for convenience and organization?
Why not, you ask? Because unfortunately, not much in Egypt is organized. People were supposed to meet me at every step of the way — at the Aswan Railway Station to take me to my hotel, for example — and in almost every instance, they were late or not there at all. The “felucca” sailboat I booked was more than two hours late departing and dropped us off within minutes of setting off in the morning.
Upon receipt of my Cairo-Aswan train ticket, I also found out that the receptionist had lied to me about the price. The $60 each-way she’d quoted me, it seemed, was for a deluxe sleeper compartment. As it turned out, I’d instead been booked in a comparably dodgy “first-class” seat, which cost about half what I would’ve paid for a sleeper.
In truth, the only convenience involved in having booked the tour was the booking process itself.
Scheduling
Riding a felucca on the Nile between Aswan in Luxor is one the activities you can schedule on a tour.
Since I would be seeing a huge portion of Egypt in only a few days, my schedule was hammered out before I left.
After traveling overnight to Aswan, I’d be transferred first to my hotel and then to the Aswan High Dam and Philae Temple. The next morning at 3, I’d board a mini bus to the Abu Simbel Temple, located in the remote southern Egyptian desert near the Sudanese border, followed by a mid-day felucca boarding.
I was supposed to spend two nights on the felucca, then return to Aswan and board a train up to Luxor, where I’d spend the last two days and one night of my trip exploring tourist sites like Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple. Finally, an overnight train back up to Cairo.
As I mentioned earlier, the man who was supposed to meet me at the Aswan Railway Station never showed, so I went to a hotel with another Western girl who was on my train — and it happened to be the one where I’d been booked! We ended up having the same first- and second-day itineraries, which helped assuage the disappointment I felt about how disorganized the tour was.
Unfortunately, I returned to Aswan after my morning at Abu Simbel to find out that the first night on the felucca had been cancelled (due to low bookings) and I’d need to wait until the next day. Since we embarked later than scheduled on the second day, I ended up spending about 16 hours on the felucca when I’d planned on 48 — and that’s a shame because riding a felucca is one of the coolest, most relaxing things I’ve ever done.
The two days I spent in Luxor went mostly by the books, although the rigorous schedule I was made to maintain proved tiring after several stressful days of missed transfers and cancelled excursions.
Free Time and Flexibility
Make free time for yourself while traveling on a tour in Egypt so you can enjoy activities like shopping.
If I had executed my itinerary completely as planned, I wouldn’t have had much free time, save for meals and a couple hours before bed each night. The silver lining of all the unexpected delays and diversions was that I had more time to explore each destination I visited as a traveler rather than a tourist, to take in destinations organically and at my own pace.
The activities themselves, however, were relatively restricted. All of the major sites — the entrance fees for which are not included in the price of your tour, for the record — included guided tours, and it was apparently mandatory to take part in them. My tour guide at Karnak in Luxor scolded me very publicly for taking a picture of something while he was speaking.
I also wasn’t a fan of the pacing. It took a total of six hours in transit to the magnificent Abu Simbel Temple in the south of Egypt, but spent just 90 minutes inside the complex. By contrast, we devoted almost half a day to seeing the Aswan Dam and Philae Temple, which could’ve been comfortably done in no more than an hour combined.
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day, how much you enjoy traveling Egypt on a tour depends more on you than it does on Egypt.
This article may make it sound like I hated my guided tour in Egypt — and I absolutely didn’t. Many aspects of the tour were great, in particular some of the individual guides, hotel and restaurant employees I encountered. I also got to meet an Australian girl named Katy, who coincidentally accompanied me on every portion of the tour and whom I now consider to be a good friend of mine.
The thing is, booking a tour in advance does little to make your time in Egypt cheaper, easier or more enjoyable. You’re likely to pay significantly less up front booking your own trains, hotels and bargaining for your own transfers — and you won’t face the stress of trying to locate someone who might not be there.
Traveling independently also gives you the freedom to spend more in certain places and less time in others. That being said, organized tours are effective at optimizing your time use if it’s limited, which mine definitely was.
Overall, if you feel like taking an organized tour through Egypt is your best option, the go ahead and do it — just don’t expect to get everything you pay for. Otherwise, take the proverbial “Bohemian Trail” and go your own way.
-guest post by Robert Schrader
Robert Schrader is a travel writer, photographer an editor of Leave Your Daily Hell, an award-winning blog that aims to help you achieve your travel goals, whatever they may be. He spent two weeks in Egypt in September 2011.
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25 Comments
I did practically the same thing. Arrived in Egypt and was quickly convinced that I was getting a bargain with my private tour booked through my guest house. In some ways it was good, but it certainly wasn’t the cheapest route. I’m still pretty conflicted, actually, about whether or not I would recommend traveling solo or on a tour in Egypt.
I did an organized tour of Egypt in January 2011 (literally weeks before the riots began) and I remember weighing my options. I prefer solo travel or less structured trips, but in the end, I thought as a 24 year old girl it was safer to travel in a group.
Thanks for this. I am planning to travel to Egypt in April 2012 and have been wondering whether I should join a tour or not. Like Megan, I will be a single girl and might feel more secure in a group, but this brings up some good things to think about!
Glad you liked the article! – I’ve heard both good and bad stories about women traveling to Egypt and if you have a male with you then it definitely helps. For me, the language barrier was enough to make me choose a group trip but I knew people who have had great experiences in Egypt just winging it!
No question the best way to Abu Simbel is by boat [from Aswan]! Don’t even think of any other way! Lake Nasser licenses few boats (so much less traffic than below the dam) , is the largest(?) man-made lake, and makes for a beautiful, scenic cruise — complete with cocktails, sunsets … and of course the Van Gelis 1492 soundtrack …
Very much in favor of {the economic power of] group tour: own bus, own guides/guards, more like the quick ticket @ Disney; any problems? They are not yours!
If I don’t speak the language, it’s 3rd world, I want some blocking up front!
Hey Buzz! Didn’t know about boats that go from Aswan to Abu Simbel….wish I did that! We took the bus which was pretty standard except for the amazing sunrise I saw on the way.
I don’t have plans to visit Egypt in the near future, but it is for sure on my bucket list, and I have to say I still want to do it in a travel group. Thanks for the info.
Glad we could help. It’s understandable to want to hold off on Egypt for now. You have plenty of time to get over there
I hate it when people are late! It’s my biggest pet peeve! I think I would do it independantly unless it was like an organized bus tour thing where the same ppl were with you on every step of the way and you had someone to hold accountable if things went wrong
People being late is certainly frustrating! Our group was small and luckily we all got along great, but I’m sure it could have easily gone the other way.
I’m not sure if I’d do a tour or not when in Egypt … but what great info! Will consider when I travel there.
I also think in some parts of the world you need to accept being late as being par for the norm. Annoying yes (for Westerners) but all part of the experience!
Completely agree Cheryl! It’s not about when you get there – just that you get there someday
Great info. I used to be so anti-organized tour, but sometimes if you do your homework they really can be the best option. Am so jealous you went to Egypt. Am loving your posts!
Thanks Abby! I’m the sage way. Sometimes all the planning can get a bit overwhelming, which is one benefit of an organized tour!
Thanks for the helpful comments about the post, everyone! Feel free to check out the rest of my Egypt content over at Leave Your Daily Hell if you like this post.
Great article Robert! Everyone check out Leave Your Daily Hell (leaveyourdailyhell.com) – one of my favorite travel blogs!
When I went to Egypt in 2004 I opted for a 10 day tour with a Western tour company. Definitely more organized than yours sounds. Since we had a dedicated guide we didn’t have to worry about anyone showing up to meet us at railway stations, etc. However, not without it’s kinks. Dealing with 6 other personalities was a challenge. Like you, we spent more time getting to Abu Simbel then in the complex. I loved my Felucca tour, and can understand your disappointment at yours being shortened. I want to go back to Egypt again and some point, and will have to think about doing it totally independently or part tour. LIke you, I felt there some positives to an organized tour, but even now I’m not sure they outweighed the independent travel.
Thanks for your comment Nancie. I’m so glad Robert shared his experience with us. The tour I went on sounds more like the one you describe. Our guide was very dedicated and luckily I loved the people in my group (I’m sure that makes all the difference). The thing I did like about my particular tour was that there were optional activities and they gave us some free time.
I’ve never been a big fan of group travel, primarily because I like to go at my own pace. When we’ve done group press trips on rare occasions, I’m always the guy either at the very front (want to be the first to see whatever it is we’re trekking to) or at the very back (taking pictures of something). Egypt is very high on our list for 2012, but I’m hoping we’ll set up an individual press visit.
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I don’t have a plan when i will visit Egypt, but I want to visit Egypt someday, so this article is valuable. thanks for sharing. ^^
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Glad you liked the article Anjieya! Egypt is an amazing country to visit and I definitely recommend going at some point
Some of the best sunrises I’ve ever seen!
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My God! This is so true “Traveling Egypt on a tour may help you avoid some hassles of doing it on your own, such as hustlers.” It was just my wife and I and our guide the entire time.. everywhere you go its a guy like that picture above trying to sell you something. We went in May 2011, right after the initial uprising and so tourism was so little that the people were desperate for money.
If I went back I would bring at least $150, $1 bills. Its an easy way to get people to leave you alone.. plus buying some of those book you can show everyone else you’ve already gotten one, so they automatically leave you alone.. until a little kid realizes you don’t have ‘all’ of the booklet they are selling and tells you about it!
Still the best trip of my life!
Great feedback Derek! This post is from Robert from Leave Your Daily Hell but I personally went to Egypt in January 2011 – right before all the madness. It’s definitely true that people there are always trying to sell something although for some reason (and I think it’s because I live in NYC and there are way too many people here) but nobody bothered me if I didn’t want to buy something. Just kept walking along!
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I’d love to visit Egypt! Tour or no tour
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haha very good point Sam!
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