Dagstur till Luxor från Marsa Alam

Together with my mother and another couple we met in our hotel booked this excursion. We had a great day! Nicely picked up at the hotel by the driver. In Port Safagr our guide Khalil Khalil also boarded. Quietly met and discussed what the program for the day would be exactly. We are allowed to receive a lot of information at all locations and also time to walk around quietly and enjoy all the beauty. Lunch at a restaurant on the Nile was very tasty. It is a long day but definitely recommended to make a holiday in Egypt really complete!

1. The tour over promised in terms of time and completely failed to allow any window to the activities marked with « free time ». Arrival was at 10:30 instead of 9:30, return was 10:30 instead of 9 despite of having been picked up 1 hour before schedule (4:00) and returned 1 hour before planned (16:30). 2. The car driver was gentile but you could observe he was absolutely exhausted and this put in danger both our lives. He constantly asked us if he could raise the music volume (to very loud) so that he would not fell asleep; he made constant stops all over the road to go jogging and avoid falling sleep; stopped three times to say hello or hand over thing to friends. 3. The driver was accompanied by an unexpected person on our way there; given the security concerns surrounding Egypt, it was very worrying to be driven in the middle of the dessert for 5 hours in this condition. 4. I understand cultural aspects linked to their religious believes but not providing the service at its optimum because « too tired to do that » is not acceptable. Our tour guide provided us with explanations of 5 minutes maximum. Avoided at all costs to walk next to us and he was running constantly looking for the shade to hide up while any other guides we observed were with their groups explaining in detail all about the surroundings; something we were expecting by the fact of this being a private tour. 5. The tour looked to oversell extra services instead of providing first those listed on the program.

Lovely day. No complaints. Driver was on time and a pleasant drive to luxor. We met our tour guide Mr Hanni who elegantly explained the history of Egypt. The tour of the sites was without any disappointment and we had a lovely lunch. Hanni was great and we enjoyed our discussion regarding the history. All my questions were answered and they were a lot! Overall a great experience and worth every penny. Thanks

On Wednesday 27 March a day excursion made from Marsa Alam to Luxor via Excursions Egypt. Site found by Googling and apped via one of the phone numbers listed there with one of the 2 conctat persons (Muhammad in this case). In easily readable Dutch quick and clear responses to all my questions. The trip itself was a particularly long day, but very rewarding. We were picked up from Marsa Alam at 04:30 at our hotel. A van that would fit up to 14 people for us alone; all day. 2 friendly drivers (Ramadan and Sam) who got us veilg all day where we needed to be. The drive from Marsa Alam to Luxor takes about 5 hours (of which about 20 minutes coffee-stop). Start at the temple of Karnak where our Dutch speaking guide (Muhammad) was already waiting for us. It has to be said; he spoke Dutch better and more clearly than many a Dutchman himself....! Karnak is a beautiful temple where there is much to see. There we had about 1.5 hours to look; longer would certainly not have been a bad thing, but there were more stops that day... After Karnak we crossed the Nile by boat (nice surprise; was not in the program) to go to a restaurant (Africa) for lunch. Very friendly people, excellent food and fantastic views over the Nile and the city of Luxor. Food is included in the price; only drinks must be paid separately. Then towards the Valley of the Kings where you can visit 3 tombs. Which graves you can visit you do not know in advance; there are graves open per rotation and so not all graves can be visited. Important to know: Visiting the tomb of Tutankhamun must be paid for separately (not included in the price of the excursion) and if you want to take pictures (and you want to!!!) then you have to buy a separate ticket for it. That ticket costs 300 Egyptian pounds (approx. € 17,-). Euros are not accepted there (as they are elsewhere in Egypt) and there is no ATM available. So make sure you have cash Egyptian pounds with you! After the Valley towards the temple of Hashepsut where you also have about 45 minutes to look and walk. Transport from entrance to temple with small trains. Finally a short stop (10 min) at the colossi of Memnon after which the guide said goodbye to us again. Then the journey home which due to crowds took around 6 hours (with another coffee stop of about 20 minutes). We were back at our hotel around 21:45. A long day but very rewarding. Especially if you compare the Service Level to the price (€ 115,- pp). Also namely 'aftercare' in the sense of whatsapp messages asking if everything had been good and satisfactory. Absolutely recommended if you don't have huge objections to travel (which this organization of course can't do anything about).

<p>It was a long day but worth it. Our guide Hoda was a perfect and made the experience outstanding.</p>