Our trip was amazing. The tour co. was fantastic as was the tour guide. Salib, was full of information,& very interesting. He gave invaluable advice re purchases we wished to make & also general advice re the Egyptian people themselves. The only negative was the sleeper train. We would rather have spent a little more to fly as the train trip was appalling! All the other accommodation was first class but this was definitely very low class!
The Egyptians seemed to be lovely people & very welcoming, except for all the "hustlers." Maybe once the elections have been held, there will be more regulation of this.
I would definitely recommend this tour to everyone. In fact I gave a brochure to someone at Cairo Airport, who had had a tour with Trafalgar Tours, cancelled. She was pretty unhappy as a result.
We would look at doing another tour in the future with "on the go".
On the Go Tours Jewel of the Nile - 10 days, 7th August 2009
Reviewed 25th September 2009
Highly recommend this tour! Super Mo was an excellent guide, so knowledgable and passionate about his culture and history. We were kept well informed at all times on each day's activities and enjoyed every single day, except the train, I must say I would rather have skipped the overnight sleeper experience. Beware this tour really is 'on the go' so much to do it wears you out but it is so worth it. The On the Go crew were very organised, we felt very well cared for and safe. We were in a small group - only 6 of us... it was perfect. The Pyramids were awesome - a dream come true! We did the add on Abu Simbel...breathtakng.. it was worth getting up at 3am to be there for the sunrise. Only down side..make sure you have good gastro tablets, we got sick from the food on the Nile Cruiser. Would I go again? You bet..would go tomorrow with 'On the Go'.
This May half-term I went to Egypt with On the Go tours. I did the King Ramses and it was everything you wish Egypt to be!
Our fabulous guide was Sherif, he was specially recommended by a friend so we ensured we got on his tour. We spent every few minutes trying to stop ourselves from laughing!
The highlights of this trip were definitely the two bolt-ons we took, the Abu Simbel and the Hot air ballooning over the Valley of the Kings/Queens, Temple of Hatshepsut and Karnak temple. Another highlight was spending 2 days lying on a spongy mattress sailing down the Nile on a felucca with nothing to do other than read, sunbathe, or soak up the scenery!
Mentioning the best activity is most definitely a difficult challenge, but I can say that I took more exciting modes of transportation on this trip than on any other trip. Here's the amazing list: mini bus, coach, overnight train (Cairo to Luxor), plane (down to Abu Simbel), ferry (to get to and from the Hotel in Aswan), felucca, feet (walked up mount Sinai), overnight bus (Luxor to Dahab), snorkelling, swimming, air ballooning... They were all quite incredible!
Some packing tips for this trip would be the following essentials:
- Torch,
- Toilet paper,
- Sleeping bag (make it a small one and take it on the overnight train and bus (they are very very cold!) and if you want to, up mount Sinai),
I highly recommend this tour for the fantastic guiding, the beautiful temples, and for the general all-year round accessibility!
(Helpful hint though: DONT go in summer - Sherif says that it gets beyond 50 degrees Celsius in the desert and it is quite unpleasant!)
We did a 5 day tour! The hotel was fine & breakfast was good! We really enjoyed the cruise & visit to the Grand Bazaar. The tour guide Fahry was excellent!!! He looked after us well, had a good sense of humour and was full of facts. The Anzac night and dawn service was great! The night was long and cold, but we came prepared. Do not stress if you do not get a spot on the grass. We didn't and we arrived at 3pm, and all through the night the grass-people had to sit up and squash up! We were very proud and happy to attend. The cove is such a beautiful spot.
What an adventure. Egypt and dahab. We were promised 5* hotels but expectd 3* as you do. On the Go delivered as promised. Accommodation was great, with pools as standard. I also did the Dahab dive bolt on and got my PADI Open Water certification. The underwater world is amazing. Fish & coral of all different colours and shapes. Fantastic!. We saw the Pyramids of Giza and the local tour guides information was invaluable and he spoke fluent English. We sailed for 2 days along the Nile on a Felucca - local sail boat, it beats the Cruise any time. In regards to the stomach viruses, as long as you buy bottled water and eat from the hotels you will be fine. The tour guide recommended buying the local medication if we needed it, and by the reports of some people it fixed all problems within hrs not days.
I cant recommend this tour enough. Just do it.
This was undoubtedly the best trip I've done so far. Egypt lived up to my expectations and delivered a few spectacular surprises.
The tour was booked through On The Go and the organisation was flawless. We turned up to the airport om Cairo and were greeted by and On the Go rep who sorted out (within minutes) visas for anyone who didn't have them already. We were bundled into the bus and shuttled directly to the hotel. The tour guides spoke perfect English and were always happy to answer questions and give a bit more background.
The group was predominantly Aussies. There were one or two Kiwi's and the same number of Brits. The age group was about 26 years old.
Obviously this was a trip packed with awesome architecture and unimaginable beauty but there were two exceptionally good parts to this trip. Firstly, the Abu Simble ad-on (definitely worth doing). We got up at about 3am to go and meet the group to fly from Aswan to Abu Simbel to see it at sunrise. It was breathtaking. The second exceptional part was the felucca trip (2 nights). Nothing quite compares to sailing up the Nile in a 'traditional Egyptian sailing boat' with only 11 other people - it's an experience not to be missed (pack really good mozzie repellant though!)
All in all, it was a fantasic trip. Nothing can really prepare you for the size and grandeur of the pyramids and the temples (Edfu was enormous) or for the stunning colour in the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
This is definitely a trip I would recommend - On the Go organised it beautifully (we crossed paths with a couple of other tour groups and they didn't seem to have the same level of organisation) and we didn't have to worry about a single thing for the entire 9 days.
This is the first time I have used a tour company and I could not speak highly enough of the staff and organisation of the On the Go Team!!
Egypt was amazing!!
The tour comes in waves some days are very relaxing (such as the 2 days crusing down the Nile in the felluca's) and other days are jam packed (visiting up to 3 different sites). The one downfall of the tour is the amount of travelling you have to do (1x 18hr train, 1x 16hr bus and 1x 8hr bus) but to be honest it's the only way to get to see everything in the alotted time.
The tour is a round trip starting and finishing in Cairo, the last part of the tour is 3 nights in Dahab which is fantastic, a really nice place to unwind, no full-on itinery just cocktails by the pool!! Dahab is also world renowned for it's diving - To make the most of this add on a couple of extra days (it's a minimal cost but so worth it!!).
It's hard to say what my highlight was because everything was amazing!!.
There are a few add-on options you can look at doing - I would have to say Abu Simbel is one of the most amazing places I have ever been to and well worth the extra bucks.
Our tour guide (Sheriff) has to get a mention.... absolutely hilarious as well as very informative!!
Great time - amazing memories!!
We are not big fans of tours, but for Egypt, we would have had it no other way. Our On The Go tour was professionally run, very well organised and made us feel safe in what can be a bit of a scary country...especially for first timers like us! So many tips that we would never have known without our expert tour guide by our side made our trip very smooth and problem free.
We do recommend that if possible, upgrade your seater train for the overnight train to a sleeper train carriage. It is well worth the extra money to have a safe and pleasant journey as when you arrive in Luxor or back in Cairo, the tour can't wait for you to wake up! One highlight of the trip was the optional extra of the Balloon Ride in Luxor at sunrise. It was absoultely priceless, and if you can afford to do it, don't miss out.
Our tour group was great, and small, a group of young guys and girls, mainly Aussies, one South African and one New Zealander.
Definitely a great tour, our trip to Egypt would never have been so good without the help of On the Go!
Egypt wasnt somewhere we thought we'd ever visit - it never really interested us. But after talking to a travel agent, who mentioned On The Go's King Ramses tour, we decided to give it a go - and it was probably one of the best holidays we've had.
The tour was 13 days and covered everything there is to see in Egypt, including 4 days in Dahab (a little scuba diving town on Red Sea).
Highlights had to be the 2 days on the feluca sailing up the Nile (very basic, but a must do!), Luxor Temple by night, Mt Sinai (2 hour mountain climb to see the sunrise) and Dahab. Tour guide (Walid) was fantastic and tour was well organised.
Do it!
Throughout the six day tour I felt very safe in the hands of the staff of On The Go. There were times when the people of Egypt were in our faces trying to sell us things and or offer us certain amount of camels/chickens for our hand in marriage - the staff were more than willing to intervene and tell the people to get lost.
The tour was good value for money - nice hotels with breakfast.
There were lots of add-ons you could do on the tour. These were constantly offered throughout the tour which was good as it meant that you could wait until the eleventh hour before committing to doing a particular add-on (unless of course it was something they needed numbers for urgently such as the hot air balloon ride).
The only negative thing I could say was that the breakfasts we got when we were on the train (like a packed lunch but was breakfast) were really crap!!!
