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I will be in israel in january and want to take a couple of weeks to go to egypt (not just diving). Was thinking of the following itinerary all via airplane.
tel aviv - cairo - luxor - sharm - cairo. Does this make sense? any suggestions? is it pretty easy to get around by air within egypt? does cairo - luxor -sharm make sense or should it be cairo - sharm -luxor, or does it even matter?
thanks in advance.
Once in Egypt, getting around is easy and relativly cheap on Egyptian Airlines, however, finding a flight from Tel Aviv to Cairo will be difficult (Arabs and Isreal don't mix well) and there appears to be no direct flights. Also, there is something about getting the correct visitor's visa went crossing via Eilat, if you get the wrong one, you cannot go from the Sinai to mainland Egypt (west of the Suez canal).
You can fly or bus down to Eilat which is resort/border town with Egypt, walk across the border and catch another bus down to Sharm El Sheik (4 hours) then fly to Cairo for about $75.00 USD.
Do some research about Dahab, which is on the road to Sharm. It is a nice inexpenisive place and with decent diving, plus they have a blue hole to check out.
There is a great sleeper train from Cairo to Luxor, done that twice, very easy way to travel and the train follows the Nile, so loads to see in the morning. Air Egypt Express for internal flights is great. About an hour flight from Sharm to Cairo and a little more to Luxor.
For Diving, Sharm has the Ras Mohamed National Park and The Straights of Tiran, Well know world class dive sites.
Egypt Air shafted me when I was flying from Marsa Alam. I called a few days earlier to check up on my flight and they told me it had been delayed by a few hours. On arriving at the airport I was informed that the flight had in fact taken off as originally scheduled. Wonderful.
I had to pay for the taxi up to Hurghada and pay for a new flight. I was not impressed.
I worked in Israel for 9 months one time... I left @ 6-7 years ago. I had no problem crossing Eilat and caught a cab to Sharm. Fee for the cab was not much as I remember but the music was really shrilling and reminded me of a bad Chinese opera!!! Driving at 3am through the mountain passes without headlight on can cause a moment or three of worry! Bandits as he said!!! I would do it again but only in the daylight...!
Flying from Israel to Egypt (or anywhere else for that matter) is a true test of patients!!! No if's, and's or but's about it... It can take several to many hours to get through security!!!
Personally, I would cab from Eilat it if you had the time to Sharm (catch Dahab on the way), fly from Sharm to Cairo, or if you intend to hit Lexor, see if a ferry crosses from Sharm to Port Safaga, hit Lexor and cab it north to Cairo and then fly into Israel. I loved Israel and would go back in a moment and I didn't even dive at the time... Egypt is very poor, not India poor but I loved India and have little to say about Egypt. Cairo was good for a day or two; seeing the Spinx, Pyramids, Museum, Citadel, and the City of the dead (really poor area so be careful)... Tour Guides will hit you up but expect to pay twice what they say as they expect equal the cost in tip...
I did not go to Luxor so I can not comment but I have been to alot of places and Cairo did little for me other than what I mentioned above to see. I am sure others will suggest many other places to go in or around Cairo but for me, it was good to see what I did see but we spent a week in Cairo and that was probably 4 to 5 days to long... You may love it there but I would enjoy the other areas in Egypt and 2 or 3 days in Cairo... It all depends on what your into...!
If your going to go to other arabic countries, have the Israelies stamp your boarding pass instead of your passport. That stamp will keep you out of some countries and hassels in others... Tell them your a service engineer and travel alot... I was and did and it worked for me... but I also had a passport full of stamps...
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