UK citizens need a visa to visit
Egypt. You can buy this in £ sterling or US$ on arrival
for stays of up to one month. For more information contact the Egyptian Consulate-General, 2 Lowndes
Street, London, SW1X 9ET (call 020 7235 9719).
Egypt is fabulous, and Cairo one
of the most fascinating cities in the world. There's no
need to book a tour, it's easy to travel round Egypt
independently. Egyptian Railways are easily the most
comfortable way to travel between Cairo, Luxor, Aswan,
Alexandria, Port Said & Suez. The views from the train
can be wonderful, especially on the Cairo-Luxor-Aswan and
Cairo-Alexandria routes.
Right: A
street scene in old Cairo. Visit the street called 'El Muiz el
din Allah', where tour groups never go, yet where 10th century
mosques are two a penny. Climb the crumbling minarets for
a view over the roofs of old Cairo.
How
to
check Egyptian train times...
Train times for key routes are shown below. Egyptian National Railways
now have a website,
www.egyptrail.gov.eg, and you can sue this to check
timetables. There is limited train information on
the Egyptian national tourist office
website
www.touregypt.net.
Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable...
The best source for train, bus
& ferry times and route maps for Egypt
and all the other countries in Africa, Asia, America and Australasia
is the excellent Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable - it's
probably the most adventurous timetable ever produced.
Updated every two months, it costs £13.99
from any UK high street branch of Thomas Cook or online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com
(with worldwide delivery). Alternatively, you can
buy the twice-yearly Independent Traveller's edition
at Amazon.co.uk, also with shipping worldwide.
Definitely buy a copy, it's both an investment and an
inspiration for any traveller!
Online booking of Egyptian trains is not possible,
so you'll have to buy tickets either
through
one of these suggested local travel agencies by email,
by phone or email to Abela Egypt (if you want the
Cairo-Luxor sleeper) or at the station when you get there as
described below, or via an Egyptian travel agency (see
below). In fact, there does now seem to be an
online reservation facility on the Egyptian Railways website
(www.egyptrail.gov.eg,
click 'English' then 'Reservation services'), but (a) this
only covers the Cairo-Alexandria route at present and (b) it
does not seem to accept non-Egyptian credit cards (I've
tried!).
Feedback from anyone who has successfully used this
facility would be welcome.
How to buy tickets: At the station...
It's easy to buy tickets at the station ticket office when
you get to Egypt,
although a degree of patience is called
for... Cairo main station has several booking windows,
one for each class and group of destinations, so check that
you are joining the right queue. You can pay for train
tickets in Egyptian pounds, except for the deluxe Abela
Egypt sleeper which must be paid in foreign currency
(dollars, euros or pounds sterling) at the Abela Egypt
sleeper office. Alternatively, if
you don't mind paying commission, you can use a local travel
agent to buy tickets on your behalf. Except during
busy periods, it's normally easy to get
1st class tickets on the day of travel or the day before.
The deluxe overnight sleeper train from Cairo to Luxor and
Aswan often has places available if you book a day
or two in advance, but at peak tourist times it can
get fully-booked by tour groups, so pre-booking
from outside Egypt is recommended if you cannot afford to
take a chance.
If you
want to
book Egyptian train tickets in advance before you leave home,
you can book by e-mail through several Egyptian
travel agencies. Reputable agencies include
www.egyptlegend.com/trainreservation.htm, www.osoris.com,
www.egyptiants.net,
www.safariegypt.com and (in Luxor)
www.sunrisetours-eg.com. Osoris charges fares about
$10 higher than the normal ticket
price, plus a $5 booking fee if you collect the tickets from their office in Cairo,
a $25 booking fee if you want them delivered to your hotel,
$25 for delivery to the airport to meet your flight, or $20 to
meet you with the tickets at Cairo railway station.
They also make a 6% credit card charge. To book, e-mail them at egypt@osoris.com,
call + 20 2 302 8561 or
fax + 20 2 3464146.
Feedback on agencies, good or bad, is always welcome. Both Osoris and Egyptlegend
have been recommended so far by travellers, though one
negative comment has been received about Egyptlegend.
How to buy tickets for the Cairo-Luxor-Aswan sleeper: call+ 202 2 574 94 74or fax +202 2 574 90 74
The best way to book the deluxe sleeper train between Cairo, Luxor
&
Aswan is direct with Abela Egypt who run
these trains, by phone, fax or email. Times & fares are on Abela Egypt's website, www.sleepingtrains.com.
You can in theory e-mail your booking request to reservation@sleepingtrains.com,
but travellers report that they don't usually get a reply.
Instead, fax your request to + 202 2574 90 74 or
phone their reservation office on + 202 2574 94 74 or + 202 2574 92 74. Travellers report that the reservations
office responds to faxes quickly. They will give you a
booking reference and you can pick up the tickets and pay
for them (in US Dollars or Euros) at the Abela Egypt sleeper
reservation office at Cairo station. You must collect
them at least 24 hours before departure. If you cannot
pick up tickets at least 24 hours in advance, the
alternative is
to book through a travel agency as recommended above, paying
slightly higher fares plus a booking fee.
Learn Arabic numbers...
A top tip for train travel in Egypt is to learn Arabic numbers. The indicator boards at main
stations use Arabic numerals to show train numbers, departure times and platform
numbers, not western numbers. If you know Arabic numbers,
you can read these, making it easy to find your train from the
departure time, even if you can't read the destination. Similarly, your ticket will
show your train number, date of travel, coach number and
seat or berth number in Arabic numbers, not western ones.
Arabic numbers are written left-to-right, exactly like
western numbers, even though Arabic words are written
right-to-left. To print these Arabic numbers,
right-click the image and click 'print picture'.
Cairo - Luxor -
Aswan government tourist restrictions...
Since the terrorist attacks in Egypt some years ago, the Egyptian government
has put restrictions on which trains foreigners may take between Cairo, Luxor
& Aswan, allegedly so that the government can
assure tourists' safety. Details are
difficult to confirm, but tourists were originally allowed to take (1) the Abela Egypt overnight sleeper
trains, (2) the 07:40 air-conditioned daytime express and
(3) the 22:00 overnight seats express, but not (it's
reported by several travellers, much to their annoyance) the 11:00
air-conditioned express or any of the 2nd or 3rd class non-air-con ordinary trains. It's also possible that
you will be sold a 1st class ticket but not a 2nd class
one. If you want to travel on
a slow ordinary train, one way to get
round the restrictions is to board the train without a
ticket and pay the conductor when he comes round. Another
option if you have any trouble at the ticket office is to
find a local Egyptian travel agency willing to book for you.
There are no tourist restrictions on other routes, for
example Cairo-Alexandria, where you can take any train you
like.
Latest report: New restrictions on train travel from
March 2009...
It's now reported that from 1 March 2009 tourists are no longer
allowed to use on the 22:00 overnight non-sleeper (in other
words, seats) express train from Cairo to Luxor & Aswan,
or the 07:40 daytime
express train from Cairo to Luxor & Aswan. As
of March 2009, the ONLY train which tourists are legally
allowed to use between Cairo and either Luxor or Aswan is the
overnight Abela sleeper trains (though one report
suggests the 22:00 express from Cairo can also be used). It's reported that
the Abela sleeper trains now have seats cars as well as sleepers, albeit at a more expensive fare
than the original non-Abela express (LE170
instead of LE90). You can take a wider selection of
trains between Aswan & Luxor, it's reported. If you have more information,
please email me.
The train service between
Alexandria and Cairo is excellent. There are broadly two sorts
of train: Modern air-conditioned express trains
with comfortable 1st & 2nd class, not dissimilar to
European trains, and ordinary trains with very basic
non-air-con 2nd & 3rd class (plus air-con 2nd class on some
trains). A 1st class
one-way ticket for an air-conditioned express from Cairo to
Alexandria costs about LE 25, less than £3 or $5!
Cairo
► Alexandria
Train
type:
Exp
Exp
Exp
Turbo
Exp
Ord
Exp
Exp
Ord
Exp
Ord
Exp
Ord+
Exp
Turbo
Exp
Cairo
depart
depart
0445
0600
0645
0800
0810
0825
0900
0930
1000
1100
1115
1200
1210
1310
1400
1410
Alexandria arrive
arrive
0710
0900
0955
1010
1050
1245
1110
1215
1405
1340
1415
1425
1540
1625
1610
1710
Cairo
► Alexandria (continued)
Train
type:
Ord
Exp
Exp
Ord+
Exp
Exp
Ord
Exp
Ord
Exp
Turbo
Exp
Exp
Exp
Exp
Cairo
depart
1420
1500
1510
1530
1600
1700
1705
1800
1815
1830
1900
2000
2030
2100
2230
Alexandria
arrive
1835
1720
1750
1810
1900
1940
2040
2010
2130
2150
2110
2245
0010
2340
0100
Turbo
= Extra-fast train, until recently operated by a French
gas-turbine 'turbotrain', but as of December 2007 operated by
normal air-conditioned express carriages
as the fuel-thirsty turbotrains are reported as too expensive
to continue to maintain. Air-conditioned 1st &
2nd class with refreshments. Recommended.
LE = Egyptian pounds. If you have an ISIC student
card, this gives you a 33% reduction.
How to buy tickets
Children aged 0 to 3 travel free,
children 4 to 9 travel at half fare, children 10
and over pay full fare. On the deluxe Abela Egypt
sleeper train, children aged 4
to 9 pay $45 one-way for Cairo-Luxor or Cairo-Aswan.
Due to
engineering work, these trains are temporarily leaving
from Giza station, not Cairo
To save time
and travel in comfort, take the deluxe overnight sleeper
train, now run by a private company called Abela Egypt.
This train has modern air-conditioned sleeping-cars with
1 & 2-berth rooms, and a bar-lounge car, see the
photos below. The fare includes a basic airline-style
tray-meal in the evening and breakfast. Room service
can serve drinks in your compartment at extra cost.
The fare is US$ 60 per person one-way sharing a
2-berth compartment or US$ 80 in a single-berth
compartment from Cairo to either Luxor or Aswan.
Children aged 0-3 travel free, children 4-9 $45. Passengers travelling alone who don't want to pay the
single-berth fare can book a berth in a 2-berth
compartment and share with another passenger of the same
sex. For more information, see
www.sleepingtrains.com. To book the deluxe
sleeper, either go in person to the sleeper reservation
ticket windows at Cairo, Luxor and Aswan stations, or e-mail Abela
Egypt at
reservation@sleepingtrains.com. Recent reports
suggest they aren't very good at replying, so you can also
fax them on +202 2 574 90 74 or call them on
+202 2 574 94 74 or +202 2 574 92
74. Reports suggest they answer faxes within a
few hours. You will be given a booking reference and
can pick up and pay for the tickets at Cairo station at
least 24 hours before departure.
Alternatively, if you don't mind paying a small booking
fee, you can book from overseas via one of the
agencies recommended above. If you book in
person at the station a day or two before departure, you
may find places
available, but at peak tourist times it can get
fully-booked by tour groups, so if a specific departure
date is important to you,
you may want to pre-book from outside Egypt.
These have comfortable 1st & 2nd class seats, see the
photos below. The journey
takes most of the day, but it's a very pleasant ride all along the
Nile Valley, so just relax and enjoy the
scenery. The trains run along the Nile for much of
the journey, past palm trees, feluccas, camels, and
fellahin working in the fields. You will see how the
Nile makes a small strip of land green either side of the
river before the desert resumes. Cairo to Luxor
costs about LE 60 (£6 or $10) 1st class one-way.
Cairo to Aswan costs about LE 75 (£7 or $12) 1st class
one-way. See
the section about government tourist restrictions,
also see a
traveller's report about these trains.
The night trains also have 1st & 2nd class
seats (see the photos above) and one coach with Nefertiti class seats. If you
don't mind sleeping in a seat, which not a very nice or
comfortable experience, these
overnight trains
save time compared with daytime trains but cost much less
than the deluxe sleeper. Cairo to Aswan costs LE 170 (£21
or $30) 1st class one-way. Take a fleece or jumper
as the air-con can be
quite powerful. The photos below show a Nefertiti
class air-con 6-seat compartment on the overnight Cairo-Luxor-Aswan
train. They are converted from a
sleeping-car with the berths removed and two compartments
knocked into one.See the section
about government tourist restrictions.
Above:
Nefertiti class compartment, Cairo-Luxor-Aswan overnight
seats train.
The 2nd
& 3rd class non-air-con slow trains are fairly basic and
only
recommended for the more adventurous visitors, see the 'ordinary trains' pictures
further up this page.
Government restrictions prevent tourists from being
sold a ticket for these
trains, although you could get on without a ticket
and pay the conductor on board.
Above: A 2nd & 3rd class ordinary train. Photo courtesy of Edwin
van den Bergh
Above: Ordinary 2nd class (non-AC). 3rd class can be
left to the imagination...
Traveller
Jerome Wise reports: "We took the daytime air-conditioned express train
from Cairo to Luxor, which took 10 hours or so. It
was great fun, a bit of an adventure and a great way to
see the real Egypt. The children (8 and 6) even
enjoyed it. The great thing about the first class
seats is that, whilst they are in an airline
configuration, you can swivel them so you have facing and
back - great for four people travelling together."
Visiting the temples at Abydos & Dendera...
Traveller
Krys Garnett reports: "Visiting the temples of
Abydos and Dendera from Luxor is easy by train, and much
more convenient than the convoy or bus. For Abydos take
any train headed to Cairo and get off at Qena, where the
station master will arrange a taxi and inform the tourist
police. A policeman will accompany you in the taxi,
but you won't get a convoy. All trains except the
Abela sleepers stop at Qena. Visiting Abydos, take
the train to El Balyana. Again, all trains except sleepers
stop here, but it's a smaller, older station. El
Balyana is around 3 hours from Luxor, Qena between 1½
& 2 hours."
There are no trains to Abu Simbel, but a bus
service operates from Aswan (275 km). It departs Aswan
at 07:00, arriving Abu Simbel at 10:00. It leaves Abu
Simbel at 13:00 arriving back in Aswan at 16:00. There
are also many tourist day tours, most leaving Aswan very early
- for example, 04:00 - for about LE55 (£5 or $9).
There are no trains to Sharm el
Sheik, but there are buses to and from Cairo, most run by the
East Delta Bus Co, some by the Super Jet Bus Co. (neither
company has a website, but try
www.ask-aladdin.com for bus times). Sharm el
Sheik to Cairo (485 km) takes about 7 hours by bus, and there
are about 6 or 7 buses daily including an overnight bus.
The fare is around LE60 (£6 or $11). Sharm El Sheik is
the far side of the Gulf of Suez from the Nile Valley, so for
Luxor you either need to return to Cairo by bus, then travel
by train from Cairo to Luxor, or you can cross by ferry (3
weekly) from Sharm el Sheik to Hurghada, spend the night there
then continue to Luxor by bus. There is a
three-times-weekly fast ferry from Sharm el Sheik to Hurghada,
plus a three-times-weekly slow ferry.
Buses to Hurghada
There are no trains to Hurghada but
there are buses from both Cairo and Luxor, run by Super Jet or
El Gouna bus companies (no website, but try
www.ask-aladdin.com for bus times). Hurghada to
Cairo (500 km) takes about 7 hours by bus with 3-4 departures
daily, fare around LE55 (£5/$10). Hurghada to Luxor
(255 km) takes 4 hours by bus, with 2 departures daily (around
06:00 and 12:00 from Luxor, 05:00 and 17:00 from Hurghada.
There is a three-times-weekly fast ferry from Hurghada to Sharm el Sheik, plus a three-times-weekly slow ferry.
Siwa
Oasis
There are no trains to Siwa. A
daily bus links Siwa with Alexandria (590 km), departing Alex
at 08:230, returning from Siwa at 08:00. There's also a
weekly bus direct from Cairo, on Wednesday nights, run by the
West Delta Bus Co.
There are no international trains
from Egypt, but buses will get you to Libya, there's a ferry
to Jordan and a Nile steamer from Aswan to Sudan. There are
currently NO passenger ferries between Egypt and anywhere in
Europe, as the services from Greece via Israel were all
suspended in 2001.
Cairo - Amman (Jordan) - Damascus (Syria) - Istanbul
(Turkey)...
There is a daily direct bus from
Cairo to Amman, run by JETT of Jordan and taking 19 hours,
exact times northbound not known - note that this crosses
Israel, and you may be refused entry to Syria later on if you
have any sign of a visit to Israel in your passport.
Alternatively, if you want to avoid Israel:
Take a bus from Cairo to Nuweiba on the Red
Sea. A bus leaves Cairo main bus station at around
07:00, taking about 6 hours to reach Nuweiba.
Take the daily fast catamaran
(departing 15:30, crossing 1 hour) or the daily conventional ferry
(departing 15:00, crossing 3-4 hours) from Nuweiba to Aqaba in
southern Jordan. The fare is about $45 for the ferry or
$50 for the fast catamaran. You must check in at least 2
hours before departure, and pay your fare in US$ cash.
There may also be an Egyptian exit tax to pay, about $10.
You will probably need to spend the
night in Aqaba. There are regular buses and service
taxis from Aqaba to Petra and Amman, costing around 3 or 4 JD,
see the Jordan
page. For trains and
buses onwards to Damascus, see the Jordan
page. For trains from Damascus to Aleppo & Istanbul,
see the Syria page.
Details of the southbound journey
from Amman to Cairo are shown on the
Jordan
page.
IF you have a Libyan visa, there are
buses from Egypt into Libya. However, at present the
Libyan government will not grant visas for independent travel
to Libya, only for people on tours organised by a recognised
Libyan travel agency. There are buses from Libya into
Tunisia, but it's not possible to travel on to Morocco
overland, as the Algerian/Moroccan border is closed and
Algeria has security problems which make it a no-go zone for
westerners.
This
used to be easy. Adriatica Line's 'Espresso
Egitto' used to sail weekly from Venice and Piraeus to Alexandria. Michael Palin used it in 1989 and I used it in
1990 - Michael gets everywhere a year or two before I do, and
he doesn't have to pay for his own ticket... Sadly,
the terrorist problems in Egypt ended this service. Until
2001, Salamis
Lines sailed weekly from Greece
to Egypt via Cyprus, but services are now suspended because of the problems in
Israel, the ship's ultimate destination - check with
their UK agents www.viamare.com.
There have until recently been no ferries to Egypt from
anywhere in Europe at all.
New cruise ferry to Egypt, summer 2008...
However, there's now a glimmer of hope for ferry travel to
Egypt. As of summer 2008, a
passenger cruise ferry sails at least weekly from Rhodes (and
on some dates Crete) to
Limassol in Cyprus between June & October taking 1 night, then weekly
between April & October from Limassol to Port Said in Egypt
taking 1 night. For sailing dates and prices see
www.varianostravel.com/Cruises/ferry_service.htm.
Hopefully these ferries will operate again in 2009. For train & ferry travel from the UK to Rhodes, see the
London to Greece page. It may
seem a bit daunting to plan a multi-stage train + ferry
journey from the UK to Egypt via Athens, Piraeus, Rhodes &
Cyprus, but you may find this
planning technique helpful.
Overland to Egypt via Turkey, Syria & Jordan...
An alternative more adventurous option is to travel overland
by train via Istanbul, Syria and Jordan. See the
London to Turkey page for train
travel London-Istanbul. Then see the
Syria & Jordan
pages for info on the train journey from Istanbul to Damascus
and on to Amman. From Amman, there is a daily long-distance bus
leaving at 03:00 and taking some 19 hours to reach
Cairo. It is run by Jordan Express Tourist and Transport
Co (JETT), telephone Amman 662722, fax 601507.
A better option, avoiding Israel is to take a bus or taxi from Amman or
Petra to Aqaba for the ferry to Nuweiba in Egypt, for buses to
Cairo. See above for more
information on how to do this section. In planning a
trip like this, you may find this
technique helpful.
Right: The
entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings at
Luxor.
Find
a hotel
in Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria...
A good guidebook like the Lonely Planet or
Rough Guides will point you at some good hotels in each town
or city when you get there, or you
can pre-book hotels in Cairo,
Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria & other Egyptian cities using
www.hotelscombined.com, just use the search box
below. This is not a hotel booking website, but a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites for you (AsiaRooms,
Opodo, Expedia, Travelocity, LateRooms and many others) to
find the cheapest hotel rates on the net. Set up in
2005, it's an amazing system and probably the best place to
start for booking any hotel online in any country, worldwide.
In Cairo, try
ww.windsorcairo.com. I have yet to stay there myself, but it's been
recommended to me, so take a look.
In Luxor, easily the most classic place to stay if your budget
will stretch is the famous and fabulous
Old Winter Palace Hotel, from $109 or £55 a night.
At least have a drink in the bar!
In Alexandria, the
most historic hotel is the
Cecil Hotel (from about $114 or £75 a room), though the
Metropole Hotel across the square is a cheaper but still a
classic choice for faded grandeur, from $64 or £32 a night.
Paying
for a guidebook may seem an unnecessary expense, but it's a
tiny fraction of what you're spending on your whole trip.
You will see so much more, and know so much more about what
you're looking at, if you have a decent guidebook. For
independent travel, easily the best guidebook is either the
Lonely Planet or Rough Guide. Both books provide an
excellent level of practical information and historical and
cultural background. You won't regret buying either of
them..!
Travel insurance is boring, but a necessity, so don't
travel without it. Make sure you get adequate cover, at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover,
from a reliable insurer. It should also cover
cancellation and loss of cash (up to a limit) and belongings.
An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy after clicking these
links.
for them (in US Dollars or Euros) at the Abela Egypt sleeper
reservation office at Cairo station. You must collect
them at least 24 hours before departure. If you cannot
pick up tickets at least 24 hours in advance, the
alternative is
to book through a travel agency as recommended above, paying
slightly higher fares plus a booking fee.
This
used to be easy. Adriatica Line's 'Espresso
Egitto' used to sail weekly from Venice and Piraeus to Alexandria. Michael Palin used it in 1989 and I used it in
1990 - Michael gets everywhere a year or two before I do, and
he doesn't have to pay for his own ticket... Sadly,
the terrorist problems in Egypt ended this service. Until
2001, 
If you're a UK resident, try
If
you're resident in
Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the EU, try
If you're resident in the USA or Canada, try