Travel between Cairo/Hurghada/Sharm/Aqaba?

[Ushuaia]

G'day,

Could anybody comment on methods and ease of travel between these places, please? I live in Australia so have to consider best Middle Eastern city to fly into initially, also. Cairo, Bahrain or Dubai, I expect. Would like to (a) take in some history and (b) blow some bubbles. Pyramids, the Nile, Hurghada, Sharm and then hopefully up to Aqaba and Petra.

Plane or boat? Lonely Planet says that there's been talk of starting a boat service bewteen Sharm and Aqaba but that nothing's happened. There is a boat between Aqaba and Nubweiba (north of Dahab), I believe. And travel between Hurghada/the Nile/Cairo - any recommendations?

I'm also keen to take my own scuba gear (to justify owning it!) and wonder if anyone could comment on leaving it/storing it somewhere. Safe enough at dive centres in Sharm and Hurghada, for e.g.?

Perhaps fly into Sharm from Dubai, blow bubbles, leave gear somewhere safe, up to Jordan and Petra, back to Sharm, get gear, check out Hurghada, bubbles, store gear, the Nile, Cairo/Giza, back to Hurghada, fly out to Dubai. Does this sound workable to any of you knowledgeable ones?

Many thanks in advance!

[nickjb]

Travelling around in Egypt is pretty easy. There are buses between all the major towns. Some are better than others (I forget which company was best but the lonley planet guide was accurate). If you can find a few people going in the same direction then a taxi is pretty cheap, too.

From Sharm you can get a bus up the coast to Dahab (great diving) and on to aqaba. Crossing the border can be a bit of a headache (especially at the moment). It is also farily easy to geta bus to cairo to visit the museum and pyramids (well worth doing). There is a fast ferry to Hurghada where you can dive or get a bus to Luxor to visit Valley of the Kings or a take faluca ride on the Nile. You can also get a bus from Luxor or Hurgada to Cairo if you want to do a circular route.

Leaving your gear at a dive centre is no problem. I've done it and met a few others who have, too.

Your route sounds workable.

There probably isn't a 'best' route so here is another suggestion: Fly to Cairo, take in the pyramids or head straight to Sharm, Get few dives in, head up to Dahab, few more dives then stash your gear, up to aqaba and accross to Petra, back to Dahab, then down to Sharm and onto the ferry. Few more dives in Hurghada, stash your gear, down to Luxor for some history, back to Hurghada then to Cairo.

How long have you got as this is quite a bit of travelling? The Lonely Planet has travel times and buses go every couple of hours so you should be able to plan pretty easily.

HTH
Nick

[Ushuaia]

Thanks, Nick, that definitely helps. Will have 6 weeks if I want, that'd be enough, I reckon? Yeah, Cairo is looking like the go for entering the country - flying into Sharm or Hurghada appears to involve flying via Cairo anyway in many cases. Not all, but certainly airlines such as Emirates or GulfAir (ones that come down here to Aus and Singapore) don't go direct to the dive towns.

Thanks again - any other advice warmly welcomed!

Cheers, U

[AbuK]

Well I'd agree with Nick, though as the old adage goes there are many ways to skin a cat.

I have been travelling over the last 10 years round the region though no advice can make up for what you want to do. I'd don't tink Egypt cpouild ever be 'done' whilst others have seen all they wish to see after spending 5 minutes on the Giza plateau!

I'd recommend a flight into amman, RJ (?), at least 10 days to see Jordan's sights, hopping onto the fast ferry from aqaba to Nuweiba, taxi microdeathbus or hitch to dahab for 2 weeks diving (I would also do 2 or 3 days in aqaba), microdeathbus to cairo, cairo museum, giza, train to aswan, bus to abu simbel, back to aswan, felucca to luxor, valley of the kings, karnak etc, train back to cairo and fly out.

if you want more info let me know. If you are a budget traveller I'd skip hurghada and sharm in preference to dahab which is more fun and less 'packaged'.