1 week to kill between Ireland and China

Awesomeness

I will be heading home to Ireland for the xmas holidays and need to be back in China on 14th of jan. This gives me around 10 days to kill and I want to visit a new country in that time somewhere in between. Ive done SE asia and I plan on backpacking through south america next year so want to do somewhere else that does not cost too much more than my direct flight to china would.

Any suggestions on where would be good for that time frame. At the moment Egypt is the front runner as it will only cost me about 50Eur extra on flights to stop there although the political situation there is not ideal at the moment

LiamMc

I was going to suggest to stay where your stopover took you.
And the Eastern Mediterranean or Gulf States was a likely destination.

The Lower Nile and Red Sea have a lot to offer in a relatively small space. Cairo itself has a number of different districts with it's atmosphere.
The whirling dervishes are worth seeing
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/dervishtheater.htm

As you know the Giza Necropolis is in the suburbs of Cairo. Along with the three Pyramids and The Great Sphinx (Abu Al-Hol) it's also possible to take a tour along the Giza Plateau to further Pyramid sites.
Water taxi down the Nile to the barrages. There are some old forts, parks and is a weekend day-trip for Caireans. Moto and bicycle hire is available.

There may be a few sites up the Nile that you may wish to visit.

Alexandria (Iskandariya) has a small centre but with an expansive corniche.
There are buses from Cairo Airport in the small hours of the morning if you want to keep travelling.

I've never been but the Red Sea resorts like Sharm el Sheik or Hughada interest you.

Sinai Desert has sites like St. Catherines Monastery, with established
organised pilgrimages incld. an overnight walk up to the monastery.

There are some primary global sites in Egypt and you can't really go wrong if the destination suits your stopover plans.

Awesomeness

LiamMc wrote: »

I was going to suggest to stay where your stopover took you.
And the Eastern Mediterranean or Gulf States was a likely destination.

The Lower Nile and Red Sea have a lot to offer in a relatively small space. Cairo itself has a number of different districts with it's atmosphere.
The whirling dervishes are worth seeing
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/dervishtheater.htm

As you know the Giza Necropolis is in the suburbs of Cairo. Along with the three Pyramids and The Great Sphinx (Abu Al-Hol) it's also possible to take a tour along the Giza Plateau to further Pyramid sites.
Water taxi down the Nile to the barrages. There are some old forts, parks and is a weekend day-trip for Caireans. Moto and bicycle hire is available.

There may be a few sites up the Nile that you may wish to visit.

Alexandria (Iskandariya) has a small centre but with an expansive corniche.
There are buses from Cairo Airport in the small hours of the morning if you want to keep travelling.

I've never been but the Red Sea resorts like Sharm el Sheik or Hughada interest you.

Sinai Desert has sites like St. Catherines Monastery, with established
organised pilgrimages incld. an overnight walk up to the monastery.

There are some primary global sites in Egypt and you can't really go wrong if the destination suits your stopover plans.

Yeah this is what I have been thinking. Lots to do in a relatively small area. Cost is cheap but also enpugh out of the way that it makes more sense for me to do egypt now and the likes of dubai later.

This is likelt the destination barring the political situation escalating but it looks like that might actually be easing from the reports I have read today

Tipperary animal lover

Head to India, fly into Delhi do the golden triangle, dirt cheap ...