Egypt. Grandiose Projects and Discoveries
There are several reasons to visit Egypt. These include Nile cruises, which we covered in a separate article, and the Grand Egyptian Museum, also known as the Giza Museum, which took 20 years to build. Its collection contains over 100,000 artifacts, ranging from a 10-meter granite statue of Ramses II to the treasures of Tutankhamun. A pair of royal boats discovered near the Great Pyramid of Giza, dozens of pharaonic sculptures, papyrus manuscripts, religious objects, royal mummies, and a mummified crocodile—all of these finds are thousands of years old! The exhibits are divided by theme and chronology, from prehistoric times to the Greco-Roman period, and the museum itself is equipped with the latest technology, including virtual reality and interactive screens. The museum offers views of the Giza pyramids, to which a walkway is planned.
Other attractions include the 12th-century Cairo Citadel and the Abdin Palace Museum, built during the reign of Ismail Pasha, who intended to transform Cairo into a "Paris on the Nile" and whose palace itself dwarfed European royal residences. The Cairo Tower, whose observation deck offers a 70-kilometer panorama on a clear day, is also worth a visit.
Stay a few days at the Giza Palace Hotel & Spa (The Leading Hotels of the World), which opened in Cairo this year. Visit the Mediterranean restaurant Arola Brasserie, designed by Spanish chef Sergi Arola, whose Lab by Sergi Arola in Sintra has a Michelin star; Onu, featuring Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Bangkok cuisine; and a patisserie. Beefbar, a collaboration between Riccardo Giraudi and Thierry Paludetto, originally from Monte Carlo, will open soon. The hotel also boasts a luxurious 1,900-square-meter spa. m and event space, including a ballroom for 1,350 guests.
Spend the evening cruising down the Nile on a felucca, and in the morning, head to the pyramids of Saqqara and Dahshur, and from there to El Fayoum, Egypt's oldest city, to visit the Whale Valley (Wadi al-Hitan), where ancient whale remains have been discovered, and Wadi el-Rayan, with its Magic Lake and Egypt's only waterfall. Don't miss the opportunity to visit the White Desert National Park, with its bizarre mushroom-shaped karst formations. Here, you can camp overnight, dine with Bedouins, and go horseback riding.
Afterwards, continue your vacation at modern seaside resorts. For example, the town of El Gouna on the Red Sea coast north of Hurghada will enchant you with its beautiful beaches and lagoons. There are three golf courses and the Abu Tig Marina with luxury yachts, restaurants, and a vibrant nightlife. The resort offers horseback riding by the sea, camel rides, sailing, diving, kitesurfing, 4x4 dune safaris, microplane and paragliding flights, and sunset cruises.
For adults, stay at the ultra-luxurious La Maison Bleue with 13 suites, modeled after Venice's St. Mark's Basilica, with a private lagoon beach and gardens designed by Louis Benech, a leading French landscape designer. Just steps from the Abu Tig Marina is the exquisite The Chedi El Gouna (The Leading Hotels of the World), with restaurants serving Japanese, Pan-Asian, Middle Eastern, and international cuisine. For a family vacation, the Steigenberger Golf Resort El Gouna, with its 18-hole championship golf course and private lagoon beach, is ideal. The Ancient Sands Golf Resort also offers an 18-hole course with rooms, apartments, and villas for large groups.
The resort town of Taba Heights on the Sinai Peninsula offers views of the Gulf of Aqaba, the Sinai Mountains, Jordan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, with excursions to all three countries available from here. Taba Heights boasts 5 km of beaches, diving sites just offshore, high-quality conference and meeting facilities, a wide selection of restaurants ranging from Mexican and Asian to local cuisine, and family hotels with their own water parks and a wide range of water activities.
On the Sinai Peninsula, visit the Colored Canyon and the Monastery of St. Catherine – the oldest active Orthodox monastery in the world, founded in the 11th century and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
If you prefer a Mediterranean getaway, consider the family-friendly Address Marassi Golf Resort with an 18-hole golf course and Casa Cook North Coast, an adults-only eco-hotel with 37 rooms on a private beach and an atmosphere of barefoot luxury.
Wherever you are in Egypt, don't miss the sound and light shows held at the main attractions: the Pyramids of Giza, the Karnak Temple in Luxor, the Temple of Edfu, the rock of Abu Simbel with its carved ancient Egyptian temples, the Philae Temple complex, and the Qaitbay Fortress in Alexandria.
