Top Cairo Nightlife

We traveled in Egypt with Viking cruises on the ship Ra. We decided to do this tour through Emo Tours Egypt as an alternative to what Viking offers and we are so glad we did. Our guide, Magdy, came to the boat the morning of tour and provided his contact information to the Viking staff for backup safety. We were able to sleep in the van for the first couple hours of the drive, which was great since it was an early morning pickup. About an hour prior to arrival in Abu Simbel our guide, Magdy, efficiently used the driving time to give us an extensive overview of all we were about to see. Magdy used maps and photographs to clearly show us details of the temple art, what each part depicted and where to locate. This was a great use of the drive time while we were in a comfortable air conditioned van- it meant we did not need to stand in the hot sun to hear the explanations since guides are not allowed inside the Abu Simbel temples. We felt prepared and the advance explanations allowed us to focus on the magnificence versus trying to listen and visually take it in simultaneously. Magdy walked us to the temple entrances and took some great pictures of us- he’s also a great photographer and captured some of our favorite group shots for the entire trip. We took our time visit visiting the temples and met Magdy afterwards at the agreed-upon location. We opted to include lunch in the tour and were glad we did. Lunch was at a local restaurant just a few minutes drive from the archaeological site- great service and the food was delicious and plentiful. We rested on the way back to Aswan and enjoyed seeing the desert scenery— the ride was not too bad. Bring your ear buds and listen to a book, podcasts, or music. The visit to Abu Simbel was a top highlight of our three weeks in Egypt and Jordan. Magdy is absolutely fantastic and knowledgeable guide- we highly recommend him!! As a side note , suggest to read or listen to the book Empress of the Nile by Lynne Olsen prior to visit visiting Egypt. My mom and I were really glad we had done this to make the visit to Abu Simbel even more special knowing the history of how it was saved.