Vegan Voyage Egypt
Thank you for joining Vegan Voyage Egypt where we tour Luxor, Cairo, and outline the perfect way to do Egypt!
We, Seyka and Brian, are on a 21 country vegan voyage over 5 months to enjoy vegan food from all parts of our planet, connect the vegan community, spread the vegan mission, report plant-based news, create ethical consumer guides, and have a blast while doing it.
Country number ten was Vegan Voyage Tanzania.
Vegan Voyage Egypt is country eleven.
Country twelve will be The Holy Land!
Vegan Voyage Egypt Overview
Food
In Egypt please quadruple check everything you’re about to eat. Veganism, and even what ingredients are in food, are not common ideas in this country. They served us some animal products while in Egypt which made me sick. So be extra careful!
Cost
Egypt is incredibly inexpensive. It is common to find hummus sandwiches for $.25 – one quarter. In this way, this is a great place to visit and feel comfortable even if you’re on a budget.
Safety
I was pretty nervous heading into Egypt. There have been political uprisings and our embassy didn’t necessarily recommend that we go for a vacation. However, being in Egypt, I felt very safe. I even went out for an excursion by myself because Brian was sick!
It can be a little unsettling that so many people want to take pictures with Americans, but it is meant with love. They are excited to see tourists, especially Americans, in their country and want to make sure you have everything you need. It can feel like a lot of attention, but in our experience, it was generally quite positive.
People on the Street
Asking for money
You can get hassled for money a fair amount especially around monuments like the pyramids. Workers will offer to take you to a location to show you something and then ask for a tip. Or you will be told that you cannot take pictures of some ancient artifact, but the guards will ask for a bribe. Do what you feel is right here, but remember, as frustrating as it can be to be asked for money constantly, a little bit of money to a tourist can be a transformative amount of money for a local.
Taking pictures
Different people asked me for about 50 pictures while I was walking around over 3 days. I think they want the pictures because we are foreigners that they don’t see much of. So our uniqueness makes us very interesting. I said yes for the most part when people asked for pictures. I wish I’d gotten them on my phone as well because they would make for quite a fun collage of Egyptian strangers, but here is one of a friend I met at the Grand Mosque named Sarah:
Please do stay away from giving money to begging children, however. This can turn into parents keeping their kids away from school to beg.
To keep yourself out of the discomfort of having to tip at the end of an interaction you need to practice saying “no thank you we are busy” and stopping them before they get going. It feels uncomfortable and rude, but you get practice quickly – we had about 10 approaches in the first day we were in town. You will have to say no many times before they relent.
The positive side of all of this is that if you need someone to guide you around or show you something, there is someone around every corner. They are incredibly kind and very interested in connecting – even if they aren’t going to beg for money. We bought a bunch of carrots and apples for the horses (the whole story is down below). People were coming up and asking us for apples saying that they couldn’t afford them. Next time we go to Egypt I will buy healthy vegan food and hand it to people asking for money or food around town.
Ethical Egypt: Horses and Camels
When we first started our Vegan Voyage Egypt I fell into a depression (it sounds dramatic, but I was having a hard time lifting my spirits) as I was witnessing the treatment of their horses and camels. For instance, the animals were often very thin, had scars all over them, they had to carry heavy carts of tourists on cement at a gallop during the high heat of the day. Many of them were lame (had sprained legs / ankles), incredibly dehydrated, and treated poorly.
Feeding and watering the animals quickly became a pastime for us. We did it almost every day we were there. We would go get 7 – 10 lbs bags of bruised apples for $2 and go feed the wounded beings. This would draw attention from the owners who would walk over to say thank you and offer us a ride. We would explain to them that we wouldn’t ride the horses because we are vegan, and that this isn’t an acceptable way to treat animals. They were tough conversations, sometimes very educational for both sides.
Please do not choose to ride horses or camels in Egypt or in any other location if you do not know deep details about how the animals are cared for – and not just the animal that is being used for you who might be their healthiest animal while the damaged ones are discarded. For this reason, please do in-depth research to see how your dollars are being spent and what sort of animal treatment it is encouraging.
What to Pack to Wear in Egypt
Because this is a Muslim country, they are conservative. Plan appropriate clothing – especially in the heat this can take some thought. Essentially, men should have shirts that cover their shoulders, collared shirts aren’t necessary but you wouldn’t feel overdressed. Men should also wear shorts that cover their knees or ankle length pants. Women in Egypt should wear loose fitting clothing that doesn’t show cleavage, breasts, shoulders, upper arms, midriffs, or knees.
Egypt is a HOT desert! Especially if you are going in the summer bring clothing that can shield your skin from the sun and also keep you cool.
Bring your camera!
Bring sunscreen.
Getting Around Egypt
Taxis
In Cairo you can use Uber for cars or motorbikes! In Luxor you can find taxis readily on the street or have your hotel set up a ride for you.
Train between Cairo and Luxor
We took the overnight sleeper train with beds between Cairo and Luxor. The train was fine. It wasn’t fancy but it was quite adequate. The beds allowed you to fully stretch out and sleep and the rooms lock closed. I really enjoyed the train experience.
Do not get food on the train – because they say it is vegan but it is not. Beware!
Aswan
After being in Egypt we learned that the next best stop after Cairo and Luxor is to take an overnight cruise down the Nile that stops and villages along the way to Aswan! We made a friend in Egypt who’s family owns Redseatours-eg.com which provides those tours. Unfortunately, we did not go on them but if we had Egypt to do over again we would!
Vegan Voyage Egypt Lodging
The best Egypt Itinerary is below. We did not go to Aswan but wish we had once we learned about it!
Cairo
In Cairo we stayed at Pyramids Valley. This is a lovely hotel with a rooftop restaurant and Pyramid views from your balcony and roof! This was a nice hotel and we recommend it if you get a lot of value out of the pyramids. Many other blogs told us to stay more toward the Nile so we would be near restaurants and city features. We chose to be near the pyramids and really enjoyed it.
Here is a picture from the roof as we were watching the night time light show:
Luxor
In Luxor we stayed at the Luxor Winter Palace. This is known to be the fanciest hotel in Luxor as it was the King’s Winter Retreat and now has been transformed into a hotel. It has many ancient artifacts and is very beautiful. It is still an Egyptian hotel and doesn’t come with some of the attention to detail that most Western hotels do.
PS A lot of people have asked questions about my clothes for this trip. You can find details about this dress and other clothes in our Travel Fashion Clothes blog.
Aswan
After being in Egypt we learned that the next best stop is to take an overnight cruise down the Nile that stops and villages along the way to Aswan! We made a friend in Egypt whose family owns Redseatours-eg.com which provides those tours.
Vegan Voyage Egypt Food
Cairo
Osana Family Wellness
Osana is an oasis in the bustling city of Cairo. We stepped through the purple gates outside and instantly felt at home.
Osana offers wellness treatments like massage, acupuncture, therapy, and more. They also have a full schedule of yoga classes going on throughout the day. They have indoor and outdoor play areas for kids (and adults). Moreover, Osana has lovely vegetarian (almost vegan?) café with fresh juices, smoothies, hot dishes, organic coffee, vegan cheeses and more.
Scroll down a bit to see one of the craziest yoga classes we’ve ever taken! But here is some of their awesome vegan food!
O’s Pasta
O’s Pasta is (you guessed it) a delicious pasta restaurant. They have a full vegan menu of great food. Besides, the owner is a wonderful man who is creating really fabulous food! This is a great place to stop and enjoy the vibes inside, or to call in your order for delivery.
This dish is a vegan pasta noodle with sundried tomato and basil. Drool.
Zooba
Zooba is pretty awesome: They have a full vegan menu, they have traditional Egyptian food made vegan!!, and they even have a commitment to sustainability that they are taking huge strides toward.
Highly recommend checking out Zooba in Egypt!
Here we are in front of Zooba where we ate with our friend Hatem who has a transformational story of transitioning to a vegan diet which helped him lose weight, gain health, become a cross fit junkie, and he is also an orthopedic surgeon!
Here is a traditional Egyptian dish called Koshari, modified to be vegan!
Luxor
In Luxor we mostly ate at our hotel. The Winter Palace Luxor was able to provide some vegan breakfast and dinner options. However, as stated before, when traveling in Egypt please quadruple check everything you’re about to eat. Because veganism, and even what ingredients are in food, are not common ideas in this country. They served us some animal products while in Egypt which made me sick. So be extra careful!
What to do in Egypt
Cairo
The Pyramids
I grew up loving Egyptian history so seeing the pyramids up close was a dream come true. When you go to see them, please do some research before you get there about how incredible of a feat it was to build these buildings before modern building technology.
These pyramids have been the biggest and heaviest buildings for most of recorded history. That means even once humans understood how to use technology to make building easier, they still didn’t surpass ancient Egyptians’ creations. WOW!
Here are some fun facts about how our ancestors built the pyramids so many thousands of years ago.
Visiting the Pyramids
Depending on the time of year, there are different times you can enter the Pyramid walls. At first, you buy tickets at one of the entry areas and walk in. I recommend going first thing in the morning to beat the heat and to beat the other visitors. From there you walk around the large land area, go inside the boat museum if you’d like, nose kiss the sphinx, go inside some of the tombs if they let you, and climb the side of the pyramid if they let you.
It’s marvelous. I loved it so much.
See the Nile
The Nile is the largest river in the world and it flows the opposite direction of most rivers (it flows south to north). It is also responsible for keeping alive the ancient civilizations that we all come from. The Nile is a magnificent river with incredible history. In brief, it is worth going to see!
Boat the Nile
Everyone in Egypt told us to ride a Felucca down the Nile. We didn’t do it, but it is something to look into if you are interested in trying it. I bet it is fun!
Museum
There is a huge new museum being built in Cairo and it is supposed to be awesome. Unfortunately, it had not opened at the time that I was in Egypt. So I recommend checking when it is opening and maybe orienting your trip around that as I have high hopes it will be amazing.
The old Cairo museum was… awful. I’m a little bit biased because the second largest Egyptian Museum is in San Jose, CA, USA where I grew up. It is amazing and I went to it multiple times. So I had high hopes for a museum that is in Egypt and it let me down on all fronts.
Why I disliked the Cairo museum:
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- It was not air-conditioned so we were sweating walking around inside.
- There is almost no information on any of the artifacts. Nothing for you to read. No audio walk throughs. Nothing. You walk in and it is a huge hot building full of stones and wood and ancient dead bodies with no information. So you are forced to go pay a guide $30 for an hour of guiding.
- Our guide spoke decent English and was pretty terrible. He told us very deep detail on a small number of things that we didn’t find interesting at all. Basically, he didn’t tell us stories but rather gave us specific death and life dates for the people carved into stone, etc.
- I didn’t think it was possible to make Egyptian history boring, but they achieved it.
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So! The new museum is being built with help from some awesome museum designers. I am so excited to hear how the new museum is!
The Cairo Citadel
This is a set of buildings rich with history and beautiful detail. Gorgeous architecture! You can hire a guide inside to give you more spoken information, or you can look up an online guide before you go.
The museums in this area are strange. In like manner, they don’t tell stories but instead have small bits of information around older artifacts.
Feed the Horses
Go buy carrots and apples at a local store and bring them out to feed the horses. It doesn’t actually make their lives better, but it is a moment of peace, love and connection. I think that really counts for something.
Osana Family Wellness
This is a space that you can come to eat, work remotely, do yoga, take wellness treatments, and spend time with like-minded people. We had amazing yoga classes at Osana. We had an acro yoga session with Acro Yoga Egypt and we had a bungee yoga class that was even more fun than it sounds:
Luxor
Luxor Temple
The Luxor Temple is really cool. You can see it from outside the fence or you can pay to go walk through the ancient stones. Pretty awesome.
There is also a mosque that is nestled into the Luxor Temple. Someone from the mosque came out and waved us in. He walked us around the mosque and told us to take pictures. At the end of showing us around, he asked for money. It felt really strange, because in the beginning he said he wanted to show us his mosque. We didn’t ask to look around, and we thought he was sharing something across culture with us. So prep yourself for interactions like that.
Inside we did see ancient carvings and walls from thousands of years ago. It was pretty lovely.
Karnak Temple
The Karnak Temple and lake was awesome. You can see the carvings that our ancestors made thousands of years ago and stone colored with gems. We hired an awesome guide who took us through the Karnak Temple and made plans with us for the next day to take us to the ancient burial sites.
Ancient Burial Sites
To get across the Nile to the Ancient Burial Sites do not take a taxi. The taxis take over an hour and cost significantly more than a ferry. The ferry costs about $1 and takes about 10 min to cross the Nile. If you let a guide take you, however, they often suggest a taxi.
After you get across you can go to the ancient burial sites like the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, and more where they have many tombs you can walk through. You go down a deep tunnel of stone to a sarcophagus in each of these tombs.
Our guide also took us to a small building where they hand carve Egyptian alabaster into figurines. This was a fun addition to our tour.
Feed the Horses
At the end of our trip we had a 5 am flight out of Cairo so I had a spa day at the airport:
After Egypt we went on to country twelve: Vegan Voyage The Holy Land
Stay in Touch with the Vegan Voyage
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For the sake of goodness,
Seyka & Brian
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