Abu Simbel day trip from from Aswan

Our trip the Abu Simbel was an amazing experience greatly enhanced by our guide Emad. His knowledge and expertise shone through and his care and attention to our every need ensured we had a superb excursion to what is one of the world’s greatest historical sights. We were amazed at how quiet it was. A sad reflection of how many tourists have stopped coming to Egypt. From our perspective, we have found the people of this remarkable country to be nothing but friendly and welcoming, and have felt totally safe at all times. The troubles in the region may as well be a million miles away.

Loved seeing the temple on the outside for the first time with its powerful and imposing statues! The reliefs inside are wonderfully well preserved. We took the car drive through the desert and prepare for a long one ! Great guide and professional driver along with rich Egyptian stories of the ancient kingdoms.

We (family of 4 with 2 small kids) arrived in Cairo and was met by Mohamed Issa. We are from South Africa and booked our Egypt Vacation with Deluxe Travel. Mona the ever helpful Agent assisted us with every detail in our trip itinerary. She was always accommodating and responded swiftly to our every request. Mohamed Issa, wonderful gentlemen assisted us as soon as we touched down in Cairo and assisted us till we boarded our fight to Aswan, 3 hours later. He also went of his way to help with a baggage issue we encountered with Egypt Air. Our 1st stop: Aswan! Quick 1 hour 30min flight, was met at the airport by the extremely knowledgeable and warm host, Mohamed El Aswany. As we arrived early, 9:30 am, we proceeded to the High Dam and Philae Temple. Every detail from start to finish was arranged and we never had to lift a finger. No detail misses Mohamed, and he was ever ready to share his secrets and knowledge of the area. He encouraged us to visit Abu Simbel which we initially had on our itinerary but was considering canceling due to the kids and the early departure, but we did it and never regretted. Day 2 we did the Abu Simbel tour and a cruise down the Nile to the Nubian Village in the late afternoon which was an interesting experience. In Aswan we stayed at the Movenpick, which is on a little island in the middle of the Nile. Great choice!! Amr had driven us throughout the 2 days and to Luxor in the mini-van which was exclusively for us throughout our stay. All in all a wonderful busy start to our tour/vacation. Would highly recommend our guide Mohamed El Aswany and Deluxe Travel. To be continued....next stop Luxor

Very poor experience with Deluxe travel! We booked all Egypt trips through Deluxe (Giza, Luxor, Aswan / Abu Simbel -- overall more than $500 in business for Deluxe) thinking this would make things simple for us and be an incentive for Deluxe to provide good service. Unfortunately, you need to be VERY CLEAR with Deluxe as to every detail of what you want to do before booking otherwise they will take any opportunity to charge you more, leaving you feeling cheated. Prior to booking and travelling to Egypt, I had written to Dexlude to clarify saying "On the days that we have the car, driver & guide, I wanted to confirm that we would have them for the full day -- is that correct? So we will have the flexibility to see the sights at our own pace and as we wish?" and they wrote back confirming that yes, it was for the FULL DAY. However, when we got to Aswan for our Abu Simbel trip, we asked to see the Philae temple on our way to Abu Simbel as it is barely a 20 minute addition to the drive and we had already paid for a 2-day trip and we would have more than enough time to include it. We were told this would be an additional $70! We were very frustrated as it fit well within the route and did not exceed the 2 full days we had already paid for. But, what was most frustrating was how Deluxe handled it. When we made this request and said we felt we should not have to pay more as we had already paid for the full days, Deluxe became very argumentative with us. They sent us multiple emails over the course of an evening, ruining our time on our vacation. They were combative and not customer friendly. Our guides and drivers through Deluxe were all good, it is a pity that the company's customer service is truly terrible and rude!!