Egypt Promotion Travel

After multiple iterations with Khaled, we finally had an itinerary in place. I was a little anxious on how things worked out. However, right from the arrival in Cairo, things worked in clock work. Khaled had a local coordinator in each of the places we visited . This helped a lot. Right from timely pickups, drop offs and local coordination, the team remained accessible and regularly communicated with us. The wider team was informed about our entire schedule. So, we did not even once have to tell them about our plans while the local teams remained flexible. We appreciated the tips we got to handle topics like tipping which can get tricky in Egypt. We appreciated that the local logistics including tickets to all sites were already handled.

The local places which were arranged for lunch were good. The hotels in general were good as well. Unfortunately, the previous booking we had done with Iris Dahabiya did not work out as their air conditions were out of order. An alternative was arranged with Adam Dahabiya. While it offered a good room and outstanding food, the service offered on this boat felt extremely raw and not well trained. They also never seemed to have any of the drinks that were offered on their menu. In a supposedly 5 star dahabiya, I would expect that I can communicate easily with the staff. However, we had to rely on our guide.

We also want to give a massive shoutout to our 2 guides - Omar in Aswan and Luxor and then later Mohammad (Jimmy) in Cairo and Alexandria. They were highly knowledgable about history, literature, local tips. Not only that, they also coordinated any changes and kept us informed. Over 11 days, we were never delayed due to them. They made our trip extra special and want to extend a big Thank you to them. I would highly recommend them for anyone....

Overall, a memorable trip, thanks to Khaled and his team to make the Egypt experience so full of heart . Thank you Khaled, Mohammad Gawish, Hamda, Mohtaz, Walid, Omar and Mohammad (Jimmy)

Hotel Reviews

Le Metropole Luxury Heritage Hotel Since 1902 by Paradise Inn Group

Alexandria

The room itself seems very basic and a little rundown for the type of hotel it is . Yet, it is very unique. The materials used for the interiors is classic with a French touch. The high ceilings makes the room appear more spacious. The restaurant staff is outstanding offering the old school hospitality. They make it special any time of the day. The roof top restaurant is an absolute treat offering a great atmosphere and a spectacular view of the Mediterranean. Don't miss the sunset

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Le Riad de Charme

Cairo

When I booked this hotel, I had read reviews about it being very noisy. They do provide ear plugs but we never required it. If you stay in this hotel, it is to experience the Egyptian / Cairo vibe and you get a lot of that. This includes the Cairo buzz....The room (suite) was beautiful and very spacious. The roof top restaurant offers a beautiful experience

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Sonesta Nouba Hotel Aswan

Aswan

Extremely good location . Room is very unique and loved the Nubian style. The food was very underwhelming and is the only reason I am putting 4 stars. The property is beautiful and extremely relaxing.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Fairmont Nile City Hotel

cairo

We stayed for a very short time. While it offers good amenities, I am not convinced about the value for money. The room is fairly small for the price. The restaurant offerings are good. The reception and the service staff were good

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Day at leisure

Alexandria

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Alexandria: Catacombs, Roman Amphitheater and Pompey's Pillar and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Egypt

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cairo Walking Food Tour

Cairo

I don't think the food tour was well thought through. It felt more improvised and we ended up going to food chains offering koshari, kunafa and other local dishes. I am not used to this as food tours in other cities is more about discovering some local gems offering the best local experience. The food itself was good

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Coptic and Islamic Cairo, Citadel and Khan El Khalili

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Day tour to visit Pyramids, Sphinx, Sakkara & GEM

Egypt

Mohammad (Jimmy) was fantastic. And he took some fantastic photos to make it even more memorable !

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

West & East Bank Luxor

Luxor

Once again, kudos to Omar for guiding us through all the beautiful temples and also the valley of Kings. Absolutely amazing

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hot air balloon

Luxor

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kom Ombo | Temple of Sobek

Aswan

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Embarkation in Aswan | High Dam & Philae Temple

Aswan

Superb. Thanks to Omar for arranging everything and ensuring that things were executed on time

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Abu Simbel temple by flight

Egypt

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The Abu Simbel team were ok . Not as good as rest of the trip

Transport

Traveling to Upper Egypt

Egypt

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Welcome to Egypt

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Everything about the trip was incredible! Khaled, our travel specialist, worked diligently with me to customize and provide exactly what we wanted to experience. He was very helpful before we arrived and checked in with us during our trip.

We were met at the Cairo airport by Samara, a tourl leader guide, who made us feel very welcomed and well taken care of as he guided us through submitting our Visas and being admitted into Egypt. He took us to our hotel and twice more during our trip helped us go through security at the airport. What great customer service!

We were very fortunate to have two amazing top level guides, Yasser and Omar. Both had backgrounds in Egyptology and were incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the information they gave us. They brought the past alive for us! Yasser guided us through the pyramids, the GEM (Grande Egyptian Museum), old Cairo for a tour of religious sites, and introduced us to some Egyptian cuisine. We spent a few nights aboard a small, luxurious boat on the Nile. During the day Omar led us through many historic areas in the Aswan and Luxor areas like Abu Simbel Temple, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut and Luxor Temples. Did you know perfume was invented in Egypt?

The people of Egypt are lovely and this company is incredible. We highly recommend them!!

One final note: despite some broader concerns about travel in that area of the world, we personally felt completely safe the entire time. It did not affect our experience in any way.

Hotel Review

Iris Dahabeya

Luxor

This is a luxurious ship with a stunning deck and swimming pool. The meals were outstanding, and I enjoyed a deeply relaxing massage from the onboard physiotherapist. The staff were consistently friendly and attentive. It was especially peaceful sitting on the top deck, taking in the views as we cruised along the Nile.

Authenticity & Character

There is no motor, just a sail.

Location

Who wouldn't enjoy floating down the Nile?

Staff

All of the staff--the General Manager, the Executive Chef, and all other staff were very friendly.

Cleanliness & Comfort

The staff tidied and cleaned our rooms twice a day!

Activity Reviews

Arrival Hurghada by land from Luxor

Hurghada

We drove through mountains on the way to Hurghada that were quite beautiful! It was a scenic drive!

Quality of Experience

Luxor West Bank & East Bank | Disembarkation

Luxor

The Valley of the Kings was mind boggling! The fact that so many important Egyptians were buried here, like Tutankhamun, was incredible! We visited several burial chambers and the colours of the pictographs on the walls and the ceilings were so vibrant!! The story of Hatshepsut, a female Pharoah was brought alive by our incredible guide, Omar, and the subsequent destruction of her images in her temple by her stepson were evident. Karnak and Luxor Temples were also mind boggling.

Edfu Temple | Sailing to Luxor

Egypt

It was really interesting to see and hear the stories from our amazing guide, Omar, about the falcon-headed deity, Horus, his marriage to Hathor, the goddess of motherhood, and his victory over his evil Uncle Set. The pictographs here, like on all the temples were incredible to see! Abu Simbel Temple was incredible!! Definitely worth the visit! We got there early before the crowds and were able to get some really good pictures. This was the site of another engineering feet because it was moved brick by brick to prevent it from being covered by Lake Nasser. The figures are so massive!!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Embarkation in Aswan | High Dam & Philae Temple

Aswan

Honestly as a woman I wondered before we arrived what the heck was so special about a dam. Learning about how much it fundamentally changed life for modern Egyptians was really interesting, as was seeing it was built like a mountain. I really enjoyed it! We also learned about the Philae Temple being moved brick by brick in the 70's in order to save it before the dam water covered it. Incredible feat of engineering! (There's some graffiti created by Napolean when he etched his name on the wall of the temple!) The story of the goddess Isis and her marriage to her brother Osiris was brought alive by our guide, Omar, as we walked through Philae Temple.

Quality of Experience

Kom Ombo | Temple of Sobek

Aswan

Cairo Walking Food Tour

Cairo

This wasn't a walking tour. It was a meal at a koshari restaurant our guide liked. We enjoyed the meal. Afterwards we went to a vendor to try Turkish coffee and my son smoked Hookah. We got an education of the process of heating and smoking it.

Day tour to visit Citadel of Salah El-Din, Old Cairo & Khan El Khalili market

Cairo

Our private guide, Yasser, did an amazing job of educating us about the Coptic Christians who reportedly hid Jesus and his family in the church we toured. We also toured the Citadel Mosque that Mohammed Ali built and the American boxer was named after. We entered a Jewish Synagogue and learned there are only a tiny number of Jews left in Egypt. We learned 90% of Egyptians are Sunni Muslims and 10% Coptic Christians. After lunch we walked through some touristy shopping areas where we saw small and larger items to buy. I got an Ankh (key of life) to put on a necklace.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Cairo - White Desert

Bahariya

The scenery was absolutely stunning!!! It was so interesting to see the landscape change as we drove from Cairo--with farms growing lush trees, to black sand, to beige sand, to quartz rock, to white, white rock formations. We loved getting out and exploring the landscape. We had fun 4x4 driving up and down sand dunes and even tried sand boarding down smooth sand dune hills. Crystal Mountain was disappointing. The crystals were apparently removed from the park 100 years ago, despite marketing pictures of large crystals coming out ot the ground. Despite this, the other landscapes absolutely made up for it! We went to some hotspring pools which we didn't know existed in the desert. We got no information enroute (their driver may have told our guide who didn't translate that information) that the expectation was for us to go in them. As the only woman there and many Arab men, that wasn't going to happen. Eventually two other women came and we sat on the side of the pool and put our feet in. Weird experience in the hot desert. The marketing photos of the camps were be very different than the reality. We saw photos of a large canvas tent with a queen bed or two double beds surrounded by hanging lights and ornate tapestries embroidered in gold with hanging green plants. There were also different pictures of a group of small portable western style backpacker's tents. We stayed in a more utilitarian permanent cabin with mismatched furniture and no decoration. There was air conditioning but the power went out in the middle of the night and it became very hot. The bedding and towels were white and clean. It was basic and ok to stay in, but not what was depicted in the photos.

Quality of Experience

Food

Lunch was pasta with tomato sauce (bland), french fries, some chicken (we think) covered in a stale tasting batter, some spicy pickles (yummy), and a bit of cucumber, tomato and carrot slices (good). Dinner, however, was delicious with chicken, rice, and salad. Breakfast was basic with some cheese, fresh pita, condiments, halvah and tea or instant coffee.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We had 2 different drivers that didn't speak any English. The first used a translator option on his phone to talk about the natural hot, warm, and cold water they accessed beneath the desert. Interesting!

Transport

The vehicles were very clean inside and we enjoyed Arabic music playing as we drove. It seemed fitting!

Welcome to Egypt

Cairo

It was so helpful to have Samara at the airport to greet us and walk us through different lineups and eventually out of the airport. There were so many people and it was a big airport and after flying for 17 hours, it was really helpful to be guided through seamlessly.

Quality of Experience

Samara was friendly, conversant, and professional.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Samara's English proficiency was incredible!

Day tour to visit Pyramids, Sphinx and GEM

Cairo

Mind blowing to actually be there!!! It was so helpful to have a guide giving us information about each area.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Having an Egyptologist introducing each area was so helpful and interesting!!!

Transport

Free time in Hurghada

Hurghada

We went for a day of snorkeling and dolphin watching that included lunch. The water colours were gorgeous! There were soooo many fish in the water and the coral reef was so colourful! I've never seen so many fish in any other ocean! Bottlenose dolphins swam by our boat for quite a while! What a treat to see them!!! The lunch was good too!!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

They worked hard to make everyone happy.

Hot air balloon

Luxor

We left at 4:00 AM and I was unsure whether we would actually fly. We did!! It was honestly spectacular!!! It was so interesting to see ruins that are being escavated now, to see the Valley of the Kings, and to watch all the other balloons rise before and during sunrise. Gorgeous!! So peaceful too!

Quality of Experience

The pilot pointed out points of interest to us.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I only interacted with Shahd over WhatsApp, and overall it was a little tough to figure out who to talk to to get help during the trip, between Shahd, the local rep Samara, the guides, and the drivers. I would recommend there be one WhatsApp conversation for coordination with guests for the future.

Of the people we interacted with Samara was the friendliest and the best fit for interacting with our family. We had 3 days of activities on this trip. We did get to see the highlights of Egypt that we wanted to see, but it was overall the least pleasant trip we've had on a year filled with family travel. The guides we had for seeing the pyramids, the GEM, and the Valley of the Kings were a really bad fit for our family. They did ask for feedback, and were able to adjust a bit, but it was rough. It felt like the guides were prioritizing going through their pre-scripted content instead of listening to our questions, and adjusting. For the museum, we spent an hour listening to the guide before going into any of the exhibits and then only had 10 minutes to look at King Tut's tomb treasures. This was all during the coolest part of the day too, so then we were rushing to get to the Sphinx before it closed. Our family felt like we were being scolded by the guide any time we wanted to stop and look at something or ask questions.

In Luxor, it was worse. It was super hot and the kids were tired. They did not love being scolded for not listening to the guide. And neither did we! At one point, we were directed to read a display on the wall, and then the guide talked nonstop so we couldn't actually read it.

We also felt like the guides were especially dismissive of our daughters in a way that felt patriarchal. We had to have lots of family discussions about sexism and culture. Some expectation setting up front is necessary if that's what we would experience across the board.

There was nothing about this trip that was tailored to independent travelers, as KimKim advertises. We could barely have a conversation or exploration as a family on this trip.

We were totally satisfied with our trip arranged by kimkim and Egypt Promotion Travel. This was the first time we used kimkim. We did a 14-day tour with a Nile cruise and a extension trip to Jordan for Petra and the Dead Sea with Egypt Promotion Travel. Amr tailored our trip to our desires. We saw all the sights we went to see. We appreciated the friendly and helpful agents that assisted us with each transfer. We had no issues with any transfer and were pleased with the provided 4/5-star lodging. We also enjoyed the guides and drivers, The guides were professional, knowledgeable, and friendly. The drivers knew how to get around the various tourist areas and city streets. We enjoyed the individual attention and tailored information of the private tours with a guide for just my wife and I. Tourism was down drastically during our trip due to the ongoing Iran-Israel-US conflict, but we saw no turmoil and felt safe the entire trip.

Activity Reviews

Aswan - Abu Simbel - Aswan

Aswan

This is such an amazing temple. It was a highlight of our trip.

Day tour to visit Citadel of Salah El-Din, Old Cairo & Khan El Khalili market

Cairo

A great day to see sites and get the feel for old Cairo.

Petra - The Dead Sea

Petra

We enjoyed our float in the Dead Sea and the mud treatment experience. This was worth fitting into our tour. It was nice to have a relaxing day at the pools and spa too.

Wadi Rum – Petra

Wadi Rum

Petra was a key stop for us. We were fortunate to be there on a day with few other tourists. we enjoyed our donkey ride up to the Monastery

Amman city tour

Amman

This guide was great and the historic hilltop has so much history to see.

Cairo - Amman – Wadi Rum

Jordan

The camp was empty so no social activities, too cold to swim. The sky wasn't very clear but we feel the lack of participants was why the stargazing was cancelled. For us, this was mostly a convenient stopping point on the way to Petra.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Aswan

Aswan

So much to see and learn about this complex and the road of sphynxes

Quality of Experience

Visit Edfou temple and Kom Ombo temple

Edfu

Edfou was my favorite temple.

Quality of Experience

West Bank of Luxor (Valley of the Kings , Hatshepsut Temple - Colossi of Memnon) Sailing to Edfu

Egypt

We recommend the balloon excursion. It was awesome to see it the Hatshepsut Temple from the air before visiting it on the ground. The temples and tombs are just incredible. Our guide was very knowledgeable. I am glad we did these early in the day beefier it got too hot.

Pyramids, Sphinx, Sakkara, Memphis and camel ride

Cairo

The pyramids and Sphinx were exactly what we expected. This was out only camel ride enjoyed the longer circuit. Sakkara and Memphis were our first historic stop, I thinks it is best to see them before the Giza site.

Grand Egyptian Museum tour

Cairo

The new museum is awesome. We spent a whole day here and still skimmed some sections.

Quality of Experience

Visit Karnak Temple and Luxor temple

Egypt

The temples were fantastic. We recommend the balloon excursion but pass on the the Karnak night light show. The light show was disappointing and not worth the cost.

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.

Thank you so much for organizing such a wonderful and memorable trip to Cairo. The experience was truly exceptional from start to finish.

A special thank you to our driver, Mohammed Ragab, who was outstanding throughout the trip. His professionalism, punctuality, safe driving, and warm attitude made all our transportation smooth and stress-free. He was always attentive to our needs and ensured everyone was comfortable at all times.

I would also like to commend our tour guide, Karam, who was absolutely fantastic. His knowledge, enthusiasm, and engaging storytelling brought every site to life. He was informative, patient, and genuinely passionate about sharing Egypt’s history and culture, which made the experience even more enriching for everyone.

Ahmed Madani was also amazing, he gave us the city tour on our first day.

Overall, the trip was extremely well-organized, informative, and enjoyable. We truly felt well taken care of, and the whole experience exceeded our expectations.

Hotel Review

Fairmont Nile City Hotel

cairo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Free Day

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Coptic Cairo - Salah El Deen Citadel - Mohamed Ali Mosque

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Dinner Cruise

Cairo

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 and camel ride

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport