Egypt unwrapped The adults longed to spend Christmas exploring ancient sites; their children wanted to hit the beach. Jeremy Seal found a way of keeping everyone happy. Sunday Telegraph, 7/11/2010
Inflatable Santas and sleighs, plastic trees and tinsel wreaths crammed the foyer of our Nile cruise boat, but it was the Christmas crib that stopped us in our tracks. Apparently fashioned out of prawn crackers, it looked less like a stable than a cave, with something suspiciously stone-like at the entrance. ‘That would be Easter,’ whispered a scandalised Anna. Our twelve-year-old had clearly been paying attention in RE. ‘They’ve only gone and got his birth and death mixed up.’ ‘And the farm animals have all gone Madagascar,’ exclaimed a gleeful Lizzie, eight. The plastic giraffes, elephants, lions and herds of stampeding wildebeest which surrounded the nativity scene made us fear for the infant Jesus, but not for our holiday. Christmas promised to be not only a great deal sunnier than usual but a whole lot more fun as well.
Egypt, it so happens, has a strong hand in fun; a winning one, even, when it comes to visiting families. The brochures may make more of the country’s frontline draws – pharaonic monuments, biblical landscapes, crossover cultures – but the truth is nothing endears Egypt to visiting youngsters quite like the mild, often playful sense of chaos which prevails there. It may be a shaming admission, this, but one that those intent on visiting Egypt with children would do well to note: the grand tomb of Rameses III at Luxor’s Valley of the Kings, with its engraved vignettes from more than 3,000 years ago, left less of an impression on our daughters than that gloriously wonky crib. The vast columns of Karnak Temple’s hypostyle hall may have rendered their parents speechless, but Anna and Lizzie were more taken with the spectacular towel sculptures - camels, crocodiles, cobras and a particularly artful giant scorpion – that greeted them every evening in our cruise boat cabin. Nor was any obelisk ever going to compare with the sumptuous and bizarre creations – cream-cheese dolphins and melon-cut bunnies as well as pastry reindeer and palm trees – which graced Christmas Eve’s onboard buffet.
A friend back home had warned us against making the standard assumption; a school project on Howard Carter or a passing interest in Cleopatra was emphatically no kind of readying for the heat, crowds, accented commentaries and plain hassle that trailing around Egypt’s antiquities tends to entail.
‘One pylon in,’ promised the friend, ‘one statue of Horus, and you can bet they’ll be turning fractious.’
We planned our holiday accordingly, the two generations participating in tough horse-trading to negotiate a settlement; the parents would have their time in Upper Egypt, getting their hit of antiquities, so long as the children got their spell on the beach. Until 2009, this would have meant submitting to the delay-prone military convoy whereby all visitors were ferried between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea. With the recent lifting of that particular aggravation, amidst a general easing of the region’s security situation, our two-centre arrangement merely entailed a straightforward transfer, at our own pace, across Egypt’s Eastern Desert.
Our cruise boat, which we boarded at Luxor, combined the fittings of an Edwardian farce – panelled corridors, sweep staircases, chandeliers – with the lines of a container ship. It was the upper deck, furnished with a swimming pool and a tea terrace, which transformed it into an improbable triumph. From the loungers we watched orchards of mango trees and date palms, and square-sided minarets slide past. Turbaned villagers watered their cattle at the banks, fishermen dragged nets through the shallows, and a youth in a Rooney shirt practiced kick-boxing moves. The crew turned their backs to the setting sun, laid out prayer mats and knelt in the direction of Arabia.
Early one morning we rode by horse-drawn caleche through Edfu’s market. A veiled woman carried her purchases – a slaughtered rabbit, a live chicken, aubergines – in a slatted crate balanced upon her head. Beyond the gauntlet run of proffered galabiyehs (cotton gowns) and alabaster sphinxes rose Egypt’s best-preserved ancient temple. We had time to enjoy the exquisite hieroglyphs in honour of the falcon deity, Horus, before the girls first asked when we were going back to the boat.
So the parents got to see almost all the sights on their checklist including Komombo, the riverbank shrine to the crocodile deity, and the lovely temple of Isis which was moved to the island of Philae to save it from the flood waters of Lake Nasser. It was only when we arrived at modern Egypt’s great monument to engineering above Aswan that the strain in the arrangement began to show.
‘It’s a dam, Dad,’ said Anna. The pay-off, it seemed, was overdue.
By the time we had transferred to our seaside base at El Gouna, all palm trees and domed villas in earth tones amidst a wilderness of beach-side lagoons, the girls had drawn up an impressive list of their own; snorkelling, camel rides, and even a visit to the dreaded aquapark.
So New Year’s Day found us floating face-down, among the parrot fish and the corals of the Red Sea reefs. We put Lizzie on the back of a camel; it wore a kind of nappy to keep its droppings from dirtying the raked beach. We even tumbled down yellow water rides, among warning signs in Russian, with names like the Flying Carpet Slide. It might have felt like a craven surrender to philistinism; instead I persuaded myself that the girls might one day recall Karnak’s ancient thickets of stone columns, with their lotus flower capitols, and realise that their parents had had a point. But not just yet. Back at the hotel Anna ordered a pool-side mocktail, of grenadine and Seven-Up, which went by the name of Shirley Temple.
‘My kind of temple,’ she declared.
The author travelled with Bales (0845 0570600; www.balesworldwide.com) and Anatolian Sky (08448 757681; www.anatoliansky.co.uk).
ACCOMMODATION:
All prices are for one night’s double room including breakfast.
Movenpick Resort & Spa El Gouna (065 354 4501; www.moevenpick-elgouna.com)
From euros 80 (£72)
For setting and architectural distinction – all Nubian adobe-tone domes amid an extensive network of canals and lagoons - El Gouna is the clear pick of the Egyptian Riviera’s purpose-built resorts. Bags of seafront space, plus a spoiling choice of pools, makes the Movenpick an excellent choice for devotees of golf, water sports and spa pampering alike.
Maritim Jolie Ville, King’s Island, Luxor (095 2274 936; www.maritim.com)
From £50.
What distinguishes this hotel is its spectacular Nile-side position south of Luxor. Extensive grounds and facilities, especially an infinity pool across which passing river boats appear to slide, make for a superbly family-friendly hotel. Spaciousness rather than high style define the bungalow-style rooms, scattered through the wooded grounds, where all children under 12 stay free. Splendid sunset views over the river to the Western Desert.
Keylany Hotel, Keylany Street, Aswan (097 231 7332; www.keylanyhotel.com)
Clean, friendly and deservedly popular travellers’ refuge near Aswan’s bazaar, with an inclusive ‘hostel’ feel. Air-conditioned rooms, good breakfasts, and rooftop facilities including loungers and a small swimming pool. From £7.
NILE CRUISING:
Standard four-night cruises run in both directions between Luxor and Aswan. These cruise boats are excellent value and friendly, but they carry 100-plus passengers and tend to proceed in packs. Expect something of a crowd, especially at your overnight moorings. Cruises from £1095 per adult (£795 per child) as part of a week’s package including three nights at the Maritim Jolie Ville, Luxor, through Bales (0845 075 0600; www.balesworldwide.com)
The discerning alternative comes courtesy of the elegant dahabiyya. This high-sterned houseboat of the belle époque, once favoured by Egyptian royalty, has just six or so double cabins. They are sail boats; when the wind fails they are towed by attendant tug boats. Dahabiyyas have minimal draught and can largely go with the whims of their guests. Expect barbeques on river islands, shore visits to undisturbed ancient sites, remote overnight moorings and an altogether unique experience of the river. From £1370 per person for a seven-night cruise, all-inclusive, through Bales Worldwide (0845 057 0600, www.balesworldwide.com).
RESTAURANTS:
1886 Restaurant, Sofitel Winter Palace, Corniche El Nile Street, Luxor (095 238 0425; www.sofitel.com). French a la carte in grand period surroundings, with dress code and prices to match (£50 per head).
Sofra Restaurant, 90 Mohamed Farid St, Luxor (095 235 9752; www.sofra.com.eg)
This delightful and atmospheric townhouse restaurant in Luxor’s old town, beautifully decorated over several floors, serves some of the best food in Egypt. There is a splendid roof terrace for drinks and for coffee. The restaurant specialises in Egyptian and Middle Eastern mezze cuisine. No alcohol. About £8 a head.
Chef Khalil, Al Souq St, Aswan. (097 231 0142).
Extremely popular, compact (and often crowded) fish restaurant close to Aswan’s railway station. The great virtue of this place is the simplicity of its premise; fresh fish and crab from the Nile or the Red Sea, sold by weight, fried or grilled, and served with salad and rice. About £5 a head.
Organised Tours.
Before they have found their cultural feet many visitors to Egypt prefer to join organised tours or arrange a reliable English-speaking guide on an individual basis (if only to fend off persistent approaches from unreliable, non-English-speaking ones). Expect to pay from around £30 per person for half-day tours. Either the local tourist office or your hotel will be able to advise. A recommended agency, with branch offices throughout Egypt, is Marhaba Tours (022 632 9739 www.marhabatours.com).
More confident visitors to Upper Egypt get around the more accessible historical sites by a combination of ubiquitous and cheap taxis, river ferries and horse-drawn caleches. Agree a price beforehand. Car hire is not recommended. A more practical choice is to hire a car with driver (around £50 per day).
Tickets for antiquities cost between £4 and £10. The ticket to visit three tombs of your choice at the Valley of the Kings (a trio of Rameses - 1, 3 and 9 – is a good start) costs around £10. Tutankhamen is extra and usually means queuing.
THINGS TO DO
Aswan is the best place to organise a trip on a felucca. These open sailing boats can be hired for romantic camping expeditions downstream as far as Komombo. Those with a greater insistence on comfort may prefer to limit themselves to one-hour felucca rides, costing about £8, among Aswan’s river islands.
Many of the marine-rich reefs that make the Red Sea such a divers’ mecca lie so close to the surface as to also make for exceptional snorkelling. This is especially so at the delightfully low-key divers’ resort of Sharm El Naga (010 123 4540; www.sharmelnaga.com), near Hurghada, where the coral reef runs right up the beach to create the ultimate snorkellers’ nursery. A day pass costs £6, and you can hire snorkel gear for another £3.
Dive boats leave for the offshore islands and reefs from most resorts. Easy Divers, El Gouna (065 358 0027; www.easydivers-academy.com) offer snorkelers two-hour trips (£8) or full days (£24, including lunch and equipment).
Jungle Aqua Park, Safaga Road, Hurghada (065 346 4670). Approx £20 per person, (children to 11 £10).
Enjoy a cultural summary of Egypt’s rich history at the Culturama show, a cinema experience with regular showings at El Gouna’s showcase library (approx £6; 065 358 0521; www.elgouna.com).
WHEN TO VISIT
Upper Egypt is perfect for sightseeing in the winter months when temperatures generally average a high of 25 celsius, though water temperatures in the Red Sea may have you reaching for a thin wetsuit. Early spring and late autumn are also fine. The extreme heat of high summer should be avoided, especially August/September this year when the month-long, schedule-throwing Muslim fast of Ramadan falls.
FURTHER READING
The Rough Guide to Egypt (£15.99)
A Winter on the Nile; Florence Nightingale, Gustave Flaubert and the Temptations of Egypt, by Antony Sattin (Hutchinson, £20).
Useful websites: www.egypt.travel and www.elgouna.com.
GETTING THERE
Easyjet (www.easyjet.com) flies Gatwick-Hurghada, with a lead-in one-way price of £79.99. Avro (08719 404040; www.avro.co.uk) fly Gatwick and Manchester to Luxor; Thomson (0871 231 4691) fly Bristol, Gatwick and Manchester to Luxor, and Birmingham, Manchester and Gatwick to Hurghada. Other charter operators include First Choice (0871 200 7799; www.firstchoice.co.uk) and Thomas Cook (0844 412 5970; www.flythomascook.com).
For packages including flights and transfers contact specialist operators. Anatolian Sky (08448 757681; www.anatoliansky.co.uk) has 7 nights B&B divided between the Sofitel Karnak, Luxor and the Intercontinental, Abu Soma Bay, from £845. Discover Egypt (0844 880 0461; www.discoveregypt.co.uk) has 7 nights’ B&B at the Movenpick, El Gouna and the Maritim Jolie Ville, Luxor from £799.
Did you know:
Heavy tax levies mean that alcohol is increasingly expensive in Egypt; expect to pay at least £5 for a glass of the local wine.
Egypt, it so happens, has a strong hand in fun; a winning one, even, when it comes to visiting families. The brochures may make more of the country’s frontline draws – pharaonic monuments, biblical landscapes, crossover cultures – but the truth is nothing endears Egypt to visiting youngsters quite like the mild, often playful sense of chaos which prevails there. It may be a shaming admission, this, but one that those intent on visiting Egypt with children would do well to note: the grand tomb of Rameses III at Luxor’s Valley of the Kings, with its engraved vignettes from more than 3,000 years ago, left less of an impression on our daughters than that gloriously wonky crib. The vast columns of Karnak Temple’s hypostyle hall may have rendered their parents speechless, but Anna and Lizzie were more taken with the spectacular towel sculptures - camels, crocodiles, cobras and a particularly artful giant scorpion – that greeted them every evening in our cruise boat cabin. Nor was any obelisk ever going to compare with the sumptuous and bizarre creations – cream-cheese dolphins and melon-cut bunnies as well as pastry reindeer and palm trees – which graced Christmas Eve’s onboard buffet.
A friend back home had warned us against making the standard assumption; a school project on Howard Carter or a passing interest in Cleopatra was emphatically no kind of readying for the heat, crowds, accented commentaries and plain hassle that trailing around Egypt’s antiquities tends to entail.
‘One pylon in,’ promised the friend, ‘one statue of Horus, and you can bet they’ll be turning fractious.’
We planned our holiday accordingly, the two generations participating in tough horse-trading to negotiate a settlement; the parents would have their time in Upper Egypt, getting their hit of antiquities, so long as the children got their spell on the beach. Until 2009, this would have meant submitting to the delay-prone military convoy whereby all visitors were ferried between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea. With the recent lifting of that particular aggravation, amidst a general easing of the region’s security situation, our two-centre arrangement merely entailed a straightforward transfer, at our own pace, across Egypt’s Eastern Desert.
Our cruise boat, which we boarded at Luxor, combined the fittings of an Edwardian farce – panelled corridors, sweep staircases, chandeliers – with the lines of a container ship. It was the upper deck, furnished with a swimming pool and a tea terrace, which transformed it into an improbable triumph. From the loungers we watched orchards of mango trees and date palms, and square-sided minarets slide past. Turbaned villagers watered their cattle at the banks, fishermen dragged nets through the shallows, and a youth in a Rooney shirt practiced kick-boxing moves. The crew turned their backs to the setting sun, laid out prayer mats and knelt in the direction of Arabia.
Early one morning we rode by horse-drawn caleche through Edfu’s market. A veiled woman carried her purchases – a slaughtered rabbit, a live chicken, aubergines – in a slatted crate balanced upon her head. Beyond the gauntlet run of proffered galabiyehs (cotton gowns) and alabaster sphinxes rose Egypt’s best-preserved ancient temple. We had time to enjoy the exquisite hieroglyphs in honour of the falcon deity, Horus, before the girls first asked when we were going back to the boat.
So the parents got to see almost all the sights on their checklist including Komombo, the riverbank shrine to the crocodile deity, and the lovely temple of Isis which was moved to the island of Philae to save it from the flood waters of Lake Nasser. It was only when we arrived at modern Egypt’s great monument to engineering above Aswan that the strain in the arrangement began to show.
‘It’s a dam, Dad,’ said Anna. The pay-off, it seemed, was overdue.
By the time we had transferred to our seaside base at El Gouna, all palm trees and domed villas in earth tones amidst a wilderness of beach-side lagoons, the girls had drawn up an impressive list of their own; snorkelling, camel rides, and even a visit to the dreaded aquapark.
So New Year’s Day found us floating face-down, among the parrot fish and the corals of the Red Sea reefs. We put Lizzie on the back of a camel; it wore a kind of nappy to keep its droppings from dirtying the raked beach. We even tumbled down yellow water rides, among warning signs in Russian, with names like the Flying Carpet Slide. It might have felt like a craven surrender to philistinism; instead I persuaded myself that the girls might one day recall Karnak’s ancient thickets of stone columns, with their lotus flower capitols, and realise that their parents had had a point. But not just yet. Back at the hotel Anna ordered a pool-side mocktail, of grenadine and Seven-Up, which went by the name of Shirley Temple.
‘My kind of temple,’ she declared.
The author travelled with Bales (0845 0570600; www.balesworldwide.com) and Anatolian Sky (08448 757681; www.anatoliansky.co.uk).
ACCOMMODATION:
All prices are for one night’s double room including breakfast.
Movenpick Resort & Spa El Gouna (065 354 4501; www.moevenpick-elgouna.com)
From euros 80 (£72)
For setting and architectural distinction – all Nubian adobe-tone domes amid an extensive network of canals and lagoons - El Gouna is the clear pick of the Egyptian Riviera’s purpose-built resorts. Bags of seafront space, plus a spoiling choice of pools, makes the Movenpick an excellent choice for devotees of golf, water sports and spa pampering alike.
Maritim Jolie Ville, King’s Island, Luxor (095 2274 936; www.maritim.com)
From £50.
What distinguishes this hotel is its spectacular Nile-side position south of Luxor. Extensive grounds and facilities, especially an infinity pool across which passing river boats appear to slide, make for a superbly family-friendly hotel. Spaciousness rather than high style define the bungalow-style rooms, scattered through the wooded grounds, where all children under 12 stay free. Splendid sunset views over the river to the Western Desert.
Keylany Hotel, Keylany Street, Aswan (097 231 7332; www.keylanyhotel.com)
Clean, friendly and deservedly popular travellers’ refuge near Aswan’s bazaar, with an inclusive ‘hostel’ feel. Air-conditioned rooms, good breakfasts, and rooftop facilities including loungers and a small swimming pool. From £7.
NILE CRUISING:
Standard four-night cruises run in both directions between Luxor and Aswan. These cruise boats are excellent value and friendly, but they carry 100-plus passengers and tend to proceed in packs. Expect something of a crowd, especially at your overnight moorings. Cruises from £1095 per adult (£795 per child) as part of a week’s package including three nights at the Maritim Jolie Ville, Luxor, through Bales (0845 075 0600; www.balesworldwide.com)
The discerning alternative comes courtesy of the elegant dahabiyya. This high-sterned houseboat of the belle époque, once favoured by Egyptian royalty, has just six or so double cabins. They are sail boats; when the wind fails they are towed by attendant tug boats. Dahabiyyas have minimal draught and can largely go with the whims of their guests. Expect barbeques on river islands, shore visits to undisturbed ancient sites, remote overnight moorings and an altogether unique experience of the river. From £1370 per person for a seven-night cruise, all-inclusive, through Bales Worldwide (0845 057 0600, www.balesworldwide.com).
RESTAURANTS:
1886 Restaurant, Sofitel Winter Palace, Corniche El Nile Street, Luxor (095 238 0425; www.sofitel.com). French a la carte in grand period surroundings, with dress code and prices to match (£50 per head).
Sofra Restaurant, 90 Mohamed Farid St, Luxor (095 235 9752; www.sofra.com.eg)
This delightful and atmospheric townhouse restaurant in Luxor’s old town, beautifully decorated over several floors, serves some of the best food in Egypt. There is a splendid roof terrace for drinks and for coffee. The restaurant specialises in Egyptian and Middle Eastern mezze cuisine. No alcohol. About £8 a head.
Chef Khalil, Al Souq St, Aswan. (097 231 0142).
Extremely popular, compact (and often crowded) fish restaurant close to Aswan’s railway station. The great virtue of this place is the simplicity of its premise; fresh fish and crab from the Nile or the Red Sea, sold by weight, fried or grilled, and served with salad and rice. About £5 a head.
Organised Tours.
Before they have found their cultural feet many visitors to Egypt prefer to join organised tours or arrange a reliable English-speaking guide on an individual basis (if only to fend off persistent approaches from unreliable, non-English-speaking ones). Expect to pay from around £30 per person for half-day tours. Either the local tourist office or your hotel will be able to advise. A recommended agency, with branch offices throughout Egypt, is Marhaba Tours (022 632 9739 www.marhabatours.com).
More confident visitors to Upper Egypt get around the more accessible historical sites by a combination of ubiquitous and cheap taxis, river ferries and horse-drawn caleches. Agree a price beforehand. Car hire is not recommended. A more practical choice is to hire a car with driver (around £50 per day).
Tickets for antiquities cost between £4 and £10. The ticket to visit three tombs of your choice at the Valley of the Kings (a trio of Rameses - 1, 3 and 9 – is a good start) costs around £10. Tutankhamen is extra and usually means queuing.
THINGS TO DO
Aswan is the best place to organise a trip on a felucca. These open sailing boats can be hired for romantic camping expeditions downstream as far as Komombo. Those with a greater insistence on comfort may prefer to limit themselves to one-hour felucca rides, costing about £8, among Aswan’s river islands.
Many of the marine-rich reefs that make the Red Sea such a divers’ mecca lie so close to the surface as to also make for exceptional snorkelling. This is especially so at the delightfully low-key divers’ resort of Sharm El Naga (010 123 4540; www.sharmelnaga.com), near Hurghada, where the coral reef runs right up the beach to create the ultimate snorkellers’ nursery. A day pass costs £6, and you can hire snorkel gear for another £3.
Dive boats leave for the offshore islands and reefs from most resorts. Easy Divers, El Gouna (065 358 0027; www.easydivers-academy.com) offer snorkelers two-hour trips (£8) or full days (£24, including lunch and equipment).
Jungle Aqua Park, Safaga Road, Hurghada (065 346 4670). Approx £20 per person, (children to 11 £10).
Enjoy a cultural summary of Egypt’s rich history at the Culturama show, a cinema experience with regular showings at El Gouna’s showcase library (approx £6; 065 358 0521; www.elgouna.com).
WHEN TO VISIT
Upper Egypt is perfect for sightseeing in the winter months when temperatures generally average a high of 25 celsius, though water temperatures in the Red Sea may have you reaching for a thin wetsuit. Early spring and late autumn are also fine. The extreme heat of high summer should be avoided, especially August/September this year when the month-long, schedule-throwing Muslim fast of Ramadan falls.
FURTHER READING
The Rough Guide to Egypt (£15.99)
A Winter on the Nile; Florence Nightingale, Gustave Flaubert and the Temptations of Egypt, by Antony Sattin (Hutchinson, £20).
Useful websites: www.egypt.travel and www.elgouna.com.
GETTING THERE
Easyjet (www.easyjet.com) flies Gatwick-Hurghada, with a lead-in one-way price of £79.99. Avro (08719 404040; www.avro.co.uk) fly Gatwick and Manchester to Luxor; Thomson (0871 231 4691) fly Bristol, Gatwick and Manchester to Luxor, and Birmingham, Manchester and Gatwick to Hurghada. Other charter operators include First Choice (0871 200 7799; www.firstchoice.co.uk) and Thomas Cook (0844 412 5970; www.flythomascook.com).
For packages including flights and transfers contact specialist operators. Anatolian Sky (08448 757681; www.anatoliansky.co.uk) has 7 nights B&B divided between the Sofitel Karnak, Luxor and the Intercontinental, Abu Soma Bay, from £845. Discover Egypt (0844 880 0461; www.discoveregypt.co.uk) has 7 nights’ B&B at the Movenpick, El Gouna and the Maritim Jolie Ville, Luxor from £799.
Did you know:
Heavy tax levies mean that alcohol is increasingly expensive in Egypt; expect to pay at least £5 for a glass of the local wine.
