My friend and I took a layover tour with Egypt Fun Tours on June 13, 2012, while awaiting our connecting flight to Dubai. If you email them at one of the email addresses found on their website, they respond within a day. Let them know what you want to see, and you can negotiate the price accordingly. Our trip was $94 each, but we received, in my opinion, more than that. Our flight landed at approximately 11 a.m. EET. Someho,w I missed our tour guide Hani (and his sign with my name on it) as we walked out of passport control towards the baggage claim area, but we got going at about 12:30 (because we got going late, we didn’t get to see the ancient Islamic area of Cairo as we planned). His great driver took us straight to the pyramids in about 40 minutes. As their website confirms, the money you pay includes your entrance fees into the pyramids and later into the Egyptian Museum. Hani was very knowledgeable about all of the attractions we visited. If you haven’t read about the pyramids and the Sphinx since the 9th grade, like my friend and I, feel free to let him know, and he’ll dumb it down for you. LOL At the pyramids, he helped us take over 100 pictures. There are A LOT of locals trying to sell you stuff there. As he’ll tell you, be wary of accepting anything “for free” from them, because they’ll ask you for money (“baksheesh”) afterward. That being said, they are VERY persistent, so remember the words “La. Shukran.” (No, thank you.) and be prepared to use them often. If it’s any help, $1 is worth 6 Egyptian pounds. We didn’t get pounds at the airport, so Hani paid for us to eat and for various other things, which is why I added a lot of money to the price that we paid him. Again, he is definitely worth the money. He told us that the tourism ministry allows them to get a commission on any purchases we make at government-sanctioned vendors, but their company does not accept commissions. He gives you the commission.
After the pyramids, he took us to the Golden Eagle Bazaar, where I bought papyrus art (I just took it to a framer two hours ago). They show you how real papyrus (the stuff that the locals sell at the pyramids is made from cheap banana leaves, not papyrus) is made. The gentleman at the Golden Eagle will offer you some delicious hibiscus tea (be sure to ask the guy for cold tea; the tea was hotter than the weather in Cairo). As I did in all the shops and souks in Egypt, the UAE, and Oman on my 11-day trip, NEGOTIATE THE PRICE DOWN!
From the Golden Eagle, we drove downtown back across the Nile, and through Tahrir Square (3 days before the runoff elections, and we saw absolutely no protests!) to the Egyptian Museum. We were only there for an hour, given that our interest was more in seeing the pyramids, the Sphinx, and Khan el Khalili. You cannot take pictures in the museum. In fact, you can’t even bring a camera into the museum (although you can bring your phone with you). The guards, however, in the museum were very pleasant. Many of them asked where we were from and made small talk (as did most of the people we walked by).
After we left the museum, we stopped and got something to eat. We told Hani we didn’t want a “touristy” type of restaurant, so he took us to a “fast food” restaurant a couple of blocks over from Tahrir Square, in which my friend and I were the only non-locals. I eat falafel at least once a week here in Washington, DC, but that was the best falafel and chicken shawarma I’ve ever had. We also had kushari (the pasta and tomato sauce dish Egyptians love to eat) and foul
(which is just refried beans). I had to chuckle when Hani looked surprised when I told him you can find that in Mexican restaurants in the U.S. Unfortunately, I did not pay attention to the name of the restaurant. Random thought — the place is clean, but bring hand sanitizer with you. They were a bit stingy with napkins (by a bit stingy, I mean they had none), and they had no bathrooms.
As we waited for our driver to pick us up from outside the restaurant, I got some really good pictures. The area reminded me of Chinatown in New York, with all the shops and how small the streets were. Anyhoo, from there we went to Khan el Khalili. By now it was nighttime. Hani tells you what to expect. There were some good deals. I got some good souvenirs for family and friends here for very cheap after some haggling. I’m male and my friend is female. Fellas, don’t be offended if some (actually many) of the locals ask you how many camels for her. LMAO! Of the three countries I went to on this trip, the Egyptians were by far the most fun with whom to interact.
We cut it close getting back to the airport, but Hani’s driver got us there with time to spare. I highly suggest that you check your baggage ahead of time and get a boarding pass for your connecting flight. Chances are that, if we hadn’t, we would have missed our flight.
Have fun with Egypt Fun Tours!
