Pointers for an Egyptian visit by a British daily

The foreign press has been devoting a lot of ink to Egypt as a holiday destination. According to a feature ‘Ten Exciting Ways to See the Real Egypt’ in the British daily The Times (May 15), the pyramids and the Nile might steal the show, but “there’s so much more to see here”.

The authors have collated what different tour operators have to offer. Of course, you can marvel at the Giza pyramid complex, the tomb-lined Valley of the Kings, the temples at Karnak and Luxor and the re-opened Avenue of Sphinxes running between them. Take a stroll around the incense-scented bazaars of Cairo and take in the stupendous rock-cut monuments at Abu Simbel.

You might prefer a small group tour with guided visits beginning with an overnight train journey to Aswan, lunch with a local family, following by mooching around Aswan Souk for souvenirs or spices the likes of which you’ll never find at home.

Back in Cairo is the Coptic Museum, located in the old area of the largest city in the Arab world, with its collection of 1,700-year-old artworks and artefacts. Cairo is at its most serene on Gezira Island in the middle of the Nile.

You can board a Nile cruise. Perhaps you would prefer to avoid the crowds and have the Great Pyramid all to yourself for two hours, at sunrise or sunset, on an itinerary tailor-made for you.

While you might relax at the newly-opened Red Sea resort at el-Gouna, you can choose the “sugar-white shores” of Marsa Alam, which are relatively undisturbed compared to its bustling cousins at Sharm el-Sheikh or Hurghada. The Red Sea near Dahab is great for snorkelling with spectacular coral gardens near the Bedouin settlement of Ras Abu Galum plus two nights wild-camping under the stars in remote desert areas.

Go east and tour the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. For the more adventurous, explore the Great Sand Sea desert by 4×4. Ideal for the family is a two-week stay in Siwa Oasis, where you can go dune boarding, swim in hot springs and cycle past palm plantations and mud houses.

Follow the needle northwards to the “laid-back, cosmopolitan Mediterranean port” that is Alexandria, which was once the capital of Graeco-Roman Egypt, where you can travel back in time on a personalised tour of Pompey’s Pillar, the catacombs and the sea-facing modern-day version of the Library of Alexandria.