Egypt Overview

With 5000 years of rich recorded history and its endless list of superlatives, Egypt will you leave you with what we like to call “gaping mouth syndrome.” The Western Desert, the driest desert in the world, glittering with oases and ancient temple ruins, makes up 97% of the country's land mass. Cutting through this is the longest and most fertile river in the world, the Nile. To the north, the river’s delta cradles the great pyramid of Giza (the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that remains), the dizzying streets and dazzling mosques of Cairo (the largest city in the Middle East and Africa), and cosmopolitan Alexandria (once the home of the greatest library in the world). To the east, in the Sinai Peninsula, scuba divers plunge into the azure depths of the Red Sea while hikers trudge through the desert to some of the most ancient and sacred religious sites in the world. Best of all, travelers can live like a pharaoh in Egypt on pennies a day, making it a budget traveler's paradise.

Major cities like Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez are still smoldering from the early 2011 uprisings against the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. While there is the traveler's concern that the social climate in Egypt is dangerously laced with unrest, Egypt has never been for the carefree or the faint of heart. Travel here requires plenty of time, stamina, and patience. Especially in light of recent events, travelers should always be prepared and heed their surroundings. Nevertheless, tourism at the major attractions and in smaller cities has remained largely unaffected by the riots, and tourists will find that hospitality is of utmost important to Egyptians.