Turkey to Egypt

kingofburt

Gırlfriend and myself have been travellıng down to Turkey for the last 7 weeks, planning to return via İtaly, but now weve gotten here were thınkıng about goıng to Egypt.

Does anyone know how to get to Egypt over land or water? The cheapest flıghts from Istanbul to Caıro are €530. Has anyone done thıs before or have any of you travellers backpacked around Egypt? Any advıce wıll be welcomed cos were really tempted.

Thanks

tea

It's very doable. You can overland from Turkey into Syria (I've done it the other way on a bus from Alleppo, Syria to Adana, Turkey, but the Turkish bus guys do run to Alleppo)

You'll need to get a visa at the Syrian Border. Up until last year anyway (I'd doubt it's changed), anyone from a country without Syrian Diplomatic representation (which includes Ireland) can get a visa at the border for US$50. If you have a British passport, you're out of luck (maybe you could get one in Istanbul).

From there downwards is easy. Options to get to Egypt are:

1. Fly from Amman to Cairo (usually about EUR120) with Royal Jordanian Airlines. I did this.
2. Take a ferry from Aqaba to Sinai (seems to take all day)
3. Go through Israel. I don't know anything about this route, as I needed to avoid the Israel stamp, as I was heading north,not south, and would pass through Syria after Israel.

It's a great trip, can't recommend it enough. If you like Turkey, I'd venture you'll love the rest of the ME.

So many cracking sights in the region... Petra, Palmyra, Damascus, Dahab... We did it in about 2 months, but there were lots of intermissions and we spend time in southern Egypt too. Definitely preferred Syria and Jordan to Egypt though (good as Egypt is).

RATM

Im just back from a similiar trip in the ME and Id advise you to fly from Amman to Cairo as long as you have no plan to visit Israel. If u go overland via Israel u will be stung foor a $30 departure tax ( even though u are only in the country for less than an hour ) Also if u have a Syrian stamp in your passport Israeli immigration will shake you down big time- some people are held for over 8 hours waiting to get in ( they do loads of background checks, ask quesrtions about what you wwere doing in Syria, etc- just tell the truth but dont admit to being in email contact with any Syrians ). I was lucky and go through in 3 hours but others took the whole day.
If you do the feery from Aqaba in Jordan to Neieuba in the Sinai be prepared for massive delays. Its only a 3 hour trip but they give preference to locals ( who incidntally pay a fraction of the price they charge westeners for the same trip ) I met an Irish couple in Petra who had done thiis trip in reverse and having been stamped out of Egypt then had to endure a 17 hour wait in what the described as a cattle shed without air con or fans and no place to even buy food. It took them 2 days of relaxing to recover after their ordeal.It may well be more straight forward from the Jordanian side as things tend to run smoother in Jordan than Egypt but Id ask other travellers before buying your ferry ticket.
Once again for the sake of e120 flying sounds like the way to go provided you dont mind missing Israel or backtracking from Cairo to get to the Sinai.

I should also add that to do Turkey to Cairo you'll need a minimum of 4 weeks to take in the major highlightrs of Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Thats teravelling at a fairly hectic pace but it is doable. 5 or even 6 would be preferable. If youhave loads of time on your hands you could look into going across Libya ( I think u need to take a guided tour for this and Im fairly sure you'd need a visa in advance- Cairo should have an embassy ) and from there into Tunisia from where there are ferries to Malta and thewn ferry to Sicily back to Italy. It would bwe a good round trip that would save you backrtracking up the Middle East and theru Greece to get back to Italy. Alternatively fly Cairo to Rome but a Kiwi girl I travelled thew ME with wanted to do this but said the flights were over 350 one way....

Gaz

Im currently in Cairo after coming from Istanbul (actually overland from Bangkok but thats a different story ...;)) And its an excellent trip.
I got the bus from Istanbul to Goreme, then on to Antakya. Then it was into Syria, visa on arrival for Irish was very quick but a rip off at $50.
In Syria I went Aleppo > Homs > Crac > Palmyra > Damascus, its a fantastic country, excellent food and very friendly people.
Then it was onto Amman in Jordan, then down to Petra and onto Aqaba for the "fast" 1 hour ferry to Sinai. The ferry is a complete pain in the ass, its shocking expensive at $80 for a 1 hour trip that actually took me 7 !!!
I would recommend going via Israel but only if you are not planning on re-entering some ME countries, wasnt an option for me unfortunately as im heading south into Sudan next and they wont issue a visa if there is any sign of entry into Israel.
Its possible to get the Israelies to stamp a piece of paper but again your exit stamp can give you away.

Anyway ... enjoy , its a great trip.

epgriffin

I did the Turkey to Egypt trip about 4 months ago. Allow a nice bit of time in Syria if you can cos it's a great country. The only thing I wanted to add to what the other posters said was that there is an alternative ferry in Aqaba. It goes to Taba heights in Egypt daily. Ask around the port or at trael agents/hotels and they can help you out. There's only about a 1 hour delay because it is a much smaller ferry and the journey is also only about 1 hour but it is a bit of a drive from there to Nuweiba afterwards so best to have a driver waiting.

snorkelbaby

has anybody done the trip the other way around ie Egypt up to Turkey? Planning to do this next year, travelled from Egypt into Israel before but this time would like to visit Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey also. anyone any advice, particullarly with regard to visas/border crossings - known that israel/Syria can be tricky.
Or is it better to go from Turkey to Egypt?

RATM

snorkelbaby wrote: »

has anybody done the trip the other way around ie Egypt up to Turkey? Planning to do this next year, travelled from Egypt into Israel before but this time would like to visit Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey also. anyone any advice, particullarly with regard to visas/border crossings - known that israel/Syria can be tricky.
Or is it better to go from Turkey to Egypt?

Most travellers in the region seem to be doing it Turkey to Egypt. Its easier to do it this way because of Syria refusing people with Israeli stamps- best to visit Syria before Israel. Anyway if you've got an Israeli stamp in your passport you can forget about visiting Syria ( or Iran and a few other Muslim countries ). Even if they didnt stamp it the exit stamp from the boder crossing with Egypt will give you away and you'll be refused entry into Syria. Best get a new passport if you want to go there.
Also if you want to go to the Leb its best to get a multiple entry visa for Syria from the embassy in London, they cost GBP50 but its preferable to having to buy two single entry visas at the border for US$60 each. The embassy issues visas by post in around 8-10 working days.

snorkelbaby

cheers, thanks for your help, will look into doing that now.