Aysut to Abydos and Dendera (and a few little questions)
Replies: 9 - Last Post: Nov 27, 2012 1:58 AM Last Post By: imadingo
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Aysut to Abydos and Dendera (and a few little questions)
From Aysut (I'd be coming from Dharkla), is the train still the only way permisible by public transport to get to Abydos and Dendera?I was hoping to stay around Abydos. Is there any place to stay and if so is it permitted?
If not where would be the best place to stay the night?
Does anyone know the times of trains from Aysut to Al Balyana and Al Balyana to Qena and Qena to Luxor, as they dont appear on the egyptian rail website.
I will not do it as a taxi trip from Luxor.
Thanks,
Sam
Edited by: imadingo
1
We went last year. We were self driving so I can't help you re the trains but we stayed at a place called the House of Companions which was run by a Dutch lady. It was only a couple of hundred meters from the temple. They were in the process of building a new place (quite big and grand) which I think is called the House of Life. We parked our car there.Anyway the owner is rather on the mystical side (I gather they run retreats) but very pleasant and the accommodation was fine. We had a bedroom and use of a shared living/dining area and bathroom - though there was no-one else staying.They made us a meal and brought it up to us in the evening.
Abydos and Dendera were both absolutely beautiful - highly recommend a few hours at each.
3
I think only third class trains stop in El Balyana and you can wait for the right one for quite some time. Qena to Luxor isn't so bad as they are major cities. After I visited Abydos, the police put me on a train to Naja Hamadi, and then the local police found me a microbus from there to Qena. It used to be easy to get a microbus from Qena to Dendara but last time I visited the police had some scam going with local taxi drivers whereby you are accosted at the train station and made to pay over the odds for a ride to the temple and back - anyone know if things have changed?4
Possibly it might be best to get taxi El Balyana to Abydos to Dendera to Qena. Mind you that might be over my budget.Whats waiting some time??? A few trains per day?
5
Both times I went to Abydos/El Balyana, the police made us take a taxi from the train station to the temple and back - if you say where you want to go then they will probably help you find a driver or work out some other way of getting you to where you want to go. I think I waited about 3-4 hours for a train out on both occasions.7
Regarding the train schedule, El Balyana isn't on the Egyptian National Railways site, but Qena is. You can bring up a schedule for the air-conditioned first and second class express trains from Qena to Luxor.8
House of Companions was not rock bottom - in fact one of the more expensive places we stayed - from memory something like 400EGP including dinner and breakfast for two. But we couldn't find any other accommodation in Abydos and it suited our plans to stay over..
