6 Days In Cairo, Egypt – Here’s What We Did

After spending a week in Dubai, Shae and I hopped on a plane and headed to our next destination – Cairo, Egypt.

We spent a total of six nights there – three in downtown Cairo and then three in Giza by the Pyramids. Here’s a roundup of everything we did there.

How We Got There

I booked a multi-city itinerary from Dubai-Egypt-Jordan (Jordan was our next destination after Egypt) on Egyptair using Aeroplan points (Air Canada’s loyalty program). Aeroplan is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, so I transferred points from there seeing as we didn’t have any Aeroplan points.

I booked us in economy and it cost us 20,000 miles + 122.44 CAD (~98 USD) in taxes and fees per person. While 20,000 points and almost $100 in taxes and fees was higher than I would’ve liked, at least that covered the cost of two flights. I didn’t make a note of the cash cost of these flights, but for our dates it was better value using points rather than paying cash for our tickets.

Neither of us had flown on Egyptair before and so we didn’t know what to expect. While service on the flight was even less warm and fuzzy than American Airlines (if that’s possible), it was comfortable enough in economy and came with a hot meal. We’d not expected that on a ~3.5 hour flight, so that was a pleasant surprise.

Egypt COVID Testing Requirements

In order to enter Egypt we each had to have a negative COVID result from a PCR test taken within 72 hours before our flight departure time. We were staying at the Grand Hyatt Dubai and the hotel arranged for a doctor to come to our room to conduct our tests.

Once we arrived in Egypt, we didn’t have to quarantine or take any further tests other than the test we had to take for entry into Jordan at the end of our time in Cairo.

Where We Stayed

Our first three nights were spent at the Ramses Hilton (here’s my review). This has a central location in downtown Cairo and overlooks the Nile. While it wasn’t the most amazing stay we’ve ever had, it was decent enough and the location was very convenient. The hotel is in the process of renovating its guest rooms and we were in one that had already been updated, so that made our stay more comfortable.

Our final three nights were spent at the Marriott Mena House (here’s my review). We had a wonderful stay there, in large part due to its location right next to the Pyramids of Giza which gave us spectacular views.

What We Did

Needless to say, the highlight of our time in Cairo was visiting the Pyramids of Giza. They’re even more impressive in person than I’d anticipated and going inside the Great Pyramid was an experience well worth having.

While staying in downtown Cairo, we headed over to Babylon Fortress in Old Cairo. This is home to many Coptic churches, a synagogue and more. The basement below one of the churches is said to have housed Jesus, Mary and Joseph after they fled Herod, while the site of the synagogue is thought to be where Moses was found on the banks of the Nile.

The day before that we walked from our hotel over to the Egyptian Museum. This was an interesting museum for several reasons. Many of the exhibits were on display in cabinets that looked like they’d been housing the artifacts since the 1800s. However, statues, art and other similar items were on full display with no barriers, so you could touch them if you wanted (which one kinda creepy guy did as he went to every single item on display and rubbed his hands all over them).

I’d also never appreciated quite how many mummies and coffins would have been discovered over the years. I’ve seen the odd one or two at museums in the US and UK over the years, but the Egyptian Museum had what felt like hundreds of them.

The most notable exhibit at the Egyptian Museum is the golden mask of Tutankhamun. That’s in a room of the museum where you’re not allowed to take photos, so unfortunately I don’t have a photo I can share here.

Seeing as we were staying on the Nile for our first few days, we decided to take an hour-long sailboat ride with Emo Tours Egypt (this is their website, but we booked it on Viator). The tour included being picked up from our hotel, our tour guide Engy was lovely and it was a great way to experience the river.

By the time we stayed at the Marriott Mena House, we’d been away for two weeks (we’d stayed in Chicago for a couple of nights before flying to Dubai). As a result, we were in desperate need of doing some laundry. We had a ton of clothes to wash and getting it all done by the hotel would’ve been pretty pricey.

We had to go out and get PCR tests for Jordan anyway, so just before getting those done we went round the corner to Smart Laundry & Dry Clean in Giza. Considering the cost of getting Ubers there and back two days in a row (it took a day for our clothes to be ready), in theory it would’ve been a similar cost to get them cleaned by the hotel. However, seeing as we were heading that way for our COVID tests anyway, it made sense to do things that way to save a little money as we had to pay for the Uber rides anyway.

COVID Testing For Jordan

Jordan was our next destination after Egypt. They required a PCR test within 72 hours of our departure flight like other countries do, but for people arriving from Egypt they required that the test be conducted by only select labs on a pre-approved list. Al Mokhtabar Labs was on that list and they had a location close to Marriott Mena House in Giza, so we got ours done there.

We had a hard time finding it at first. It was correctly located on Google Maps, but it was inside a multi story building and there weren’t any signs for Al Mokhtabar Labs outside. The building seemed a little shady and reminded me a little of the original Candyman movie.

I’ve a feeling we might’ve gotten Westerner pricing for the tests as they cost 2,000 EGP per person (~127 USD). Still, at least the tests came back negative and we got the results within 24 hours.

Our next destination was Jordan, so stay tuned for upcoming posts where we’ll share everything we did there.

Check Out All The Posts From Our Dubai/Egypt/Jordan Trip

• It’s Time For Shae’s Secret Birthday Extravaganza!
• Flight Review: Emirates First Class – Chicago (ORD) To Dubai (DXB)
• Hotel Review: Grand Hyatt Dubai (1 Bedroom Grand Suite)
• Awesome Dubai Desert Safari For Shae’s 40th Birthday
• 1 Week In Dubai: Here’s What We Did
• Hotel Review: Ramses Hilton In Cairo, Egypt
• Exploring Babylon Fortress In Old Cairo, Egypt
• Visiting The Pyramids Of Giza In Cairo, Egypt
• Hotel Review: Marriott Mena House In Cairo, Egypt
• 6 Days In Cairo, Egypt – Here’s What We Did
• Our Dead Sea Experience: Floating, Mud & Tequila Shots!
• Hotel Review: Hilton Dead Sea Resort & Spa, Jordan
• 10 Tips For Driving In Jordan
• Visiting Petra In Jordan – One Of The New 7 Wonders Of The World
• Hotel Review: Petra Marriott, Jordan
• 1 Week In Jordan – Here’s What We Did
• Flight Review: Turkish Airlines Business Class – Istanbul (IST) To Chicago (ORD)
• Hotel Review: Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport, IL
• Spending Breakdown: 3 Weeks In Dubai, Egypt & Jordan – Here’s What It Cost