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Anonymous12/03/25, 10:51No.2845632Egypt & Siwa Trip Report
Spent 10 days of so in Egypt recently.
Itinerary:
>Cairo
>Med coast & Marsa matruh
>Siwa Oasis
>Cairo
It usually gets a bad rep, so will tell a few tales, give some advice, answer some questions, and share some pics from along the way.
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Anon12/03/25, 11:11No.2845633
Nice approach. Made a family next to me happy by pointing out the pyramids - all lit up - as we were landing.Foreigners need to hand over their 20 or 25 usd to some bank counter to get their visa, which is stuck in your passport at border control.The place is obviously an African airport, as there were no real queues for anything, women carrying shit on their heads, people with ungodly amounts of luggage milling around, and just a general vibe of chaos, with police telling people very reactively what to do, as opposed to there being any systems.I remember around 15 years ago I had my luggage checked for alcohol upon exiting, but this time - maybe due to only having backpacks - they thought wasn't necessary. I was also expecting a huge crowd of people shouting 'taxi taxi taxi freind hello friend taxi good friend nice price friend friend pyramids friend', but it was surprisingly quite calm. Maybe taxi apps have hurt their game.Uber - nicely - actually has instructions and pictures on where to walk to upon exiting the airport. I've never seen this anywhere else. I guess the complaints are hiiiiiiiiiigh here, lol. We thought ordering would be quick and simple, but no, we were waiting like 10 minutes for an order to be confirmed. I heard that 'card payment' doesn't go down well here any more, and idiotically, we only had $40 or so. Thankfully some shitbox eventually arrived.He tried giving some grift about Uber not having prices matching local increases in fuel, and I shut the fucker down instantly with a 'no, it's not my problem, speak to Uber' in terrible Arabic. That shut down all conversation. I made sure to speak my gf's language the whole journey to avoid any opportunity of opening conversation which would no doubt turn into launching a scam.There's something beautiful about driving in night in Cairo. It's weirdly cyberpunky. The overpasses, the endless buildings, the sheer infinity feel of the city.
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Anon12/03/25, 11:25No.2845637
We had an all inclusive resort booked for a couple of nights up on the coast, but didn't really give too much of a fuck about how to get there upon booking. It wasn't the best of ideas arriving at midnight.The original plan was to get an Uber straight to Alexandria, try and kill some time in the early hours, then get whatever transport possible onwards to our hotel, which was upon near Marsa Matruh.We fuck this all off though, and instead, got a taxi straight into downtown Cairo, where we could withdraw some cash, and where I knew there'd be lots of bars open, where we could kill some time and devise a plan. Maybe - having lived here 15 years ago - I was entering this all a bit too blase.I've always lvoed the feel of downtown Cairo. There's always so much action and energy at all times. There's also surprisingly an interesting little nightlife scene tucked away. The hassle has massively reduced since before, too, and I had no issue, and no comments, walking around with my gf at midnight.It took 4 ATMs to manage to get cash, each accompanied with police in their white uniforms staring at us from their little wicker chairs in an attempt to feel busy, before moving on.We hit up the Odeon Rooftop Bar, which is typically open till the early hours and serves booze. The security at the entrance didn't need to check our bags, but demanded we throw our water away, kek. We just chugged it in front of him, and let the bottles on his desk. The lift is like from a horror film up the 13 or so floors. There's no door, and you feel every rattle and crankle as it squeaks up in an irregular fashion.Over 3 or so beers each, a mezze plate, and kinda beautiful views overlooking midnight Cairo, we managed to find a driver to the resort for about $100. A 400km journey which was to take 4-5 hours. ETA around 8 or 9 am. Some German online guy said that early check in at thre resort was no problem, and it was off-season, so fuck it.
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Anon12/03/25, 11:31No.2845639
Ah, a map of the taxi route, plus where Siwa is, the final destination.
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Anon12/03/25, 11:41No.2845642
Was quite amusing rocking up to this '''5 star resort''' in some beat up vehicle, with backpacks. It was a really nice place. Set us back 350gbp for 2 nights all-inc for 2 people. The 9am check-in and free extra breakfast definitely helped smooth over the value.Autumn in Egypt is great. It's warm, without burning the fuck out of you, and also relatively empty, meaning you get shit to yourself. The hotel was absolutely dead. Felt like there were 10 members of staff per person, with just a couple of random cutiepie Russians wandering around (probably enjoying their husbands' sign on fees, kek).Thought they were going to snap their necks when they turned round so quickly when I started speaking English at the bar. Fuck, in their silken white beach robes, it did make me think back to my single days....
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Anon12/03/25, 14:51No.2845663
Egypt in ironically sounds like paradise right now compared to the country I'm in
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Anon12/04/25, 09:50No.2845889
Checked out of the resort, and grabbed a taxi to Marsa Matruh. The final major town/city before Libya along the coast. Here, the plan was to find a bus which would take us down through the desert to Siwa. We aimed to get an apparent 9am bus, but the ticket office said we had to come back at 4pm or so, giving us the day to explore.The place is a bit of a shithole desu. I always thought it was a 'resort town', which catered to foreign tourists. It turns out it's actually the Egyptian resort town, where locals come to escape the heat in summer, haha.There was trash everywhere, and it had a bit of a nastier feel than other places in Egypt. The kind of place where locals randomly say "hello" when you walk past, followed by a "fuck you bitch" as it's the only words they know.I tried visiting Rommel's cave, one of the city's only "historical sites", located on some type of peninsula which hooks around over the main bay, but the fucking bridge to get there directly was being rebuilt. I wanted to get a taxi there, but my Polish gf started whinging about "there not being time" and "why are we seeing Nazi shit anyway?", and we ended up just kinda wandering around, a bit bored, bouncing from cafe to cafe, worried about the state of the toilets each time.This place has a fuck ton of potential. Geographically, it'd be absolutely perfect for a top-tier resort town, but nobody looks after anything.
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Anon12/04/25, 18:28No.2845983
bump
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Anon12/07/25, 16:47No.2846779
But most importantly
>Is your gf Egyptian?
>How to get a cutie Egyptian gf?
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Anon12/07/25, 21:25No.2846819
Trash, trash, trash, fucking trash.
Imagine throwing so much shit away you can see it from space:
>31.156591, 27.034510The bus to Siwa started with fuming trash piles. I guess they just left the desert and natural processes to do their thing, hoping it'd work itself out. Not a pretty sight.The desert started out quite rocky. Not the sandy duny infinite landscape I'd expected. Lots of trucks, lots of random shit being moved around. It felt like a huge playground for JCBs.
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Anon12/08/25, 02:32No.2846877
Good thread. Never been but I always thought it'd be cool to explore the Cairo slums and the coast. I can see deserts and old shit anywhere, but a place so thoroughly weird as Egypt just makes me want to observe the brownies and their ways.
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Anon12/08/25, 13:00No.2847001
Everywhere in Egypt seems to be under construction, even in the middle of the desert.Seems they're doubling the size of the road going down to Siwa Oasis from Marsa Matruh.It's qute fascinating loading up Open Street Map and looking at all the random stuff on the way. What seems quite an empty expanse, is actually quite busy. There's little villages, oil/gas pumps, and a whole range of random shit.Also quite cool seeing herds of camels lingering around in the background.The road sides are full of these gravel banks. Apparently they were initially for road construction, but it was realised soon that they could double up as barriers to discourage camels from coming on to the roads(?)
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Anon12/08/25, 13:11No.2847002
About 2.5 hours into the 4-5 hour journey through the desert there's a series of turnoffs which seemingly lead to nowhere.
>30.271194123122417, 26.258925048632236One continues on for about 60km into the desert hills near the Libyan border, where Google says there's a '''drinking water fountain'''.The other turn continues to Cara Oasis. When I see spots like this, I had a voice inside me telling me to get the fuck off the bus, and try and hitchhike there. But yeah, for another day....29.60872652032459, 26.523462631862724
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Anon12/08/25, 13:15No.2847003
When we stopped off at some roadside cafe, it felt quite surreal being in what felt like the middle of nowhere. All around was just orange/yellow, as far as the eye could see.I had a piss, and picked up some snacks, and got speaking to some chinks who were also on the bus. Siwa must've gone viral out there, as there were quite a few, keeping themselves to themselves.Even though there was nothing out there on the bus journey, I felt kinda mesmerised looking at the endless desert for hours upon hours, trying to match up features with Open Street Maps, imagining what things could be for, and internalising the sheer vastness of emptiness all around me.
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Anon12/08/25, 13:19No.2847005
The sun started to set as we got closer. Was pretty kino watch the sun set over a huge desert air force base, with little secunrity towers punctuating the bands of pink and orange in the sky.You can actually fly to Siwa once or twice a week with a chartered plane. Think it's $200 each way or so. People staying at one of Siwa's exclusive resorts (including King Charles) seem to use it. Would be pretty kino flying over the desert in a military charter plane and landing in an air base... Maybe another day.Unfortunately the exact moment I past this base to text our host, it seems the internet was fucking jammed, and nothing got through. Wasn't hugely happy about ending up in a desert town after dark with no contact in place, but fuck it, I've heard Siwa is one of the safest places on the planet.
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Anon12/08/25, 15:11No.2847052
kino thread is kino
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Anon12/08/25, 15:42No.2847058
As we reached Siwa, the road snaked downwards from the rocky plateau, down into what looked like the sillouhette of a fucking forest, all illuminated by a near full moon.Upon entering the town, we had to have our documents and bags checked, apparently Libyan smugglers run these routes, and apparently you're not really allowed to bring alcohol in to the town (might be 1 bottle for tourists IF you have a receipt).We met our host, and was shocked at the sheer size of the place. It looked like a normal (for Egyptian standards) town, right in the middle of the fucking desert. We got some juices, and got a little intro to the place, all before jumping in the back of his 4x4 and getting taken to our accommodation....My gf was evidently a little scared as we seemed to endlessly drive through date plantations, cottages, fields, and backstreets. My phone was on about 7% battery and turned off wifi, and ii have to admit, it felt a little strange just getting driven off into the middle of absolutely nowhere, in pitch black, watching how the 'civilization' we saw before gave way to sheer abandonment.
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Anon12/14/25, 14:50No.2848402
It was a little scary the first night. We were dropped into a house 10km away from the centre of the oasis, and pretty much were in the middle of nowhere.
Given we were about 20km away from the Libyan border, it was quite a surreal feeling, and I couldn't help thinking about the odds of a rigged out Toyota Hilux coming rolling over the dunes in the background, and fucking everything up.We were both a bit nervous, so decided to get out some vodka and chill on our terrace. Every noise made me wonder wtf was happening, whether it was a random motorbike from an unknown direction, the rustling of date trees, voices....
But as the drinks kept flowing, these noises started to disappear, giving way to the beauty of a near full moon illuminating the unknown of the desert in front of us, and wondering whether there's another soul anywhere within the next 1500km in front of us.
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Anon12/26/25, 12:51No.2851105
Nice thread OP, been to Egypt once or twice when I was a teenager with my mom's diving club which apparently, before the Arab spring was a prime diving destination. We went to Sharm El Sheik and I'd wander around the resort asking random workers if they could sell me some hashish with no luck unfortunately. There's something magical about hotel resorts in the middle of the dessert. I also remember buying Cleopatra brand cigarettes for €1.
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Anon01/03/26, 15:23No.2852875
Highly enjoying this thread
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Anon01/15/26, 03:27No.2855359
where op go?
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Anon01/18/26, 05:10No.2855959
I just came back from Cairo a few weeks ago. Spent only 3 days and did the normie travelling stuff.Stayed at the Hilton in downtown Cairo. Avoid it. It's a shithole and it wasn't cheap. I'm still upset with myself that I stayed here.I booked a half day tour of the pyramids for $95 USD. I thought I was going to join one of those Chinese tour groups with 50 people, but nope, 1-on-1 "private" tour guide. It was good, worth it. Pyramids are amazing!For the rest of the day I just wondered around. Went to Tahrir Square and the khan el Khalili markets. I'm wondering around the markets thinking who actually buys the junk they sell here. I bought a coffee from a place and they tried to charge me 650 Egyptian pounds. I laughed, handed him a 100 Egyptian pound note and told the guy to suck my dick. They threatened to go to the cops lol. Egyptians are fkn pussies.Next day I went to the aptly named GRAND Egyptian museum. It was grand. It has so much stuff that if youre interested in Ancient Egypt, you could easily spend a whole day there. I went there when it opened and bee-lined it straight to King Tut's golden mask. It's amazing, go see it. I was in and out in about 2 hours.
