12-hours in Egypt – Maximizing A Long Layover

One of my best kept travel secrets is taking advantage of long layovers. Believe it or not, I will always choose a flight path that has a long layover, especially one in a European, African, or Asian city. While 12-24 hours is hardly enough time to see an entire country, it is just enough time to enjoy some local cuisine or check out a key attraction. I love using long layovers to explore a city that I have an interest in, but not enough interest to want to dedicate an entire trip to. The best part about flights with long layovers is that they are often significantly cheaper.

For my trip to Tanzania, Africa, I found a flight for $565 USD from New York to Tanzania, with a 12-hr layover in Cairo, Egypt. After a 10-hour flight, I arrived to Cairo at 5:30a.m. I decided to book a two night stay at the Great Pyramid Inn in the city center – two nights, so that I could enter the room as soon as I arrived at dawn, and not have to wait for an afternoon check in.

Great Pyramid Inn is a budget hotel that cost roughly $50 USD a night. The price was amazing, but the real bang for the buck was the spectacular rooftop view of the Great Pyramids of Giza. I arrived to the hotel around 7:30am, freshened up, and headed upstairs to the rooftop around 8:30am. I wanted to be the first one up to the rooftop, so that I could find the best seat to enjoy the breathtaking view – like seriously, check out that view! Breakfast was buffet style and had a variety of Western and local cuisines such as: dates, hummus, falafel, omelets, yogurt, and fresh pressed juices – I tried everything!

I finished breakfast around 9:15am, and made my way to my room to take a short nap before getting ready for my VIP Private Pyramid Tour at 11am. I chose a private tour for this trip because I wanted to enjoy the pyramids and get some great pictures without being rushed. The price for the private tour was $50 USD, and it included: hotel pickup/drop-off, a pyramid tour, a camel ride, lunch, and tour of some of the local markets.

My tour guide picked me up by car and we made our way to the pyramid dessert park entrance – which was only 10min. away from my hotel! Did you know that pyramids are actually the burial tombs of Pharaohs (Egyptian kings)!? It takes about 15-30 years to build one pyramid, so the construction of a pyramid would often begin when a new king was born. The Pyramids of Giza were constructed for Pharaoh Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. While the Pyramids of Giza are the largest set of pyramids in Egypt, there are numerous smaller pyramids that can be found all around Cairo.

After viewing and entering the pyramids, we drove around the dessert park to an area where there were a few smaller pyramids and a man offering camel rides. I was introduced to my camel, Michael Jordan, and I went for a guided ride around the pyramids. If you have never ridden a camel, it is quite an experience! They are so tall they have to bow and hinge at the knees to pick themselves up. You literally feel like you are going to fall as they lean forward and then shoot up in the air. You have to hold on tight because in an instant you are 6ft in the air! I was a little nervous, but on trips we always try new things and go outside of our comfort zone.

After a ride around the pyramids with Michael Jordan, we made our last stop in the park to see the Great Sphinx. In Greek history, this mythical creature, that has the head of a human and the body of a lion, was believed to offer protection. It was constructed in front of the Great Pyramids to guard the tombs of the kings.

We left the park around 1:00pm and made our way to a restaurant to enjoy some traditional Egyptian cuisine. We had Koshari, which is the national dish of Egypt. It is made of pasta, chickpeas, lentils, and rice – an interesting combination of foods, but delicious! We departed lunch at 2pm, and made our final stops of the tour which were the gold, perfume, and papyrus (paper) market. Most tours in Egypt will start or finish off at one of these markets, as the tour companies have contracts with them to bring tourists in efforts to boost their sales.

Around 3:00pm, we left the markets and I was dropped off at my hotel. My flight to Tanzania was at 7:30pm. I had just enough time to take a nap and freshen up before my 5:00pm taxi back to the airport. It was a 12-hrs well spent!