Terry M.
Google
We visited Egypt in December of 2025 with Memphis tours. It was our first trip to Egypt, so we wanted to make sure we were guided appropriately. Schedule extra days at the end!
First of all, let's be cognitively honest, this was not a eight (nine) day tour. Memphis counts your first and last day as part of the tour package. We don't normally do tours so I don't know if this is the gold standard, but when you get to your room at 10pm (2200) I don't think THAT should be counted as a day. The same for the last day... if you are rousing me out of bed early to catch a flight, it's not a tour day, it's a travel day. That's why we scheduled an extra day for ourselves. That stated, lesson learned. Don't fly into Cairo if you're planning to start your tour in Aswan and the river cruise. They're simply going to get you out of bed at 3am (0300!) for an hour flight. It sucked. The first three days were chalked full of 0300-0400 hour wake-ups to accommodate the tours we chose. It was exhausting. The first was the unfinished obelisk and the Philae temple. The obelisk is just a rock they started carving four thousand years ago that broke and was never finished. Meh.
Abu Simbel was next, which was a four hour bus ride, one way, to see the temple. Spoiler alert: the temple was carved out of the mountain side and moved to another 'man-made' location to avoid being flooded when the Nassar dam was built. It was amazing feat of engineering that it was cut out and moved, but knowing what I know now, I would not have invested eight hours of my life in the venture. It's got big statues and little else. You can see those at the Karnak Temple in Luxor.
The cruise: take the cruise. Sit up top, have a drink, and relax. You won't regret a minute of it!
Luxor and the Valley of the Kings... yes and yes. What a history lesson. Pay the few extra dollars and see Tut's tomb. It's small compared to the others, but it's King Tut Ankh Amon's tomb. You get to see it. And the Karnak temple is amazing. Breathtaking. My only beef with this entire tour that sans the cruise, you were hustled off to a site, given the history, and then given 20 minutes to 'look around' before you were hustled off to another site. They should accommodate you to spend more time at places like Karnak. We could have spent hours there and never saw enough.
Finally, back to Cairo. The pyramid, the GEM (Grand Egyptian Museum), and the hotel. I reviewed the hotel separately (Hilton Pyramid Golf Resort), but it was lovely. Again, NOT ENOUGH TIME to look around at any sites we saw there. Oh, and the camel ride... they call it 'magical.' They put you on the back of a camel and walk you for 100 yards and walk you back. You'll be told a story of "government approved" camel tours and not getting ripped off, but you will not get a ticket and at $30 per person, I found it neither 'approved' or 'magical.' Listen... if you got a bad back, hear me; DO NOT GET ON THAT CAMEL!
Finally, our guides. Like I said, great dudes. Amazing, even. Both Ashraf and Ahmed have been doing these tours for years and know their stuff. Wasn't a fan of Mustafa, but that's personal. I'm glad we had those first two guys as our guides. Again, tip them nicely. THAT SAID, as part of the 'tour,' they will take you to a 'shop' where you will see people either carve alabaster or make papyrus paintings. These places are absolute ripoffs. The same alabaster carving they will tell you "I make you a special price... $200," can be purchased in any given bazaar for $40 or less. Ask my wife. I met a lady at the airport who found the papyrus paintings for $14, but paid $150 during her 'tour.' Everything is a hustle. If you see something at a bazaar, buy it. The guides will tell you not to, but that's just setting you up for a big sale (steal) at a preferred provider. Again, and I will say this over and again, our guides were great, but skip this part of 'the tour.' They are not doing you a favor, and you can get it MUCH MUCH cheaper at a bazaar or even a airport gift shop.
