We spent a total of 18 days in Egypt and Istanbul in March 2025. We are pretty seasoned travelers but are older and priorities are comfort and local culture over sightseeing
Flew SFO-IST and took advantage of the Turkish Air stopover for 3 days. Turkish Air was surprisingly nice nonstop and we had a newer 777. (Not so much on the way home) We didn’t use the TA provided hotel because we got a really nice deal through Amex on the new Sansaryan Han. Really nice hotel in Fatih with an impeccable level of service (indifferent maid service was the only slightly negative) .
It was our first visit to Istanbul and after hearing the horror stories of vendors, cab drivers, etc we were a little on-guard. Turns out a lot of this was over-hyped. Vendors were definitely more aggressive than most of Europe but on the same level as Mexico. Almost all were very friendly about it and had some fun banter even if you didn’t buy anything from them. Pretty much anyone asking about you is trying to sell you something so beware. The tourist restaurants are very easy to spot and avoid and we were never overcharged or given a hard time at any of the local places. We avoided cabs and took a private car service to and from IST that was $95 RT… well worth it. Public transport is easy, clean and the ferry system is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Road traffic is bad (Paris level) and you have to pay attention since cars won’t give you the right away
We did not go into the Blue Mosque or Hagia Sophia because it was the start of Ramadan and pretty busy. We took a 3 hour sunset cruise on the Bosphorus and it was a highlight. We enjoyed the Turkish people and culture any city that takes such good care of their animals has to be full of good souls
The Istanbul skyline is one of the best in the world. Probably the best panoramic cityscape I have ever seen. You could easily spend 2 weeks in Istanbul and not see it all.
On to Egypt where we decided on taking a private week’s tour with a tour company. We never book with tour groups as it is sort of antithesis to how we like to travel but I didn’t want to try to wing this one. Turns out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made.
Cairo…. It’s everything you’ve heard x1000. Biggest chaotic mess I have ever seen. Somehow it works though and the Cairo residents kind of laugh their way through the chaos. Our driver was really good and in less capable hands we probably would have just stayed in the hotel. The roads were that mental. Our hotel had an attached mall with some restaurants which was nice as there was nowhere to really wander and explore Cairo. My main advice for Cairo. Spend the money for an upscale hotel with amenities and hire a driver with good recommendations. Its not a place to wing it and I think that’s where most people go wrong.
Giza and Saqqara. There’s a few travel moments I’ve had in my life that took my breath away. Walking into old town Seville and seeing a huge square open up from one of the tiny side streets and going through the Inside Passage in Alaska at 4 am with the sun rising. Seeing the Great Pyramid for the first time after navigating the mental streets of Giza is up there now.
We took the camel ride to the back of the pyramids and despite all the bad things people say it was one of the highlights of my life. Seeing that view from camel back was dreamlike and you felt world’s away despite only being less than a km from the carpark. The rest of the complex and Sphinx were like discovering a great book as a child but seeing them in real life.
The GEM is really impressive and on par with the modern wing of the Louvre. The stairs up to the main wing are full of incredible statues and sarcophagi. We’ve museum’d out over the years so 3 hours was plenty for us.