Middle East - Anthony Ham [106]
The easiest way to get here from Midan Tahrir is by Metro (E£1) – get out at the Mar Girgis station.
Return to beginning of chapter
ACTIVITIES
Cruising along the Nile on a traditional sail boat can be the perfect way to spend an afternoon. You can hire feluccas for about E£30 per hour from the mooring point by the Semiramis Intercontinental, on the Corniche. However, the best place to hire feluccas is about 800m to the south at the Dok Dok felucca landing stage (Map), just short of the bridge over to Le Meridien hotel.
Return to beginning of chapter
CAIRO FOR CHILDREN
There is plenty to keep children entertained in Cairo. If the Pyramids (Click here) and Egyptian Museum (Click here) aren’t enough to keep them happy, they can feed the animals (25pt per feeding) at the Cairo Zoo (Guineenat al-Haywanet; Map; 3570 8895; Midan al-Gamaa, Giza; admission 25pt; 9am-4pm); pretend to be a pirate on a felucca ride (Click here); or investigate the manicured Al-Azhar Park (Map; 10am-10pm), home to one of the few children’s playgrounds in the city. For slightly older kids, Fun Planet (Map; Arkadia Mall, Corniche el-Nil, Bulaq; 3 games E£10; 3-11pm Sat-Thu & 1-11pm Fri) is an indoor amusement centre offering oodles of rides and loud games.
Return to beginning of chapter
TOURS
Myriad companies and individuals offer tours of sights within and around Cairo. We often recommend Salah Muhammad’s Noga Tours ( 2205 7908, 012 313 8446; www.first24hours.com), as he employs knowledgeable English-speaking guides, Egyptologists and drivers, and has properly maintained vehicles. To give you an idea of tour costs, Noga tours charges US$25 plus entry fees per person for a full-day trip to the Giza Pyramids, Memphis and Saqqara. Its half-day tour of Dahshur costs US$20. Places like the Canadian Hostel charge around E£150 per car for a Pyramids, Memphis and Saqqara trip.
If you’re keen to explore at your own pace and wish to hire a car and driver for the day, reliable Khaled Ibrahim ( 0103 437 981) is an ex-taxi driver who runs a fleet of comfortable cars with drivers. Rates start at around E£25 per hour.
Return to beginning of chapter
SLEEPING
Budget
Inexpensive hostels, hotels and pensions are concentrated in Downtown, mainly on the upper floors of buildings on and around Sharia Talaat Harb. All tend to be very hot in summer and have at least a few rooms facing the busy street – request a rear room if you’re a light sleeper. All include a rudimentary breakfast.
Ismailia House Hotel (Map; 2796 3122; www.ismailiahousehotel.com; 8th fl, 1 Midan Tahrir, Downtown; dm E£16-17, s/d E£140-160, s/d without bathroom E£55/90; ) As any real-estate agent will tell you: location, location, location. Yes, the older rooms here verge on the dingy, and yes, the fancier rooms are hardly glamour incarnate, but one look at the strategic view over the midan and the Nile and you’ll be sold. Be sure to ask for a front-facing room to get the most out of this place.
Meramees Hotel (Map; 2396 2318; 32 Sharia Sabri Abu’Alam, Downtown; d E£120, dm/s/d without bathroom E£35/60/100) It’s been around for a while, but the Meramees clings to its original standards of cleanliness and comfort. Most rooms share bathrooms and come with fans – the downstairs singles are particularly nice. There’s free use of the kitchen, free tea and coffee, and free airport pick-ups for guests