The Rough Guide to Egypt, 4th Edition [Paperback]

Dan Richardson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 4, 2000 | Series: Rough Guide to Egypt

A practical guide to Egypt, from recommendations of the best-value hotels, restaurants and bars, to chartering a felucca or haggling in the bazaar. It features accounts of the Islamic monuments and pharaonic sites, with all the details one needs on how to visit them.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...full of indispensable advice, erudite and consumer-bright. -- The Irish Times, 30 May 1998, Dublin, Ireland

Best guidebook. -- Sunday Mirror, London, UK

Lively, up-to-date and very reliable. -- Travel and Leisure

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Moving north to the Mediterranean, Egypt’s second city, Alexandria, boasts a string of beaches to which Cairenes flock in summer, and excellent seafood restaurants. Despite being founded by Alexander the Great and lost to the Romans by Cleopatra, the city today betrays little of its ancient glory; however, the ongoing underwater excavation of Cleopatra’s Palace and (possibly) the legendary Lighthouse of Pharos may once more bring an air of majesty to Alexandria. Famous too for its decadence during colonial times, romantics can still indulge here in a nostalgic exploration of the "Capital of Memory", while further along the Mediterranean coast lie the World War II battlefield of El-Alamein and the Egyptian holiday resort of Mersa Matrouh.

The Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, musters few archeological monuments given its major role in ancient Egyptian history, and is largely overlooked by tourists. However, for those interested in Egyptian culture, the Delta hosts colourful religious festivals at Tanta, Zagazig and other towns. Further east lies the Canal Zone, dominated by the Suez Canal and its three cities. Port Said and Ismailiya are pleasant, albeit sleepy places, where you can get a feel of "real Egypt" without tripping over other tourists. Suez is grim, but a vital transport nexus between Cairo, Sinai and the Red Sea Coast.

Edged by coral reefs teeming with tropical fish, the Sinai Peninsula offers superb diving and snorkelling, and palmy beaches where women can swim unmolested. Resorts along the Gulf of Aqaba are varied enough to suit everyone, whether you’re into the upmarket hotels of Sharm el-Sheikh, Na’ama Bay or Taba, or cheap, simple living at Dahab and Nuweiba. From there it’s easy to visit St Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai (where Moses received the Ten Commandments) in the mountainous interior. With more time, cash and stamina, you can also embark on jeep safaris or camel treks to remote oases and spectacular wadis.

Egypt’s Red Sea Coast has more reefs further offshore, with snorkelling and diving traditionally centred around Hurghada, while barely-touched reefs further south from Port Safaga to Mersa Allam beckon serious diving enthusiasts. Inland, the mountainous Eastern Desert harbours the Coptic Monasteries of St Paul and St Anthony, Roman quarries and other antiquities, and dramatic rockscapes seen by few apart from the nomadic Bedouin.

WHEN TO GO

Deciding on the best time for a visit involves striking a balance between climatic and tourist factors. Egypt’s traditional season runs from late November to late February, when the Nile Valley is balmy, although Cairo can be overcast and chilly. However, at these times, particularly during the peak months of December and January, the major Nile resorts of Luxor and Aswan get unpleasantly crowded. This winter season is also the busiest period for the Sinai resorts, while Hurghada is active year round.

With this in mind, March or April are good compromise options, offering decent climate and fewer visitors. In May and June the heat is still tolerable but, after that, Egyptians rich enough to do so migrate to Alex and the coastal resorts. From July to September the south and desert are ferociously hot and sightseeing is best limited to early morning or evening – though August still sees droves of backpackers. October into early November is perhaps the best time of all, with easily manageable climate and crowds.

Weather and tourism apart, the Islamic religious calendar and its related festivals can have an effect on your travel. The most important factor is Ramadan, the month of daytime fasting, which can be problematic for eating and transport, though the festive evenings do much to compensate. See "Public Holidays and Moulids" in the Basics chapter for details of its timing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; 4 edition (December 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858285224
• ISBN-13: 978-1858285221
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,821,846 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars OK on practical information but uninformed on history, November 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Egypt: The Rough Guide, Fourth Edition (Rough Guides) (Paperback)

Though I found the Rough Guide to Egypt to be fairly good on providing practical information, its grasp of Egyptian history and culture was poor, much of it copied from other and better guide books.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rough Guide to Egypt, June 20, 2000

By 

Ian A. Inman (http://drink.to/beefy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Egypt: The Rough Guide, Fourth Edition (Rough Guides) (Paperback)

To the point, told you what you needed to know, without saturating you with information. I travelled with a couple of friends to Egypt and found their book to be more informative than mine, despite the fact that their Rough Guide was a little out of date when they bought it. It is especially useful if you are looking for cheap accomodation in Luxor and to a lesser extent, Aswan, plus it also provided some decent maps of both areas. One amusing snippet that caught my attention was the information about the back way into the Valley of the Kings (for the fit amongst you only) - you turn right just before the ticket collection point at Hapshepsut, passed the souvenir stalls and follow the path up the side of the hill. Once at the top and passed a hill on top, veer right again to go into the Valley of the Kings. Unlike the main entrance (where you are checked to see you have tickets), you don't have to pay to get in this way, but you can't get into any of the tombs if you haven't bought the tickets - courtesy of the information in Rough Guide. The Egyptians check for tickets again at each tomb entrance, which from what I can remember, you are told about in the book anyway. Still worth it for the views though, especially of Hapshepsut, but DON'T GO TOO NEAR THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF.

The Aswan bit is also clearer than other books, for example, one bit of info. it gives compared to others, is the fact that once you have paid to go to Philae Temple (which is on an island), you have to haggle with the owners of the boats in order to get there.

All in all, a very comprehensive book, but the edition I saw needed a little updating.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars no cigar, March 17, 2000

By 

Ronnie Rowland (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Egypt: The Rough Guide, Fourth Edition (Rough Guides) (Paperback)

An industriously put together guidebook but poorly informed and dull to read. It's not bad on practical information but hardly turns up anything really new or interesting that you can't find in any other book. More importantly, you do not really have confidence that its authors know much about the history or culture of the country, while what they tell you of the sites seems either taken from other and better books or is what you can see for yourself. No insight, in other words, no gleams of illumination. And it is so politically correct that it is worse than having gippy tummy.