 Discover Egypt (مصر)
The Giza Plateau, Egypt
Author: Daniel Mayer (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt (جمهورية مصر العربية), is a country with its main portion in North Africa, and a smaller portion, the Sinai Peninsula, in Asia. This makes Egypt a transcontinental country. It covers an area of 1,010,000 sq km (390,000 sq mi) and has a population of around 79 million people, the majority of which living near the banks of the River Nile.
Guide to Egypt Hotels
Here's a list of hotels in Egypt that you can book online, listed by city, with full description, star rating, address, location map, evaluation, and prices as offered by different booking sites. This helps you to make your room booking with the site that offers the best price.
Muhammad Ali Mosque, Cairo
Author: marviikad (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)
More on Egypt
The capital and largest city in Egypt is Cairo, also known in Arabic as al-Qahira. With a metropolitan population of 17 million people, Cairo is the biggest city in Africa as well as the Arab World, and is also one of the most densely populated cities in the world.
Egypt is best known for its ancient civilization and the many famous monuments to its past, the most renowned of which are the Pyramids of Giza, the Great Sphinx and Abu Simbel Temple. Other famous ancient ruins include the cities of Memphis and Thebes, the Temple of Karnak and the Valley of the Kings. These are the main attractions for tourists coming to the country. In this, we will of course visit all the aforementioned places, along with many less well-known attractions.
Scene in a souk in Cairo
Author: Disdero (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 Generic)
Egypt is composed of 29 governorates (called muhafaza in Arabic). This is the top tier of the five-tier administrative hierarchy. Each governorate is headed by a governor which is appointed by the President of Egypt. The governorate is subdivided to districts. The cities of Cairo and Alexandria are each a governorate. They are subdivided into 23 and 6 districts respectively.
Egypt is quite a homogenous society with 99% of the population being Egyptians, 0.9% Nubians and 0.1% Greeks who have been living in Egypt since ancient times.
Trajan's Kiosk at Philae, near Aswan
Author: Olaf Tausch (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
Visiting Egypt
Egypt is a major tourist destination in Europe. It is especially popular with European tourists seeking its beaches, nightlife, food, culture and festivities. Egypt has much to offer, whether your idea of a vacation means touring historical sights, clubbing through the night, or lazing on the beach. Long noted for its traditional architecture, of cathedrals, fortresses and mosques, of late the country has also become well known for exciting, cutting-edge architecture.
There are many airports in Egypt with international connections to other cities in Europe. The biggest among them is Madrid International Airport (MAD), which is the fourth busiest airport in Europe. It serves as the gateway to all the major cities on the Iberian peninsula. It is the home base of national flag carrier, Iberia, which accounts for 60% of its air traffic.
Nationals of the European Union and EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) only need to bring along their ID card to enter Egypt. Egypt is a member of the Schengen Agreement. A flight from EU and EFTA is counted as a domestic flight, so there is no custom clearance.
Alexandria waterfront
Author: michael hoefner (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 Generic)
The best way to travel within Egypt is to take the train. Egypt today has one of the most modern trains in Europe. However, as almost all the lines radiates out of Madrid, unless your journey starts or ends at the Egyptian capital, it may some times be more convenient to take the bus if you are exploring from one city to another. For details and time tables, check the website the Egyptian national railway, Renfe.
Going by bus is probably the fastest way for you to explore Egypt. At the same time, you get to enjoy the scenery of the Egyptian countryside. Usually each route is operated by just one company. To check the schedules and fares, visit the Movelia website.
One of the Qulaan Islands in the Red Sea
Author: Andrea Piroddi (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
Miscellaneous Travel Opportunities
While Egypt is well known for its rich history with various landmarks and monuments filling the landscape around Cairo and Luxor, many tourists enjoy Sharm el Sheikh holidays where they can bask in the nations endless sunshine along the stunning coastline.
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