Egypt Promotion Travel

My feedback regarding the Egypt tour from Jan. 16 to Jan. 23, 2026 (3 nights in Cairo + 4 nights on the Nile cruise) is as follows:

Egypt tour: Overall, we enjoyed our first trip to Egypt, organized by Nader Hussein, the local agent of KimKim Travel.
1. What I liked:
- As local agent, Nader was very helpful and responded quickly to my questions; I would recommend Nader to my friends in their future quest for travel to Egypt
- Omar was a top notch guide during our Nile cruise trip; he was very knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and effective coordinating our shore visits with the cruise ship; we felt very safe and comfortable traveling with Omar and I certainly would recommend Omar to my friends in their future travel to Egypt
- Our visits to the Giza Pyramids, the Grand Egyptian Museum, and the sites in Luxor, Edfu, Kem Ombo and Aswan, and the hot air balloon ride in Luxor
- Staff on board the Nile cruise ship, the Semiramis III, is friendly and helpful, and the meals are good and well prepared
2. What I wish can be improved:
- The travel rep who met with us at Cairo airport upon arrival showed up late; this created some apprehension
after a very long flight and arriving at night in an unfamiliar, crowded and seemingly chaotic airport
- On the second day in Cairo, a Sunday, the visit to Al-Muizz Street & Khan el Khalili bazaar took barely an hour and was not a good way to spend our time in Cairo, because Al-Muizz St. was closed, and empty on Sundays
- The travel rep who met with us at Luxor airport came in very late, and left us stranded at the empty airport, long after all passengers from the incoming flights to Luxor left with their tour buses
- The selected hot air balloon company (named Excellent Air Balloon, I believe) picked us at 4:15 AM in a big bus, which went around Luxor to many other hotels to gather many more riders, and made us wait in the cold and in the dark in the fields until one of their (apparently few) balloons was available and ready for us to board (we saw passengers picked up in smaller minivans by other operators, and loaded more quickly onto balloon gondolas because these operators seemed to have more balloons available)
- For a better experience travelling on the Nile, I would not choose the Semiramis III cruise ship again:
a. the docking (together with ships apparently belonging to the same company) was very noisy during the arrival at the very early hours in Edfu when staff responsible for the docking shouted loudly to each other and waking up passengers; also, this ship came in Edfu at the place where a large number of ships docked and where most of the horse drawn carriages assembled, at a very chaotic, dusty, dirty and smelly place (we saw a few other ships docking a little further away where the transfer to the horse drawn carriages was a more orderly and peaceful) and this left us a not so good impression of the landing in Efdu
b. this ship arrived in Kem Ombo very late in the evening, and forced our guide to rush us thru a very short visit to the temple visit before the closure time, thus taking away the enjoyment of this site visit, the last one on our itinerary

Mostly good with a few rough spots

Planning our itinerary took quite a bit of back and forth, but we eventually got more or less what we wanted. With hindsight I would have planned a slightly different itinerary. We could have seen more within the allocated time, as we figured this out we added a few things and paid for it.

The tour company booked two of the hotels for us. One was excellent, one was substandard (this was changed after we paid for the trip, and our agent mentioned it without clearly stating that our hotel had changed).

We spent 5 nights on the boat. The boat staff were pleasant and service was very nice. The boat itself was a bit dated.

All our guides were good to excellent.

After a lot of back and forth with Amr , we got the trip we wanted and it was good. The guides were amazing : Hesham with his knowledge was very thorough in Cairo and Mohammed in Upper Egypt was very very flexible . We changed our itinerary daily to avoid the crowds ( especially on the cruise part ) and he was always accommodating and ready to suggest alternatives and we managed to have some temples ( Karnak and Abu Simbel ) almost devoid of crowds . I wouldn’t do the cruise again because all the tourists from the boats go to the sights at the same time so maybe with a car and driver you can change the timings.
The problem was at Fayoum , where the driver that took us into the desert had a very rundown 4x4 and was driving like a madman . We didn’t feel safe with his driving and thinking that the car would stop in the middle of the desert where there was no cell reception and no one in sight for miles .

Hotel Reviews

Dahabiya IRIS

Luxor

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hilton Luxor Resort & Spa

Luxor, Luxor Governorate

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Fairmont Nile city

cairo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Cairo Walking Food Tour

Cairo

The Cairo Walking Food Tour was delightful. Conducted by Samara, who was also responsible for our airport pickups, it felt personal and enjoyable. He took us to a famous restaurant in Cairo, and the whole experience was wonderful.

Hot air balloon

Luxor

The hot air balloon experience was just okay for me, possibly because it wasn't my first time. Our friends, for whom it was a first, thoroughly enjoyed it. You don't see much of Luxor city since the balloons operate over the tombs on the West Bank. If you're new to hot air balloons, it's worth it and cheaper compared to other locations.

Visit Valley of the Kings & Hatshepsut temple

Luxor

The Valley of the Kings was impressive, particularly since we opted for the additional tickets to explore the lesser-known tombs, which weren’t crowded at all. While the main tombs were quite busy, paying extra for those additional tomb visits was well worth it for a more calm and relaxed exploration.

Visit Luxor temple

Egypt

Visiting Luxor Temple at night was a unique and beautiful experience. Seeing everything lit up offers a distinct and surreal ambiance. Our guide recommended visiting at night, and I'm glad we did because it was indeed a sight to behold.

Day Tour to Pyramids, Sphinx & Sakkara and Dahshour

Cairo

The tour to the Pyramids, Sphinx, Sakkara, and Dahshour was incredible. Sakkara in particular stood out for me. There was no one else around when we visited in the morning, and it's set beautifully in the desert, unlike the Giza pyramids which are in the city. It provided a wonderfully intimate introduction to the area's history. We were even able to enter one of the pyramids without the usual crowd. Truly a fantastic experience!

My husband and I worked with Egypt Promotion Travel to plan a week's worth of sightseeing across various cities in Egypt. To keep this review concise, I will highlight what they did well and where they fell short.

On the positive side, we had one exceptional guide and another who was satisfactory, which made our overall experience more enjoyable. However, beyond this, I cannot share any positive feedback about Egypt Promotion Travel, Ibrahim, or his team.

The communication after we made our payment was nearly non-existent, often taking several days for a response. When changes occurred in the itinerary—such as our hot air balloon ride in Luxor being canceled twice due to weather—we did not receive any communication from the team, nor were we offered reimbursement. We had to initiate inquiries ourselves, and to this day, we have not received the promised reimbursement for our remaining balance, despite documenting everything in our kimkim portal.

Additionally, they repeatedly mishandled our hotel reservations. When we asked for assistance, they demanded more money, despite clear documentation in the kimkim portal indicating they would cover these expenses.

In summary, once they received our payment, the service provided was minimal and the quality upon arrival was disappointing. Having previously used kimkim for our trip to Morocco, where the service was exceptional, I have a solid basis for comparison. Unfortunately, the experience with Egypt Promotion Travel was nothing short of deplorable.

Kimkim, please consider finding a new travel agency to represent your brand as this tarnishes your reputation.

The planning started out well with Gehad, but then there were long breaks between responses (over 1 week at times), and there was also confusion on how we preferred the payments to be provided. We were then put in contact with Khaled. He was much more prompt and assisted in every way possible. The only part that was a challenge was a seeming communication issue between Khaled and the KimKim corporate office. We asked for a detailed pick up times and flight info which the KimKim site says would be provided before departure and he seemed confused and only provided the general itinerary.

The rep that picked us up at the airport, Mohammed, was friendly, however we felt rushed and he advised he would return at 10am to go over our trip details and he never showed up. We attempted to contact him multiple times on Whatsapp but got no response. Later that day, our driver for the show was 45 minutes late, and then got lost in Cairo (semi understandable getting lost), which made us arrive exactly at the start time of the show only after we got out of the car and walked the remaining blocks.

The tours with Mohammed Samir and the driver Rafat were amazing and flawless. Best part of the trip without a doubt. The only other glitch in Cairo was that we requested a dune buggy ride which was confirmed by Gehad, but then we were told they only had a 4*4 for fayum. But that driver in the safari and sand board was also amazing.

The arrival and start to Aswan went well. We were very disappointed that the Nubian Village "cultural" experience was little more than a market/tourist trap and not cultural almost at all. There was another communication gap where the itinerary showed Luxor and Karnak on one day with Valley of Kings, Hatshepsut , and Valley of the Nobles on the next day. Due to the Nile cruise timing with the lock, we had to do it in one day. This turned out fine but there was no advanced notice that this could happen which would have reassured us that timing wouldn't be an issue. Ahmed did a great job adjusting and making the experience enjoyable. We the. Were transferred to Hurgada. They booked a small sedan, which was fine aside from not anticipating us having two large suitcases that barely fit (had to have two men forcefully push them into the trunk). The driver was very kind but definitely not a professional driver. The 4 hr drive had several times where it felt like he may have drifted to sleep and jerked the car back to the middle of the road or made very abrupt adjustments, including very late and hard stopping/slowing. This is partially just how Egypt driving is but certainly not what we experienced with our other drivers.

Hotel Review

Steigenberger Pyramids Cairo

Cairo

Great hotel, great room, great food.

Authenticity & Character

Na

Location

Perfect location for most Cairo and Giza sites. Quieter than staying in Cairo proper.

Staff

Very kind and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean

Activity Reviews

Hurghada

Hurghada

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Driver was friendly but the trip from Luxor to Hurgada felt very unsafe.

Hurghada

Hurghada

We booked a room with a single king bed over 6 months in advance and were told on site they only had a room with two single beds available. The drive there was also a little scary even though the driver was friendly and timely.

Quality of Experience

Driver quality and booking the room type requested.

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Quality of driving skill.

West Bank of Luxor (Valley of the Kings, Queens - Hatshepsut Temple - Colossi of Memnon)

Luxor

We thought there would be a little more time to walk the full fally of the kings, but it didn't feel overly rushed. See main comment and Luxor comment for more details.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Ahmed was great. The driver was very nice but not the best at driving (see main comment)

Transport

Quality of driving. Driver was otherwise very nice and timely.

Visit Edfu temple & Luxor temple and Karnak temple

Egypt

Lack of clear communication between the Egypt Promotions company, KimKim, and us about how the potential timing would work due to the locks and time for the boat would have made it much less stressful than it ended up being.

Quality of Experience

Food

The staff on the Dahbiya boat was incredible.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Abu Simbel temple and Kom Ombo temple

Aswan

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Philae Temple, Unfinished Obelisk & Nubian Village

Aswan

Nubian Village is advertised as a cultural experience but was little more than a shopping trip to a tourist trap. The boat ride was OK, and the guide did give some info about nubians. No time really provided to walk any of the shops that were in the village. He may have been trying to protect us from haggling, not sure.

Quality of Experience

Be more transparent with what will be experienced

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit to Al-Muizz Street & Khan el Khalili bazaar

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Over day Fayoum & 4*4

Cairo

We were told by Gehad we would have a dune buggy but they only had a 4*4. However, that guide did a great job.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Grand Egyptian Museum tour

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Pyramids, Sphinx, Sakkara & Memphis

Cairo

Mohammed and Rafat were incredible

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Al Tannoura Egyptian Dance Heritage Show at Wekalet El Ghouri

Cairo

Driver was 45 minutes late and almost made us miss the show. He also seemed to drive like he was drunk or lost. Driving very slow on the far right of the highway, missed turns several times. Even the guide didn't like the driver.

Quality of Experience

Advise guides to be slightly less focused on going to stores that were not asked to go to. If the client wants to just go back to the hotel or go get food, just accept it and go.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Have drivers that will be close to on time (within 5 minutes of planned time)

Transport

Be on time and have better quality drivers

Arrival Cairo

Cairo

Great pick up experience, but felt rushed. Advised we would see our point of contact at 10 Am but he never showed up or answered on Whatsapp. (See main comment)

Quality of Experience

10 am follow up for trip details was a no show

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Make things feel less rushed. Follow through with timing and what is said will happen.

Transport

Great arrival transport vehicle.