freddofrog04

Hi

We have booked out trip to Egypt for travel next week through Travcotel and will be visiting Abu Simbel.

We are currently booked on a 0415 flight ex. Cairo arriving into Abu Simbel at 7am and departing at 9am.

This part of the trip is one of the main highlights for me - as we have exactly 2 hours from time of landing and taking off - is this enough time to view the temple area with a guide ???

Has anyone travelled with Travcotel on a similar tour or is this the normal time frame for all tours?

All advice is apprecited ... thanks !

gail

The way it works at Abu Simbel is after you get off plane, you are immediately boarded on buses to site. The reverse process going back and then right back onto planes.

Even with this efficiency, 2 hours landing to departure seems a little close to me. It only takes 10-15 minutes from airport to site, but that travel time will cut half and hour off your 2 hours already. And that is assuming you have no wait for a bus. From the point of bus drop-off to actual temple is about a 5 minute walk.

Add to that inevitable, if efficient, boarding tasks at airport, it is difficult to imagine how 2 hours would be enough. I think 1 1/2 to 2 hours is enough time to spend seeing Abu Simbel - but not enough plane to plane.

Grcxx3

I agree with gail - 2 hours is plenty of time to actually see Abu Simbul - but not if that includes travel time.

On our first trip - we did a day trip and it took us over 30 minutes just to get on the bus to take us the 10-15 minutes to the site. Then it took another 15-20 minutes to buy tickets, go through security, and walk down the hill to the temples. Then we had to wait another 15 minutes for the bus to go back to the airport. You can see how the time gets eaten up.

I just don't see how you can do it an have any real time at the temple. Besides, you need to be back at the airport at least 30 minutes (if not more) before your flight out.

Abu Simbul is worth a good visit and since this is one of the highlights of your trip, I would try to rearrange your flight. Give yourself 2-3 hours at the site, and allow an hour for transit time (including waiting for busses), then figure out when you need to be back at the airport.

phil16

I'm sure when we went we had the very early flight from Cairo like you but had until 11 or 12 before return flight to Luxor.
As others have said you can "do" the tour in 2 hours but not with transfers.

It was a big part of my trip too and I would not want to have been herded and rushed round as it is fascinating.

I'd go back to them and check out a later return flight. The whole point of going is to enjoy it.

nks267

We ended up taking a convoy back to Aswan from Abu Simbel because we did not want to be rushed. It was worth it! We arranged the convoy through a local travel agent in Aswan. We took the morning flight from Aswan to Abu Simbel and stayed there for a few hours. There are convoys that leave everyday. WE had a private car and there were quite a few others as well, we were led by a police convoy in front and at the back. The drive through the Sahara was amazing. The whole thing cost us about $70 USD (not including airfare)