Giza Pyramids View Inn

basic facilities in a truly epic location

Giza Pyramids View Inn is set amongst the busy throng of tumbledown suburban sprawl at the pedestrian entrance to the famous archaeological sites.

This is a basic property, right in the thick of it. The streets are busy with cars, pedestrians, donkey carts and camels. It’s a dusty, noisy and hectic environment. But all rather exciting.

A string of small and simple hotels like this one line the small square at the entrance to the Sphinx Enclosure, all of the same basic layout.
The street entrance to the Giza Pyramids View Inn is very modest, the reception is claustrophobic and the stairwell is worrisome.

The 20 or so rooms are simple, but serviceable, each with a small private bathroom. We usually try to get one of the front-facing rooms on a higher floor, which comes with a very small balcony with views of the pyramids, but it may be better to get a room at the back, where there will be less road noise.

The glorious part of the hotel is upstairs, where the rooftop restaurant has incredible views of the sphinx and the pyramids. This is a location to die for and the fact that it is enjoyed by a string of small budget hotels, rather than some mega-resort, is simply glorious.

The staff are very friendly and helpful, which goes a long way to overcome the obvious drawbacks.

Nevertheless, we offer this hotel on the understanding that guests may need to be generous and forgiving. In a place like this, service levels are likely to be naive and variable. This is really not far above backpacker level. But we love it.

The traffic in Cairo is famously crazy, partly in terms of jams, but mainly in the crazy way that the locals drive. You will need to endure this during your stay, it is an integral part of the experience, for better or for worse.

We usually recommend three nights at the front end of a trip in Giza, which gives you a full day for each of the two pyramid areas of Giza and Saqqara.

But if you subsequently head south to Luxor on the overnight train, which is an option that is often taken up in combination with a hotel at this level, then you can cut this to two nights in Cairo.

If you specifically want to explore the Old City, then we usually include a night at the end of a trip, when guests have had some time to toughen up and after which you will have a long flight to catch up on the terrible night’s sleep you will most likely have experienced.

Seasonality

The best time to visit Cairo is widely considered to be the winter months of Nov-Mar, but we sometimes favour other times of year, when temperatures may be higher, but visitor numbers are often much lower.

Cairo experiences a conventional northern hemisphere climate, with a hot dry summer centred on May-Sep and a warm dry winter Nov-Mar.

May-Sep : Summer

During the May-Sep summer the daytime temperatures typically reach 41C, with night-time temperatures holding up around 23C. Although these temperatures may seem concerning, the relative humidity drops considerably, meaning that comfort temperatures are not so bad, at least during the day. This season can also be advantaged by light summer breezes out on the river. However, given the warm nights, we do recommend that you stay somewhere with air-conditioning.

Despite being ‘out of season’, visitor numbers do increase during the European vacation season, centred on Jul/Aug, so best to head for May, June or late September if you can.

Some hotel prices can also be considerably lower during some of these months.

Oct : Autumn

The month of October represents a transition between summer and winter conditions and, in many ways, offers the best of both worlds, with visitor traffic also being relatively low.

Nov-Mar : Winter

During the Nov-Mar winter the daytime temperatures typically reach 25C, with nighttime temperatures plunging to 8C. Relatively humidities rise considerably, meaning that the middle of the day can be surprisingly uncomfortable, given the relatively low absolute temperatures.

These warm (rather than hot) conditions have led to winter being the most popular time to visit, meaning that visitor numbers reach their peak, especially around Dec-Jan. We therefore recommend November to mid-December and mid-January to March (excluding a week either side of Easter), although even then you probably need to deploy traffic avoidance measures when visiting the key sites.

Some hotel prices can also be considerably higher during some of these months.

Apr : Spring

The month of April represents a transition between winter and summer conditions and, in many ways, offers the best of both worlds, with visitor traffic also being relatively low (except for a week either side of Easter.

Getting there

Set about 20 km east of the city centre, Cairo Airport is one of the busiest in the world.

It has good international flight connections with Europe, Asia and Africa. Connections to the Americas are rather more spartan, with only Egyptair offering regular non-stop flights to North America (notably New York and Washington). Most people either take these services, or fly via London or Frankfurt.

From the airport, the city centre can be reached in 20-40 minutes, depending on traffic. Giza and Saqqara are usually more like 40-60 minutes.

We only recommend private-guided transfers. The local taxi drivers can be a bit challenging to deal with.

usually for just two nights at the front end of a trip