Freedom57817978878
01 Jan 2023
We had a fantastic time in Egypt thanks to Your Egypt Tours. I was nervous before we got there, but from the moment we landed, the guides were there to take us to our hotel and set us up with everything we needed. We learned so much history from their knowledgeable guides, and the sights were awe-inspiring. We had private drivers and guides everywhere we went, and it dels extremely safe. I’ve read horror stories from people who have used other companies, so we feel fortunate for our experience. I was skeptical about the Nile river cruise because it sounded cheesy; however, it was very fun and the kids loved it. We did Cairo, Aswan, Luxor, and Hurghada over 10 days. Thousands of pictures and tons of great memories. Definitely recommend this company.
I and my wife had been wanting for long to visit Egypt as were fascinated by its ancient history and culture. Enquiries made with Indian tour operators revealed that their package tours were scheduled on fixed days every month, with rigid itineraries, which we were keen to avoid. We therefore decided to plan our own tour with a local tour operator in Egypt, with whom we could interact directly. Based on a Google search I approached the top five tour operators in Egypt for their offers. The one thing that stood out in the reply sent by Your Egypt Tours was the sentence “we are a small tour company but we assure first-class service”. Thereafter I had an extremely satisfying mail interaction with Mona Hamdy who was always very prompt in her responses. All my queries were answered in detail in blue font (after each query) which made it easy to understand. She very deftly and efficiently handled the finalisation of our itinerary and assisted with the booking process. I also had very satisfying telephone conversations with Ali Nasser who conversed with me in English and responded to all my queries within 24 hours. In all this, the guiding hand of Adel Abu El Naga the owner and CEO was very evident.
Our private (Eight Day-Seven Night) tour, on which our daughter also joined us, was meticulously planned and superbly conducted. Instead of the three day Nile River Cruise, we opted to go by road from Luxor to Aswan, visiting Edfu, Kom Ombo & Philae in a single day. Right from Mohammed who received us at Cairo Airport, whisked us through immigration & customs & checked us in at our hotel, to Egyptologist Guide Mamdouh Ismail with the mini-van driver Mamdouh Yanni who conducted us in Cairo, Giza & Alexandria, to Egyptologist Guide Tarek with driver Mohammed who conducted us in Luxor & Aswan (as well as Ahmed who took us for the Nile dinner cruise and guided us again later), everyone took special care of us and we are filled with appreciation and gratitude for them. Each one put in extra efforts to ascertain that we were comfortable, to adjust to our needs and to escort us for meals outside the hotels as per our choice. Your Egypt Tours had also provided us with a local SIM card each and a i-modem, so that we could remain connected throughout our stay in Egypt. They even catered for drinking water at all times during the tours. We could make out that their main concern was to keep us comfortable and satisfied. Egyptologist guides Mamdouh Ismail & Tarek are extremely knowledgeable, courteous and patient and interacting with them was a real pleasure. Highlights of the visit were the Pyramids & Sphinx in Giza, the Catacoombs in Alexandria, the Valley of Kings in Luxor and the Abu Simbel Temple South of Aswan.
Egypt must be visited for getting acquainted with its ancient civilisation and history. IT IS PERFECTLY SAFE TO VISIT EGYPT. At no place did we feel insecure or unsafe. The locals are friendly and always wanting to help even if they do not fully understand English, which may at times lead to ludicrous situations ! Government officials and police are very polite to tourists and we always felt welcome. Most importantly, adequate tourist facilities exist and are properly maintained. As the locals speak Arabic, it is important to move out escorted by a local guide. Tipping is a norm and we received guidelines on when and how much to tip. We were provided well beforehand with guidelines on what to wear, what to carry and also a list of helpful Arabic phrases.
After going through hotel reviews on Trip Advisor, we had selected the hotels at Cairo, Luxor & Aswan which were booked by Your Egypt Tours. My advice to tourists is : book a 5 star hotel with a proper multi-cuisine restaurant where you can have meals without going out, which normally does not have a rush of tourists on group package tours and ask for a room on a non-smoking floor preferably facing the Nile River (in Luxor & Aswan).
Your Egypt Tours is a small and efficiently managed tour company for which customer satisfaction is of prime importance. We are totally impressed ! They are the very best !