8 Reasons To Visit Egypt

The evocative home of the pharaohs is even more diverse than you imagine, but don't be expecting the Agatha Christie experience on your Nile cruise, writes Katy McGuinness

Cairo Museum

Pyramids and the Sphinx

Hanging Church

Nile Cruise

Markets in Egypt

The Temple of Karnak near Luxor

1. Museums

The Egyptian Museum, in Cairo, is home to the extraordinary Tutankhamun collection, a mind-boggling array of art and artefacts and numerous gruesome mummies, including an entire room of animal mummies which children will enjoy. The museum is over-crowded with people and exhibits, though, and the labelling is atrocious – visit later in the day when the crowds have dispersed. The museum in Luxor is an altogether more manageable affair – contained and well-designed, do-able in under an hour and therefore just about right for kids. For the strong of stomach, Luxor also has a museum devoted to the process of mummification.

2. Pyramids and the Sphinx

What is there to be said other than everybody should visit Giza at least once in their lifetime? Descent into a pyramid is not for the claustrophobic, though – be warned. The night-time Son et Lumiere show sounds as if it is voiced by the same guy who did the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II for the BBC, but is spectacular nonetheless.

3. Churches, synagogues and mosques

Cairo – city of a thousand minarets – has a surprising amount of religious diversity. In Old Cairo, also known as Coptic Cairo, visit the extraordinary Hanging Church, dating from the fourth century, which is still used for regular worship by members of Cairo's Christian community. There's also the church of Saint Sergius, dating from the fifth century, in the crypt of which the holy family is said to have sought refuge during their flight into Egypt, and – unexpectedly – the beautifully restored Ben Ezra synagogue. The Citadel, the stone fortress dominating Cairo's eastern horizon, built by Salah ad-Din in the 12th century, houses the mosque of Mohammed Ali and outside the Khan al-Khalili souk (see Shopping) is the Al-Azhar Mosque, founded in 970.

4. Food

Egyptian food is generally very good, although Cairo is home to more western fast-food outlets than you would have thought possible. There is a McDonald's within sight of the Pyramids. Many restaurants do not serve alcohol; check first to avoid disappointment. In Cairo we loved Abou El Sid (157 26th of July St; +2 735 9640) for its chic clientele, beautiful setting and exceptional food at less than €20 a head. The Nubian Village at the blinging Grand Hyatt Hotel (+2 365 1234, www.cairo.grand.hyatt.com) serves excellent food at tourist prices (around €40 a head). In Aswan, the compact Chef Khalil (Sharia al-Souk, near the station) serves enormous portions of terrific grilled fish and seafood for about €10 a head. Avoid the stuffy and over-priced 1896 restaurant in the Winter Palace in Luxor in favour of decent if unadventurous food on the roof terrace of Jamboree (Sharia el-Montazah).

5. The Nile

You really can't go to Egypt and not take a Nile cruise, but unless you opt for one of the more upmarket (read, expensive), smaller boat options your experience is going to be less Death on the Nile and more Carnage on the M50. Our cruise from Aswan to Luxor was no languid potter – a captain in a hurry and a congested river (think noise, fumes, gridlock and parking hell) made for a less than relaxing couple of days than we had expected. That said, the bank activity, feluccas and birdlife are fascinating.

6. Temples and tombs

Kom Ombo, dedicated to two gods (Horus the elder and the crocodile-headed Sobek), and Edfu, the largest and best-preserved temple in the country, which took 200 years to complete, both date from the Ptolemaic dynasty. They are rich in symbolism and mythology, accessible from the Nile. The Hypostyle Hall of the Temple at Karnak near Luxor is outstanding, and the Luxor Temple, smack in the middle of town, is well worth a visit, but for overall wow factor, the funerary temple of Queen Hatshepsut is the one that you will never forget. At the Valley of the Kings, you can visit the tomb of Tutenkhamun and Ramses II, IV, VII and IX, among others; addicts can see more in the Valleys of the Queens and Nobles. The art is vivid and the mythology fascinating, impressionable children will be tempted by a career in Egyptology.

7. Adventure

Even the most jaded child will get a thrill from sailing in a felucca, riding a camel through the desert, standing atop the Aswan dam, taking a kalesh ride to a temple, dining in the home of a Nubian family and watching the dawn on the Nile from their bunk on the overnight train from Cairo to Aswan (not quite the Orient Express but comfortable enough, and there is wine with dinner).

8. Shopping

The markets in Aswan and Luxor are a mere fraction of the size of Cairo's overwhelming Khan al-Khalili souk but have plenty to entice the visitor. As well as the usual array of fake handbags, pashminas, and sheekah pipes that mightn't seem such a good idea when you get them home, there is covetable jewellery and a selection of spices comprehensive enough to satisfy the most demanding of chefs. There's the usual hassle and bargaining vibe – you either like it or you don't. Gaddis, next to the Winter Palace in Luxor, has wonderful art and photographic prints.

WE READ:

Guides: Dorling, Kindersley: Egypt (best illustrated guide), Footprint: Egypt Fiction: Naguib, Mahfouz: Cairo Trilogy (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street); Ala Al Aswany: The Yacoubian Building; Ahdaf Soueif: The Map of Love, In The Eye of the Sun

WE BOOKED:

Our own flights to Cairo via Paris (check www.ebookers.ie for best deals) and then joined the Adventure Company's Treasures of the Nile tour, suitable for families with children, currently priced from €1,273 including flights from London. See www.adventurecompany.co.uk.

WE STAYED:

In Cairo at the al-Nabila (best avoided) and Pyramisa (ditto) and in Aswan at the Isis Island (fine – five star but not as you know it) rather than the famous Old Cataract (think Agatha Christie and you're there) which the brochure had promised. In Luxor we were at the fabulous Winter Palace, an old wedding cake of a building that would not be out of place on the Corniche in Nice, although in the new garden rooms at the back rather than the more glamorous building to the front.

March 8, 2009