For over a year, I have been meaning to get around to sharing some of my experience in Egypt in March 2020. Sadly, the trip was cut short because of Covid, but there is still plenty from the trip that might be of interest to other folks contemplating a trip to Egypt. (Note: I am posting to this forum instead of Trip Reports because most of the recent discussion about Egypt seems to be going on here. Many apologies if that’s a breach of protocol. )
This is a long report, and so I will break it down into several sections:
- Our Tour Company: Djed Egypt Travel
- Sites and Activities
- Accommodations
- Food
- Final Thoughts
My friend and I originally looked at a couple of American tour companies, Road Scholar and Odyssey’s unlimited, with whom we had both had positive experiences in the past. While comparing the various itineraries and trying to figure out if we would rather visit Alexandria or take a cruise on Lake Nasser, I stumbled across a dahabiya cruise. I knew immediately that the dahabiya was what we wanted. As someone whose enjoyment of cruises has always been inversely proportional to the size of the ship, I knew that I would prefer a ten passenger sailing vessel over a 200+ passenger ship.
Djed Egypt Travel
We contacted Djed Egypt Travel, a small, Egyptian-owned company that owns four dahabiyas, a restaurant in Luxor, and a custom/private tour service. They offer a “Classic Egypt Tour” with a fairly standard itinerary that covers the major sites in Cairo, Giza, Saqqara, Luxor, a dahabiya cruise, Abu Simbel, and Aswan. The Classic tour, however, is just a starting point. You can customize the itinerary or accommodations as you wish. We opted to add a couple of extra days in Luxor, including an excursion to Abydos and Dendera and a free day to take a break from tombs and temples , and a few days in Alexandria. Also, as soon as I casually mentioned that I was interested in seeing the tomb of Nefertari, it immediately appeared in our itinerary.
Our final itinerary with Djed was very clear about what was included and what was optional. For example, when we made our arrangements, we weren’t sure whether we wanted to go inside the Great Pyramid. Djed was clear in the itinerary that the pyramid interior was not included in the quote, and he told us what the ticket price would be if we wanted to add it. They were also very clear about what meals were included, refund policies, and so forth. Their pricing was very reasonable. We wound up spending about what we would have spent with one of the American companies, but we got a lot more — the dahabiya, Alexandria, Abydos/Dendera, and such — with Djed.
Our experience once we arrived in Egypt was flawless. In each major city, Djed has a city representative who is responsible for meeting you at the airport and making sure that everything runs smoothly. The city representative is on call 24x7 to handle any emergencies. Each day we had a driver and and an Egyptologist/guide. We had one guide for Cairo, Giza, and Saqqara, and another guide for Luxor. It was a private tour, just the two of us with our guide and driver each day. Our guides were all friendly and extremely knowledgeable, and our drivers were also first rate.
Most importantly, Djed stuck by us when Covid brought everything crashing down. They went above and beyond to help us get out of the country before the airports shut down.
My only cautionary note is that Djed is very slow to respond to email. The owner likes to handle all the correspondence himself, and it’s an overwhelming task. Expect to give him several nudges before you get a response.