Egypt has always seemed like an incredibly exotic destination to me. The Great Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, the Nile River… it’s all the stuff out of history books. I recall an ex-boyfriend telling me that he had visited Cairo and stayed at the Four Seasons where he had a view of the pyramids from his room. At the age of 27, the farthest I had ever traveled was London. My country count was a big old three: the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. I had never stayed at the Four Seasons in any city or country before. His Egypt trip sounded like one of the most incredible, aspirational experiences I could imagine.

Fast forward ten years. I was researching flight routes to get me from Casablanca to Cape Town and found an EgyptAir flight with an overnight stopover in Cairo. “You have to do it,” my friend Johnny told me. “You only need a day to see the pyramids. And you can ride camels as well.” The nugget planted in my mind, I started to investigate the safety of visiting Egypt, especially as a woman traveling on her own. When my schedule opened up based on my other friends’ equally busy lives, I came up with the ultimate stopover itinerary: two nights in Cairo and two nights in Istanbul (another city high on my “I really really want to go but am waiting for safety reasons” travel list). Then I would take my first ever Qatar Airways flight through Doha to ultimately meet my brother in Cape Town on Friday morning. Are you tired yet? It was an ambitious itinerary, but I was excited (and a little anxious) about every moment.

Planning for Egypt

I’m not going to lie, I was very apprehensive about traveling to Egypt solo. My parents had been supportive of my decision to take time off from work to travel, but my dad and stepmom expressed doubt when I told them about my intention to visit Egypt. My brother, whom I count as one of the most adventurous solo travelers in my life, concurred. At the time, the US State Department classified Egypt as a country with a Level 3 travel advisory (“Reconsider Travel”) based on recent terrorist activity. Not something to take lightly.

Well, shit. Was I taking an undue risk traveling to Egypt (and Turkey, for that matter)? Ultimately, I decided that both countries were in a stage of recovery, at least from a tourism stability perspective. This could be a good time to visit without hordes of other travelers. Not to mention, reduced demand means lower prices. I would just plan my visit extremely carefully. I’d stay in the nicest places and I’d book a trusted guide to show me around. I ultimately used the same tour company to book transfers to/from the airport, so I basically had handlers for my entire stay in Egypt. It may have been overkill, but it gave me peace of mind. When I return next time, perhaps I’ll wing it a bit more… on second thought, maybe not.

Getting to Cairo

I booked a business class ticket from Casablanca to Cairo on EgyptAir. As mentioned above, I was a little nervous about my solo travels in this part of the world, and wanted to be as comfortable as possible.

However, just sitting at the gate was a little uncomfortable. First, one woman sat right down on my bag perched on the seat next to me. When I first sat down, plenty of seats were still open, and I would’ve gladly put my bag on the floor if someone wanted the empty seat next to me. A simple gesture and a smile was all that was necessary, but I suppose I was getting an introduction to Egypt.

Another woman plopped herself down on the small food/drink tray attached to my seat and stayed there for 30 minutes. At first I was put off, but then I decided to just embrace the experience. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to intimidate me so she could take my seat, or if she just enjoyed sitting in such close quarters with strangers, but I was going to hold my ground.

Then the flight was delayed. It was hard to understand exactly what was happening with all of the announcements in the airport in Arabic and heavily accented English. Thank god for flightaware.com making it clear when the incoming aircraft was actually going to land.

From then on, my first EgyptAir flight experience was pretty relaxed. The crew did a good job of ensuring that Business Class passengers got to board first. The seats were very nice and spacious. Food was okay. If only they served booze. EgyptAir is a dry airline, which I knew going into the flight. It wasn’t a big deal, but I really could’ve used a glass of champagne after the pre-boarding experience. I actually had pretty low expectations going into the flight based on the no alcohol policy and the fact that my friend Erica had experienced a smoking flight recently on EgyptAir. Yep, people were lighting up cigarettes and smoking while the plane was in the air! I had no idea that was still legal on any airline. Anyway, it wasn’t the best flight of my life, but it certainly wasn’t the worst either.

Upon landing it wasn’t too difficult to navigate through Immigration. I had made sure to get my Egypt eVisa online while preparing for the trip in New York, and I had my visa, hotel reservation and departing flight reservation details all printed out, as the Egyptian government had advised. Upon arrival, it wasn’t clear if this meant anything, or if it was just a pretense to make money, because the woman at Immigration didn’t seem to give a f**k when she stamped my passport and dismissed all my paperwork.

From Immigration, I headed toward Baggage Claim and Customs with eyes peeled. I wasn’t sure exactly where my driver was going to meet me, and I wanted to be sure I didn’t miss him/her. Not a problem, thankfully. I spotted a man in a suit walking toward me and carrying a sign with my name on it as I neared the stairs for Baggage Claim. Then I learned he wasn’t even my driver. I basically had an escort to take care of me every step of the way. He’d help me navigate through Baggage Claim and Customs, bring me to my driver and coordinate the pick-up times for my tour the following day, as well as my return transfer the day after that. This was beginning to feel less adventurous by the minute, and I was okay with that.

The drive to the Four Seasons First Residence took around 30 minutes. My driver told me that traffic would typically be really bad, but I had arrived during their spring holidays, so I wouldn’t get to experience the horrendous Cairo traffic. You wouldn’t hear any complaints from me. In the dark, Cairo looked like a pretty modern city with high rise buildings and bright lights (I’d gain a different perspective in the daytime). Everyone on the street drove like maniacs, swerving in and out of nonexistent lanes to pass each other.

We arrived at the hotel safely, and the check-in process went smoothly. Initially I had wanted to stay at the brand new St. Regis Cairo, but the opening of that property kept getting delayed (rumor has it that construction/permits were being help up for political reasons). As of April 2020, an entire later, the hotel still hadn’t opened.

The Four Seasons First Residence was a good second choice. While it was starting to show its age, the price was extremely reasonable for a Four Seasons. My room on the 15th floor was spacious with a terrace and a view of the pyramids (on a clear day). I had a 6:30am wake-up call, so nothing crazy was going to go down on night one. I felt giddy about the fact that I was in Egypt. This was really happening! 

Breakfast at the Four Seasons

My guide was coming to pick me up at 8am (we wanted to start early so we’d be done before the peak heat hit in the afternoon). I definitely wanted to take advantage of the complimentary breakfast at the hotel before a big day of sightseeing. Well worth it – excellent buffet spread as well as a la carte hot dishes. I think at least five different members of the staff spoke to me in the 20 minutes that I spent at the restaurant. One wanted to point out that I could see the lion at the zoo across the street from where I was seated (barely, but he wasn’t exactly lying). Another offered to make me a traditional Egyptian breakfast dish that I later discovered was ful medames – a vegetarian stew made of fava beans, diced vegetables, herbs and spices (I politely accepted even though I didn’t really want any more food. But oh my god – it was so good, I couldn’t stop eating it). A third man asked where I was from and told me his cousin lives in New York. “Now I know that what he has been saying is true. Beautiful women!” Kind of creepy, but I just smiled and said thank you.

My guide arrived a few minutes early, just as I was paying the bill. One of the women on the Four Seasons staff actually came upstairs to the restaurant to tell me someone was waiting for me downstairs. Also kind of creepy that she knew to find me at breakfast, but I’ll chalk it up to good service and security.

First Stop: Saqqara

I had the same driver as the previous night (in fact, he’d drive me to the airport the following morning as well). Once again, his only job was to drive; I had a local female guide named Hanan who would be showing me all the sites and teaching me about everything. 

Hanan explained the plan for the day: we’d start by driving out to Saqqara, where I could see the oldest pyramids and tombs (dating back to 2700 BC). Then we’d stop to see the Memphis remains and we’d finally end at the main attraction: the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx.

First thing I’ll say: the tour required a lot of driving. Everyone kept telling me that I was lucky that I was visiting during the dates I was in town since it was a holiday, so traffic wasn’t bad. However, there was only so much that Hanan and I could talk about between sites. This was one of the downsides of having a private tour. At least with a group, you have other people to talk with to pass the time.

We finally arrived at the Saqqara and got out of the car to walk around for an hour or so. One tip: do not wear open-toed shoes for a tour in the desert! I don’t know what I was thinking; my feet got totally dusty and the first thing I did when I returned to my hotel room at the end of the tour was to scrub them for about five minutes. But at least my outfit looked cute.

The Saqqara site is the most famous necropolis of Memphis. It includes one pyramid (as I mentioned, the oldest of all of Giza’s 108 pyramids) that is currently being restored.

In addition to the pyramid, there are a bunch of other things to see: numerous tombs, hieroglyphics and other remains. There are very few signs explaining what anything is, so I don’t think you would get 1/10 of the information out of a visit if you didn’t have a guide with you. There is also SO much to see. Hanan estimated that one could spend at least three days seeing it all. A few other interesting tidbits:

According to Hanan, the site likely includes significantly more remains hidden underground. She said that the government may know the full extent of what the site contains, but this information hasn’t been disclosed to the public. I asked how they decide which remains to display, which tombs to open to the public and which to restore. Again, she gave a pretty vague answer: they just decide, but nobody really knows why.

I did get to go inside one of the tombs. Hanan couldn’t go with me for some reason, so a man in a turban brought me instead (I assume he was a licensed guide for the site, but it wasn’t clear). He spoke thickly-accented, not very good English and I grew tired of asking, “What? What?” so I finally just smiled and nodded my head whenever he said something. But it was really freaking cool to see the hieroglyphics inside the tomb. I couldn’t believe that what I was seeing was real. 

At one point we walked by a group of young boys just hanging out on top of a tomb. Just your normal playground in Egypt. “Hello,” they kept saying to me. “They like you,” Hanan told me. “If you were here for longer, you would have a lot of ‘friends’ by the time you left.” Apparently, Egyptian men (and boys) have a thing for blonds. Later on, Hanan had a lively exchange with another guide. Afterward, she told me that he was saying how beautiful I was and joking that he would trade his Japanese tourists for me. Thankfully, Hanan did not oblige. A teenager asked to take a selfie with me at another point (I respectfully turned him down), and I don’t even know what else men were saying about me since I couldn’t understand them and Hanan didn’t always translate. I’ve heard stories about men offering camels in exchange for women, but if that happened with me, I was unaware.

Hanan asked me why I was traveling alone. She obviously thought it was strange that a woman would go to Egypt by herself; she also kept making comments that one day I would return to the country with my husband and five or six children. I just laughed. I didn’t go into all of the details about quitting my job to travel, but just told her that I had been on a week-long trip to Morocco with friends and was meeting my brother in South Africa next. Since I had a few extra days in between destinations, I decided to plan a stopover in Egypt.

I asked Hanan about herself and learned that she was divorced and a single mom to a 10 year old daughter. She had been a guide for years and said that she had seen a dramatic decline in work since the revolution in 2011. Before the revolution, she was working every day. Now she was working once or twice a week. “We thought things would be a lot better after the revolution,” she told me. “But it hasn’t really turned out that way.” Tourism is Egypt’s biggest industry, with about 12% of the population working in the space at its peak in 2010. I felt bad – and very lucky to be in the position that I was in. And at least I could help by bringing my tourist dollars into the country.

Memphis Ruins

Next we headed to the open-air museum where the ruins from the ancient capital city of Memphis are preserved. On the way, Hanan and the driver wanted to stop to get sandwiches. I was still full from the Four Seasons breakfast buffet, so I respectfully declined when they asked me if I wanted anything. Well, too bad. Hanan insisted that I eat not one, but two mini pita sandwiches: one stuffed with falafel and one with baba ghanoush. They were both delicious, but I really wasn’t hungry. Thankfully, they were small.

It was a quick stop to see the Memphis remains. I was the most impressed with two different statues of Pharaoh Ramses II. He reigned for 66 years from 1279-1213 B.C. at the height of Egypt’s power and not only built the most monuments of any Egyptian king, but also had the most children (more than 100!!)

Hanan also told me bit about the modern history of the neighborhood we were driving through. Most of the people were very poor, she said, although a number of palatial homes lay close to the Saqqara. The Nile River had covered the entire area until the 1960s when a dam was built. Now, the neighborhood featured a number of lush palm trees; Hanan said that rich people liked having the view, and the poor people that lived nearby worked in their homes. I was struck by the huge inequality between the poor and the rich, which was becoming an ongoing theme in my travels. In addition, because school isn’t compulsory for children, most of the poor kids start working early to help support their families. For example, we saw numerous carpet “schools” where kids are desirable employees because of their small hands and fingers. It didn’t seem like the poor families had much of a chance for upward mobility.

The Main Event: The Pyramids of Giza

It was a long drive to the pyramids, but I reminded myself that we fortunately did not have bad traffic since it was a holiday. I did not want to think about how much worse it could be. We finally pulled into the parking lot and reached the famed complex that consists of three larger pyramids, three smaller pyramids (there is actually a fourth, but all that remains are some rubble), the Great Sphinx and a number of other monuments. The entire site was built as a necropolis for the Fourth Dynasty; the largest pyramid was for the pharaoh Khufu, the next largest was for his son Khafre and the third pyramid was for the grandson, Menkaure. 

It was pretty incredible to see the pyramids up close. One thing that initially surprised me was the proximity to the city streets of Giza. I had pictured the pyramids as being out in the middle of the desert, but they are actually quite close to the urban hustle and bustle. Unsurprisingly, the site was the most crowded of everywhere we had been so far, but the crowds still didn’t compare to what I’ve experienced at other famous tourist sites. This was one of the benefits of visiting the Egypt at a time when tourism was still down.

Hanan explained to me that the ancient Egyptians believed that their short time on earth was simply their “first life,” and they spent their entire life working toward their eternal “second life,” which they would hopefully achieve with death. As such, death was a celebrated event, and not a sad or feared time. In addition, it was believed that the people could bring anything that they wanted with them into their second life, so remains of humans have been found alongside the remains of food, animals and more.

We walked around the Great Pyramid, took some pictures and looked at the construction up close. The outer layer was originally made of a smooth limestone surface, but now you can only mainly see the rougher core structure. The Great Pyramid originally stood at 481 feet, although it is now 451 feet tall due to erosion.

Hanan then asked if I wanted to ride a camel. I knew this would be an option on the tour and my initial reaction was, “Yes! Of course.” I don’t really like riding horses, but riding a camel seemed like such an exotic activity – I definitely wanted to try it. Then I started to have some second thoughts after reading more about how badly animals can be treated at tourist attractions. Riding a camel didn’t seem to be anything like riding an elephant, but I still wanted some assurance that I wasn’t going to be embarking on an inhumane experience. Well, an internet search presented a lot of non-expert opinions from bloggers with pretty inconclusive results. I didn’t really find any strong arguments against riding a camel (unless you saw evidence of an animal being mistreated), so I decided to go for it.

Hanan introduced me to Mohammed, who would be my camel guide. “Don’t worry,” she said. “He’s our partner and he’s licensed.” Okay, guess I’d have to trust her on that one. I paid 350 Egyptian pounds (~$20) for a camel ride that would last 20-30 minutes. I didn’t know if I needed to be on a camel for even half an hour. “If you like the ride, you can give me a tip at the end,” Mohammed told me. Oh yes, I knew how things worked here. 

A note on tipping in Egypt: it seemed to be expected at all times, and some people didn’t have any shame in asking for tips. I had read that this would be the case, so I wasn’t too surprised, and after the stories Hanan had been telling me, I did feel obliged to help these people out. I probably over-tipped in some cases, but having worked in the service industry in my teens and early twenties, I would much rather err on the side of giving too much than not giving enough. All of the employees of the tour company and everyone at the Four Season was very respectful and appreciative of the tips that I offered. Mohammed was one of the more aggressive people that I met; he made it clear that he wanted a tip at the beginning of the ride, and then asked for more at the end (I did not give him more). He at least earned his tip. 

Later, when I was at the Cairo airport waiting to board my flight to Istanbul, I went to the women’s bathroom by the gate. A female janitor was standing outside joking around with her male counterpart. When she saw me approaching, she insisted on escorting me into the bathroom and setting down my bag on the changing table in the mother’s bathroom. The toilet hadn’t been fully flushed, so she proceeded to flush it before leaving me in the stall. The bathroom wasn’t clean and it had no toilet paper. If the woman was supposed to be the bathroom attendant, she wasn’t doing a very good job. “Psst, psst,” she called to me when I walked out, reaching out her hand and rubbing her fingers together. She obviously wanted a tip. Despite the fact that the attendant seemed much more interested in chatting with her coworker than keeping the bathroom clean and well-stocked, my guilt returned and I handed her a 20 pound note (just over $1). I was leaving the country for the foreseeable future, so I didn’t really have anything to do with the foreign currency, and I figured she needed it more than I did… but I still didn’t really like rewarding poor performance.

Anyway, back to the camel ride. Mohammed introduced me to the camel, Michael Jackson. I decided not to tell him that it may not have been the most PC decision to name his camel after an alleged child molester. 

I hopped on MJ’s back and held on tight to the saddle horn. I probably let out a slight yelp as MJ climbed up to his feet. Just like that, I was riding a camel. It was somewhat bumpy, but we started off walking pretty slowly, and MJ seemed to be well-trained. I looked around me from high up on the awkward-looking but adorable animal. Holy shit, I was riding a camel around the pyramids of Egypt. This was really happening. (I had to keep telling myself this on the trip).

Mohammed was a jovial, high-energy man who clearly had his camel-riding tour routine down. He spoke a few key phrases of broken English. “Where you from?” He asked me. “US of A?! New York??” He seemed thrilled by this information. “You want husband?” Oh man, not that again. “Hahaha!” Fortunately, he changed the subject. “You want take my picture?” Um, I guess I could take a picture of him. “Here, give me your camera,” I gave him my phone. “Say cheese!” Ohhhhh. He wanted to take a picture of ME.

After checking the camel ride off my list, I met Hanan on the other side of the complex by the two smaller pyramids. Both the Great Pyramid and the smallest pyramid are open for the public to enter (at an additional fee) and I had opted to go inside the smallest one. “They are both about the same inside. The Great Pyramid is just bigger, it is more crowded inside and it costs almost 3x more.” I was fine with the small one. 

Hanan couldn’t go inside with me, so she gave me instructions to show my ticket at the entrance and not talk to anyone once inside. She also took my camera to hold for safekeeping since taking pictures inside is not permitted. 

The pyramid is entered through a long, narrow tunnel that required me to duck uncomfortably to fit inside. After a scramble down, you then have to scramble up another long, narrow tunnel to reach the tomb area. I would not recommend the experience for anyone that gets claustrophobic in small places. I only saw two other groups of people: one was a group of younger Middle Eastern men that kept slowing me down in the tunnel because they were stopping to take pictures. I was annoyed that they were making me wait because they were breaking the rules (and nobody seemed to care). In addition to the fact that nobody seemed to follow or enforce the no photography rules, I had also noticed a decent amount of trash around some of the sites (particularly at the Saqqara). It was really too bad that people didn’t have more respect for these ancient monuments, and that the sites themselves weren’t better-maintained.

The tomb was neat to see, but I was happy to get out of the cramped quarters and back into the fresh air. We concluded the tour by driving around to a couple more viewpoints so I could get some pictures. One of the benefits of having a guide was that I had a built-in photographer. Hanan kept asking if I wanted a picture in different places. At one point, I finally told her that I already had plenty. I wanted to take some pictures that didn’t have me in them as well!

Hanan offered to bring me to a carpet school, or a jewelry shop or a papyrus-making factory. After Morocco, I definitely didn’t need another rug, and I didn’t want to buy jewelry or papyrus paper, and I felt like I was probably going to be pressured to shop at each of these places. I had seen plenty for the day, and was ready for some relaxation time, so I bid my tour team goodbye and embarked of an afternoon and evening of gym, spa and room service. I had to be up early for my flight to Istanbul in the morning, so a quiet night was perfect for me.

Tips from My Experiences in Egypt

• I would absolutely recommend a trip to Egypt! The experience of being in the dessert, seeing the pyramids and riding a camel were all out-of-this world for me. I’d love to return to visit the new Grand Egyptian Museum opening in 2020 (maybe the St. Regis will even be open by then…) If I returned, I would probably tack on a Nile River Cruise and a trip to Luxor.
• Prices are inexpensive, so you can stay at a five star hotel for much less than what you’d pay in the US or Europe. The Four Seasons properties are both highly rated, and I was happy with their Giza location, although I did come in with lower expectations that what I would typically have for a Four Seasons.
• Booking a private tour guide is definitely the way to go. You will learn so much than if you try to do a self-guided tour.
• Be prepared with small bills for tips. Do not feel bad if you feel that you’ve given a reasonable tip and someone tries to pressure you into giving more. The Egyptians are happy to take USD (I found that they would actually round down when converting to USD, so I would get a slightly better rate in USD than I would in EGP).
• I felt safe traveling alone, but I was also with a professional driver and/or escort any time that I left the hotel. I certainly would have felt more comfortable being with a group of friends, but I would not advise against solo travel in Egypt based on my experience.