Egypt and Jordan History Tour
Egypt
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Jan 29 - Feb 12, 2023
We are very happy with the trip and looking forward to returning when I have more vacation time available. The Egypt based team handled everything for our small group. From hotel check-in & check-out, baggage handling, visa processing, and airport transfers, the Egypt Promotions team provided constant assistance through all of the processes from our arrival in Egypt, transfer to and from Jordan, and return to the U.S. We felt very safe, and confrontable the entire time in Egypt & Jordan. Our drivers and guides were always very personable, accommodating, and polite. All aspects of this tour meet or exceeded our expectations. We wish to thank everyone at Egypt Promotions, Ahmed Khaled, Ibrahim, Mohamoud Hashim, Moustafa Yehya in Cairo, and Zain in Luxor for making the trip a wonderfully enjoyable experience. Our driver Shadi Talal in Jordan also went beyond our expectations in providing an excellent experience in Jordan and working with us to adjust the schedule around inclement weather. I would also highly recommend our Egyptian guides Shenda Adel in Cairo and Ahmend based in Luxor. They were excellent resources for explaining the history and culture of Egypt and provided additional information on which sites or tombs would be of interest. It is always impressive to me when the Egyptologists reads the hieroglyphics that are inscribed on the walls in the temples while explaining the stories of the kings, queens, or gods. I would highly recommend to anyone to visit and experience the wonderful culture and history of Egypt and Jordan. I am looking forward to returning to continue learning about the history of these remarkable civilizations.
All of the sites on the typical Ancient Egypt tour were very impressive. Our group was primarily interested in the history of Egypt and the peoples that inhabited the Nile valley and the Levant.
We were very impressed when visiting the valley of the queens in addition to the valley of the kings. There were some very impressive tombs in the Valley of the Queens of the children of the Pharos. Another temple that I was not familiar with before the trip was Din Darah. This was almost as impressive as Karnak and I think should be added to the standard itinerary. Fortunately our Luxor based guide, Ahmed, suggested this temple complex when we were discussing what we were most interested in seeing during our time in upper and middle Egypt.
In Jordan, the ancient city of Petra was very impressive and required more than a day to hike to all of the different spots and visit the museum at the entrance of park that encompasses Petra.
I would also recommend visiting the Egyptian Civilization museum at the beginning of the trip. This will provide a condensed overview of the thousands of years of history that you will be able to explore while in Egypt. If you are not familiar with the history of Egypt, the exhibits will help you understand the significance of the sites you visit.
Hotel Reviews
New and modern hotel located outside central Cairo. Spacious rooms, good food, and near the mall of Egypt should you need to purchase something that you forgot to pack. Selected this hotel since we were interested in visiting Saqqara/Memphis & Giza and wanted to avoid the traffic in central Cairo as much as possible. Only downside is that if you need to go into central Cairo, you will be joining the rush-hour traffic in the morning to visit the museums in the city.
Comfortable cabin, everything worked as designed. There were no problems or issues. The crew was very courteous and efficient. I would not hesitate to spend another Nile cruise on the Radamis.
Nice, modern hotel in Luxor.
Wonderful hotel in the center of Amman. Great staff and amenities. I will stay at this hotel again when in Amman.
Fascinating hotel with charming rooms, great staff and facilities.
Modern hotel near the airport. Very close to the sites on the east side of the Nile River and the airport. Chose this hotel to avoid as much traffic as possible while visiting old Cairo and the civilization museum. The drive to the airport was only about 20 minutes with traffic and checkpoints.
Activity Reviews
Some of the sites in Sakkara were closed when visiting, will have to return when the Grand Egyptian Museum is open.
The old Egyptian museum still had many great exhibits but you could tell they were moving items to the Grand Egyptian museum which was not open yet. It was still very impressive and I would recommend a visit even when the grand Egyptian museum is open. The citadel and the Mohammad Ali masque were very interesting and beautiful. The Khan Khalili market was the typical tourist market that sold things that could be purchase elsewhere in Cairo. The visit could be skipped if you are not looking for souvenirs.
Very impressive sites
Impressive sites. Could have spent a lot more time exploring the different areas at each temple.
Very amazing to see the old tombs in such good condition. Purchase the addional King Tut ticket to visit his toomb.
Valley of the queens was just as interesting as valley of the kings. The temple in Dendera was a bonus. If you arrive at the valley of the kings early enough, you can visit the Valley of the Queens the same day. The village of the artisans / tomb workers was also very interesting as you are able to visit the tomb of the head of the workers. It was very interesting to see a less opulent tomb for a commoner.
Amazing to see the roman ruins in the center of the city. Very reminiscent of Rome. Amman appears to be a very modern city with excellent infrastructure. Arrival and transfer to hotel was very easy and smooth. Local representative handled visa and customs.
The citadel provides an excellent view of Amman, and the museum provides an overview of the civilizations that thrived in Jordan. Since it had snowed, we were unable to visit Ajloun castle so more time was spend at Jaresh, which was needed since it was such a large site. The ruins were fascinating, in very good condition, and very much like visiting Rome.
Madama is suprisingly mundaine for the impressive mosaic. Mount Nebo provide an amazing view of the Jordan river valley. Petra is an impressive place and requires more than one day to visit all of the ruins.
Amazing place, I knew nothing about the history of the people who inhabited Petra. It will take at least 4 hours to hike to the monistary from the entrance. I would recomend more than one day if you want to visit all of the different sites within the national park.
Fascinating to see the topography of the area. I was expecting the water of the dead sea to be very cold since we visited in February, but it was quite warm. This would be a good location to visit for a day if you were completing strenuous hikes in Petra or the Wadi Rum area. The baptismal site on the jordan river is about 30 minutes north and could be an interesting 1/2 day experience.
Enjoyed seeing and learning about the Coptic tradition in Egypt. This is a fascinating excursion into the early history of Christianity and how it forms a part of Egyptian culture.