Is my plan do-able?

Hey fellows, my mate and I we just bought our ticket to Egypt today (spending our new years eve on the plane, lol), and here is a plan I came up with. I know it's a bit pushy to do all this in only 11 days, but hopefully we will be all right!

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Tue 1/1 Arrive Cairo 02:25, Egyptian Museum, Islamic Cairo(?) - Sleep in Cairo
Wed 2/1 Pyramids of Giza, Saqqara, Dashur. - Overnight train to Aswan
Thu 3/1 Aswan - Abu Simbel, Isis at Philae - Sleep in Aswan
Fri 4/1 Nile River, take felucca to Kom Ombo- Sleep on felucca
Sat 5/1 Kom Ombo visit temple, bus to Edfu visit temple, bus to Luxor - Sleep in Luxor
Sun 6/1 Luxor, King's Valley - Sleep in Luxor
Mon 7/1 Luxor, Temple of Karnak, Night fly to Sharm el Sheikh - Sleep in Sharm el Sheikh
Tue 8/1 Sharm el Sheikh, Ras Mohammed beach, diving - Sleep somewhere htere
Wed 9/1 Ras Mohammad, beach, diving - Sleep somewhere there
Thu 10/1 St Katherine's Monastery, Mt Sinai - Camp on Mt. Sinai
Fri 11/1 Sunset on Mt Sinai, catch bus/taxi to Cairo - Sleep in Cairo
Sat 12/1 14:45 Flight back to London, Arrive 23:05<hr></blockquote>

So any comments or suggestion? Am I missing out any great place to visit?
And also how much of a budget am I looking for for a trip like this?? I'm thinking 300-400 British Pounds (~$US800), is that enough?

Is that 2:25 at night? or in the afternoon.

Have you looked up the times for travel (I mean departure times and likelihood of delays) between sharm el shaikh and ras mohammed, and when the diving boats head out inb RM?

Ok, in my opinion, there is no way you are going to be able to fit all this in. I don't even know where to start.

ok three posts in a row

please go and look up the times that you can depart each of these locations by whatever transportation you are planning to use and include travel times

i dont know, maybe but it seems really packed and cutting it close

Sky - 02:25 means in the early hours of the morning.

I can't see how the OP can realistically arrive from Aswan on the overnight train and then go to Abu Simbel and fit in Philae, just too much to keep up that pace all the time.

I see a problem with Sinai. If you plan to go Thursday to St Catherine what time will you set off ? If you leave any later than 9.30 a.m. you will miss the monastery as it closes at noon and will be closed on Friday. If you plan to go Wednesday evening you can not dive Wednesday as St Catherine is so high. There is no bus after sunset from St Catherine to Cairo. Therefore I reckon its best to leave very early Thursday morning for St Catherine ( say 6.30 am ), visit the monastery that morning, climb Moses mountain that afternoon to see the sun set and then come down and sleep in St Catherine allowing you to take the bus in good time back to Cairo. Somewhere on this forum I put the St Catherine - Cairo bus time so just run a search for it.

Alternatively instead of Sharm and Ras Mohamed you could, if you are an experienced diver head straight to Dahab after arriving at Sharm Airport, dive there, ( some excellent and some very challanging dives ), and then make your way up to St Catherine. If you are not a very experienced diver but want some easy, good Red Sea diving then head up to Nuweiba from Sharm Airport, then on your first day ( i.e. Tuesday ) you get a taxi or share a minibus to do St Catherine monastery and the sun set on Moses mountain, dive on Wednesday and Thursday, and leave Nuweiba on the Friday 3 p.m. bus which will get you into Cairo just after 10 p.m. You would even have time to visit coloured canyon Friday morning as it is so close.

Way too much to see in way to little time!!!!!!!!!!!
You need some time to smell those roses.

You wont enjoy Egypt nor meet the locals with an itinery like that.

This trip is gonna leave you exhausted, but if you don't mind, I don't see why you wouldn't be OK. But do your research, as skyprincess advices, otherwise you risk getting stuck.

5 might be right, or, maybe, you'll find a way to make it work.

4 - why shouldn'r arriving with the sleeper from Cairo to Aswan and then go on to Abu Simbel work? I assume you're planning on taking the luxury sleeper, and not the ordinary first class train. But, of course, you need to book something (beforehand) which will meet you on the train station on arrival, take your stuff to a hotel and then head straight on. Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't get why this is so difficult.

When it comes to diving spots, well, I'm no diver, but Ras Mohammed is supposed to be extraordinary and I think the park itself is well worth visiting. Just keep in mind that Sharm is much more expensive than Dahab or Nuweiba. But I believe your budget will be OK, as long as you are careful (you'll hav esome major expenses like the sharm flight, train, diving etc. so try to hold on to your cash when you can).

The overnight trains are almost always late and if you're doing a tour from a hotel, they join the convoy at around 4:30am. Considering the train will probably get in around 9:00 or so, I'm guessing you're just going to take a bus. The Keylany hotel in Aswan recently sent me an email saying that buses to Abu Simbel leave at 8:30am and 11am, so now you're looking at an 11am start. 3 hours to Abu Simbel. You're already at 2pm..and then you have to look around...and then make it back. My advice would be to fly from Cairo to Aswan the night before; I think the last flight is like 10pm. Get some sleep and join the early morning convoy. You'll be back in Aswan by around 3pm. You can take a break and then see Philae in the evening when it's at its most beautiful, or you can do it as part of an all day tour. If you're doing a cabin on the sleeper train, it's cheaper to fly (Put Egypt as your home country when you book online). If you were planning to do first class, yes it's more expensive to fly but with a schedule as tight as yours you'll have to spend a little more to avoid wasting precious time.


Here is the info from Keylany (info@keylanyhotel.com), so you can use it to reference pricing from your hotel.

The bus from Aswan to Abu Simbel leaves at
08:00 am
11.30 am
05.00 pm

Excursions:
Notice: Booking for theses tours is neither online nor in advance.

Abu Simbel
One day-trip short tour to Abu Simbel 55 LE /person,
You also can book One day-trip long tour for Abu Simbel 65 LE /person, this tour include a visit to the High Dam in the way back and Philae temple (you still got to pay for the boat ) and the unfinished obelisk all in one package
(Please note that the Egyptian government increased the diesel price with %50 three days ago and as a result the rates might change) we still do not know what would happen, so far no body charges more.

All of Abu Simbel tours start at 4:00am (3 hours driving and 2hours tour at the temple then 3 hours driving back to Aswan, if you have booked a long tour then you still got tours to be done)

These rates are only for the transfer, not include any entrance fees to any of the temples
Booking for these tours upon arrival not online and it goes daily

Entrance fees:-
The entrance fees to Abu Simbel is 61 EGP/person
High dam entrance fees is 5 EGP/person
Philae entrance fees is 35 EGP/person (sound and light show 55 EGP/person)05.30 pm

Agree with 8 on plane versus train, although I never took the sleeper, just the normal train (which is perfectly OK, but you ain't go the time).

Everthing can be done with not to much rushing when :

- start in Aswan fly direct to Aswan
- felucca and Minibus to Luxor
- fly to Sharm all activities based from here.
- fly to Cairo

I don't know, bro, it looks pretty exhausting to me. I'll be there the same time, so maybe I'll sit and a cafe and watch for you as you flash past like roadrunner! A couple thoughts:

- Speed is the enemy of budget travel. The faster you travel, the more it costs. You have no flex time, so you'll have to pay maximum prices for every cab and bus ride.
- You itinerary seems to me like this: run, run, run, felucca, run, run, run, run. I'd die on this schedule! But then again, I know people who enjoy travel like this.
- Flying from Cairo to Abu Simbel might save you a lot of time, and isn't that expensive.

Come ON. I don't see Dendara, any of the oasis towns, or Alexandria on there! Also, don't you want to check out the Suez Canal? and what about kicking back and just chilling in Dahab? maybe attend an all-night rave party or something?

Also, there's lots to see in Cairo. Don't you want to tour Islamic Cairo and then party with some hotties in Zamalek? Don't forget about picking up the good souvenirs at the Khan el-Khalil!

12 - rush it even more? A bit of Islamic cairo is a must I agree, but this guy's only got 19 days.

he was trying to be funny im thinking.

im also thinking he did a hell of a job.