Day Tour to Cairo from Alexandria Port

My husband and I took four tours with Memphis in May: El Alamein Day Tour, Alexandria Shore Excursion, Tanis and the Suez Canal, and Memphis, Sakkara and Dashour. We were very pleased with each one. Our tour guide, Deen, was friendly, exceptionally knowledgeable, and most importantly, took his time and did not rush us through the sites. Our driver, Mostafa, was safe, courteous, and professional. Also, there was no funny business with the itinerary: we saw all sites that were promised. These guys really went out of their way to make sure we had a great experience.
 

Our quick visit to Egypt was terrific due to the excellent job done by Memphis Tours and our tour guide Mohamed Kamel. Everything went exactly according to plan (a big plus in my book!). The associate at Memphis Tours helped customize the tour to meet our needs which involved a pick-up from our cruise ship in Alexandria (and Memphis Tours seamlessly handled a late change caused when our cruise ship switched ports at the last minute)

We can not say enough good things about our tour guide Mohamed Kamel and our driver (also Mohamed), both of whom were truly excellent. Mohamed did a great job of introducing us to Egypt and to its incredible history. He went out of his way to make our trip special -- making a special point of taking us to his cafe for a coffee after a long day of touring.

We look forward to a return trip to Egypt with Memphis Tours and Mohamed Kamel!

We did two tours with Memphis tours. One from Alexandria to Cairo and another one from Safaga to Luxor. We have nothing but good things to say about our experience :)
Our tour in Cairo - Giza was amazing. Tarek(Tito) was our guide and he was very knowledgeable. He made us feel very safe on our tour, which was very good.
The Luxor tour was also very good. Eid was very good explaining things that were difficult to understand, using people from the group to explain relations and such :)
I would definitely use Memphis tours again when I return to Egypt. Would also like to thank Abdo for all his prompt responses via email, he was great!

We did two tours with Memphis tours. One from Alexandria to Cairo and another one from Safaga to Luxor. We have nothing but good things to say about our experience :)
Our tour in Cairo - Giza was amazing. Tarek(Tito) was our guide and he was very knowledgeable. He made us feel very safe on our tour, which was very good.
The Luxor tour was also very good. Eid was very good explaining things that were difficult to understand, using people from the group to explain relations and such :)
I would definitely use Memphis tours again when I return to Egypt. Would also like to thank Abdo for all his prompt responses via email, he was great!

Got met at the ship for both sitesAlexandria for Cairo, Safaga for Luxor. Both nearly 3 hrs so got to see the landscape. Fine guides, large crowds at Giza since Sunday. Good to see Egyptian families. Rode a camel, bought jewelry, cards. Help economy. Luxor is magnificent, on par with Petra, different of course. Well preserved. Had good meals at both sites. Luxor much cleaner than Cairo. Very good deal compared to cruise ship excursion. Sadly because of unrest fewer ships will go to Egypt. Sad since overall good people.

Our cruise was scheuled to stop at Alexandria Egypt and we didn't like the cruise ship's options so we booked a hotel stay at the Cairo Marriott for 1 night and hired Memphis Tours to do the rest. We had a private tour for just my wife and I. It was a pleasure to have Sherif as our tour guide in Egypt. We had a wonderful time and we felt safe. We noticed and appreciated how he steered away pushy vendors from us and strived to make our trip as pleasant as possible. He was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot. We enjoyed the pyramids and our camel ride. It was our first one and we appreciate him taking pictures for us, because we used it for our Christmas Card. A great photographer! We appreciate how Sherif Hendy was so accommodating and walked with us along the beach in Alexandria. He is honest, smart, and full of integrity. We also liked the store we bought our alabaster vase, etc. at. Nice pick for shopping. Also enjoyed the buffet lunch that was included in the tour. Everyone we met in Egypt was so nice. This will be a trip we will always treasure and remember. Ashraf was also a great driver.

My family and I took two separate tours with Memphis tours and they were both excellent. The first was to Luxor, with our tour guide Abdu and driver Maggot. They arrived to pick us up promptly and spent the day giving us an incredibly in depth tour of the Valley of the Kings and the ancient temples. Lunch was provided and we were in a private car which was far superior to any of the mass tours we went on while in Egypt. Both were knowledgeable and committed to making our trip as informative and interesting as possible. 

We traveled to Egypt on a cruise ship and selected Memphis Tours for a Luxor tour based on prior Trip Advisor reviews of Memphis Tours. In spite of our ship changing its time of port arrival Memphis Tours was ready. We had Abdelaal Wanan as our tour guide. He was outstanding in his knowledge and enthusiasm. There is a severe fuel shortage of petrol in Egypt. Our driver made sure he had an alternate source of petrol to assure completing a roundtrip from Safaga to Luxor.
 

We were family of 10 adults on a Mediterranean cruise. Upon our arrival at the port of Alexandria on November 20, we were greeted by our tour guide, Mohammed Al Salem and driver, Azra. We enjoyed the company and hospitality of these two gentlemen for the duration of our two-day land tour. Mohammed was very professional, knowledgeable, experienced, thoughtful and down-to-earth kind of person. He speaks good English and was well understood. Azra, on the other hand was also an excellent professional driver and seems to be well trained and did not put our safety in danger at any time. There is no doubt in my mind that given another opportunity to visit Egypt, I would definitely request for the services of both Mohammed and Azra. They are both truly commendable for the services they do. The 2-day program arranged for us was exactly what we had hoped to visit and accomplish. My husband and I enjoyed the 15-minute camel ride by the Pyramids of Giza, though I may have scared the camel through my incessant screaming at the first 30 seconds, but everything went fine to the end. The camel ride was the highlight of our Egyptian tour. Thanks Mohammed and Azra. Your 'Habibi'!

 

Can't say enough how great our 2-day private tour of Cairo and Giza was. We opted for the private tour rather than the options available through Celebrity Cruises due the cost savings and increased value with Memphis Tours. Our tour consultant, Yosri Abd Allah, was very easy to work with and flexible with our arrangements. Our guide, Ahmed Shihab El Din was excellent and our driver, Osama, was amazing in the Egyptian traffic. Ahmed was very thorough in explanations and vast knowledge of all aspects of ancient and current Egyptian history and culture. Comparing our tour with others aboard ship, I feel we definitely made the right decision in choosing Memphis Tours and Ahmed. If we return, I will definitely contract to have Ahmed escort us to Luxor which we did not have time to visit this time.

Rather than go into detail on the itinerary which is available on Memphis's website, I would just emphasize the advantages of the private tour. Ahmed is a fully licensed and degreed Egyptologist who was able to go into as little or as much detail as we wanted at every location visited. Since Cairo is about 3 hours from the port of Alexandria, we had plenty of fascinating conversations about Egyptian history, politics, religion and family life - nothing was off limits and we had great respect for each others views. While this sounds kind of serious, it was lighthearted. Ahmed and Osama had good senses of humor and we fun, fun, fun while learning.

Separately, I might note our tour was November 20-21, 2021. We felt completely safe, and despite our concerns prior to the visit, I absolutely no reservations about returning. We elected to book our own hotel arrangements at the Cairo Conrad Hilton, being a Diamond HHonors member and was NOT disappointed. It was a beautiful hotel and the included breakfast buffet was fantastic.
 

 I can't say enough about the service and extraordinary experiences of this tour. Four of us booked a 2 day tour form Alexandria to Cairo to see the Pyramids, the Sphinx and the Egyptian Museum. We arrived on the Crown Princess and were piked up exactly on time and were underway in our private van within minutes.

We used Memphis Tours to take a one day tour of Cairo from the Alexandria cruise port while on our world cruise. We had a total of 7 people in our party and the tour was very well priced in comparison to a comparable tour from the ship (less than half the cost) and we had the advantage of a small group and a tour guide who was dedicated to our needs.

Our tour guide was Maha Mahmoud El Halwagy (Maha), who was excellent. She has a degree in Archaeology from University of Cairo and is a Certified Egyptologist. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to have a Certified Egyptologist as your tour guide. We were on a different tour in another part of Egypt where we did not have a Certified Egyptologist and it was not nearly as good as this tour.

It is a long drive from Alexandria to Cairo, approximately 3 hours, which is why the tour guide is important. Maha spoke to us the entire way, telling us what we would be seeing and the historical information behind it. We went first to the Giza platform, which includes three pyramids (Great Pyramid of Giza or Cheops of Khufu being the star attraction) and the Sphynx. We were there in April of 2012, so the crowds were greatly diminished over what they had been before the Arab Spring Revolution of 2011 (some estimates put tourism at only 10-15% of original levels before the revolution). We felt completely safe and had no issues with being in Egypt during this time.

Maha was excellent in helping us deal with the vendors, which we heard were an issue for others (especially those on the ship's tour). She told us to ignore them and if we had any interest in what they were selling, ask her, not the vendor. She would give us the bottom dollar price right away, so we didn't have to do any bargaining. The vendor would simply give us the price that Maha said was the lowest price. This happened several times during our day. Vendor approached one of the ladies selling a beaded head covering for $10. Maha said $2 and that's what the vendor sold it for. Guys were interested in the traditional arab headdress (note that these were the nicer ones, there were cheaper ones selling for $1), they started at $20, she said $3, that's what they sold for.

Maha said the vendors are actually scared of her, since she had one vendor put in jail for hassling someone on her tour. "God will punish you" is what they tell her. They don't like her, but they do respect her. Great fun just watching the sea part when Maha went walking through, the vendors would all get out of her way and let us pass.

Maha took us to see the solar barge of Khufu, which is not seen by many people, located next to the Great Pyramid of Khufu/Cheops. It was an amazing museum and the boat/barge is very well preserved, which is amazing after all these years.

Maha recommended going into one of the smaller pyramids, since it was less crowded and you would be able to see the same things as the other, just a shorter entryway. It worked out well and we were the only ones in there for most of our visit, only saw other people on the way out. Beware not to go into one of the pyramids if you have claustrophobia, since it is very closed in and there can be times when you cannot move due to others in the very confined spaces.

We then did a viewpoint up above, lots of vendors, but they left us alone due to Maha. Great pics of the camels in the foreground and the pyramids in the background (attached).

Then the Sphynx, which was interesting in that it was actually carved in place. Although it's smaller than I thought it would be.

We went to Abou Tourek Koshary for lunch. This Koshary was made famous by Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel. NOTE: you will need to ask for this specifically for your lunch stop, since this is not their normal lunch location. If you want to experience real Egyptian cooking, this is a great stop. First time to ever have koshary and perhaps my only time. Koshary is a traditional Egyptian meal of pasta, rice and lentils, mixed with chickpeas, tomato sauce, sautéed onions and hot sauce. It was a real cultural experience to stop there.

Then we went to Cairo Museum and passed Tahrir Square along the way. There were protests taking place, but nothing violent or in any way worrisome to us as a group.

Cairo Museum was wonderful, since the crowds were not there and we pretty much had it to ourselves. A couple with us on the tour commented that when they were in Egypt a few years ago, they couldn't really get close to any of the exhibits due to the throngs of people. Well, the throngs are gone. We spent a lot of time in the Tutankhamen exhibits on the second floor. Truly world class. Note that it is not how we might display things in a western sense, but the contents of the museum are incredible, way beyond what you would see with the traveling Tutankhamen exhibit that occasionally comes to the US.

We made our way back to the port in Alexandria with plenty of time to spare. Overall a great day, thanks to Maha and Menphis Tours!

You can see my review of the day on my world cruise blog at: http://brianandkrisworldcruise.blogspot.com/2012/04/world-cruise-day-104-apr-25.html

During our recent visit to Egypt (April 2012) we booked 2 excursions with Memphis Tours. One never knows quite what to expect when you book trips in advance but we couldn't have made a better choice.

All the communication before our holiday was excellent and even when we had to change our arrangements at the last minute they were still able to accomodate us with a minimus of fuss.

The drivers turned up on time to meet us from our cruise ship, the mini buses were comfortable and new, and the tour guides were both knowledgeable and informative.

I would certainly recommend Memphis Tours to anyone looking for excursions in Egypt - better still if you can organise a small group beforehand (up to 10 people) as it works out much cheaper per person.
Visited April 2012

All our dealings in arranging our shore excursions have been extremely positive, Mr Maged Al Gohary has given us his expert advice and kept in touch with us in the lead up to our forthcoming cruise onboard The Voyager of the Seas. Memphis Tours are definitely the company to be dealing with. First class service and can't wait to meet him in Alexandria. If you haven't already booked your trips give him a call.
Visited April 2012

My son was already on his cruise around the Eastern Med and asked me to research a day excursion to Cairo from the Alexandria Cruise Port. I emailed a quote request late at night and had a reply almost by return. Very quick service which along with the online chat facility sorted out the few questions I had. I would like to thank our tour operator - Mohamed Sakr for his speedy response.
Visited November 2011

Just returned from a cruise that stopped in Alexandria Egypt for 2 days. We booked our tour of Cairo with Memphis Tours and were Thrilled with our experience. The tour was amazing but honestly what made the trip was our guide Mohamed Abdel Salam. He is a walking encyclopedia! We learned so much not only about the history of Egypt and the sites we were seeing but the daily life of the Egyptian’s. I have to admit when we first booked the tour I was a little worried about our safety and wellbeing. But we felt safe the entire time and would not hesitate to return anytime.

Thanks Mohamed for a day that will not be forgotten anytime soon.

My husband was a little hesitant when I suggested that we by-pass the high cruise line excursion fees and book directly with Memphis Tours in Egypt. The experience turned out far better than any of our previous cruise line excursions. Payment was easy and the fee was 1/3 of the cruise line fee. We were met at the port of Alexandria by our guide Ahmed Farahat and our driver Adel. From the moment we settled into the air conditioned car and were offered a cold bottle of water we felt we were in good hands. They were both thoughtful and informed. We felt safe and protected. The ultimate kindness was on our trip back to Port Said to catch our ship. I suddenly needed a toilet during the three hour trip. Ahmed insisted on checking on the toilets first and after a try or two he finally found one acceptable. As I left the car, Adel offered me tissue. What kindness and service! Thanks to them both.
Visited October 2011

  I would like to thank Marwa Samir for excellent pre-tour arrangements. I felt secure and reassured when booking through Marwa. All communication was responsive and extremely helpful. The tour itself was an amazing experience and I would like to thank Mimo for meeting me at the airport (relief!) Chico for being an excellent driver and keeping me alive and Maha for making the tour so informative/interesting and helping me to find obscure landmarks (e.g. where my grandfather lived when he was in the airforce in 1945). Everyone at Memphis tours was extremely professional, helpful, fun and knowledgeable- thank you for an unforgettable Egypt experience!

  I would like to thank Marwa Samir for excellent pre-tour arrangements. I felt secure and reassured when booking through Marwa. All communication was responsive and extremely helpful. The tour itself was an amazing experience and I would like to thank Mimo for meeting me at the airport (relief!) Chico for being an excellent driver and keeping me alive and Maha for making the tour so informative/interesting and helping me to find obscure landmarks (e.g. where my grandfather lived when he was in the airforce in 1945). Everyone at Memphis tours was extremely professional, helpful, fun and knowledgeable- thank you for an unforgettable Egypt experience!

My family of 4, with 2 boys, ages 19 & 11, is back from 3 weeks in the Middle East. Based on the Trip Advisor reviews, I originally contacted Memphis Tours Egypt about private tours for our Pacific Princess cruise stops in Port Said and Alexandria. However, Princess changed the itinerary due to Egypt's revolution, so we decided to do their "Budget Vacation & Nile Cruise by Flight" before the cruise. After making our flight reservations, Princess went back to the original itinerary, so we needed to adjust. We later added a friend that is spending 7 weeks in Alexandria learning Arabic. Through all these changes and a cancelled EgyptAir flight, Ahmed Fayez was patient and thorough. Our Tour Leader, Abd El Fatah Mohamed, met us in Cairo, before passport control, and did an outstanding job in making everything run smoothly. He even picked our friend up in Alexandria so that she could rendezvous with us in Cairo on our way to Memphis from Port Said. Our driver, Zach, would be my nominee for the World's Best Driver. Ayman Elshafie was our Tour Guide. He has a PhD in Archeology, and speaks excellent English. Sayed Selim was our guide for Luxor and our Nile Cruise to Aswan. Another outstanding guide and easily the most popular man in Egypt. We are use to having the best possible guides, and Memphis Tours made that happen in Egypt. I had been to Egypt before, so wasn't concerned about safety. However, I was surprised to have an armed (machine gun) guard provided by the Ministry of the Interior. This is provided for all Americans travelling in groups of 3 or more. We have never felt safer in all our travels. Now is the time to see Egypt, and Memphis Tours Egypt is the ideal way to make it happen.
Visited June 2011

I booked a tour for 4 of us to go from the port city of Alexandria to Cairo and Giza. I had been on other pyramid tours, but this was by far the best one I have done. The van was clean and the tour guide was friendly, informative, and allowed us to customize out tour to spend more time sightseeing and less time shopping compared to other tours. We visited the Cairo museum and King Tut exhibit, then went to the old section of Cairo and saw the Hanging Church, the Abu Serga Church, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue. Then we went to the pyramids and Sphinx and spent time to take pictures and walk around. After that we ate lunch at a local restaurant downtown. Everything was included from entrance fees at sites and museums as well as lunch. I highly recommend booking a tour through Memphis Tours instead of going on a large tour group because you can spend time where you choose and you aren't waiting on people the whole day.
Visited January 2011

Our Sierra Club group arranged a tour to Giza/Cairo from Alexandria on November 28, 2010. We received more than was promised. We had three deluxe a/c coaches with two guides per coach of 34 people. The lunch buffet served in a hotel dining room was first class. In a day long and into the evening tour, we saw all the great sights that we'd come to expect from Egypt. I chose Memphis Tours after reading about them on Trip Advisor.

We were on a cruise ship calling into Alexandria, we felt we did not want to do a cruise organised tour. We found Memphis Tours and found them very competitive. Our tour guide was very good and being a small group ( just 4 of us) we were able to get to the attractions easier than large bus tours. We were able to amend our itinerery to suit ourselves so afetr our visit to the pyramids and sphynx we decided against the visits to carpet shop, perfume place and papyrus palace so our driver took us through Cairo high up overlooking the city for a breathtaking panorama of this massive city. We cannot recommend Memphis tours highly emough.

My wife and I just spent the day touring Cairo's pyramids and the National Museum with Memphis Tours of Egypt. Our English-speaking guide, Mrs. Doaa Zakaria did a wonderful job of explaining the history of Egypt and the pyramids. Her knowledge of Egypt's history and enthusiasm for her job may the day even more enjoyable. Memphis Tours tour leader Ahmed Shalapy went out of his way to make sure our day and the rest of our trip was carefully planned without leaving a detail to worry about. The tour driver, Mohamad (Chico) was as careful as any driver could be in bustling Cairo traffic.
My wife and I are excited to see what Memphis Tours of Egypt have in store for us in the coming days. I am sure it will be enjoyable, romantic and an adventure in beautiful Egypt.

John and Sue Tudbury

It was amazing.Really enjoyed the day.Our guide Amr was exellent,very friendly and informative as was our driver hassan. Would recommend your company to anyone travelling to egypt.hope to come back to Egypt soon and will be booking our next excursion with yourselves. Thanks for the exellent day. 

Yours sincerely, 

Lee temper and ellenor Evans

 Exciting, well planned tour, involving three hour drive from Alexandria (cruise ship port) to Cairo with guided tour of Pyramids, Sphinx, artifacts Museum, Papyrus manufacturing, luncheon at nice Egyptian restaurant (included in tour) and personable English speaking guide who accompanied us throughout. My wife and I had the experience of a lifetime, and felt secure with the expert guidance on this tour. Hearing stories of aggressive requests for "donations" and being told to be very street smart, made us concerned, but with Ahmed Fayed as our guide, we had a magnificent time. We learned to respect the Egyptian contribution and wanted to extend our stay. Thank you for your very warm welcome to your Country.
Richard & Judie

 Abdelhamid, Memphis Tours representative, made our tour of Egypt in Feb. 2010, above average. He answered my many questions on life in Egypt that included questions on culture, traditions, statistics and sites as we traveled together for 3.5 hours from the Cairo/Giza (Alexandria) port to the pyramids.

In October 09 we travelled by cruise ship from Rome to Alexandria as 2 couples from Australia. Prior to leaving home we arranged tours with [--]
which allowed for us to be met at the Port and then taken to Cairo to visit the Museum,
Sphinx and Pyramids with a Buffet lunch included. We then rejoined the Ship and travelled to Safaga. We were met again and taken to Luxor to visit The Valley of the Kings, Karnac Temple and other places of interest. This included a short boat trip on the Nile and a buffet Lunch at a very nice hotel.
We were very happy with the prompt and courteous service provided by the drivers and
the very knowledgeable guides. Although the tours were over long distances we were never concerned that the schedule would cause any problems in returning us to our ship on time.
Marwa was most helpful with the initial planning for our tours and the payment over the Internet was very secure.
It is our opinion that Memphis Tours can be relied on to make your tours in Egypt most enjoyable. The costs were very competetive with the tours offered by the Cruise Ship and from the reports we heard from fellow passengers who used the ship tour, ours was a much more personal service.
Transport was by comfortable Air-conditioned Mini-Bus.

 booked Memphis Tours for my clients, elderly russian-speaking tourists. They were terrified to go on an independent tour from their cruise, while in Egypt. They heard stories of how dangerous it is to go on your own for an overnight tour in Cairo while the cruiseship stopped in Alexandria for 2 days. My clients were pampered by Memphis Tours. They loved every moment of their shore excursion - the tour guides (Russian speaking), drivers, hotel, restaurants, etc. I highly recommend this company for all tours in Egypt. My clients thanked me for a "once in a lifetime experience"! That's what I love to hear.

Booked on line with Memphis Tours and not 100% certain what to expect but all expectations were met and exceeded. Driver and guide provided everything promised and then some. Guide handed printout of tour to us(matched my printout I had) and asked if this was what we wanted and we could change anything that did not excite us. On the way back to the ship we went to several historic sites that were not part of tour. It seemed that driver and guide were not in any hurry to finish tour and asked us several times if there were any other places we wanted to see. We were extremely happy with our tour and would recommend Memphis Tours for any one who is looking for tour of Cairo and Alexandria