Aya Yasser

Amazing trip - everything was seamless with informative and friendly guides and expert coordination by Aya ! Hany was especially great during our visits to Aswan, Luxor, and Nile cruise!

This was our first time in Egypt. I worked with Kim Kim travel to organize and customize our trip. The service was outstanding. The original itinerary although well thought out wasn’t a 100% of what we wanted. We contact Aya with the changes, she was completely responsive and made all the changes so we could have a completely customized agenda. Kim Kim travel representative Aya did an outstanding job. Whenever I contacted her she got right back to me. It seems she works 24 hours a day.
During our time in Cairo, she was always available and checking in to make sure that things were going well. Any glitches she immediately corrected. I can’t say enough about her service and attention to detail.

Upon arriving in Cairo we were met by Osama, and we were fortunate enough to have Osama as our Tour Guide in Cairo towards the end of our trip as well. He has a genuine love for Egypt and an incredible knowledge regarding the history of Cairo and the history of Egypt in general. Aside from his sincere love for his country and ability to flawlessly instill his knowledge he is a most delightful individual and a joy to be around.
Sam, another one of our guides while we were in Cairo is a wealth of information and sincerely cares about his tour groups. We toured the GEM, the pyramids, Memphis, Sakkara and a full day trip in Alexandrea with him. Sam is another outstanding Tour Guide and Egyptologist, with a wealth acknowledge and a true love of his country He has a sincere respect for other cultures and is fun to be around. We purchased custom made rugs, which will take several months to manufacture. Sam has offered to stay in touch with us and the manufacturer until the job is completed to our satisfaction.

Mansour was our guide on the river, Nile cruise and in Luxor and Aswan. Mansour is a very special person and also an Egyptologist with a superior knowledge of Aswan and Luxor, not only from a historical perspective but seems to know all the hidden gems of the cities as well, not to mention he seems to know everyone in both cities. What a joy it was spending a few days with him, I cannot say enough about Mansour he such a wonderful person.

I don’t remember all our drivers names, but they were all terrific as well , respectful and accommodating.

The Giza Pyramids, Valley of the Kings tombs, Abu Simbel Temple and the other historical sites were just phenomenal. Anyone who is remotely interested in history or archeology will be filled with wonder and awe at the size and beauty of these structures, and marvel at how an ancient civilization was able to build them. We came to see the splendor of these structures, and our high expectations were more than met. Egypt’s monuments are unlike anything else in the world. The only existing Ancient World Wonder lived up to its billing. If you have the opportunity to visit the Seti I tomb at the Valley of the Kings, do it! We also very much enjoyed our visit to Hurghada on the Red Sea. Hurghada is a small, beautiful and calm city which offered a nice 2-day respite from the hustle and bustle of Cairo and the packed itinerary of the Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor.

Unfortunately, the very positive experience of the splendors of the sites was diminished by suboptimal planning and communication. This is our third international trip through KimKim and we had come to enjoy and expect detailed itineraries and useful and timely communications. This trip did not meet those expectations. While always pleasant and appropriate, our planner often required repeated prompting to answer what should be straightforward questions and made multiple errors of omission and commission in the itinerary. We agreed upon a draft itinerary and booked over 2 months before trip. We asked for a detailed itinerary at the 1-month mark and was told we would get the itinerary 1 week before departure. We got the PDF “final” version one day before our flight, which had us getting picked up at 12:10 PM. Since our flight arrives at 12:10 AM, that prompted a frantic series of messages to the local planner. Important details of tours of the Nile cruise were frequently lacking, and we often found out the departure time of specific tours the day before the tour. This is especially challenging when there is a late night tour followed by an early morning (4:30 AM departure) tour. I specifically asked during the booking process to NOT book a hotel room for our last day in the country as we had a late evening departure flight. When we checked into our final hotel of the trip, we were informed that the booking was for 2 nights instead of the 1 night we requested. So, we paid for an extra hotel day that we specifically requested to not book. While we ultimately got the transportation we needed and saw the sites we agreed upon, the whole process should have been done more smoothly and efficiently without evoking a level of anxiety that persisted throughout the trip.

Our Egyptologist expert guides were by and large knowledgeable and professional, with one notable exception. Hamid was very kind and worked with our preferences very well. Despite the Unfinished Obelisk in Aswan being a very minor site in our itinerary, I very much enjoyed the visit and Hamid’s explanations. We did have a guide who was not a good fit for our needs. My wife felt belittled by his comments and we did not appreciate being told to not take pictures of the monuments/temples until he finished his overly detailed presentation to lay the “proper foundation” for us. I recognize that he was knowledgeable and passionate about Egyptian history, but we are paying for the experience we want to have and we have a limited time frame to do so.

Our experiences with the guides were mixed. Youssef in Aswan was super attentive and helpful. He is warm, empathic and a very good listener. He worked hard with his Customer Service team to help arrange a new Egyptologist guide for us. He is an excellent communicator and helped “fill in the blanks” on the itinerary that we should have had all along. He very much allayed our anxieties in our time of need. He is a 5+ star guide, and we wish we could have had someone like him the entire trip.

The counterbalance to Youssef was our guide on the trip to Hurghada. He clearly did not know our itinerary well, and needed me to tell him which hotel we were staying at. Another example is when a scheduled lunch was missed when the guide team was not aware.

A special acknowledgment of Amany at Sun Pyramids Customer Service is needed. Once we indicated our concerns about the guide, she stepped in and went above and beyond to try to maximize our trip experience. She checked in regularly with us throughout the remainder of our trip and likely intervened behind the scenes to make things as smooth as possible. She was able to get us an upgrade to our Nile Cruise cabin, and arranged a special romantic dinner at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Giza Pyramids (spectacular view!!). She provided a level of service that showed competence, attention to detail and follow-through, and we very much appreciated her efforts in helping us.

We recognize that our tour guides are shaped by their culture and society. We came to sadly recognize that the tourism infrastructure in Egypt is below average compared to the rest of the world and that there are many systemic problems that make the job of the tour operators and tour guides difficult. Still, for the traveler looking for a great experience, the deficiencies in communication, attention to detail and interpersonal behavior (in a small but memorable select few) were disappointing.

In summary, we went to Egypt to be awed by its ancient past, and we were. We left with priceless memories. We just wished that the experience of getting to these amazing sites was more smooth and enjoyable.

Hotel Reviews

Nile Style Nile cruise

Aswan

The ship is dated. Lobby is 1970s bland. We had to walk through other cruise ships to get to port, and if the lobbies are a reflection of the cabins and service, other ships are 4 or 5 stars while ours is a 3-star. We had an upgraded suite which had the advantage of more space but did not feel like the amenities one expects in a suite. We were also woken up on several occasions by the crew's robust shouting as the ship landed in ports. Showerhead did not work well. Carpets were not well cleaned, and the door keycard entry system needed multiple swipes to work. Food was average. A couple of the meals were excellent, but most of the meals were only passable to the extent that we went to eat for sustenance rather than pleasure.

Authenticity & Character

Location

A ship sailing on the Nile River. What more to say?

Staff

Average service. For the dining services, when they saw that we were not ordering drinks (a la carte), they left us pretty much alone. The exception was when they wanted written feedback and kept interrupting our meal to ask if we completed the survey.

Cleanliness & Comfort

JAZ Elite Casa Del Mar Beach

hurghada

Beautiful grounds on the beach in Hurghada. Attentive service. Well appointed room. Fabulous view of the beach. This is an all-inclusive resort and provided everything we needed. Food was fabulous (loved the lox, which was the high quality smooth and fatty version). We enjoyed the evening shows in the pool area from our balcony. 5-star resort. Definitely a pick me up after the Nile Cruise experience. Would definitely stay here again.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Movenpick Aswan

Aswan

Beautiful property on an island on the Nile River in Aswan. Need a boat to get to. Expansive grounds with nice landscaping and multiple walkways to stroll. Very peaceful. 5-star amenities. Would definitely stay here again.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hyatt Centric Cairo West

cairo

Great location if wanting to stay closer to the Pyramids and avoid the chaos of downtown Cairo.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Located in Giza and closer to the Grand Egyptian Museum and Pyramids

Staff

There is no sign available to hang on the door for Do Not Disturb (stayed on two occasions during our trip and neither time had the sign...also never saw a sign on any of the other doors). We requested no service for our room only to come back and see the room serviced.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Day Tour To The Grand Egyptian Museum “GEM”

Egypt

Loved the GEM. Smaller than the British Museum or Louvre or Hermitage, but the GEM only exhibits Egyptian artifacts so I suspect this is the most comprehensive and complete collection in the entire world. The GEM houses the King Tut exhibit, which actually has over 5000 artifacts and is really a small museum in and of itself. The GEM contains a remarkably well preserved 40-foot statue of Ramses II and an ancient cedarwood ship un-earthed near the Khufu Pyramid. If you are a fan of museums, this should be on your short list of ones to visit.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Snorkeling at Mahmya Island from Hurghada

Egypt

Loved the city of Hurghada. It's a small and quaint city on the Red Sea with a European feel. After the hustle and bustle of downtown Cairo, and the undisciplined feel of the Nile Cruise, Hurghada was a welcome respite. We took the snorkeling trip out to Mahmya Island, which is part of the Giftun Island complex. The snorkeling was fabulous from even the shore. We saw many colorful fish in protected reefs located within 40-50 feet of the beach and often at depths of 4-5 feet. I also took a short boat ride from Mahmya to the Sabena Reef, and the coral formations there were amongst the most colorful that I've ever seen.

Quality of Experience

Food

The food (buffet-style) at the Jaz Hotel was top notch. We just immensely enjoyed every meal there. The lunch on Mahmya Island was ok; standard BBQ type of food.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We took a 3.5-hour drive from Luxor to get to Hurghada. The driver had to stop midway for a smoke, and I understand 3 hours is a long time to go without a smoke for certain people. However, we had to smell the smoke from his clothes for the remainder of the drive and we are not fans of cigarette smoke. In addition, the guide for this drive did not know which hotel we were staying at in Hurghada, and I had to tell him the name and address. For the following morning, the driver who picked us up from the hotel to take us to the boat to Mahmya Island was late because he went to the wrong Jaz Hotel first. Not sure that it was his fault; he intimated that his dispatch gave him the address for the wrong Jaz Hotel. We appreciated him getting us to the boat in time for departure, but the ride was a little hair-raising.

Transport

Check out to Luxor West Bank

Luxor

The visit to the Valley of the Kings rivaled the Giza Pyramids as our two most favorite sites to visit. You get to visit 3 tombs as part of the regular entrance ticket. We also wanted to see King Tut's tomb and the Seti I tomb, which required separate tickets. IMO, it was well worth the extra cost (700LE for Tut and 2000LE for Seti I). If I had to pick my favorite activity for the entire trip, it would visiting the Seti I tomb. The variety and intricacy of the wall carvings, the surprisingly preserved vibrant colors and the multitude of chambers to explore made me frequently just pause and stand still to enjoy that warm feeling you get from sheer happiness.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trip Hot Air Balloon Ride in Luxor, Egypt

Luxor

A hot air balloon ride with fabulous views of temples below and the sun rising in the horizon! We loved it! We had a perfect morning, with a clear cloudless sky and not too cold and not too windy. Just spectacular views! The highlight was seeing the sun rise over the horizon, which even left our rather expressive and chatty group watching in silent awe for a few minutes. The balloon captain was outstanding. He was clearly experienced and exuded an air of confidence that helped settle any fears or trepidations in the group. The ascent and descent were both smooth. He expertly slowly rotated the balloon so everyone in the group (over 30 people) could get the same view without having to look over or around other passengers. He pointed out landmarks in the distance, threw out a few interesting factoids, and threw in a few jokes to keep the atmosphere festive.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Luxor East Bank

Luxor

The East Bank tour consisted of the Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple. Both of these temples were from the Greco-Roman period of Egyptian history and showed the interplay of the Greek and Roman influences with Egyptian architecture. Both Temples were magnificent in their unique ways - we marveled at the huge columns with colorful and intricate designs. Because the grounds of these temples were much larger than the ones at Kom Ombo and Edfu, the negative effect of crowd sizes on the tour experience was minimized. 5-stars for the beauty of the temples. As with other aspects of this trip, the logistics of visiting these sites lessened the overall experience.

Quality of Experience

Amazing monuments which we thoroughly enjoyed seeing! We cannot help but admire the grandeur that this ancient civilization built.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We were supposed to visit both temples in one afternoon. However, the ship arrived late in Luxor port as Karnak Temple was closing, so we had to see it the following day. This made for a very long and tiring day after. I believe the delay was due to prolonged wait time to transit a lock system on the Nile. Of course, this was not the fault of the ship or crew. As we watched ships transiting through the lock, we could not help but wonder if the process we saw on the Nile was equally inefficient through something like the Panama Canal (TBD for another trip!).

kom Ombo, and edfu Temples

Egypt

The temples were very interesting and likely had more to offer than what we experienced. Our experience was significantly diminished by the massive crowds at both places. This is the product of poor tourism infrastructure -- all boats arriving at the same time with multiple tour groups descending on relatively small temples all at once. There was a fair amount of pushing and jostling as people tried to cram into small areas to catch short glimpses of interesting structures or hieroglyphics. Not really enough time or space to make these an enjoyable experience, which is a shame as I suspect the Temples themselves would have been a 4 or 5-star visit. This is a systemic problem that the Egyptian tourism ministry should regulate better.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Hamid was excellent at Kom Ombo, again. He did a great job to hitting the highlights of the Temple and navigating to avoid the most dense concentrations of tourists.

Transport

We were able to walk to Kom Ombo from the Nile cruise ship. We took a horse carriage ride from the cruise ship to Edfu, which was a new and interesting experience for us. The only down side was that given the large numbers of tourists needing transport from multiple boats to Edfu, the horses were worked pretty hard.

Abu Simbel Temple

Aswan

A phenomenal structure that is well worth the 6-hour drive to visit.

Quality of Experience

Phenomenal temple built by Ramses II to celebrate himself. This is a structure that exudes power and grandeur, with an unapologetic air of narcissism. Look past the personality traits of the pharaoh and enjoy the splendor. Well worth the 6-hour round trip drive.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We asked for a new guide after our Aswan Dam experience. Hamid filled in on short notice and was excellent. He gave us a nice presentation on Abu Simbel with the right balance of historical detail, palace intrigue and interesting factoids and then gave us the freedom to roam through the Temple.

Transport

It was a 3-hour each way drive from Aswan to Abu Simbel. We were not looking forward to spending 6 hours in a car. Our driver had a car that was comfortable and designed for long trips. He also knew the road very well and took care to avoid the major dips and potholes and gravel portions. It was obvious that he took pride in providing a comfortable experience for his passengers.

Aswan full day tour

Aswan

The Aswan Dam and Philae Temple were great sites to visit. The story of how the Nile River was "tamed" was fascinating. The story of how the Philae Temple was moved to avoid being submerged by dam water was interesting and inspiring. Unfortunately, our interactions with the guide very much detracted from the overall experience.

Quality of Experience

The Aswan Dam and Philae Temple were both interesting and impressive sites to visit. We would have given this a 5-star experience if not for the guide.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide to Aswan Dam and the Philae Temple was inpatient with the crowds and hurried our visit. While at the Dam, he jumped from exhibit to exhibit out of order in order to avoid crowds. While that sounds good in principle, that tactic made for a confusing and discombobulated narrative. He also told us to not take pictures of the monuments/temples until after he finished his overly detailed presentation to lay the “proper foundation” for us, which led to several missed photo opportunities as multiple tour groups inundated the locations shortly afterwards. My wife felt belittled by some of his comments, and he displayed a lack of cultural and gender sensitivity.

Transport

Trip to Pyramids, Memphis, and Sakkara with riding a camel

Egypt

It was an amazing feeling to see the Giza Pyramids, and experience the rush of being in the presence of the only standing Ancient World Wonder. The views were phenomenal. We took the camel ride and really enjoyed that experience. We were very specific that we would cancel the camel tour if we felt the animals were abused. We were heartened to see the camels being appropriately cared for and looking healthy and relaxed. Memphis and Sakkara were interesting sites to visit, but the Pyramids were the highlight of the day.

Quality of Experience

Food

Went to a lunch buffet, which was excellent.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our driver Mary was excellent. The traffic in Cairo can be best described as chaotic, and she navigated the traffic challenges efficiently and was entirely in control the whole time.

Cairo food and walking tour 4 hours

Egypt

Got to experience the famous Khan El Khalili Bazaar and El Moez Street. Also saw how the local population lived.

Quality of Experience

Seeing Khan El Khali bazaar and El Moez Street, which are iconic parts of Old Cairo. Our guide took us to an authentic Egyptian restaurant and we tried and enjoyed several authentic local dishes. Food did take over 25 minutes to arrive and the guide had to keep reminding the restaurant staff. But once the food arrived, it was delicious!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We appreciated Mostafa taking us to experience the "real" Egypt, as we mingled with the locals in addition to seeing some of the more touristy areas.

Transport

My family of six had an amazing trip to Egypt and Jordan. It was two nights in Cairo, 4 cruising up the Nile, 2 back in Cairo and the last 3 nights in Jordan to visit Petra and the Dead Sea. We are repeat customers of Kimkim, and on the last 15 months have spent almost $60,000 with them.

Overall we were very pleased with the trip. To improve our experience the communication during the planning process could have been better. I was surprised by the difficulty on this trip because the year before we used Kimkim for a family trip to Spain and we didn’t have the same problems.

For the Spain trip our specialist was in Colorado at the Kimkim headquarters and communication was excellent. For the Egypt and Jordan trip our specialist, Aya was in Egypt. Aya, was very good, but communication was difficult due to four factors: 1) the time difference, 2) some language barriers, 3) some technical glitches which resulted in scheduled calls not going through, and 4) Kimkim subcontracted all of its Egypt work to Sun Pyramids, who subcontracted the Jordan portion to a third company. As a result, the Jordan information was slow in coming, and the Egypt information seemed forced into the Kimkim framework.

A few times there were gaps/delays in communication and I reached out to Kimkim corporate twice. The first time they were helpful (your advisor has been sick and will be in touch shortly), the second time they were not helpful at all (please write all your comments in the trip chat and you will get a response - I did and but they didn't). Overall, I expected more from Kimkim, and I felt they were not actively supervising the people with whom they contracted/ delegated.

Guides and Drivers:
The guide in Cairo (Mahmoud Imam), was very good. The Jordan guide (Mohammad Al Najjar) and Jordan driver (Mohammad Masoud) in Jordan were excellent. We had one bad experience with a vehicle in Luxor that was substandard. We complained to Aya and Sun Pyramids was very responsive and positively resolved the issue very quickly, compensating us with upgraded tickets in the Valley of the Kings.

Hotels / Cruise:
The MS Nile Premium Cruise was rated 5 Star, but was on the very low end of that The personnel and service were excellent, the cabins were tired, and the food was mediocre. The Sofitel in Cairo was excellent. The Petra Canyon Hotel in Wadi Musa was very good, although the dinner fare was so-so. The Holiday Inn Dead Sea was excellent (rooms, food, service).

Tips for working with Kimkim:

Responsiveness - Be aware that you have their full attention and they are very eager to work with you before the deposit is placed. Once the deposit is placed, responsiveness drops off noticeably. (This was true of our Spain trip and the Egypt/Jordan trip). I was happy to give a deposit to secure hotels during a busy season, but their assumption was that the trip had been finalized, and we were still working on it. To Aya's credit, she worked with us on changes throughout the planning for the trip.
Trip Details - Kimkim is a little slow on some information. For example, we repeatedly asked how much driving was planned for each day. We we wanted to minimize our time in the vehicle. The information was not readily available. I had to plot the stops myself, to figure out which days were too long and request adjustments accordingly. After the first one or two adjustments, it would have been great if a thorough analysis had been undertaken to help us.
Confirmations - in Spain, confirmations and contacts for all hotels, transfers and guides were sent one week in advance. In Egypt this was not the case. Sun Pyramids did not provide confirmation numbers and telephone numbers in advance for transfers and guides, and no confirmations for hotels in Jordan.
Service - We were always picked-up on-time, and never left hanging, but it was more comforting in Spain to have all the telephone numbers and names in advance. It was disconcerting to have no contact information when landing at an airport, or when expecting to be picked up at the hotel at 2 am for a 6 am flight. Again, everything went well, but not having a telephone number or contact beforehand was not comfortable. This appears to be a Sun Pyramids policy.
Laundry - A very small thing, but important. Our trips tend to be long and midway, we usually need laundry. Hotel laundry for a family is usually ridiculously expensive. I asked for some recommendations/suggestions for local laundry, and help here would have been amazing.
Tipping - When I requested information about tipping I received general information that was not always useful. Since Kimkim (Sun Pyramids) paid the guides and the drivers, I didn't have a reference (for example, an extra 10% or 15% of what?). We resorted to AI several times. More direct guidance from Kimkim would have been valuable.

Overall, I highly recommend this trip with Kimkim with the above caveats.

We just returned from our magical 13 day trip to Egypt. Aya planned us an amazing trip and knew all of the best things to do and see. She was super responsive and was open to any input we had for this trip. We typically don’t love a trip either a tour guide, but for Egypt it is necessary. Aya found the best tour guides in all the various spots in Egypt. We loved our tour guide Anna and would recommend her to anyone who travels to Cairo. Overall great experience!!

All the guides were great, particularly Fatima and Achmed. I forgot to mention that each time we arrived at the Cairo airport, from Heathrow and Aswan, there was no on there to greet us. From Heathrow we waited 50 minutes before we found someone from Sun Pyramids and from Aswan we had to find the sun pyramid representative who spoke no English and seemed completely lost.

Hotel Reviews

MS Salacia Nile cruise

everything was great except that they missed two wake up calls.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hilton Cairo Grand Nile

cairo

Everything was great. As a 81 year old senior citizen getting in ad out of the bath tub was a challenge as the tube wall was about 2.5 feet high.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Tour to High Dam, Philae Temple, and Obelisk / Check out

Aswan

we did not go to the obelisk. we went to the botanical garden and nubian village intead

Abu Simbel Temple

Aswan

We did not go. We did not realize that this was four hour drive to and from through the desert in a caravan for safety with a one hour visit. We should have been told this when the trip was being planned originally

Edfu, and Kom OmboTemples

Aswan

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Luxor West Bank

Luxor

Quality of Experience

Food

Transport

Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, and Luxor Museum

Luxor

Quality of Experience

Food

Transport

Tour To The Newest Saqqara Tombs

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Transport

Half day To Egyptian Museum

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tour to National Museum, Moez St. and Khan El-Khalili

Cairo

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half Day Tour To The Grand Egyptian Museum “GEM”

Egypt

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tour to Giza Pyramids With Camel Ride

Cairo

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The tour guide for the first 2 days was good. The rest was a disorganized mess. This was my third international kimkim trip in 2025 but this one was the opposite of the first two. I emailed Alison at Kimkim to try to help out as I had spoken with her in the planning phase. (When she assured me the contact they set me up with would be good). No one from kimkim got back to me. The tour was poorly run, disorganized, and lastly (though honestly least of my concerns) was a terrible value for the price paid. One of the events booked was cancelled - without informing us and we were only refunded $130 for that. I’m pretty sure we were charged 10x that amount. But again, money aside, we were not told of this cancellation even though the company finalized our itinerary the day before. They weren’t able to communicate the cancellation to us despite having the kimkim chat and WhatsApp and my active cell service as options. Our family was disappointed with this one. From Egypt we went to Athens and Rome and black tomato provided stellar service.

Hotel Review

FOUR SEASONS HOTEL CAIRO AT NILE PLAZA

Amazing hotel, location, cleanliness, and service. 5 star luxury with a concierge that was able to set us up with trips and excursions when Kimkim left us hanging. The hotel concierge facilitated our trip better than Kimkim.

Authenticity & Character

Four seasons class!

Location

Cairo is a hectic city. This location was a sanctuary in the middle of the city.

Staff

The concierge, the wait staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Housekeeping did great and came 2x day.

Activity Reviews

Female-Led Cooking & Countryside Farm Tour in Rural Egypt.

Egypt

Not really that interesting. Small farm tour with the owners (very nice family). Took about 15 minutes. Then a preparation of an Egyptian lunch which wasn’t more than 20 minutes. We got to make bread in the oven which was fun. after that it was eating the lunch and driving back to Cairo. The whole experience was about an hour and though it was nice to see the countryside not really worth it. They didn’t book anything else for us for the day but luckily the hotel concierge was able to find activities for our free time. (Our rep from kimkim was useless)

Quality of Experience

Food

Cleanliness

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Giza Pyramids with a camel ride & the Grand Egyptian Museum

Cairo

A must do obviously while in Egypt. The camel ride was adventurous, kids loved it!

Quality of Experience

The grand Egyptian museum!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sound and Light Show at the Pyramids

Cairo

They cancelled this on us

Cairo Day Tour to Egyptian Museum, Citadel and Khan Khalili Bazaar

Cairo

Was great and worth it.

Quality of Experience

Food

Kind of dirty for western standards. I saw them taking the unused food from a table that left and serving it to a new table

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

My Egypt holiday with your team was extremely disappointing and not what we expected and I don’t think I want to visit Egypt again

Right from day one there were issues , we had planned this holiday in advance but it seemed like a last minute effort by Aya and her team. It felt like the person planning the tour for us had no idea about how long it can take to see one site and the travel time between places was not taken into account and on day one our itinerary was not achievable at all and the amount of back and forth we had to do to adjust it just added to stress and took the joy out of holiday .
On the first day, our tour guide wasted 2.5 hours of our time in the morning picking up tickets from one place and then again he forgot to get the ticket for my 10 year old and we again had to wait outside the museum for him to buy an additional ticket. When he got the tickets he had to stand in another line to get the audio guide system and that wasted another hour. we were up and ready from 8 in the morning and we entered the museum at 10:30 in the morning . As a reminder we were staying in a hotel that was right opposite the museum so u can imagine how organised Aya and her team are. When we went to Giza he again had no tickets and we had to wait for our guide to buy tickets for us.

Further, we had paid for a golf cart for our mom for the Giza trip but on the day we were told it’s not available (the money was later refunded but still it shows the lack of organisation).

When we returned to Cairo on 2nd January we were sent a guide who was extremely rude and was not really interested in showing us anything. when we mentioned that we needed to see the citadel which we had already discussed with Aya on day 2 he was extremely rude and unhelpful. My sister had already mentioned his behaviour this guide ruined our day and made sure we didn’t not get to see anything useful. We found Aya and her team very unhelpful and disorganised

I would never recommend anyone plan a trip to Egypt with this company.

Hotel Reviews

Novotel El Borg

cairo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

M/S Farida Nile Cruise

Aswan

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Steigenberger Pyramids Cairo

Cairo

It’s dated but loved its breakfast and there staff was not very helpful and porter was rude

Authenticity & Character

Location

Right in front of museum

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Tour to High Dam, Philae Temple, and Obelisk

Aswan

One star : Dam visit was very boring , avoid Philae temple : 3 star Obelisk: 3 star

Quality of Experience

Transport

We had planned our family vacation a year in advance with great anticipation, but our experience with your tour company was profoundly disappointing. The itinerary provided bore little resemblance to what we had requested. The tour operator was rigid, unhelpful, and seemed more intent on promoting her own agenda than curating the personalized experience we had paid for. We felt deprived of the sights and experiences we had carefully chosen and expected.

It is difficult not to question whether we paid for a custom trip only to be directed toward what suited the company’s convenience and cost savings. Key arrangements, such as purchasing tickets in advance, were neglected—causing unnecessary delays. In one instance, tickets for my niece, a member of our group from the start, were simply forgotten. The tour operator, Aya from Sun Pyramids, created an unrealistic itinerary for the Giza tour day, expecting us to cross the city through heavy traffic to visit multiple sites—an impossible task. The overall planning and organization reflected a lack of attention and care.

Our final day was especially distressing. The guide refused to take us to certain sites, explaining that the company would not cover the ticket costs. This led to significant anxiety and emotional distress, as well as a complete waste of our limited time. It seemed evident that the company prioritized saving money over delivering the experience promised, while shifting the blame to us for what was, in truth, their failure of execution.

Aya demonstrated neither competence nor professionalism. Once the contract was signed, she became largely unresponsive, and her communication—when it occurred—was vague and unhelpful. Despite our considerable upfront payment, we were constantly asked for additional charges. One of the guides, Omar, behaved unprofessionally, frequently smoking and speaking on his phone while disengaged from the group. He appeared unprepared and frustrated, undermining the quality of our experience.

Despite these challenges, our family did its best to remain positive and make the most of our time together. We would like to acknowledge Ahmed on the Nile cruise, whose professionalism, kindness, and attentive coordination were a welcome contrast to the rest of the experience.

Overall, we feel profoundly misled and disappointed. We chose Kimkim because of the excellent experiences we’ve had with them in past vacations, but this trip fell far short of their usual standards. We sincerely hope Kimkim will reassess their partnership with Sun Pyramids to ensure future travelers do not endure a similarly distressing experience.

Our trip to Egypt included time in Cairo, Luxor, and Hurghada. All of which offered a different and memorable aspect of Egypt. Everyone from Aya, who coordinated and arranged our to trip, to all of our guides were very kind, helpful, and welcoming. Its hard to pick one thing we liked the most. In Cairo, you have to visit the pyramids, try as much food as you can, and take a little ride on a camel. In Luxor, the historic sites and the hot air balloon ride at sunrise were wonderful. And in Hurghada, snorkeling in the Red Sea was amazing. I'd highly recommend visiting Egypt and working with this team on any plans when doing so.

Activity Reviews

Luxor West Bank

Luxor

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trip Hot Air Balloon Ride in Luxor, Egypt

Luxor

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Luxor East bank.

Luxor

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our Guide was very knowledgeable and did a great job fielding all of my questions.

Transport

Trip to Pyramids, Memphis, and Sakkara with riding a camel

Egypt

Quality of Experience

Food

When stopping for lunch, would be nice to know you have to pay for your drinks.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Snorkeling at Mahmya Island from Hurghada

Egypt

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport