Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to Egypt 6 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

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I arrived in Egypt this week and have been using this guide to help me get aquainted with it. I don't have any other guides to compare it to, but I can say that the organization, writing, maps, extras, and overall quality of the book seem to be excellent. It has been very helpful so far.

The most outstanding features to me so far is the sensible organization of the book, the readablity and humor of the writing, and the excellent maps. However, if you're wanting lots of pictures, you'll need to look elsewhere. It does have some nice pictures at the very beginning, about the first 30 pages, but that's it, you won't find another. After that it's all text, maps, extra's, and special features.

There is a helpful Language section in the back that covers basics of Egyptian Arabic and it has been very helpful to me so far, but it is only the very basics of the language, as I suppose is to be expected from such a book. You'll need another source if you want to try and have any kind of descent communication with most people here, as far as I can tell. It's been my experience that the majority of people here in Egypt speak pretty poor English- quite a bit worse than I expected. But, the Language section will help you with the most basic situations.

I really like the writing style. It rarely gets stiff and boring. It flows well and can be quite funny. It's not "just the facts." There's a little spice thrown in... fitting, for the country it's written about.

I went to Egypt in February 2006 with my wife and our two boys (5 and 2.5 years). Although we took a package tour to Hurghada, we actually overnighted there only three nights of the eleven we were in Egypt. The rest we spent moving around (Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, busses, train, cruise ship, jeep). For the whole trip we spent around 1000 USD plus the package. We could have easily spent twice as much (or, more precisely -- seen twice as little because the budget was limited) if not the hints in the book.

Thanks to this book we got a great offer for a two night last-minute Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor. By taxi (30 USD, 80 km round trip, an option that without the book would not be even considered) we visited pyramids of Giza and Dahshur. Dahshur (as described in the book) has the second largest pyramid in Egypt as well as the strangest-shaped one (The Bent Pyramid). We were there alone if not the half a dozen French travellers -- it is an experience much different from one you get at Giza where your awe about the greatness of the structures is mixed considerably with the awe about the number of people around.

The bargaining tips and information on ticket prices were so accurate in tiniest details! We started laughing when a typical merchant approached us in Luxor and asked for our help in writing a letter in English to "his friend from abroad" -- our book speciffically mentioned this trick used by shopkeepers to lure unsuspecting tourists!

Enough -- if you are going to Egypt and want to see the real thing, get this book!

All rough guides that I have encountered are chock full of great information. The Egypt guide in particular is one of the best. The number of maps is fantastic and the quality of the information is comparable to what you usually have to visit the site to obtain.

Choc full of good and interesting information. Layouts of pyramids, temples, touring info, cautions, advice, etc. Very good and I will take the book to refer during my upcoming trip.

This was an indispensable guide when I traveled to Cairo last year. The author gives quite an honest look at what to love about Egypt and what to really keep your distance from (I'm looking at you, scamming touts, in front of the Egyptian Museum!). This guide really prepares you for the trip and helps you experience more than what the typical tourist sees. I also used this guide when i took the train into Alexandria-- again very helpful, especially with cafe and restaurant recommendations.

Excellent guide book with lots of good suggestions. Buy it before going to Egypt. This is a must have.