Following up on the success of the wealth of information about traveling to and around Egypt that is now available via the Egypt Travel Blog Podcast on iTunes, Soundcloud, and the iPhone Podcast App, your fearless leaders at Egypt Travel Blog have decided to make a lot of that same information available in article format […]
Main Content
Ancient History
New Discovery Makes Pharaohs Look Modern, Sort Of
A team of archaeologists work in northern Egypt have discovered the site of an ancient settlement that makes even the Pharaohs and the Pyramids look young, relatively speaking. The discovery was made in the town of Tel el-Samara, which is located north of Cairo in the fertile Nile Delta region. Egypt’s most famous pyramids at […]
Ancient Knowledge and Modern Remembrance
It’s National Library Week in the United States, so it’s as good of a time as any to talk about one of the world’s most famous libraries – the ancient Library of Alexandria. After the death of Alexander the Great and the founding of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt, the Library of Alexandria was created […]
Luxor Temple
Despite its prominent name, Luxor Temple is actually the second most famous temple in Luxor behind the much larger and greater Temple of Karnak just down the road. However, Luxor Temple has several unique features of its own that merit a visit and some independent attention. The first and most obvious aspect of Luxor Temple […]
The Valley of the Queens
The Valley of the Queens in the area of Luxor is a lesser visited royal necropolis in which various family members of several dynasties of pharaohs were laid to rest. As the name suggests, many queens were buried here in elaborate tombs befitting their status and wealth, but many princesses and even princes had dedicated […]
Other Neat Stuff
Luxor’s Winter Palace Hotel
The Winter Palace Hotel in Luxor can be most accurately summed up for Western audiences as “Downton Abbey meets Egypt.” That’s because the Downton Abbey cast of characters is precisely the target clientele for which the luxury hotel on the eastern bank of the Nile in archaeology-rich Luxor was built. Today, the Winter Palace in […]
The Best Dang Food 30 Cents Can Buy
I’ve always been a YUGE fan of carbs, especially pasta. But nothing on the entire planet beats the carbo-loaded awesomeness of the closest thing Egypt has to a national dish. It’s called koshari, and it’s ahh-mazing! Oh and it costs like 30 cents at today’s exchange rates. Koshari looks like a super simple meal to […]
Tracing the Physical Legacy of Cleopatra
On this year’s International Women’s Day today, Egypt Travel Blog would like to pay homage to one of ancient Egypt’s most famous figures and a woman whose life and legacy are worthy of remembrance. Cleopatra is one of the most famous women in all of human history. She was a beloved queen of an ancient […]
The Desert Desert
So in Arabic, sahara means desert. So in English when we say the Sahara Desert, we’re actually saying the Desert Desert. Funny, huh? That’s not unlike how we treat many other Arabic words in English. And we don’t even realize that many of our words actually derive from Arabic. Take algebra, for example, which kinda […]
The Importance of Patience at the Pyramids
There’s a way to truly experience the awe and majesty of the Pyramids of Giza and a way to wholly miss that experience. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen clients and other visitors miss out of the full experience of their first approach to the Pyramids, and it always kills me on […]
New Discoveries
One of the amazing things about Egypt is that the entire country is still an active archaeological site. With over five thousand years of history under its sands, the slice that we know about and have uncovered so far is by no means all there is to be discovered. When you visit the Pyramids couples, […]
Best Exchange Rates Ever!!!
Holy Mummies! If you’ve ever wanted to travel to Egypt and get an amazing bang for your buck, there’s no time like the present. In an attempt to meet the economic and financial conditions of the International Monetary Fund and secure major international loans to help fund the government, Egypt’s Central Bank just floated the […]
Finding Your Oasis While Exploring Egypt
Egypt can be a rough place to visit. There’s pollution, crazy traffic, lots of hassle, and much much more that can turn your trip of a lifetime into a week full of stress and aggravation if you don’t plan well. Comfortable accommodations can especially be a real challenge for visitors, since what we would consider […]
Christmas in Egypt
Visitors to Egypt in the winter months might be surprised to find festive lights and Christmas trees scattered across central Cairo and certain other parts of Egypt. If you thought that by coming to an Islamic Middle Eastern country you’d be leaving the trappings of Christmas behind in the West, you were wrong. Significant parts […]
The Khan el Khalili
Experiencing the Khan el Khalili always tops the list of things to do when visiting Cairo. While in any other Arab country you might just refer to the old city’s souk or bazaar, Cairo’s souq has its own special name because it is the undisputed souq of souqs. It is unique not only in size […]
Travel and Turmoil
Video from October 2012 when American cable news channels were still showing “turmoil” on loop for ratings and clickbait. Many travelers may be deterred from traveling to Egypt during periods of political turmoil. But not all turmoil is the same, and some periods when the news media are be portraying chaos in Cairo may actually turn […]
How Not To Handle A Tourism Crisis: Lessons From Egypt
NOTE: THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN THE HUFFINGTON POST TRAVEL SECTION. A LINK TO THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND HERE. Tourism ministries, boards and offices the world over are finally waking up to the reality that developing a substantive relationship with the American market can be an extremely lucrative investment. We are a nation of over […]
The American University in Cairo
Many visitors to Egypt might be surprised to learn that one of Egypt’s leading educational institutions – and the top-ranked institution of higher learning in the country – is actually an American university, or rather The American University in Cairo. AUC, as it is known, was founded in 1919 by the Presbyterian Church’s mission to […]
Flashback: The Other Old Cairo
I tend to think of there really being two Old Cairos. The first is, of course, what most people who live in and visit Cairo refer to when they talk about Old Cairo. This would be the area of modern Cairo in which ruins and remnants from many of the city’s magnificent prior eras are […]
The Orchestra of Light & Hope
I confess: I tend to be a sucker for kids. Whether it’s at the Pyramids, the Egyptian Museum, the oases, the beach, or any of the sites down in Luxor, I’ll buy nearly anything they’re selling if they’re adorable enough. The kid vendors at these places are rarely pushy and are actually quite convincing. They […]
The Deaf KFC
If you really want a heartwarming experience in Cairo with a side of fried chicken, go check out the deaf KFC over in the Dokki neighborhood of Cairo. This place has been there for at least a decade, and it’s right around the corner from my very first apartment in Cairo. It’s right off of […]
The Sleeping Dogs of Karnak
One of my favorite sites to visit in Egypt is the Temple of Karnak, located just north of downtown Luxor in southern Egypt. The sheer scale of its massive pylons, the enormous girth of the lotus-topped columns in its Hypostyle Hall, the near excessiveness of the hieroglyphic reliefs, the serenity of some of its less-trafficked […]
The Sheraton Miramar in El Gouna
There aren’t many hotel options in the quaint Red Sea-side town of El Gouna, but that’s definitely a net plus for this destination. The more popular place to go around here is about 20 kilometers south to Hurghada, where the cheap holiday package tourists from Europe and elsewhere crowd into the myriad mediocre resorts there. […]
The Nile Kempinski in Cairo
The Kempinski is one of the newest hotel properties in Cairo. Although the chain – which is unfamiliar to many Americans but widely known for its sophisticated style and elegant opulence throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and increasingly Africa – normally operates larger capacity properties, Cairo’s Kempinski borders on boutique. It’s main competitor is […]
Review: Semiramis InterContinental
The Semiramis InterContinental hotel in Cairo is the successor property to the old Semiramis Hotel that hosted the likes of dignitaries and socialites during Cairo’s golden age. Unlike its more quaint (read: worn) neighbor, the Shepard Hotel, which retains its Old World Cairo look and feel inside, for better or worse, the Semiramis of yesteryear […]
The Egyptian Museum
The Egyptian Museum, which holds the largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world, is centrally located right off of Cairo’s now-famous Tahrir Square, one block over from the Nile River downtown. The museum authorities keep changing whether you can or cannot bring cameras into the building every few years. If you do bring […]
Is Egypt Safe for Tourism? Yes.
NOTE: THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN THE HUFFINGTON POST TRAVEL SECTION. A LINK TO THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND HERE. Egypt has had its share of problems over the past two years and the country continues to work to get its political house in order. During that time Egypt has remained safe for foreign tourists. With […]
Introducing Egypt Travel Blog (.com)
Egypt is the type of destination that tourists, especially independent travelers, seriously need to research thoroughly before visiting. There are many, many wonderful things about this country to see and experience, but there are also far too many things that can frustrate and confuse the unprepared traveler. A visit to the land of the Pharaohs […]