Egypt: Itinerary, Airfare, Hotels, and Points/Cost

Itinerary

TK 32 (ATL to IST) - January 1st

MS736 (IST to CAI) - January 2nd

Cairo - January 2nd to January 5th

MS82 (CAI to ASW) - January 5th

Aswan - January 5th to January 7th

Luxor - January 7th to January 11th

̶M̶a̶r̶s̶a̶ ̶A̶l̶a̶m̶ ̶-̶ ̶J̶a̶n̶u̶a̶r̶y̶ ̶1̶1̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶J̶a̶n̶u̶a̶r̶y̶ ̶1̶4̶t̶h̶

Hurghada - January 11th to January 14th

MS 51 (HRG to CAI) - January 14th

Cairo - January 14th to January 15th

TK691 (CAI to IST) - January 15th

TK31 (IST to ATL) - January 15th

Airfare

Turkish Business Class

Our international flight was a round trip business class ticket from Atlanta to Cairo with a layover in Istanbul. Anna and I both paid 104,000 ANA miles (transferring AMEX points) along with $594 in taxes, fees, and fuel surcharges. These flights normally go in the $3,500 to $5,000 range, so it was a pretty solid use of points. We were originally planning to travel with my parents, but due to COVID they were unable to make the trip. We were still able to visit our friends Matt and Nick for the New Year in Atlanta, so it was an easy positioning flight for us. This also allowed us to experience Turkish airline’s new business class on their 787-9 and the world famous Turkish lounge in Istanbul. Turkish airlines has traditionally been known for their soft product which even includes a chef onboard to customize your meals or make you a fresh omelette of your choosing, but they had a 2-2-2 configuration and outdated seats. The 787-9 has a 1-2-1 configuration so every seat has aisle access. Anna and I chose seats 5E and 5F so we could sit together in the “honeymoon” seats. There are only 4 sets of seats that are truly side by side on this flight, so I would recommend picking your seats early if you’re traveling as a couple. If you want the seats that are side by side, you should pick seats E and F on rows 1, 3, 5, or 7.

Unfortunately, service was limited due to Covid. There was no chef, dessert trolley, spirits, or food made to order. In fact, Turkish had been serving boxed meals up until a month earlier, so we felt lucky to get a hot meal and have them serve us beer and wine. Although the seats were nice (even though we preferred Qsuites), the privacy shells actually made it a little difficult to talk to each other at times. I’m sure we’ll eventually do a full review of the flight, but below is a great review of what the flight should have been.

https://onemileatatime.com/turkish-787-business-class-review/

Istanbul Airport Lounges

The Turkish lounge was phenomenal. The food options and size were extremely impressive. They had multiple stations serving food made to order. Unfortunately, “due to covid” they were not serving alcohol. We ended up getting food in the Turkish lounge and then heading over the IGA lounge for drinks. We received access to the IGA lounge through our priority pass which I have due to my Chase Sapphire Reserve card. The IGA lounge wasn’t as nice as the Turkish lounge, but it was still much nicer than the majority of the lounges in the US. It was pretty full though. Below are some reviews of the lounge…

https://onemileatatime.com/turkish-airlines-lounge-new-istanbul-airport-review/

https://onemileatatime.com/iga-lounge-istanbul-review/

Egyptian Air Flights

We booked our economy Egyptair flights from Cairo to Aswan and Marsa Alam to Cairo with United points. We paid 8,000 United points and $17 in taxes and fees. United doesn’t charge fuel surcharges, so it was much less expensive than our ANA flight. If we bought these flights in cash, it would have been over $200 per flight, so this was a decent value on our United points. Unfortunately, United has increased the cost of these flights, so they would cost around 9,000 United miles now. The flights were both around an hour and half.

Due to COVID and lack of demand, our flight to Marsa Alam was cancelled a week before our trip to Egypt. They changed our flight to depart from Hurghada which is 3 hours away! They offered to have a shuttle take us to Hurghada from Marsa Alam, but I decided to change our hotel to Hurghada so we didn’t have to both drive down to Marsa Alam from Luxor and shuttle back to the Hurghada airport. A positive of the flight change is that they upgraded us to first class for our Hurghada to Cairo flight. Egyptair was serviceable and we especially enjoyed our first class flight. We received an amenity kit and an extremely large box of snacks, cookies, and muffins. For such a short flight, I was surprised they gave us so much.

Hotels

Breakdown

We stayed at 5 hotels during our time in Egypt…

3 nights at the Conrad Hilton in Cairo

2 nights at the Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Hotel Aswan

4 nights at the Hilton Luxor Spa and Resort

3 nights at the Hilton Hurghada Plaza

1 night at the Le Meridien Cairo Airport Hotel

We ended up paying cash for all our hotel stays. Due to the Covid, the rates were extremely low. All the hotels were extremely high end and normally prices cost up to four times the amount we paid.

Conrad Cairo - $95 a night

Sofitel Legend - $165 a night

Hilton Luxor and Spa - $69 a night

Hilton Hurghada - $56 a night (then an additional $58 to upgrade to all inclusive, so $114 total)

Quick Reviews

Conrad Cairo was your typical Conrad property in a large city. It was very nice and across the street from the Nile. We were upgraded to suite which had multiple rooms and bathrooms, but overall the hotel and room were a little dated. The highlight of the Conrad Cairo was their amazing breakfast and executive lounge. The food was amazing and they literally had every breakfast food you could imagine! We received free access to both due to my Hilton Diamond status (through my Amex Aspire card). The executive lounge lasted for a few hours in the evening and provided us free dinner and unlimited drinks each night. Considering we stayed in a suite at a Conrad property, received breakfast and dinner for free, and had unlimited drinks each night, I would say $95 a night was a steal!

The least expensive room at the Old Cataract Hotel

The Old Cataract Hotel is perhaps my new favorite hotel (and we’ve stayed at the Conrad Maldives). It was like walking back in time a 150 years to the Victorian period. The hallways are massive and old artifacts from the hotel history are all over the walls. Winston Churchill stayed here multiple times and the biggest suite in the hotel is now called the Winston Churchill Suite. Additionally, Agatha Christie wrote her famous novel, Death on the Nile, at this hotel and the second largest suite is the Agatha Christie Suite. It’s important to remember that there is the Old Cataract Hotel and the New Contaract Hotel. While they are both located on the same property and share a pool, you definitely want to stay at the Old Cataract Hotel. This is the historical hotel with the amazing gardens. When looking into Aswan, everyone said we had to stay here, but the hotel prices were $330 a night. I almost thought about staying here one night and paying $330 just to experience the hotel, but I found a way to take 50% off the price. Before booking the room I signed up for Accor’s reward program. I was not a previous member as I have status with Hilton and Marriott and normally stay there, but when I went to the hotel’s site as a member there was a special “member rate” for $165. This was not available on google or the hotel’s site without being logged in to your Accor account. We also got dinner at the world famous 1902 Restaurant. It’s literally like walking back in time to 1902. It almost felt like the movie Midnight in Paris. Overall, I would say the Old Cataract is a can’t miss hotel and I wish we would have stayed longer than 2 nights. The hotel and Aswan were both great!

The 1902 Restaurant inside the Old Cataract Hotel

The Hilton Luxor Spa and Resort was probably my second favorite hotel that we stayed at even though it was the least expensive and we didn’t get a room upgrade only a nile view. At every other Hilton property, we received a true upgrade to a suite due to my diamond status. After coming from the Old Cataract hotel and Conrad, Anna was a little disappointed with the size of the room. It was a traditional hotel room with a Nile view. Everything was clean and considering it was only $69 a night, it was a great deal. The free breakfast due to our status was very nice, but it couldn’t compete with the Conrad Cairo. They would make omelettes, pancakes, waffles, or crepes to order for you and had a wide variety of hot and cold foods. It was nicer than pretty much anything in the USA, but we had just been spoiled at the last two hotels. There was a happy hour in the evening with half price drinks, but there weren’t complimentary drinks or dinner like at the Conrad. The views of the nile were amazing and we could see the valley of the kings lit up at night across the river. it wasn’t very crowded and the bar tender actually let Anna get behind the bar and make some drinks. it was quite the experience! The staff, views, and Luxor in general elevated this hotel above its hard product which is nice but nothing extravagant like the Old Cataract.

Hilton Luxor and Spa - Nile and Valley of the Kings night view from the bar

We were originally scheduled to stay at the Hilton Marsa Alam Nubian resort, but due to our flight being cancelled we decided to stay at the Hilton Hurghada Plaza. There wasn’t much information online about this property, but it was the highest category Hilton in Hurghada and only cost $56 a night. It also seemed to be an all inclusive resort based on reviews (but there was not a comprehensive review online). When we arrived and checked in they gave us wristbands and still didn’t clarify if it was an all inclusive resort (we assumed it was due to wristbands). When we went to the bar to get a drink, they charged us for our drink. We ended up going back to the front desk and asking what the wrist bands were for. We apparently received wristbands that signified we were Hilton Diamonds and received free breakfast. I asked what the other color wristbands were for. She said there were also different levels of all inclusive wristbands. Anyways… The drink we had was $15 so I asked if we could upgrade to all inclusive food and drink. She said we could and it would be $58 extra a night (the $58 included both of us it was not per person). This bumped up the price of the room to $114. It’s not the biggest deal in the world, but nothing was clear on check in or when booking a room online. I think they could have made this process a lot smoother for us, especially considering we were diamond. They also refunded the $15 drink that we got, but I had to fight them on it. Considering the initial hassle of check in and wrist bands, I didn’t have high expectations for this resort. We were pleasantly surprised by the end of our stay. We were upgraded to a suite that was a massive room. Additionally, they provided us with a cake due to this being our honeymoon. The resort was very large and had multiple pools, bars, and restaurants. It was a nice way to end our trip and not have to think about scheduling outings, negotiating costs, or logistics in general. Every morning housekeeping had a very cute towel animal waiting for us on our bed. The staff also knew our names by the end of our stay which was a nice touch. Although the food and drinks weren’t groundbreaking, they were definitely above average. We would recommend this hotel if anyone were ever staying in Hurghada. That being said… Other than the Red Sea and scuba diving, there’s not a specific reason to go to Hurghada. I think we would have preferred Hilton Marsa Alam Nubian resort which has a reef off its coast and has more Nubian cultural options.

A ferocious Nile crocodile in our bed at Hilton Hurghada Plaza

The last hotel we stayed was the Le Meridien Marriott airport hotel. We paid $98 and that included free breakfast due to our platinum status. It was a very nice hotel for being an airport hotel. We arrived late and had dinner at the restaurant. They provided free popcorn which was a nice touch. The breakfast in the morning was very nice as well. Overall, all the hotels had much nicer breakfasts than anything you would expect in America. Since we had an international flight and I had never flown Egyptair, I didn’t want to risk flying in the same day. Everything went off without a hitch and while I would never stay at the Le Meridien proactively, it’s one of the nicer airport hotels I’ve ever stayed at.

Points and Cost Breakdown

Two Turkish Airlines Atlanta to Cairo Business Class Flights: 208,000 AMEX points transferred to ANA and $1188 in taxes, fees, and fuel surcharges.

Four Domestic Egyptair flights: 32,000 United points and $68 in taxes and fees.

13 nights at extremely nice hotels (most included breakfast, some included dinner, and some were all inclusive): $1,331

Total Cost: 208,000 Amex points, 32,000 United points, and $2587.

Eventually we’ll do a city by city review and guide including all the sites, but this was a basic overview of our trip and costs for flights and rooms.