Egypt and Greece Tours and Trips

Excellent trip. Covers all the ancient sites and has the bonus of the Red Sea. Ramy was an excellent guide and couldn’t have done more. Cruise boat was nice. Definitely go to Abu Simbel. Suggest cocktails at the Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan. Only 6 in our group which was nice. Hotel Mercure on the Red Sea was nice with snorkelling from the beach or using FunFly (excellent) located at the hotel. It’s all buffet and busy. There are no English speakers at the hotel and the entertainment is geared towards French & Russians.

Our guide, Sapfo, was truly excellent. Without doubt the best group leader you could wish for. She was interested and engaged with everyone in the group. She was knowledgeable. She was super organized and nothing was a chore. Our group dinners every night were a big success. Her restaurant choices were excellent. Our driver, Georgiou, was also really great. He kept the Mercedes mini bus immaculate. He was a careful and considerate driver and you always felt safe even on the tight back roads of the Mani Peninsula. Itinerary is good except that Monemvasia should be included as part of the tour proper and Sparta dropped from the itinerary. Make sure you take the optional extra of visiting Monemvasia if offered. It is well worth it. Overall I would say the tour is best described as “very full on”. A lot of the ancient and medieval sites have many many steps and some of the stones are very polished from so many people stepping on them over thousands of years. So I would recommend wearing hiking shoes if you have them also also bringing walking poles if you have them. Both will help with climbs, of which there are quite a few as I say. Overall the accommodation was ok (but not brilliant) except for Hotel Galaxy (they need to axe Het Galaxy). The Pantheon City Hotel was the best. Our group got on well, and I think that was in large part due to our guide Sapfo.

The travel was a stellar experience. Exploring the history and culture of Greece along with the warmth and professionalism of Trafalgar’s director, driver and sharing with a diverse group of travelers made it a trip to treasure for a lifetime!

In short, this trip was absolutely incredible. Our guide was phenomenal; warm, informative, professional, and with an infectious enthusiasm. Our group was huge, but everyone was great and we all had an amazing time together! Was this tour fast paced? Oh yeah. Totally jam packed. Was it worth it? Completely. And I can't emphasise that enough. There were a lot of early mornings and long days and while it might have been nice to have a little more time (thinking an extra night in Hurghada or Luxor) every single one was completely worth it. The Nile Cruise was total luxury, the overnight train was an experience but nowhere near as bad as what I'd feared, and all of the sights were completely unmissable. Would I cut anything out for a less hectic schedule? Absolutely not. As someone who had been dreaming of Egypt for years, my expectations were sky high, and this trip exceeded them in every way. This was my first Contiki and I have to say it has set the bar exceptionally high for any future trips!

I taught ancient Egyptian history to high school students and this trip was a realisation of my dream to visit Egypt and see the ancient monuments. Explore did a magnificent job in all aspects, hotels, transfers airline bookings etc. Our group leader was Mohamed Osama, was the catalyst in making this tour an absolute pleasure. His knowledge as an Egyptologist was second to none, and his people skills were equally great. Will I recommend this tour to anyone. A resounding YES!

The trip was very enjoyable. I enjoyed all of the optional excursions that I took and the tours included in the trip were very interesting. Olga as always willing to help with suggestions for places to visit and was helpful in making arrangements for us to get there. I would definitely use Collette again