So you guys have heard that Egypt is not safe?
Come over here and I'll show you how safe Egypt is.
So we're here with our friend Farah and she's lived in Egypt her entire life.
She's given us some great recommendations, uh places to see in this amazing country. So in
this video we're gonna break down our favorite ones we've seen, everything from the coast and
the Red Sea to Cairo, the Pyramids and some temples as well. So enjoy the video. Yalla!
We are Zac and Ine, full-time digital nomads from the United States and Belgium.
We met while studying abroad in 2018 and have been traveling the world together ever since.
We're here to inspire your next adventure, whether it's hiking in the Canadian Rockies,
a road trip through the U.S., or backpacking across Africa. On our channel you'll find
unfiltered videos of hiking guides and the best things to do in destinations around the world.
A fascinating country with some of the most historical monuments on earth, Egypt is an
unforgettable travel destination. Tucked away in the northeast corner of Africa, Egypt is home to
the Nile River where one of the world's earliest civilizations thrived. And even though Egypt has
had its fair share of turmoil in recent years, we found it safe, welcoming, and accessible.
Its ancient history, vast desert landscapes, and incredible marine life along the Red Sea are truly
one of a kind. In this video, we'll show you 10 amazing travel destinations in Egypt that you have
to visit. Make sure to watch until the end of this video when we share the top 5 things we learned
during our six weeks in Egypt. This will help you prepare for your own trip to this amazing country.
Located along the Nile River in the northeast of Egypt, Cairo is an important metropolis.
It's the largest city in the Arab World and a true place of contrast. From the lush Nile
shoreline to magnificent skyscrapers, and historical monuments, there's a lot
of variety in the city. Many buildings date back to the Roman, Arab and Ottoman times. We
recommend checking out the royal mummies at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilizations first,
since it's beautifully done and provides a nice broad history of Egypt throughout the displays.
Then, we recommend exploring the coptic churches and mosques of Cairo,
visiting any of the beautiful palaces, shopping at the authentic Khan-el-Khalili market,
and taking in the view of the city from the Cairo Tower.
About 112 kilometers or 70 miles south of Cairo sits the Al-Fayoum depression. This
natural area feels almost like an oasis with the immense lake Qarun being the source of life.
It's surrounded by cute towns, with Tunis Village being the destination that most visitors choose.
Here, you can find pottery workshops and small art galleries.
It's a vase or it's actually like
a pot and you can like pour your wine in the wine glass from here.
But besides that, Fayoum is also the gateway for desert adventures
out to Wadi Rayyan and Wadi Al Hittan where you can find desert lakes, a whale skeleton,
and plenty of birds. We were able to travel here with our friend
Farah and had a great conversation about the diversity of her home country.
So what I want people to know about Egypt is aside from the amazing history and culture that
you get to see in Cairo and the temples and monuments you get to see in Luxor and Aswan,
you can also enjoy numerous water activities along the Red Sea,
and you can also enjoy desert activities and sand boarding,
so there's a whole lot of diversity in the country and there's really something for everyone.
Another incredible travel destination in Egypt is Saint Catherine, which is located in southern
Sinai. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for the eastern orthodox Saint Catherine Monastery
and the biblical Mount Sinai. This mountain is sacred as it's the place where Moses received
the Ten Commandments from God, according to the Bible and the Quran. Most travelers decide to
hike this mountain at night in order to catch the sunrise from the summit. However, there
are many alternative hiking routes in the area that are less popular and nearly as beautiful.
Made it to the top of Mount Sinai. It's extremely cold and really crowded as well.But
if you come over to the right you can find a little more space to enjoy the sunrise.
Located in southeastern Egypt along the Red Sea, Marsa Alam is an up-and-coming tourist
destination. It's especially known for its incredible sea life as well as tranquility
and relaxation. Abu Dabbab is among the most famous beaches in the area and you can find
turtles swimming right off the shore here. But apart from that, Marsa Alam is also home to the
endangered dugong or sea cow. We weren't really impressed by the town itself since
tourist resorts are scattered all on the coastline leaving much to be desired from the town center.
However, the beaches and sea life here were out of this world.
At number six we have the towns of Edfu and Kom Ombo, which are accessible by taking a Nile
cruise from Luxor to Aswan or vice versa. Edfu is located along the west bank of the Nile river and
known for the Temple of Horus, which is one of the best-preserved ancient monuments in all of Egypt.
Horus was one of Egypt's most important Gods depicted as a falcon.
About 70 kilometers or 43 miles south of Edfu, there's another incredible temple in Kom Ombo,
this temple is dedicated to two Gods: the local crocodile god Sobek
and Horus the Elder, which makes this temple very unique in Egypt.
There's also a small crocodile museum with a collection of mummified crocodiles here. Watch our
full video about a three-day Nile cruise to find more information about these historical places.
So we're here at the Kom Ombo Temple and what we
just learned from our guide is that Kom Ombo actually means mountain and gold,
and so we can assume that this was a very prosperous area in ancient times.
Another amazing travel destination in Egypt is the world famous Pyramids of Giza. These iconic
ruins are actually royal tombs that were built for three different pharaohs. With the Great Pyramid
being 138 meters or 451 feet high, you'll realize how immense these mortuary temples actually are.
The pyramids are located in the Memphis area also known as the first capital of ancient Egypt.
This area can easily be reached from Cairo as it nearly borders the modern day city.
But besides the Giza Pyramids, there are also other ancient ruins in the Memphis area,
including the step Pyramid at Saqqara and the pyramids of Dahshur and Abusir.
One of our favorite travel destinations in Egypt is the idyllic town of Aswan,
located along the Nile river in the south of Egypt. Aswan is a friendly town surrounded
by beautiful Nile valley scenery, as well as immense sand dunes, and many charming islands.
It's the perfect place to relax as well as explore the historical and cultural heritage.
Sail to the Temple of Philae and Elephantine Island, find peace at Botanical Island,
or visit a Nubian Village. And also make sure to go on a day trip to the renowned Abu Simbel,
which is a three and a half hour drive from Aswan.
Carved out of the mountain between 1274 and 1244 BC, the Abu Simbel complex is truly impressive.
Find more info to book your trip to Abu Simbel in the description below.
Located on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula,
Dahab is our favorite beach destination in all of Egypt. Once a sleepy Bedouin fishing village,
Dahab enjoys a laid-back and bohemian atmosphere that you can't find anywhere else in Egypt.
It's popular with backpackers and known as one of the best dive destinations
in the entire world. And although scuba diving is undoubtedly the most popular activity in town,
there are also plenty of other activities on offer, such as hiking, rock climbing, and
kite surfing. Make sure to visit the Blue Hole, Abu Galum, and the Blue Lagoon when you visit.
Find more information and things to do here in our full Dahab video.
So we were just in the Blue Hole snorkeling for about 40 minutes. Taking a break now, drinking
some Bedouin tea on the shore to warm up, and yeah the colors of the reef were just outstanding
and it's really trippy to see down because it's just like infinitely blue forever it looks like.
A travel destination that you cannot miss when in Egypt is definitely Luxor.
Luxor is arguably the most historical place on earth with civilizations and historical
monuments that date back to as early as 2000 BC. You can find numerous ancient temples and
tombs of the various dynasties along the west and east bank, such as Karnak Temple,
Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings, Habu Temple, and the mortuary temple Hatshepsut.
A great way to see these historical sites is from a hot air balloon, but it's also possible to rent
a bike, or go on a donkey ride as most of the ancient temples are within a reasonable distance.
We're at a meeting at Habu Temple right now, and it's actually one of the
temples here in Luxor that's been fully excavated. And it's also one of the best-preserved ones.So
there's not a lot of people that come here but it's actually really impressive.
Finally, the ultimate adventure travel destination in Egypt is the White Desert
in our opinion. Located 570 kilometers or 350 miles to the southwest of Cairo,
the White Desert is a unique national park full of white calcium rock formations. These rocks
have been shaped by wind and sand over millions of years. The White Desert was once underwater,
about 80 million years ago, making it even more ancient than the pyramids and temples.
But what we enjoyed most about it was the full desert experience with a guide.
From sandboarding, to cruising the desert dunes, and camping under millions of stars.
It was one of our favorite travel adventures in a long time.
Watch our full video about the White Desert to learn what to expect from your own trip there.
One of the best things here in the White Desert is the colors at night.
So last night we saw a million stars come out and we're hoping tonight we get the same effect. And
also the white rocks really start to shine once the moon comes out, so let's see what we have.
Since we were in Egypt for about six weeks, we didn't have time to do everything the
country has to offer. There are other travel destinations in Egypt that are worth visiting,
such as the Siwa Oasis, Ras Mohammed National Park, Hurghada, Nuweiba, and Sharm-El-Sheikh.
As we promised at the beginning of our video, we'll now share five things that we learned to
help your own trip around Egypt. First, Egypt is often regarded as unsafe. However, the crime rate
is generally low and even though the threat of terrorist attacks has been an issue in the past,
Egypt is taking many precautionary measures. For example, police and checkpoints are everywhere.
Anytime you travel between destinations or outside the town you'll find them, which can sometimes be
exhausting. But you have to remember that this is to keep you safe as a tourist, and we definitely
never felt unsafe ourselves. Second, traveling around Egypt can be more expensive than you think.
Apparently the prices have gone up in the last decade and we found it almost twice
as expensive as Turkey, which we visited before coming to Egypt. It's hard to tell the price of
items since they're usually no price tags. So it's easiest to ask locals about the prices beforehand.
Third, we recommend buying a mobile SIM card once you arrive at the airport. Public Wi-Fi
is very unreliable throughout Egypt, so it's important to have access to the internet somehow.
SIM cards here are very cheap. We paid about 17 euro for 50 GB and with that much data,
you can even connect your laptop via a hotspot and do work if you need to.
The fourth thing we learned is that transportation from one destination to another can be tricky
sometimes. There aren't many public transportation routes that you can use, so you have to plan
carefully. For example, from Marsa Alam it was almost impossible to get anywhere. There wasn't
any public transportation and the only option we had to get to Luxor was to book a private
taxi or go on a day tour. This ended up being very expensive unfortunately. Finally, Egypt generally
has good weather all year round, but that doesn't mean it can't get cold. There are very few places
that have inside heating and evenings can get especially cold during the winter.
For us, this was sometimes a struggle since we had to ask for extra blankets or a portable heater in
many of our accommodations. It's probably best to visit Egypt during the fall or spring. That way,
you can avoid the cold nights and you can also avoid the unbearable heat during the summer.
And that's it for our video on the best Egypt travel destinations.
Which place are you most excited to visit yourself? Let us know in the comments below. Make
sure to like this video if you found it helpful, subscribe to our channel for more Egypt videos,
and download our free giveaway in the description below. We'll catch you on the next adventure.