Siwa Oasis All inclusive 3 days Tour from Cairo or Giza

We had heard great things about this tour and the description looked really promising. However we did not get value for money. Day 1 involved a 9hour drive directly from Cairo to Swia. Our driver stopped at a small shop prior to leaving and brought us all water and snacks. Our driver was falling asleep at the wheel, we later found out he had about 2 hours sleep. Once he had a few near misses nearly nodding off at the wheel he had the windows down and was playing loud techno music and was constantly on his phone whilst driving, scrolling the internet and making really loud phone calls. On arrival to Siwa at 15:00 we had lunch in a small restaurant and then were dropped at our desert camp hotel, which was very nice. We were given little to no information by our driver, except we were asked to meet him at 16:30. He took us to watch the sunset. We then picked up pizza for dinner. There seemed to be no communication of dietary requirements despite stipulating upon booking. We took ourselves to a local shop to buy drinks. We were dropped at our hotel where we ate without our driver as he was not staying with us. We had no contact details if we had needed anything. The next day we met our driver at 9:30am for a day of activities. We had to probe for information and the tour did not follow the itinerary provided when booking: We had a nice tour of the local town and historical sites with a local guide. We were then taken to the salt lakes, which as others have commented is an industrial site. Be warned there are no toilets or changing facilities. We then moved on to Cleopatras pool which felt like a pond in the middle of a village with litter floating in it. We had a nice lunch here where our driver fell asleep and so we were late leaving, which meant we had less time to shower at our next hotel before heading out to the desert activities. The desert was amazing and dinner at a local restaurant lovely too. Our guide was very chatty and kind. The next day we left swia at 9am and arrived back at our hotel in Cairo at 20:00. Our driver spent most of the journey again on his phone and driving dangerously (stopping in the far lane of the motor way on multiple occasions to wait for another vehicle in our group). At one point he was driving with his foot up on the dashboard! I appreciate driving in Egypt is very different to the UK but the driver displayed no care or professionalism. I didn’t feel safe with him driving. I think we had a bad experience due to our driver. It felt as though we were an inconvenience to him and he had no concern for our wellbeing. I had to ask on multiple occasions if we could stop somewhere to buy water on the first and second nights and when I asked if was clear this annoyed him. There were two others who joined my friend and I who spoke Spanish and very little English. They had booked for a Spanish tour but were with us on an English spoken tour. When they asked the driver about this he just shrugged and said maybe the local tour guide speaks English, this was not the case. The accommodation was nice and staff we met there friendly. But compared to other excursions and experiences we have had in Egypt this tour was not good value for money. Unfortunately with Viator and Get Your Guide used as only a booking facilitator, this tour seems to be largely dictated by the personality and professionalism of the driver. It is very much an Egyptian experience and far removed from other ‘western’ run tours.

It was a fantastic, out-of-this-world experience! My sons and I joined a tour from Cairo to Siwa, which we booked through the Viator app. The trip lasted for two nights and three days. Our excellent driver picked us up from the hotel at 4 a.m. for an eight-hour drive through the Sahara Desert to Siwa. Upon our arrival at the hotel, we rested before embarking on an early evening tour. We enjoyed a desert drive in a 4x4 vehicle with an experienced driver, navigating up and down the sand dunes. We reached Suhra Aldabaeih, where we savoured late afternoon tea and snacks by a spring water pool before setting off for sandboarding in the desert. On the second day, we explored various historical sites, including the Shali Fortress, Dakrour Mountain, Oracle Temple, an ancient Egyptian burial ground known as the Mountain of the Dead, the Siwa Cultural Museum, and a Siwa library. We went to Sabkha Salt Lake for a swim but were too tired, so we opted out of going to Cleopatra Spring Pool. Our driver took us to Siwa Oasis in the evening, where we enjoyed drinks while watching the sunset. Our local tour guides, Gabriel and Abu Bakr were great storytellers with incredible knowledge of Siwa's history and culture. We gained valuable insights into Siwa's background. The local people are genuine, and Siwans have a strong sense of family unit. Thank you to Abu Bakr, Gabriel, our experienced Siwa driver, and the driver who took us to Siwa and back to Cairo. We appreciate their dedication to making our trip meaningful, eye-opening, and enjoyable. It is fascinating to learn how Siwans maximise their resources by growing date palm trees. They eat the fruit, use the leaves for shelter and fencing as well as weaving baskets, and use the trunks for building houses and supporting roofs.

El viaje fue un poco al son del chofer y guias, no siguiendo el programa al completo. Ya que en el viaje desde asuan a siwa, no hubo desayuno en marsa matrou, si no, el chofer cogio desayuno egipcio en asuan y lo comimos en el coche, hicimos parada en una gasolinera a coger un cafe por nuestra cuenta. Una vez llegado a siwa, 1h buscando el hotel, no sabia donde estaba. Los hoteles dejan mucho que desear, las cabalas en el desierto eran buenas, pero el hotel al que nos llevaron estaba viejo, y la habitacion olia muy mal. Los desayunos muy pobres, no tenian ni cafe en el campamento, solo te. Por ultimo, en las salinas solo vimos y nos bañamos en una grande de la entrada, pedimos que nos llevaran a las pequeñitas para hacer fotos y no dio tiempo porque viajabamos con una pareja que hacia otro programa de 1 dia menos, cosa que no es nuestro problema. En definitiva, hay agencias que lo hacen y seguro que mejor.