We did a package tour with LookatEgypt; we flew into Cairo and had three days in Cairo, then flew to Luxor for the Nile cruise. I'll review the cruise separately (spoiler alert - gets 5 stars, was amazing).
Our flight landed in Cairo at 0130 with a seven and three-year-old. We were met at the gate by Ahmed who whisked us over to take care of the Visas while we kept the kids entertained and occupied. We were taken to our hotel and hand-delivered by him, he probably didn't get out of there till close till 0300 in the morning.
The Cairo tour was great, everything you'd expect to see; Memphis, the Egyptian museum, the great pyramids and sphynx. A couple of things we asked to have added on, like the light show on the pyramids that he immediately arranged for.
The pace of the trip was on the speedy side (not a lot of lingering in places) which may not be everyone's taste. But traveling with two kids it was perfect, by the time everyone (us included) were starting to be ready to move on it was time to move on.
We felt quite safe the whole time, and additional requests or small changes in the tour schedule were accommodated gladly.
The one poor mark is that our initial room in the Cairo hotel as _NOT_ as advertised, no pyramid view, and the room was pretty run down and clearly hadn't been cleaned. The hotel was '5 star' which it may have been on a 10 star scale.
However the reason they get the highest rating from us is that they immediately jumped with we mentioned this wasn't what we had anticipated and arranged for us to upgrade to a much nicer toom (more in line with the pictures on-line).
Everything else was delivered exactly as promised, the planning and organization were impeccable. On our flight out of Cairo to Luxor, a huge sandstorm had shut down the Luxor airport, and it was unclear if flights would go from Cairo that day. Our guide stayed with us for three hours in the airport, checking on flights, and keeping us updated. This meant we could just sit there and read (and the kids watch a movie) and not have to do anything while the guide ran around the airport.
It seems like our experience mirrors the experience of others with LookatEgypt, and so it's not an anomaly. Recommend without hesitation - again we had a young seven-year-old and a three and a half year old and they had a blast. Great for young kids.
We were a group of 4 adults and worked with Look at Egypt for our two-week Egypt vacation in late December 2017/early January 2018. We had arranged for all details ahead of time, and Look at Egypt was very responsive via e-mail which allowed us to develop a detailed itinerary before leaving for Egypt (this was important to us as we were planning on visiting multiple cities and had limited time in each).
They provided all transfers and tours for us, including all pick-ups from airport(s) to hotel(s) and back, private tour in Cairo including Egyptian Museum, Giza Pyramids, transfers from Hurghada airport to our destination on the Red Sea Coast, transfer from Red Sea to Luxor, and 4 days of sightseeing in and around Luxor including a hot air balloon ride and lunches on all tour days as applicable.
All of the representatives were very professional, friendly, efficient and spoke fluent English. A representative met our arriving flight in Cairo and helped usher us through immigration and customs, which significantly sped up our arrivals process. Think red carpet service! All of their vehicles were well-maintained, comfortable, clean and operated by excellent and friendly drivers, and we were pleasantly surprised by how on-time everyone was - we never had to wait anywhere. The tour guides were always in touch with the drivers via cell phone, so the minute we walked out of a museum or site, our van pulled up and we were on our way to the next destination.
The tour guides were highly qualified Egyptologists who spoke fluent English and each had more than a decade of experience as tour guides. In addition to being able to speak to the history of the country and the sights, they also provided local insights about life in Egypt, current social and political issues, cultural details, etc. In particular, Dina Danial in Luxor was an outstanding tour guide. We spent 4 days with her touring the West Bank in Luxor, as well as Dendara a little farther afield, and of course Karnak & Luxor Temples on the East Bank of Luxor. Her style was efficient and to the point without rushing us along. It became very obvious that Dina is highly passionate about her work and about Egypt's history as well as current potential as a tourism destination, so she was a pleasure to be around and we sincerely enjoyed her company and insights. She also made some constructive suggestions on how to modify some of our plans slightly which resulted in an improved experience for all of us. We highly recommend Dina's services as a tour guide in Luxor and Southern Egypt in general, and we will most definitely use her again for our next visit. Dina has already inspired us to plan our next trip to Egypt since there are of course more sights to see that we didn't have time for.
The tour guides sometimes suggest brief visits to certain shops for souvenirs, stone work, papyrus institute, etc. They do not receive a commission, and if you are not interested, you can simply request to skip them. You are not obligated to buy anything at all, but the quality of the products there is authentic and original. We ended up visiting several of their suggested shops out of curiosity and enjoyed each of them because they provided some local color and, occasionally, the experience of haggling about the price for a particular souvenir, which is simply what you do in Egypt. Fun memories!
I recommend to book tour packages that include entrance fees/tickets as well as lunches on tour days (which is what we did). Although the entrance fees to the museums and sights are generally not expensive, lines at ticket offices are often long. It is a huge time saver when your tour guide has pre-purchased the tickets and can take you to a local restaurant for a quick lunch as opposed to trying to save a few dollars and instead wasting time by waiting in line or searching around.
Look at Egypt's prices were very competitive, though not the cheapest at first comparison. It is important to pay attention to the details of exactly what each tour company is including in their proposals. Overall, Look at Egypt's prices were a great value given the high quality of all of their services.
All in all, Look at Egypt is a very professional and reliably company that works with outstanding tour guides!
crystalwiseman2018
02 Jan 2018
LookatEgypt is an amazing company that I would highly recommend for any of their tours. Our tour guide Mostafa was incredible. He had the right amount of knowledge and fun that made our day exciting from start to finish. He is so passionate about the country you instantly feel immersed in this wonderful place. He took care of everything for us, answered all our questions, gave suggestions on where to take photos, and taught us so much. LookatEgypt is a friendly, professional company that I would highly recommend to anyone.