Sofitel Sphinx Giza

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3.50

1 Alexandria Road Giza, Egypt, 12556, 20-2-3837444

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Travel Blogs by Travelers Who Stayed at the Sofitel Sphinx Giza
Room with a view

15 April Well, I was sitting here looking across at the Pyramids as I wrote this. It is 6am and the sun was just coming up. I had been for a walk. The hotel was empty apart from the hotel security people and the Tourist Police. What a 24 hours it had been. The contrast between Seoul and Cairo, Seoul was new and modern and Cairo was not. Our travel agent met us at the airport and took us to the hotel. He made it very easy for us. He arranged our entry visas and dealt with customs - a few words...

Cairo, Cairo, Egypt daz1999
Back to Cairo - Saqqara, the Museum, the Bazaar

27 April
Back in Cairo we had another personal guided tour to Memphis, Saqqara, and the Egyptian Museum. On the way to Memphis we took the back road which was very narrow in places and full of usual road users, camels, donkeys with cars, and goats. At the Memphis Museum there was a giant colossus of Ramses the Great. It was a nice museum and some of the statues were interesting, however not on the same scale as Upper Egypt. This was apart from the colossus. It was then of to Saqqara and ...

Cairo, Egypt daz1999
Citadel, Old Cario, and back to the Pryimads

29 April
It was only 2 days to go until we are back on the plane and off home. Today we had planned to go to the Citadel and Old Cairo. We took a hotel taxi we and the first stop was at the Citadel. On the wall next to the Mosque of Mohammed Ali there was a great view of the city. In the distance you could see the pyramids, Giza and Saqqara (Step and Red). There were even better views in the roped off area which we assessed for a small fee. We then went to enter the mosque and we were al...

Cairo, Egypt daz1999
Cairo

02.04.09 Fun packed day on tour at the Pyramids... collected from Sofitel Le Sphinx at 8am, off to Memphis to see artifacts including statues of Ramsses the second some outside and one covered at the Mit Rahina Museum.... the traffic is total chaos apparently no clear lane rule, indicators lights are necessary. There is a continual switching of lanes as required to avoid pot holes, merging traffic or any vehicle, donkey, camel or person on the road, or simply to improve the speed of the trip....

Cairo, Egypt hazdeb
Arrival

A nice flight on an airbus A330 despite someone taking Ill on the flight but it added some exitement. Also I managed to spill a whole glass of red wine down my legs and Meryl. For Meryl not so bad but I got soaked right down to my socks and trainers. My white trainers, which are now a lovely shade of pale pink. Great!    And then we got to Cairo. Calm, tranquil, relaxed are words you will never find me using to describe Cairo. It started with the crowd outside the terminal as we came out thro...

Cairo, Egypt rustypro
Egyptian museum

   Having missed the opportunity to reserve an air conditioned Mercedes for the day we were offered an alternative at 150 Egyptian pounds for the whole day, that's just under £20 and the driver takes us anywhere we want and waits for us for as long as we take. Sounds ok, the only issue was with the car really.    Renault used to produce cars with numbers as there models. I remember owning a rather beat up Renault 12 about 25 years ago just before they changed from numbers to names. Our cab fo...

Cairo, Egypt rustypro
Pyramids

Pyramid day which started with a visit to Sakara which is close to Memphis and the original capital. Having decided that yesterday's driver was crazy we decided to book him again today! Yes, you heard right we asked him back, what fun! Sakara has a famous 6 step pyramid which although you cannot go into it has a number of excavated buildings round it. This was more like I expected pyramids to be, out in the desert, alone. Also gave you feeling of being on an actual dig site not some suburb of...

Cairo, Egypt rustypro
Market day

Shopping today in the big market in Cairo but once again the highlight is the drive to and from. Traffic today is the worst so far with many jams and accidents including one when the taxi was parking in a side street a moped passed us at speed and hit a woman walking across the front of the cab. The whole heap of woman, moped and the two guys on it when down in a heap. Driver of the moped went over the handlebars and the woman was flattened but they all seemed to get up and carry on although ...

Cairo, Egypt rustypro
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Historical Traveler Reviews of Sofitel Sphinx Giza

Nice hotel

from KSH213
We stayed in two rooms, garden views, over four day weekend in June. Two adults, 10 & 12 year old children. The rooms are really big with two double beds and a sitting area. One room would have been fine. They consider our 12 year old an adult and wouldn't let me book just one. I was advised by Expedia (by telephone) that they could refuse to accept our reservation if we booked only one room. Our first floor rooms had private patios to enjoy the garden.

Security: There is a metal detector at the door, but we were only asked to use it once out of four days. There are tourist police positioned at the hotel, like every tourist location.

Location: We had garden view rooms. You can see the pyramids from the pool. You can see them better from the rooftop bar. We had private guides so I can't comment on how far to walk to the pyramids. It's in the middle of Giza, with traffic on the other side of the wall. Traffic horns are audible from the pool, but not our room.

Restuarants: Alexandria is a buffet restaurant, which we didn't try. Romeo & Juliet is an Italian restaurant. It was so good we ate there twice.

Pool: Nice temperature. No problem getting sun beds each day. Pool attendants help with chairs, towels, etc. There's a poolside restaurant, but we only had drinks. Open during daytime hours. Would have been nice to swim at night.

We didn't try the night club. The hotel store is predictably expensive. We left a request for a wake up call, which didn't come.

This is a nice, 4 star hotel. We would definitely stay here again.

Not a very good experience

from brasileirinha
After travelling for 10 days around Egypt, we've decided to stay our last night at this hotel, in a romantic Pyramid-view room.

We had paid fully for the room through a reservation website. When we've checked-in, the room was in the renovated area, however it was not a pyramid-view as we had paid for. So, we've decided to move to one available and still hear from the manager that "he was giving us an upgrade". Well, we've stayed in this unrenovated section, that is very well explained here in other reviews, and unfortunately was awful.

For us, the overall service was not attentive and was very impersonal.

Staff seems to be really helpful only if you need an extra service, such as taxis, etc.

Everytime we were going out, someone from the staff was behind us; they would do everything to hire a service or grab a taxi for us, and of course, overcharge it to have their commission guaranteed.

The new is great, the old is awful

from A TripAdvisor Member
When you walk into the Sofitel Sphinx you can see it's a topline hotel - beautiful lobby, a piano bar and a sparkling pool. And if you insist on a room in the renovated part of the hotel, you will sink into a luxurious feather bed and wash in an ultra-modern, gleaming bathroom. BUT if you end up in the unrenovated section, be prepared for water-stained and threadbare carpets, lumpy pillows and holey sheets, damp smells and mosquitos. Our first few days at the hotel were spoiled by the awful room, but once we were moved to a renovated one, we were able to appreciate what a pleasant place it is to stay.

The service is good, the two restaurants are reasonably priced, there is live entertainment at night, the pool area is generously supplied with loungers and the pool bar serves snacks as well as drinks, so there's no need to leave the hotel - which is just as well as it's some way out of town, so walking anywhere is not practical. If you want to explore, get the hotel to organise a trusted taxi driver and agree a price before you go. The good thing about the location is that it's within sight of the pyramids - visible from the pool and from many of the rooms.

Well looked after

from MikeyA
Stayed for 4 nights and the Hotel is nice (we normally stay in 5*) staff were very good, considerate and polite. Hotel is good although more like a four star. Ask for a renovated room. Its in Giza very near the Pyramids but Giza itself is not a nice place, very poor and not somewhere you can wander around. We didn't venture outside the hotel without a guide/driver. That was an excellent service and a great way to explore. You basically hire the car/driver/guide from the hotel for as long as you like and its cheap. We went to the Egyptian museum one day, stayed there for a couple of hours and the driver waited. He then took us to a couple of Bazaars and then back to the Hotel. Stg £15! Amazing. If you are thinking of a Pyramids visit then I would stay iat somewhere like the Nile Hilton in Cairo (right next door to the Egyptian Museum) and then visit the Pyramids one day. Cairo is much more pleasant. But if you do want to stay right by the Pyramids then this one and the Meridien Giza (right opposite) are in a great location.

Amazing place

from lazylisa
We stayed at the sofitel le spinx hotel, right near the Pyramids. We travelled by coach from sharm, approx 6 hrs, and arrived at our hotel which didn't look much from the outside but we were pleasantly surprised once we got inside. Our room was nice, very modern, but the hotel was freezing - serious A/C - so much so that the first night I had to blast the room with heating!!! bearing in mind it had been 80 odd degrees all day. we booked our trips through the rep once we arrived. we had the first day to ourselves, laid by the pool. the second day we were picked up by our guide who took us on the "cairo tour" - we went to the Egyptian Museum, Citadel and Khan al-Khalili bazaar. all of which were amazing and the general sights of cairo were something to be seen.

our third day we went on the "pyramids tour" - firstly to Saqqara (the first ever pyramid), then memphis (the original capital of egypt) and the great pyramids at Giza - it was just amazing we couldn't believe how big they were and it was soooo hot. On both trips we had lunch included in the price, which were both nice. We then returned back to Sharm on the fourth day by minibus and we were back laying by the pool at 1pm. All in all it was well worth doing the twin centre option, we would never of seen as much if we'd just done the day trip by plane.

Very pleasant hotel!

from A TripAdvisor Member
Just returned from a four-day stay at the Sofitel Sphinx. Very nice hotel with excellent bedding - perhaps the most comfortable bed we've ever slept on! The pool is quite nice but gets more sunshine in the morning. Very nice children's play area that we didn't discover until the end of our stay (behind the pool and shop area). Friendly personnel. The car rates are much more expensive than the taxi rates just outside the hotel, but the cars are new and well-maintained with seat belts. Restaurant food is pretty good for hotel food and the breakfast buffet is very good. A long walk to the entrance to the pyramids, but very short taxi ride. We would recommend the spinning derviche show which is held every night in a theatre right behind the hotel. The show lasts about 1h and it is an amazing thing to see. It is also a very good way to kill time after you've checked out of your day-use room and are waiting for a late-night flight. Kids like the Pharaoh's Boat Dinner on the Nile but it really is "cheesy", the food okay and the whole thing about 20 euros per person.

Comfortabel stay, great location

from Royalpalmbay
We stayed here between December 23rd and December 26th. The hotel was quiet over Christmas but they still made our stay special and the service was first class, friendly and courteous. We asked for a quiet room and that is exactly what we got with room 1012. The room did not have a view but we slept very well in comfortable beds. We ate in the hotel on Christmas Eve and Christmas day and both meals were good, as were the breakfasts. We also swam in the pool on Boxing day and enjoyed the small but adequate sun lounge area, but beware the flies are annoying so we were glad we took our Bug-off spray. The views of the pyramids from the roof terrace are great.

We were travelling in a foursome so we decided to arrange our own trips and used the hotel concierge, who arranged a car and driver with the hotel taxi firm. The driver was good and although his English was limited it worked out very well. We picked up an official guide at the Cairo Museum , and used the local guides at the various sites. All in all with the guide fees and tips plus the taxi it cost us about half what an organised trip would have and we were in control of when we started and finished and what we wanted to see.

The ambience in the hotel is very relaxed and friendly and we could not have wished for more.

Very Nice Hotel...Avoid the Concierge

from loru100
Spent two nights at the Sofitel Le Sphinx and was pleased with the service and amenities. The shops in the lobby are nice and offer just about everything you would need. Internet access is available and the restaurants are good. I would caution against using the hotel concierge for arranging tours. We took the 3 hour pyramid tour they offer which is to include transfers and a guide and ended up on a camel in the middle of some slum neighbourhood with a very shady character for a guide. Once we arrived at the pyramids we ditched the camel and the guide and took a cab back to the hotel. On arrival back to the hotel, we discussed our displeasure with the concierge whose only concern was that we would still pay for the tour (and an extra 100 egyptian pounds for the camels!). All in all a nice hotel, but steer clear of the concierge. As well, make sure to ask for a renovated room.

Lovely hotel, great views of the pyramids

from westchez3
We stayed at this hotel for 3 nights as part of our two week holidays to Hurghada on the red sea. The hotel is lovely the reception area lovely white and gold, 2 or 3 shops in the lobby. There were also two restaurants (one buffet style) and one italian. Both were really good and extremly cheap. Around £3.00 pp for dinner.

The staff at the hotel were excellent, in particular the concierge, who helped us to arrange our excursion in Cairo at a fraction of the price, with our own private car and driver for 2 days.

Our tour rep wanted to charge £40.00 pp to go to the pyramids you will see from the photo's the pyramids were so close, we felt this was expensive, the concierge overheard us, he brought over their trip book, we booked with them, and then 2 hrs later were introduced to our driver Karim before hand and we had a lovely air-conditioned 4x4.

Karim was the perfect host and explained to us everything about the pyramids, stopped bought us snacks and drinks (he would not take the money, he was offended we were offering him this) we found about his family, culture, and way off life, equally he was so interested in our lives. Once we were had been at the pyramids he took us to see egyptian carpets being made, perfumery, papyrus museum and then he came and took us for dinner in the centre of Cairo. this cost us £10.00 per person for the whole day trip.

Day 2- we went to Cairo museum and the sound and light show at the pyramids at night. The museum, was hot, too many people and you could not enjoy the wonders because of this, we did manage to see King Tut's treasures then left. However the show at night was fantastic, by doing this with karim it cost £6.00 not £25.00. Then off to a church being carved in the mountains - gorgeous

This hotel is right at the pyramids, which means it about 30 mins from centre of Cairo- still in the middle of everything but this did not matter, as I wanted the views, it was fab sunbathing at the pool and looking at the pyramids. You could not really use the public transport the whole city is mental, you really need a driver to get about, the city's taxis are called flying coffins and they look like them too, so beware!!!

A very friendly hotel

from RAC8
we stayed 3 nights at this hotel in september 05.it is very clean and the staff could not have been more helpful.the location is great for the pyramids and there are some good restaurants nearby.it is a bit noisy being close to a main road, but you are in cairo and they do like to use their car horns.overall a good hotel for two or three nights stay.

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