backpacking is safe

Dear all,

We just came back from 2 weeks of backpacking in egypt. The taxidriver drove us around tahir square to Giza, there was our hotel. Cairo is a very big city and as long as you stay away from the demonstrations, there is no problem at all. Giza is very safe at the moment and the army is present on the streets. We were there for two days and didn’t see any problems. The pyramids were fine. We were supposed to go to aswan by nighttrain, bu in stead we booked a cheap flight with egyptair. Aswan, Abu simbel, the nile and luxor are very relaxing. We booked a tour gide and spoke to may local people. There were no major problems. They only advised us to stay away from the horse carriage riders, because the “belonged” to Morsi. The Nubian people didn’t have internet because the goverment tried to keep the people calme. The trip to abu simbel was done in a police convoy, but that’s the way it is for many years. No worries. No tourists at all In Egypt, except for the red sea coast. Finally we went to El gouna for some kitesurfing. Overthere we met the first tourists! Of course it was more calme overthere then in the rest of Egypt.

Conclusion:
If you want to visite Egypt, please do. Avoid demonstrations and the tahir square. The luxor museum is also a good option for seeing mummies. The Sinai and suez area is already a problem area for a long time. But sharm and the red sea coast is not a problem. In the south (aswan / luxor) people don’t care about the government and are more interested in tourists.

Good luck

A young backpackers couple from Holland

Thanks for giving your feedback. This is a very interesting review of a recent trip to Egypt. I agree with you that Egypt is safe if you avoid demonstration.

Thank you for taking the time to give us the facts on the ground in the tourist destinations. As for Anas, you bring nothing. There's problems all over the world , just try to avoid them as a tourist....

My partner and I have a trip booked in early sept for 3 weeks and was just wondering did you still get to see the pyramids of giza as I dont want to go over there and not get to see the sites.We arent backpacking but going with a tour group glad to hear some positive feedback as i think the media makes it sound worse than it is,

"the media makes it sound worse than it is"

Hey Chasky! Why you think so??
Though the "bad" media like BBC insist to broadcast as a first story that dozens were killed in the violence the last 24 hours in Egypt there is still a "positive" press: I had a look at the first page of "the SUN" british tabloid. There was nothing about egypt and the main story of the day is "BIEPER SPIT HITS THE FAN". Thats can make scores of people to feel better...

I just came out of there three weeks ago after spending three months mostly in Sinai and Cairo. I would NOT recommend naive or young travelers, or those inexperienced with the culture, to go in to Egypt right now. It is highly unpredictable and absolutely anything could happen at any time. There are transport strikes and the Egyptian people are on edge, and under tremendous stress. One good point is that your
money that you spend there helps the people out.
But honestly if the Embassies are being evacuated it is for a good reason I am sure. Your insurance may not cover you if you are entering a country that the travel advisories tell you now to travel to.
But by all means go there if you want some real life adventure and adrenalin.

hi

im in dahab at this moment after a week in cairo, luxor, aswan and abu simbel.

ive been in cairo for almost 3 days and i need to say that maybe this is not the best days to go to the city. everything was fine and we did not have troubles but you can feel the tension in the air. we have been in the museum, and walk all the way to the museum, that is near the tahrir square and a day after we were there, there was a protest near the museum that killed some people. so if this happened one day before maybe we will be in the middle of something. what can i say about cairo at this moment is: if you have booked flight and all the trip go, if you are just planning maybe there are much better places that you can visit without anxiety.

on the other hand, there are a really good thing in egypt this days, all the places are almost free of tourists so you can have all the temples, pyramids for you. never thought that we will be in the pyramids alone.

we needed to cancel our train from cairo to luxor since theres was cancellations or delays in the journey. so better book a flight than get stucked at the train station. the route luxor to aswan and return was ok without any problems, only some delays.

but its quite sad that in luxor and aswan you can see so much places that closed due to the lack of tourists. if you bought the lonely planet you will notice that many information about restaurants and hotels maybe will not be correct since the places shut down.

also, the entrance fees are much expensive nowadays. expect to pay 20% or more than the prices wrote on lonely planet book. some places double the price for the entrance.

in luxor and aswan i experienced some protests with helicopters in the air and people screaming their believes, but everything was fine.

to finalize i can tell you that i am enjoying the time i spent in egypt. its like a dream come true. but sad for this people and maybe realize that could be different without this period of protests and the people so divided in their believes.

Edited by: invocator

Hi Invocator!
I am really happy to hear you enjoyed your travels in Egypt and must thank you that after concuding the travel you write here a Reliable report.
You deserved a good travel because you did your best to collect info and I feel I dont regret at all responding to the research you did before travelling. I will continue to post here because I know some travellers really give a good advice.
Anas

Hi invicator!
correction: I noticed you still are in Egypt, (though you left the african part of the country and now you are in Dahab in the gulf of Aqaba!), so wish you to enjoy the rest of your stay in egypt and enjoy the next travel into Jordan.

..... invocator, glad you are safe and hope you get out and home safely. On reflection, would you travel to Egypt now, knowing how out of control, vicious and deadly events have unfolded?

How would you advise potential tourists / travellers now?

On Baldi.net this morning I found this interesting piece about General al-Sisi, http://www.bladi.net/general-al-sissi-marocain.html hopefully it will auto translate.

hi AnasMohandes, in fact im in dahab right now and going to mount sinai and st catherines monastery tomorow. after that i will catch the ferry to aqaba for spend some days in Jordan. tks for your words

moroccotraveler, like i said if i didnt have a ticket flight and some stuff paid at the moment i left from Portugal i didnt come to egipt at this period. with us everything was fine, but if i had been in the area of the museum one day after than the day i visited it i would be in troubles since there was clashes in that area.

so looking to the past, maybe i would have done all the things again, but only because i just spent the money in this.

also, if some girl are considering to come to egipt alone i should advice that its not a good time to come. im with my girl and she is dressing conservately but some men approach us and touch her and say some not nice words. i dont know what could happen if she was alone.

if you really want to come to egypt right now just stay away from some areas in Cairo. we avoid the islamic quarters, tahrir square, because we are advised by many people to not go. so we didnt take the risk.

hope this can help and if anyone need some information i will be glad to help out.

...... thanks for the reply and advice invocator.

To shizzel, the original poster , have you changed your mind on "backpacking is safe" in Egypt?
Would you advice tourists to go to Egypt now, are you relieved to be out of it.

latest update about sudden changes that can happen because all of this political situation.

we have booked a tour to mt sinai ( sunset) almost 2months ago. today, the day before the tour, we received the news that the roads to mt sinai close from 7pm to 7 am wich disable us to make this.

also, because the lack of tourists the agencies are cancelling the tour because dont have enough people to go. or maybe you can go but pay a expensive and huge amount to go alone....

so as you can see everything can change really quick.

chasky,
which tour company have you booked a trip with? I would love to know did they also recommend that you take out travel insurance.
It would also be interesting to know IF you booked this directly with the travel company and the airline OR you have organised it through a travel agent.
You will not be covered by your travel insurance IF your Government has warned you to reconsider your need to travel (see the Australian Government warning at http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Egypt) you will have major issues trying to get a refund on your expenses IF your tour company cancels the trip.
Check your own Government's warning on travel to Egypt and discuss the refund options with the travel company and the airline if you have already paid in full and the tour and flight are cancelled.

Hi invocator,

good to hear that you had a great time! I only found cairo a bit unsafe. My girlfriend was dressed conservatively as well, and we only visited the pyriamids, wich were safe. Although I was a bit nervous at the time we drove from the airport to Giza, the people in the hotel en guides were very relaxed. At the time we were in Luxor and Aswan, the situation was quite stable in the south of egypt.
I agree, the prices were higher then in the lonely planet, but because of revolution we decided to stay in a bit more expensive hostels then we usually do. In Aswan I booked 2 nights with www.booking.com: Nubian holiday house aswan. great experience, good company with the grandpa of the house. chilling atmosphere.

@ maroccotraveler:
I advise unexperienced backpackers and single woman travellers not to go to Cairo and surroundings. But I'm not sure, if this is because of the revolution or just at all times. The city can be a mess and people can get obtrusive. I just ignore the sellers, but it's hard sometimes. The south is more safe and easy to travel. And the cruises are safe as well. There is always a guide and private car ready for you (we travelled with sonesta, moon goddes, 50% discount..). Of course the red sea coast is safe too, but that's not really egypt.

I advise the travellers who really want to go: just go.. be carefull. situations can change. sightseeing with guides in stead of going alone is a good option. The guides know when a sight or part of the city gets unsafe. And by the way, with this heat (45C) in egypt, I like to listen in stead of reading to small letters in the LP. ;)