Heya,
Am wondering if anyone could give me any advice. Am really keen to go to Egypt & am particularly interested in the Treasures of the Nile valley trip. However, as i'd be a lone female am a little daunted by the prospect of Cairo on the first day. Is much time spent alone exploring? And is it a safe place for a lone young female, particularly in regards to things like travel & taxis?
Many thanks for any advice :)
Hello Mirella,
Please do not let travelling solo put you off visiting this amazing country.
My first ever trip overseas, was on my own...to Egypt. I loved it.
When using taxi's sit in the backseat & try not to become involved with too much chatting with the driver. Who will have a cousin, who owns a perfume shop or papyrus shop or carpet shop...etc!! Try to organise the taxi through the Hotel desk. The price will be agreed on before you head off & the driver will wait for you while you do what ever you wish. You then pay him upon return to your Hotel. Also get a map with both English & Arabic directions from the Hotel.
You may find on your first day all you want to do is sleep!! But there are bound to be other travellers you can join up with.
Have a wonderful time..........Debbie
Mafesh Mushkelah!!!
Heya,
Thanks that's really helpful :) Guess am bit nervous as it will be first time i'll be abroad without a boyfriend/friends. Sounds like it'll be great fun though!
Hi Mirella
Fantastic advise from Debbie, nice to get some assurance from a fellow female traveller.
Cairo is a huge hectic city, but generally very friendly!
Best wishes
David
Hi Mirella,
I'm doing the same thing on the Jewels of Egypt in October and have a full day before the trip starts. I contacted Imaginative Traveller and have organised a day tour with them which is basically day 2 of the Cairo backstreet break. Its a walking tour of Cairo taking in the Bab Zouiela and Khan El Khalili and the price was really cheap - I'm sure if you contact ImTrav they can help you with more info.
Enjoy!
Emma
Walking Solo in Cairo - the answer is NO!
I personally found shopkeepers very aggressive and not overly friendly unless they got you to "buy".
Emma's advise to get on a tour is the best advise.
We were lucky in that our tour guide gave us an optional walking tour of Cairo once we arrived there but we had several days between tours in Cairo and tried to walk around on our own.
As tourists stick out like a sore thumb, we got stares, comments and aggressive behavour towards us as women so our group each time got bigger and bigger. We also asked men that were on our next tour to walk with us as the local custom is that women are accompanied by men when they go out. This seemed to work and then we were left alone!
We had "trouble" with taxis in Cairo in that the drivers didn't appear to know where they were going in their own city -- we asked to go to several places and tried to get there but they would take us to where they wanted us to go - shops of relatives that is why a tour through ImTav is best!
Maureen
Vancouver, BC Canada