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Egypt safety, food, and hotel location

Posted by (Inlet Beach, FL) on

Am following the post on Egypt-Self Planned. I have additional questions.

I am wondering what is the very best location in Cairo to stay. I've read Zamalek and Garden City. Am considering going upscale on this one, maybe the Four Seasons Nile Plaza or the Kempinski Nile Hotel (Garden City) or the Marriott Zamalek.

Questions:
- Do you need an entire day for the GEM? That's not a problem with time, just curious if that day we could take a taxi to the museum and back and not have a driver/guide?
- Can you walk around safely as a couple in the daytime (I'm not sure where we'd be walking ourselves, maybe a restaurant if not wanting to eat in the hotel)!! We are not risk averse and have been to a few tense places but are extremely careful to be accompanied appropriately.
- Assume food and drink is safe in hotels but what about other restaurants? What to look for? Understand ice might be iffy and best to avoid.
-Are there any areas we should avoid?
- We do want to visit St Catherines and understand we should travel to Sharm el Sheikh to do so. Has anyone done that efficiently from Cairo?

For info, we do plan to do a Nile cruise.
Thank you!!

Posted by
997 posts

I have stayed with a tour group at the Marriott in Zamalek and it is very nice. That area is — for Cairo — quite walkable. The issues with walking in Cairo aren’t any concerns with criminality, but rather, crossing streets safely in the chaotic traffic, the heat (depending on time of year), and getting lost. At the Zamalek Marriott you will encounter (in my experience) groups of affluent Saudis and Gulf States citizens hitting the whiskey heavily at the bars, especially late evening, but they won’t molest you! Quite near the Marriott is a very nice pizza restaurant, Maison Thomas. I know you’re thinking, what, pizza in Cairo? But you’ll have plenty of Egyptian food on your trip, and this place has been around since 1922 and the pizza is really good. My trip to Egypt was before the GEM so I can offer no advice about that. I enjoyed seeing the old Egyptian Museum.

Posted by
1693 posts

We visited in 2024, before the GEM was open, and spent about half a day in the old Egyptian Museum which gave us just about enough time. With GEM you will also need to add in travel time to Giza.

We felt absolutely safe walking around. As Slate says the main thing to be cautious about is crossing the street (just follow what the Caireens do!). We visited all over including taking the metro and felt safe, just take the usual precautions as with any major city.

We also ate at restaurants not in hotels. Again usual precautions apply- I wouldn’t have anything with ice or fresh fruit/veg that hasn’t been peeled or cooked.

St Catherine’s is on the Sinai Peninsula so I would just check government advice about visiting first. I think the UK government advises against travel to Sinai except for Sharm el Shaikh.

Posted by
2328 posts

I don’t remember what hotel we stayed at. It was upscale and had a very up close view of the pyramids. Crossing the street was like playing Russian roulette. Keep eye contact with the drivers and pray.
Every single person on our tour, but the youngest and the oldest, got an enteric bug. It was horrible. I got it near the end of the tour and my husband at the beginning of the tour. I retired from Disease Control and Prevention and was very much aware that we needed to be careful. Still got me.

We enjoyed our visit. Good luck.

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