Ibrahim Elaref

We had the most amazing time in Egypt. Ibrahim was able to build a package to suit our itinerary perfectly. We were taken care of by a company called Egypt Promotions. Our guides throughout were fabulous, especially Mohamed for our last two days in Cairo. The drivers and attendants were also faultless. The 4 day boat trip on the Nile was spectacular with all the staff making it so good. We have learned so much in our week and plan to read up some more to better our comprehension of the history of the ancient kings and gods of Egypt.
The only negative comment would be the hotel we stayed in Cairo - Helnan Dreamland - not the accommodation but the staff, especially at the restaurant, who were less than attentive making us get up ourselves to request service and at one time we waited 40 minutes for a bottle of wine because there was no corkscrew to be found. Twice we had restaurant staff knocking at our door at night because they had made mistakes on the bill. We then made a deliberate effort to finalize the account the night before checkout (as we had an early morning pick up) only to be confronted with extra charges, but as we tried to explain we were simply told we could not check out until it was settled and they brought in the heavy weight to make sure we understood!!! I would never recommend this hotel to anyone.

We were hoping to get all the details and iternary before we landed, the iternary in kimkim was not updated with correct dates even though I asked several times. We did not know who would pick us up at the airport and was told there would be a sign. Upon landing, noone was there and we had to catch a taxi to get to the hotel. Our kimkim rep also did not pickup his phone.

Once I got hold of kimkim agent, things started rolling in place. The local guides and reps were extremely good and we had an amazing experience in Egypt. Highly recommend the local agency used Egypt Promotions. Excellent work by them.

Activity Reviews

Cairo Walking Food Tour

Cairo

This was rushed because we lost time trying to find out who our rep was when we landed. I don't think we had the full experience. Thought it might have been food tasting but was more of just 1 meal.

Quality of Experience

Not rushed and taste various food

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Pyramids, Sphinx, Camel ride 15min, Sakkara & Memphis

Cairo

Great experience also little rushed, would have liked to spend more time there. Camal ride was fun.

Quality of Experience

Just being there

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Friendly

Transport

Friendly

Day tour to visit Old Egyptian Museum, Citadel of Salah El-Din & Old Cairo

Cairo

Amazing seeing ancient artifacts and learning more about it

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Karnak Temple and Luxor temple

Egypt

Great experience

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hot Air Balloon - Visit Valley of the Kings - Hatshepsut temple - Sail to Edfu

Luxor

Balloon is a must and adds to the experience. Valley of the kings was amazing

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Edfu-Komombo-Aswan

Edfu

Good experience

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Abu Simbel temple and Aswan

Aswan

Unique experience

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Alexandria day tour 1

Alexandria

Good to see but was expecting to reflect the ancient times in its building and content

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Egyptian Civilization Museum

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Alexandria Day tour

Alexandria

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The whole trip was excellent. Hesham Nour was our Cairo and Alexandria guide. He was excellent. He helped find good local restaurants and taste good local food.
Ahmed was our Luxor, Edfu and Aswan guide. He was excellent.

Overall the trip was excellent. A few things that I suggest are:
A) The Nile cruise overall is ok. It is for sure not new and not 4+. I would rate it 3. The staff in the cruise are good but the floor was creeky and the carpet was not well laid. The bathroom was a bit leaking. I would suggest to prefer another cruise. Sightseeing and other things in the cruise are good.
B) There were too many staff changes. The guides were consistent but the drivers changed often. I prefer I stick to a team so that I get to know them better. Before I knew someone a new one comes in.
C) I would suggest kimkim to suggest an appropriate tipping guide. Other travel agencies do that. I had to read other blogs for tipping guide.

Thanks to the whole team for making it a memorable experience.

Hotel Reviews

Hyatt Regency Cairo west

cairo

This is excellent. The front desk staff were very helpful.

Authenticity & Character

Location

It is very close to the pyramids

Staff

The staff helped us with international charges.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean

Baharia Camp

Bahariya

The hotel was ok. A 3 star

Authenticity & Character

The staff are good

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Steigenberger Achti

luxor

A very good hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Right in heart of the city.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Pyramids, Sphinx, Sakkara & Memphis

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Day tour to visit Old Egyptian Museum, Citadel of Salah El-Din & Old Cairo

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Hesham took us to an excellent restaurant to taste Kushari.

Transport

Cairo - White Desert

Bahariya

The trip was good. But a long travel to the desert. Not very convenient for restrooms.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Karnak Temple and Luxor temple

Egypt

Quality of Experience

Ok

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Bahariya - Cairo

Bahariya

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The driver was ok. We had to keep telling him to close the windows as it was noisy

Transport

Visit Edfou temple and Kom Ombo temple

Edfu

Quality of Experience

Look

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Abu Simbel temple and Aswan

Aswan

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Over day Alexandria

Cairo Int. Airport (CAI)

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Valley of the Kings - Hatshepsut temple - Sail to Edfu

Luxor

Quality of Experience

Look

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

All trip was planned per our request and Ibrahim did excellent job.

Hotel Reviews

Fairmont Nile city

cairo

Enjoyed our stayed at this hotel.

Authenticity & Character

yes

Location

excellent

Staff

good service

Cleanliness & Comfort

very clean rooms and overall all areas of the hotel

Steigenberger Achti

luxor

Overall enjoyed

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

M/S MAYFAIR/FLOWER Nile Cruise

Aswan

Excellent cruise experience

Authenticity & Character

Excellent

Location

Great

Staff

Very accommodating and courteous

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very clean

BenBen by Dhara Hotels

Excellent location , in fact one should stay at least for 2 nights to enjoy this hotel

Authenticity & Character

Great

Location

Location of this hotel is on top of the hill with 360 water view

Staff

Great

Cleanliness & Comfort

Clean hotel

The Nile Ritz-Carlton

Cairo

Great Location facing Nile river

Authenticity & Character

Great

Location

Great

Staff

Great

Cleanliness & Comfort

Great

Activity Reviews

Free Day in Cairo

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Transport

Pyramids, Sphinx, Sakkara & Memphis

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Valley of the Queens - Temple of Habu (Ramses III) - Ramsseum Temple - Check in on Nile Cruise

Luxor

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Edfou temple and Kom Ombo temple

Edfu

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

West Bank of Luxor (Valley of the Kings - Hatshepsut Temple - Colossi of Memnon)

Luxor

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Aswan

Aswan

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Disembark Nile cruise & visit Abu Simbel temple

Egypt

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Coptic Cairo - Salah El Deen Citadel - Mohamed Ali Mosque

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Karnak Temple and Luxor temple

Egypt

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Day tour Alexandria

Cairo

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I have been wanting to go to Egypt for years, as it had been on my bucket list for some time. The planning process with Ibrahim seemed to be fine. However, there were a lot of bumps upon arrival. First, we got into Cairo, and went to the St. Regis, which was great. The first night, we were scheduled to go on a Nile cruise for dinner. When we got to the cruise, it was absolutely disgusting, and we ended up not staying. When we talked to out guide the next day about it, he was shocked the tour company sent us to that cruise, agreeing with us that it was filthy and well below average standards (and he recommended we try the nice cruise). The next day, we were surprised that the tour was much shorter than expected and did not include the Egyptian Museum. I would have expected any tour to include the museum, and that a tour operator would know that the museum should not be missed. So, we had to pay extra not only for the museum, but also the guide's time. And, really that became the mantra for the trip - the tours were less than half the day and we ended up paying for a lot of extras that should have been included. When we went to Luxor, only the Valley of the Kings was included, not the Valley of the Queens. So, not only did we pay extra for the entrance fee (which was fine), the tour company wanted an extra $90 USD for the car to take us there (which was literally less than a ten minute drive) and for the guide's time (which we were already paying for, as we had the guide for the day and when the tours we were scheduled to go on were over before 11am). This was disappointing to say the least. I would expect that a tour company should know the things to see and approx. time to take on these tours, and if the tours were only going to be part of the day, I would think that the tour company would tell us ahead of time and recommend other things to do. Further, when we paid for a private tour guide and car, we expected to have use of that car and/or guide not just for a few hours in the morning. And, when we asked to go to a dinner about 10 min drive from the hotel, we were told it was not included, and they asked for $15 USD. Not a big deal, but when you already paid for a private car/driver, it seems odd to charge extra for this. And one of our guides did not speak very good English (almost none), which was quite disappointing. And, even things like breakfast that were supposed to be included, ended up not being included on two of the days.

This is in contrast to last year, when we went to Jordan with the same set up - a private car and tour guide - using this company. Our tour guide was amazing, and the car was always available to take us to lunch, dinner, extra things (minus costs of the entrance fees). Sadly, we did not get the same experience.

One of our guides, Ahmed, was awesome. He was with us for Aswan and Luxor. He was super knowledgeable, passionate and just all around great. He really made the trip amazing. When we had extra time, he helped us find good places for souvenirs, took us off the beaten path to find great dining spots and would take us to interesting places (like a local nubian coffee place) and just talk to us about the culture and his country. We couldn't have asked for a better guide, and I only wished he had been our guide the entire time.

While our trip to Egypt was memorable because it was Egypt, looking back, I would not have used this tour company for this trip. We paid a lot of money to have a private car/driver, and we were disappointed not only that our tours ended up being super short, but that we had to pay extra for things that should have been included (or that the tour company should have asked to be included).

Activity Reviews

Dinner Cruise

Cairo

We ended up not staying for the cruise. The ship was gross, and we were not going to take the chance of eating and getting sick. We were told there are much better/nicer cruises, but this was not it.

Quality of Experience

Pyramids, Sphinx , Salah El Deen Citadel and Old Cairo

Cairo

This tour is a must for anyone going to Egypt. However, we (and our guide) was surprised that the tour did not include the Egyptian Museum, given that the tour (as scheduled) was over before 1pm. We added the museum, which is a must see, but were charged a lot to include it (on top of the entrance fees).

Overall, we enjoyed our trip to Egypt. There were several people on the KimKim team that were extremely helpful and welcoming and that we would specifically like to mention and thank (namely Mahmoud, who was so helpful in assisting us at the Cairo airport going home following a delay in Luxor, our guide Hamse in Cairo, Zain in Aswan, and the staff at the Swiss Inn). We met some lovely people on our trip and greatly appreciated the help that was provided.

That being said, there were some instances in which we did not feel that we got what we paid for when booking with a tour company. We are experienced travelers and are comfortable on our own in most scenarios, but booked with a tour company largely to help mitigate being hassled to buy things. We are not souvenir people and don't travel eight thousand miles to sit through sales pitches for items that we don't want to buy. That being said, we would have been okay if it was a single time, or if the items were cheap in price as it's helping the local economy, but instead we were forced to stop several times for demonstrations at places we did not agree to on the itinerary and put in the uncomfortable position of either saying no (which took several tries. At one place, the salesman said "money isn't everything" when we politely said "no, thank you" to the item he wanted us to buy) or purchasing a $150 USD candle holder, for example. Each of the places we were taken to, we were quotes prices that were, at minimum, $50 USD and up. This was very frustrating for us as we only had about 5 days in Egypt and did not want to (nor agree to) spend it sitting through uncomfortable sales pitches for items we did not want in the first place. (it's also worth mentioning that at the "authentic" cotton store we were taken to, one of the items we bought was a pair of loose cotton pants that literally ripped at the inside seam after an hour of wearing them. I noticed another reviewer state that their guide in Aswan was "nice, until he wasn't" when they did not want to purchase from one of the places they were taken to. I have to wonder if this was the same guide we had because we experienced the same thing. Our guide in Aswan was nice, but also seemed to get upset and sullen when we did not purchase from the oil store we were taken to. It made the car ride to the boat uncomfortable enough that we considered what our options were for the rest of the trip as we didn't like feeling trapped in that situation and didn't know how many more unscheduled stops would be included in the trip.

We also noticed that the itinerary we were given when booking the trip was not adhered to. We had about 3 items scheduled for our last full day, and when planning the trip were told that since our flight was in the evening, we could choose to pay an additional fee and do some extra sightseeing on the last day, which came out to I believe 2-3 additional sights. Our guide instead crammed all of these sights into one day, starting at 4:30 am. Finally at around 6 pm we had to tell him we needed to stop as we were physically exhausted and weren't feeling well, and he agreed to do the final tour of Luxor in the morning as he had another tour group scheduled the following day. This was frustrating for us as the itinerary we were given when booking the trip led us to believe these tours would be scheduled (at least roughly) equally on each day, and having them all put into one day made it so that we could not adequately take in what we were seeing as we were rushing from one place to the next and were exhausted. After our final tour in the morning at Luxor, we were done around 8:30 and then waited in a nearby hotel lobby for about 7 hours until the driver returned to take us to the airport to leave for home, which felt like a bit of a waste of a day. There were also two separate times on the boat in which the guide told us to meet him at a specific time and then did not show up, so we were waiting for over an hour each time before we finally called his room to ask if he wanted to reschedule.

Overall, I feel that communication could have been better as we were not given estimated times on the itinerary, and I'm not sure they would have been adhered to anyway. It left us with a bit of a bad taste in our mouths in the end as we booked with a tour company specifically to make the trip smooth and instead at times it felt like we were put in uncomfortable situations and it felt like our time wasn't valued.

I looked at several agencies that provided tours in Egypt and decided on kimkim. I just wanted to say, my husband Gav and I were thrilled with our guides, & drivers and our meet and greets at the airports and facilitating the checking into the hotels. You made this such a breeze for us, and we couldn't have asked for a better company to provide. Our guide in Cairo - Rohnna (Ronnie) was outstanding, her knowledge and enthusiasm for her job was fabulous. Ronnie's English was excellent, and we gained a lot of insight from her. We travelled to Luxor where we were met again at the airport and introduced to Michael our guide for the Luxor/ Aswan part of our trip. Michael was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and his English language was A+. We had great drivers as well. The company representatives who met us at each destination, Mohammad and Zain and another whom we met only briefly so I can't recall his name were wonderful and very helpful and always made sure everything was going to plan. Tipping was expected everywhere and for everything and I was given a guide for amounts which was really helpful prior to arriving so it wasn't a shock. So thankyou once again for making our Egypt tour amazing. I would highly recommend kimkim.

Activity Reviews

Cairo Walking Food Tour

Cairo

Our guide Ronnie took us to a local cafe serving Egyptian delicacies which were delicious.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Pyramids, Sphinx, Sakkara & Memphis

Cairo

Our guide Ronnie was full of knowledge, we would highly recommend visiting the Pyramids, it's a must do.

Quality of Experience

Our guide was knowledgeable and answered all our questions.

Food

We had a local Falafel for lunch one day which our guide got us, and it would've been the best one we had ever had.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guides were A+ We understood everything they said. Drivers were excellent too.

Transport

Nice airconditioned Van. Drivers were always on time

Dinner Cruise

Cairo

Probably this was the least activity we enjoyed. The food was nice enough but the entertainment and music was way too loud and went on for too long.

Quality of Experience

Entertainment could be toned down

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Valley of the Kings & Hatshepsut temple

Luxor

Amazing, but it was really hot. Would definitely recommend. We should've gone to Tutankhamun's tomb though that was a mistake not to see that even though it was extra, we probably should have been told prior to entering the Valley of the Kings that was when we needed to decide.

Quality of Experience

Just visiting the tombs was mind blowing

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Michael was an excellent guide.

Transport

Karnak temple and Luxor temple

Luxor

Michael filled us with all his knowledge of these 2 amazing temples.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit Philae temple & High Dam - Felluca ride

Aswan

We didnt visit the Philae temple as we had a long journey in the car from Luxor to Aswan, so didn't feel up to another 6 hours driving. Our Felluca ride was a bit disappointing as there was no wind, so we were towed basically along the Nile

Visit Abu Simbel and Nubian Village

Egypt

This was interesting to visit. It would be one of the highlights visiting this temple. We visited the Nubian village which was a colorful experience. Got to understand their way of life. We also got to swim in the Nile which was amazing.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Day tour to visit Old Egyptian Museum, Citadel of Salah El-Din & Old Cairo

Cairo

The Cairo Museum was incredible and a must to see. Also gaining some factual information about the Cital of Salah El- Din was really good too as we gained insights into the Muslim religion we never knew. Old Cairo town is also a must and whilst there we visited the place where Jesus lived for several months as a young boy. That was an incredible experience given our Christian faith.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

An unforgettable trip, and every person involved in the planning and execution of this trip went above and beyond.
Our luggage went missing on the arriving flight, and the tour group representatives Mahmoud and Zin did everything they could to help retrieve our luggage and communicated on a daily basis with what needed to be done. They spent the extra time working with the airlines while we were able to enjoy the tours.
The itinerary was perfectly planned, and we were able to easily add on extra excursions as we went along.
The tour guides Sameh and Michael were very knowledgeable, spoke english very well, and were very willing to help ensure we had the best experience during our stay. We enjoyed every tour we went on. Each excursion and location was a new breathtaking experience.