Destinations

5-Star Hotel Guide

Egypt

Natural beauty and extraordinary history is ever-present in one of the world's oldest cultures

Egypt
Egypt

Favourite 5-star hotels in Egypt

Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab world, claims one of the world’s oldest cultures, descending from an ancient civilization that emerged in the 10th millennium BCE.

Egypt is a land of magnificent World Heritage sights and wonder. Of all the lands of the Middle East, it is perhaps Egypt, with its awe-inspiring pyramids and sphinx that is the most alluring.

Bookending a stay at the beautiful Sahl Hasheesh on the Red Sea with Cairo, if only for a day, is well worthwhile.

Palaces are so beautiful here, but for children the museum was a realisation of a dream. Cairo's Egyptian Museum is a treasure trove. The outstanding haul from Tutankhamen’s previously unlooted chambers is mind-blowing. So too are the mummies and the sheer quantities of statues, ornate jewellery, sarcophagi and papyrus. It takes you through the various kingdoms and, I have to say, it really does ignite your desire to understand and learn more about this extraordinarily cultivated ancient civilization.

A trip down this city's exotic lifeline, the Nile, at sunset in a felucca is wonderful. We were there during Ramadan, so the chanting’s from mosques were more prominent than at other times and, at sunset, the atmosphere was transformed from fast to feast. We took our own little picnic and drinks and steered well clear of the belly dancing banquet boats on offer. A simple felucca, clean and cool in blue and white with a sail and a happy hungry captain and ship's mate for only 12 Euros an hour.

A short flight from Cairo and you are in Hurghada on the The Red Sea with coral mountains rising from the seabed and shallow beds teaming with brilliantly coloured fish is fabulous and staying at the Oberoi Sahl Hasheesh the sea becomes your own exquisite aquarium; a short stroll from your suite.