We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
If you’re looking for a prompt, reliable, safe, and private Cairo tour – look no further. Experience Egypt Tours provided an excellent service to my family this past May. I’ve briefly written about our experience and published a video on our YouTube channel, but I wanted to further explain the service provided and why I would recommend them. We were in direct contact with Mohamed Bahaa, whom you can reach here: mohamed@experienceegypttours.com or via Whatsapp +20 100 175 92 67, from the start and throughout the tour.
Prior to arrival we corresponded with Mohamed and requested a one day tour including arrival services, expedited visa processing, private transfer, a tour of the Egyptian Museum with a private driver, tour of the Pyramids and Sphinx, and private transport back to the airport. We couldn’t have been happier.
Arrival into Egypt
Arriving into Cairo airport we were greeted prior to immigration by a contact holding a sign with our name on it and within minutes our visas were processed, we were whisked through immigration, our bags were collected, and we were in a car heading to the hotel.
Hotel: Ritz Carlton Cairo
This was one thing that we arranged separately. My parents were using points for their stay and Dave and I used Josh King who provided a Ritz STARS rate for roughly $200-225. You can read the entire review here but it was an excellent stay.
Egyptian Museum
At 8am we were greeted by Rady and our driver and whisked off to the Egyptian Museum. The picture above is actually taken from the front of the m
useum so you can see the close proximity. One thing to note… you need cash. We scrambled around, but the museums ATM machines weren’t operable, and ultimately Rady had to loan us the money.
Same thing at the pyramids and sphinx.
I wouldn’t miss visiting the museum, and would highly recommend Rady. He’s a professor at the university, I believe in Egyptian History, and his knowledge was unbelievable. We asked a lot of questions, and not only did he know the answers, but was eager to answer and his excitement was infectious.
Perfume tour
En route to the Pyramids we stopped at a local perfumery and sampled local oil based fragrances. We had tea, a sweet, and after roughly 30-45 minutes were on our way to see the Pyramids. It’s an interesting tour and the man who runs the place is an absolutely character.
Lunch
We had lunch at a local Egyptian restaurant that caters to tourists. I’m expecting to do this tour again in 2020 and will probably request to have lunch at the Mena House. It has an outdoor, poolside restaurant that overlooks the Pyramids that looks absolutely incredible. This would be extra, but worth it.
The Pyramids
You can’t really describe the feeling that overcomes your body when you’re standing in front of them. They’re far larger than I’d imagined, steeper, and awe inspiring. They’re also really close to town. Nothing like you see in photoshopped pictures that place them in the middle of nowhere.
The Sphinx
We also toured the Sphinx, learned of its history, and saw where they set up for the night, light show. This is something I will certainly do upon returning to the area.
Papyrus Museum
After leaving the Sphinx, we stopped at a Papyrus museum and had our names written in Egyptian hieroglyphics. We also learned about the process of which it is made, and popped in a souvenir shop across the street.
Overall:
I’m planning on going back to Cairo in the new year with my fiancee and will be using Experience Egypt Tours again and potentially curating some more activities like the Souq and Coptic churches. I’ll update this post when I do.
Additionally, this wasn’t sponsored, but rather Mohamed was referred to me by Fabio at https://passageirodeprimeira.com/
If you’d like to read more you can do so here at Tripadvisor:
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.