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Budget and Independent
Travel in Egypt
Part III, The Rest of Egypt
by Jimmy Dunn
Prior Editions
This month we talk about budget travel beyond
Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Aswan. But for our readers who missed
the first two parts of this article, I should like to point out
that they contain considerable information about general budget
travel in Egypt. In particular, Part
I discusses airfare to Egypt, how to handle money, taxis and
local transportation, food, telephones, liquor, tipping and
shopping, specifically for Cairo, but applicable to other areas of
Egypt. A number of budget hotels were also reviewed. Part
II covers considerable information on travel within Egypt by
plane, bus and train, as well as specific information and hotel
reviews for Alexandria, Luxor and Aswan. For many tourists,
the first two parts will be all that is needed, as these areas
largely comprise the sight seeing destinations of most average
tours.
The Fayoum
The remainder of Egypt where tourists are likely
to travel consists of the Fayoum and desert oasis, the Red Sea
cost and the Sinai. Of these, the Fayoum, which is not
really a true oasis, is most likely to interest pharaonic sight
seers, but will usually consist of a day trip. Such a tour is
likely to be least expensive by arranging a tour from a Cairo
hotel, though it is possible to travel there via bus.
Unfortunately, the impressive monuments of this district are
spread out, so for most, the only practical means of exploring the
area will be within a tour. Many companies offer short tours
such as this, but Misr Travel, the national travel company of
Egypt, is well known for their day and 1/2 day agendas.
These tours are normally very reasonable.
One problem with actually staying in the Fayoum
and desert oasis is that tourists are a captive audience. A
variety of inexpensive restaurants and the scope of nightlife
found in many other areas of Egypt do not really exist.
Certainly there are a hand full of local eateries in a city such
as Medinet El-Fayoum, but for the most part, tourists who stay
overnight in these areas must rely on the hotel for both food and
entertainment, and while a hotel such as the Auberge du Lac
(reviewed this month as a historical hotel) in the Fayoum may have
a variety of nightly entertainment, it is probably the only hotel
in these areas to do so.
On the other hand, the Fayoum and particularly
the desert oasis have not experienced the tourism boom that has
driven up hotel prices in the primary tourism cities of Egypt, so
prices are usually reasonable, and in some cases, camping is a
viable alternative. For the Fayoum and Desert Oasis, we have
worked hard just to include a few hotels in our databases,
and with the possible exception of the Auberge du Lac, just about
all of them would be considered as budget facilities, though some
are very nice regardless of their pricing.
The Red Sea and Sinai
For the Red Sea and Sinai, the question of budget travel is
usually more a question of where one goes, as opposed to finding
budget facilities in all the destinations. For Example,
situated within a few miles of each other on the Red Sea mainland
coast is El Gouna, Hurghada and Soma Bay. One can pretty
much forget budget travel to the expanding resort city of El Gouna
north of Hurghada, and to the quieter, limited facilities of Soma
Bay. Both areas are well worth a visit, but were not really
created with the idea of budget travel in mind.
Hurghada on the other hand seems to have been developed
specifically for the budget traveler. People in North America have
a tendency to think of Hurghada as a less expensive Red Sea scuba
diving headquarters then Sharm el-Sheikh in the Sinai. But
for many Europeans, particularly from countries that lack warm
beaches, Hurghada represents the least expensive sun and fun beach
and party resort available to them. Whereas in the rest of
Egypt, three and four star hotels tend to be older facilities that
perhaps once had higher ratings, in Hurghada, new hotels are often
specifically built with these rating in mind. Actually, all
along the Red Sea coast, for the most part, room rates for good
accommodations are at prices one would often pay for meager
accommodations in places like Cairo and Luxor. For example,
the Jasmine Village Hotel in Hurghada has its own beach, swimming
pool, and many other amenities and for a single room, is under
$50.00 USD. Other good hotels less expensive then this
include the Three Corner facilities, with pricing for single rooms
in the mid $30.00. But there are many good hotels in the $20
to $30 range. These include, but are not limited to, such hotels
as the Sea Horse
Hotel and Sindbad Inn.
At one point the Sinai was considered to be a fairly exclusive
destination, but the popularity of Sharm el-Sheikh and a few other
destinations there have inspired a few new hotels that do fall
somewhat into the budget category. On the less expensive end is
the Pigeon
House at Na'ama Bay and the Safety
Land Camp, which are both very reasonable for Sharm el-Sheikh
with rooms under $20.00 USD. After that, the prices begin to
rise rapidly and most other budget facilities or in excess of
$30.00. These include hotels such as the Palermo
Resort, which has a nice pool and a section of the beach, the Tropicana
Inn and the Sandy
Hotel, also with a pool and good air conditioning. Also in the
area is the Oasis hotel, with good air.
Once outside of either the general area of Hurghada on the Red
Sea coast, or Sharm el-Sheikh in the Sinai, one is likely to run
into camps and beach huts that can be very reasonable, but unless
one is a diver, there is little else to do in such locals.
In addition, a number of hotels are very reasonable. Just to
mention several of these, in Dahab in the Sinai, Club
Red and the Christina
Residence Hotel both have reasonable rooms under $20.00.
Around Nuweiba in the Sinai, there is the City Beach Village where
you can pitch a tent for less then $5.00 USD, or opt to stay in a
comfortable room for under $20.00.
We hope you have enjoyed our series on budget and independent
travel to Egypt. Next month we will probably add a small
postscript to this series about independent travel, as independent
travel is not necessarily budget travel, and there are some good
upper end choices for people who wish to travel independently, but
are not so limited in the amount they can spend. |
