Alexandria/Cairo

[mandwcruise]

I would love to take my family to see a unique part of Africa, pyramids, and where Indiana Jones was based. Then I read things like this:

 

1. https://www.france24.com/en/20171016-cairo-deemed-worlds-worst-city-women

2. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220713-egyptian-women-are-fighting-desperately-for-a-safe-nation-and-a-political-voice/

3. https://www.jtgtravel.com/africa/egypt/is-cairo-safe/

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_in_Egypt

 

The country is ahead of other Middle Eastern nations in terms of women’s rights, but Cairo remains one of the worst megacities for female harassment, and solo travelers can receive unwanted attention.

 

an estimated of 99.3% of Egyptian women said they faced some form of sexual violence.

 

Women of this forum, is this going to be a disaster!?

[eileen108]

I went on a 10-day group tour with "Mara's House Luxor" (you can Google it - Mara is an Irish lady who has lived in Egypt for many years) in 2018 and had an amazing and totally safe time! It was the trip of a lifetime and everything went totally smoothly! We were 16 Australians and Americans, and a couple from England. The best and dare I say only way to see Egypt is with an 'all inclusive' tour. Even travelers much more experienced than me say that it is very, very hard to go through Egypt alone, whether man or woman or family. The Egyptians are desperate to make some money and their ways are completely aggressive - shop owners, taxi drivers, tour guides. VERY hard to get anyone honest and reliable. A group tour will entirely protect you from that. I am returning to Egypt in November as part of a 'Holy Land' 10-day tour and again in early 2024 on a World Cruise - and I will be taking an Excursion at that time too, though most other ports I will be exploring independently. Really hope you can make the visit to the Pyramids dream come true! TOTALLY worth it, guaranteed! 😁

[yogagal47]

Eileen-thanks for your post. We leave in 10 days for Jordan and Egypt. We'll be with an AMA Waterways group-Jordan is an optional pre-cruise add on then we go to Cairo for 3 days followed by a flight to Luxor, one week on the Nile then back to Cairo for the final day. I'm wondering-for the times we happen to be on our own-what is the tipping policy over there and are American dollars welcomed/accepted?  Thanks for ant input. Julie in Denver ,CO. USA