Review: Novotel Cairo Airport

Novotel Cairo Airport is located within the grounds of the airport. It offers a complimentary airport shuttle to and from the airport. 

In fact, on the day I landed at Cairo, I had chanced upon the airport shuttle at the arrivals area. However, I didn't want to stay at this hotel on my first day in Egypt as it is located far away from Giza. Staying at Horus Guesthouse has been great for me.

As I had an early morning flight out of Cairo on the third day, I intended to stay at one of the airport hotels instead of staying at the Guesthouse due to the distance. Novotel offers the cheapest rate and it provides complimentary airport transfer. So I decided to stay at this hotel.

There seems to be a carnival on the hotel grounds on the day of my check-in

Hotel corridor

The standard room is sufficiently large

Bed is comfortable. There is a daybed at the corner of the room just beside the bed.

Wall-mounted TV, working desk and chair

Paid minibar and complimentary basic coffee setup

Checking out of the hotel in the early morning

Brightly lit pavement in the otherwise deserted hotel grounds

Check out was fast at this hour and soon I rode alone in the airport shuttle to the airport.

My paid rate does not include breakfast. It's not necessary for me as well since I need to check out in the early morning. As I would be flying on Aegean Airlines, a member of Star Alliance, I would have access to the EgyptAir Star Alliance lounge for breakfast, even if flying in economy class. I would review the lounge in my subsequent post.

Overall, a pleasant and convenient stay in Novotel Cairo airport. The complimentary airport shuttle comes in useful as well.

My adventures in Cairo, Egypt !

No trip to Egypt is complete without visiting the Great Pyramids of Giza. Yup, so that's where I went.

After landing in Cairo, I had initially hired a driver to pick us up at the airport. Unfortunately, the driver was nowhere at the arrival area. 

Thus began my adventures with the Cairo public bus. I had seen the bus pick up passengers at the airport bus stop so I thought it would be heading into the city. However, the bus terminated at a bus station near the airport. 

After indicating to the driver my intention to go to Giza, he directed me to transfer to another bus. This second bus did go into city and terminated at a stop just outside Hilton hotel, Cairo. 

Then, this driver pointed me to transfer to another bus to Giza. This involves crossing an extremely busy road. At this point, I decided to just go into hotel to rest a while. In this hotel, there is security check before anyone can enter the hotel premises.

Fortunately, the lobby has available seats and free hotel wifi. I decided to use the wifi to arrange for a uber ride. Fortunately, I had a reliable uber driver. 

Now, near Giza, the roads consists of both paved and unpaved roads, the latter is not reflected in the uber map. Though the final destination of my accommodation is indicated, but the uber app could not provide the driver with a clear route to my exact destination. 

At first, the driver wanted me to alight along the main road close to my destination. But since I was totally unfamiliar with the environment, and it doesn't look exactly safe for tourists to wander around, I persuaded the driver to locate the destination. Soon, we entered the small roads and after asking many people, both locals and security personnel, we finally arrived right in front of my accommodation.

I had booked this guesthouse as it is very close to the pyramids. But the uber app isn't reliable in this particular area.

Anyway, I'm glad I made it to my guesthouse. 

This is the reason why I'm in Cairo. One of seven wonders of the world.

At the base of the pyramids

My room in the Horus Guesthouse

The walls are beautifully decorated with Egyptian figurines

After checking in and depositing my bags, I booked the camel ride tour to the pyramids with the owner and the receptionist. This turns out to be very expensive, but well worth it.

 

complimentary headscarf haha!

This is my ride

 

I was picked up by the camel right at the doorstep of the guesthouse

 

The great Sphinx of Giza

After a great outing at the Pyramids, the camel brought me back again to the doorstep of my guesthouse.

One advantage of staying at Horus Guesthouse is its unobstructed view of the pyramids at the rooftop. At night, we are treated to a lightshow. It is a ticketed event at the pyramids area but we can view it for free right at the guesthouse.

In the morning, the sun shone on the pyramids and the views are simply spectacular!

My breakfast with a pyramids view

After the delicious breakfast, I booked a ride at the guesthouse my next accommodation, Novotel Cairo Airport. Again, an expensive ride.

Cairo, Egypt is an expensive place for tourists. This is well expected as people from all over the world would want to come and visit the pyramids. It is truly well worth the cost to visit. I'm glad I have made this trip and visited the Pyramids of Giza !

Review: Bella Riva Hotel, Beirut

After a great half day tour of Beirut, Lebanon, my driver-guide sent me to my hotel for an overnight stay.

The hotels in Beirut, Lebanon are relatively inexpensive compared to other countries. I guess it's due to the lack of tourist demand. I chose to stay at Bella Riva Hotel, which costs only $70 a night. It turns out to be a great choice!

The hotel lobby is grand looking and inviting. There wasn't any other guests around during my check-in or checkout. In fact, I didn't actually come across any other guest at all.

Our standard room is large. There is a living room on the left. Straight ahead is a kitchen. Beyond that is the balcony. 

The living room consists of sofa, table and a single bed.

In the bedroom are two single beds.

A functional kitchen

The balcony has a great view of the Mediterranean sea to the right.

The hotel is kind enough to provide a welcome amenity consisting of a plate of whole fruits and a large bottle of water.

Floor plan of all the rooms on this level

I checked out of the hotel early next morning to catch my flight to Cairo, Egypt. Though it's a short stay in Beirut for me, this hotel really impresses me. The location is near the waterfront and eateries, room is large and comes with all the standard hotel amenities. It is certainly value of money. Highly recommended !

A half day tour of Beirut

Beirut, Lebanon wasn't initially on my travel itinerary last December. However, as I was finding flights to get me from Istanbul, Turkey to Cairo, Egypt, I came across a transit flight operated by Middle East Airline with reasonable pricing. Coupled with the flight timing being compatible with my travel plans, it didn't take me long to book myself a seat on the airline.

This gave me an opportunity to visit Beirut, the capital of Lebanon and also try out Middle East Airline, which turns out within my expectation.

My private tour of Beirut turns out well too!

From what I researched online, there seemed to be no public transport available from the airport to town. So then I decided to arrange for airport pick up service coupled with a half day tour of Beirut.

Immigration queues at Beirut airport was very short at that time. I guess not many tourists come here. Certainly not Asian tourists. The driver was already waiting at the arrivals area. We walked over to his car in the carpark and began our tour.

Pigeon rock, Beirut

First stop is the Beirut waterfront

Beautiful coastline

Local food eatery

I thought this Santa Claus was quite interesting !

There is a Beirut sightseeing bus, though with few tourists on board

Beirut National Museum

Passed by Beit Beirut, a museum

The beautiful Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque

The driver parked his car and we had a short walking tour around the mosque and the surrounding area.

There were few tourists around while I was in Beirut. But it does have some great tourist attractions. Safety wise, I was with my driver-guide at all times, so it felt very safe. In my opinion, Beirut, Lebanon is certainly worth to visit, even if on transit.

Middle East Airlines Istanbul to Beirut to Cairo economy class review

From Istanbul, Turkey, I moved on to Cairo, Egypt to visit the Pyramids. So I booked a one-way flight on Middle East Airline. This is a new airline for me, and it also gives me a chance to visit Beirut, Lebanon while on transit. So I selected the flight timing such that I had half a day in transit in Beirut, arriving in the early afternoon and departing next morning.

Middle East Airline flies on routes primarily within the Middle East region so it may be unfamiliar to travelers outside this region. It is a full service airline that comes with inflight entertainment and complimentary meal service in all classes.

This is the business class recliner seat on Middle East Airline

In economy class, each seat comes with IFE.

Complimentary newspapers are provided as well in economy class

Its inflight safety video features its personnel giving the briefing amid a backdrop of impressive Lebanon landscape.

There is no hot meal but rather a snack service on my flight from Istanbul to Beirut

I will be reviewing my tour of Beirut in my next post. Below is the second leg of my flight from Beirut to Cairo.

Economy class on Middle East Airline

Middle East Airline aircraft livery

Breakfast on Middle East Airline economy class

Overall, quite a nice experience on Middle East Airline economy class. Both my flights are short sectors, so it's nice to receive complimentary meal service. Certainly better than short haul flying around Europe in full service airline economy class where it's just a drinks service.