Great tour- highly recommend! - Sabry was an amazing guide. So knowledgeable, very nice and would highly recommend to anyone! Additionally, the private tour gave us flexibility to spend more and less time where we wanted.

How to get the most of Luxor, Karnak, Abu Simbel, and points in between in the Upper Nile - In planing our vacation in Egypt, we quickly realized that to see all of the significant sites the trip needed to encompass two segments: the Lower Nile for Cairo, Giza, and Saqqara and the Upper Nile for Luxor (Valleys of the Kings and Queens, Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, Karnak and Luxor Temples, and several other significant sites frequently overlooked) and Aswan, gateway to the famed Abu Simbel complex of Ramesses II three hours further south by car. Our experiences with Egypt Tailor Made Tours and our fabulous guide, Sabry, on the first leg have been described in another post. For the second leg, Abu Simbel was problematic due to the distance, which tempts many to pass on this amazing world treasure on a cliff overlooking the peaceful waters of Lake Nasser. However, Abu Simbel was the "box that needed to be checked" by this writer, dating to 1961 when I read in My Weekly Reader about the efforts to save the site from flooding by literally cutting it up and relocating it to a new site at the top of the cliff above the water. (Those interested in the history of Abu Simbel and its relocation should read Empress of the Nile by Lynne Olsen, a wonderful biography of Christiane Deroches-Nobelcourt the female Indiana Jones archeologist and former French resistance fighter who convinced Abdul Nasser and Jacqueline Kennedy among others that it was possible to save the site. Many solve the logistical dilemma of the Upper Nile by taking one of the many Nile River cruises available; however, the option is expensive and many other sites of interest are incompartible with their schedule. A day trip by air from Aswan leaves only an hour at Abu Simbel, which proves to be inadequate. We chose Egypt Tailor Made to help us create a custom tour in which we flew to Aswan from Cairo, stayed the night in Aswan, then left the next morning early to be driven the three hours to Abu Simbel which allowed more than enough time thoroughly to enjoy the complex. Egypt Tailor Made provided two drivers, our guide Emil who would be with us for the whole second segment, and a comfortable van. In spite of the distance, driving through the Western Sahara for three hours was fascinating. We returned to Aswan by sunset and stayed the night. The next day Emil met us with the driver and van to travel north to Luxor, visiting the sites we would have otherwise missed on the way (the amazing Kom Ombu Temple and the separate Edfu and Esna Temples) and the exotic towns and villages along the way. We allowed five days to cover all the sites in the lovely river city of Luxor, although four would have been perfectly adequate to provide a leisurely tour. The Valley of the Kings and the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut must be seen, as is the Medinet Habu Temple of Amun and Ramesses III. We found three tomb tours in the Valley of the Kings was sufficient to give one a sense of "tomb exploring." We opted not to visit the Valley of the Queens since the best tombs were closed for renovation. Emil suggested we instead enjoy a visit to the cities of the artisans and nobles. This was very enriching since we had a chance to see separate intimate tombs that the most valued artisans and nobles were allowed to build for their burials. We ended our last day at the beautifully preserved Dendara Temple of Hathor, which is well worth the hour drive to this overlooked site. Of all the temples, this site had the best color and carvings. Do not miss a boat ride to the island temple of Philae or to end your day with a sunset ride on a felucca, the tradition sailboat of the Nile, as it glides among the rocks of the now tamed cataracts. As I pointed out in an earlier review, it is essential to do your homework, have a plan, and get a good guide in Egypt. Emil proved a wonderful source of guidance and information. Every morning he reminded us he "had a plan." As he took us through temples he explain the logic of what we were seeing and pointed out details we might have missed. He also wove intricate stories relating the people, their motivations, and the sites that brought everything together and made it alive. Egypt Tailor Made was a excellent tour service that worked with us to create a unique experience at a remarkably reasonable price. We cannot praise them enough. One photo tip--the temples such as Karnak are immense and inspiring, as they were designed to be. To get the best sense of scale, use your video mode to pan across and up pillars to give a sense of the grandeur. Also do not forget to include the goddess Nut lurking in the ceiling. Have someone in frame to have a sense of the true scale as well.

What a great start to my Egyptian adventure! - My tour guide Heba was truly fantastic. She was super knowledgeable, communicative, friendly and I felt very safe with her as well as our driver. As I was solo, she took so many photos of me without me even asking which I really appreciated. Highly recommend!

Ask for Heba ❤️ - Heba is the highlight of the tour, the best tour guide ever!! She is very knowledgeable but also great fun! The weather was perfect, not very crowded, we really enjoyes everythibg and this company does its best to accommodate everyone's needs. I strongly recommend recommend them!!

Pyramids Tour of Saqqara, Dashur, & Memphis Plus More Adventures with Awesome Egypt Tailor Made Tour Guide Mrs. Simon - Egypt Tailor Made (ETM) tours arranged for us a fantastic day of exploring Saqqara, Memphis and Dahshur. We were picked up at our Cairo hotel by ETM’s expert tour guide, Mrs. Simon, who took us to see each site and showed us the best of each one, explaining the important and relevant information about each in excellent English. Mrs. Simon is an exceptional tour guide, professional and knowledgeable and yet very personable and easy going. She made visiting each place extra special and interesting. We especially enjoyed visiting Menu’s tomb with her at the Saqqara Complex where she directed us to intricate depictions on the walls that revealed secrets of ancient Egyptian technology as well scenes of everyday life, some of which were quite humorous. Her excitement about these sites was infectious, which made visiting these ancient Egyptian treasures even more thrilling. After guiding us through these three important ancient Egyptian sites, Mrs. Simon took us to a wonderful restaurant for a delicious lunch. Then, as we had let Mrs. Simon know that we wished to visit the St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Patriarchate church in Cairo, Mrs. Simon helped our very competent driver, Mokhtar, navigate to the Armenian church. Although the church was not open when we arrived, Mrs. Simon spoke with the people who were guarding the church and made it possible for us to see the church grounds, which were beautiful. We had also let Mrs. Simon know that we wanted to purchase some Coptic crosses. Once again, she went above and beyond, and navigated our driver to St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, the largest cathedral in Africa and the Middle East, and enabled us to see the absolutely stunningly beautiful church grounds, where the Coptic Pope would be speaking later that evening, and to visit the church’s gift shop where we were able to purchase beautiful Coptic crosses. Mrs. Simon is an absolutely amazing tour guide and lovely person. She is knowledgeable about the history and cultures of Egypt from ancient to modern times and communicates that information very well in English. Her love for and appreciation of Egypt and its people, incredible monuments, amazing achievements, and natural wonders, is contagious. She is very personable, kind, professional, and has a great sense of humor, which makes her a joy to be with on a tour. She desires to make possible the wishes of her tour members and is very capable of doing so. Whenever we had requests, she cheerfully and kindly found a way to make to make them happen. She consistently went above and beyond and did all that she could to make our specific desires happen, making our trip to Egypt a dream come true! We most highly recommend ETM and Mrs. Simon who will make your travels in Egypt extraordinary!

A well-organized and informative day of touring the pyramids. - Well organized. Professional, no hectic, no hurry .no waiting. Ms. Manar explained all the historical sites we visited in detail. She answered all our questions thoroughly and satisfied our curiosity about both the culture, history, and present-day Egypt. She also informed us about where the best views were and the perfect spots to take photos. She is a rare tour guide with a cheerful attitude, fluent and high-level English. Our driver, Ahmed, drove us safely throughout the day, allowing us to explore without worrying about the traffic in Egypt.

Amazing time in Cairo - We just finalized a 4 day tour of Cairo and had the pleasure of private tours with our guide, Mrs Manar. Mrs. Manar has incredible knowledge about the history of Egypt, different time periods, and dynasties and speaks very good English. On our private tours to Saqqara, Memphis, and the Giza, as well as Cairo, we were driven by our extremely skilled driver, Mr Mostafa. Mr Mostafa and Mrs Manar are very polite and pleasant people to be around and we highly recommend them! Egypt Tailor Made is a very responsive and reliable company and very helpful in setting up the itinerary, as well as the multiple adjustments where needed.

Great experience, recommend to everyone - Mr. Ahmed (guide) and Mr. (Shaapan) driver was great overall. We got to hear good history in a authentic way. The trip was very smooth. Mr. Ahmed gave me some medicine when I said I am sick and offered some hot tea too. The drive was gentle.

Well organised tour. No complaints. Everything as mentioned - Very well organised. Our guide Heba was very professional and covered everything with the right amount of detail and time. Would definitely recommend Egypt Tailor Made and Mrs Heba to anyone looking for this experience.

Truly tailor made for you! - We just completed a 10 day tour with Egypt Tailormade. Right at the outset, Walid was very helpful in coming up with a trip plan, providing helpful suggestions, and giving very timely responses. When Air Egypt canceled our Aswan flight, he calmed us down and quickly provided an updated plan. Our tour included private car, fullday Cairo visit, Saqqara, Alexandria day trip, 3 days in Aswan (Abu Simbel, Kom Ombu) and 2 days in Luxor. The tour started with an airport pickup - a representative rushed us through immigration and customs and we were in the hotel in no time. The next 10 days were spent going around all the great monuments and tombs. The drivers were ready to pick us up right on time and the guides were not only proficient in English but also very knowledgeable about the history. They not only explained us the rich history of all the sites but also took great care of us guiding us to restaurants or takeout places depending on what we were looking for that particular day. Mohammed, our guide in Aswan and Luxor, even picked us up after hours to drop us at a restaurant because he didn’t want us roaming the streets in the night :-) (the streets were perfectly safe though). Special shout out to Heba for guiding us in Cairo. She’s the best guide I’ve been with so far! She is not only full of information but also funny and caring. She became a part of our family by day two. When she learnt our friend was celebrating their birthday, she arranged for a Nile cruise and as a surprise had a cake delivered to the boat! Heba, you’re the best!! Every aspect of our vacation was seamless thanks to Egypt Tailormade and we were left to experience the awe and splendor of Egypt. Highly recommended!