MyWorldReviews.com

Ramses Hilton

Cairo, Cairo, Egypt

A view of the hotel at night

The Bedroom

The Bathroom

The Ramses Hilton is located in downtown Cairo, very close (a 15-minute walk) to the Egyptian Museum. Our impression is that it was a 3-and-a-half or 4-star hotel (by American standards).

Our room was quite nice, and fairly large with a king sized bed and a small balcony. It was located on floor 24 - floors 24 through 27 were labeled "Executive Floors", so the rooms may have been larger than other rooms. There was a safe in the room, and the TV had many channels (including English channels).

The hotel featured an outdoor swimming pool, and a very nice patio. The patio overlooked the Nile, so it had a nice view. Unfortunately, it was only on the third floor - it was probably very noisy, and most of the air in downtown Cairo stinks (so the patio may not be a pleasant place to be).

The street network across from the hotel is very large, and you really take your life in your hands every time you cross the street. Fortunately, if you're only heading to the Egyptian Museum, there's an underground tunnel you can take for most of the way. (More about that later).

We had a couple complaints about the hotel. Firstly, they usually didn't clean the room until very late in the day (around 5:00pm). There was also one day we stayed there where our room wasn't cleaned at all! That was strange. The bathrooms and carpets looked a bit old. They were certainly adequate, but not very fancy. The shower in particular had very good pressure and it felt good to go in the clean shower after being in the dirty city.

The hotel also featured metal detectors at the entrance. You didn't need to use the metal detector when checking in (if you were part of a group), but most of the other times you had to walk through the metal detector and put any purses/bags through an x-ray machine.

Breakfast

A partial view of the breakfast area

Depending on what room package you purchased, you may have a free buffet breakfast included. The buffet breakfast at the Ramses Hilton was probably the best breakfast we had on our entire trip. There was a fantastic breads selection, cereals, an omlette bar, hot foods (including bacon, sausages, hot vegetables, and falafels). There was also a nice yogurt and cheese selection, pastries for dessert, and even a chocolate fondue machine with things to dip!

Although the quality of some of the hot food was poor, there was a great selection - there's something for everybody, here.

Cost

A view from our small balcony - look at all that traffic!

Rooms start at around $140/night, and go up from there. For an extra $20/night, an excellent buffet breakfast is included.

The Annex

Outdoor view of The Annex, taken from the hotel

Restaurants in the hotel were quite expensive. For much cheaper alternatives, be sure to visit The Annex right across the street! It is a huge multi-level shopping facility, and also offers restaurant choices such as Grazie Italian Restaurant and McDonalds. We found the annex to be an excellent source of quick, inexpensive lunches. (They had falafel sandwiches, or tamia sandwiches, for 5 LE. What a deal!).

Nearby Attractions

Take this road from Attaba Square to get to the bazaar (follow the raised road)

The raised road sinks to ground level - here is the overpass! You've arrived at the bazaar! (It's on the other side of the street)

If you're a casual tourist in Cairo with some free time, it's nice to stay somewhere where you can get to other attractions. We did some experimenting while staying at this hotel, and had some big adventures!

For our first adventure, we decided to visit the Egyptian Museum. To get there from the hotel, walk out the door not facing the annex. It's facing a traffic ramp/bridge for cars. Cross under the small street, and go under the small ramp/bridge that cars are going over. Walk about 150m through a very dirty bus station, until you get to the end. Be careful not to get hit by a bus! The drivers aren't very friendly. Turn left and walk another 150-200m until you get to a tunnel that goes under the streets. Enter the tunnel, and walk straight following the English signs labeled "Egyptian Museum". The tunnel is large and well-lit. It felt quite safe. When you exit the tunnel, turn left, and walk around the museum to get to the front entrance. You'll need to turn right down a street in front of the museum to get to the entrance. If you get to the subway entrance, you've gone too far!

For our next adventure, we thought we would try taking the Cairo Subway to the Khan el-Khalili Bazaar. That was an even bigger adventure! Following the same steps as above, we walked past the museum to the subway entrance. We then took the subway green line from Sadat to Ataba (we took the line towards Shubra). From Attaba, we followed the signs to "Attaba Square", and then took "Al-Azar Street" straight through some filthy, filthy areas. We kept going straight approximately 1.5km until we got to a pedestrian overpass. The entrance to the bazaar is right before the pedestrian overpass, but you may need to cross the street to get there (if you're on the wrong side). You'll know you've arrived when you see everyone selling touristy items.