Egypt Promotion Travel

To be perfectly honest, I arrived in Egypt with very neutral expectations. These were swept away in no time at all by the impeccable quality of the welcome provided by Egypt Promotion Tours. Every transition and every point of contact went smoothly.
Above all, I appreciated the knowledge of our guides, Omar and Mohammed J. Both patiently answered my countless questions, some of which were perhaps a little unusual.
The organisation dealt with unexpected incidents swiftly and efficiently, such as a lost suitcase or a malfunctioning air conditioning unit.
I felt well looked after and safe throughout my entire stay.
My initial neutral expectations were replaced by amazement and appreciation for this diverse, millennia-old country, with fantastic food and smiles that seem to come from the heart and reach the eyes.
This was made possible, among other things, by the excellent organisation: thank you very much for that!

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.

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.