We arrived in Egypt on a 19 day private tour (booked with El Sherif Tours) and stayed in El Luxor Hotel on the first night before boarding our cruise to Aswan. First impressions of the lobby and reception area were very good. Our room was on the second floor near the lift and I could hear the lift bell ringing all through the night every time someone stopped at our floor. The room itself was OK, although a little cold. Our view was to the side of the hotel and we had a small balcony with Nile view to the right. The bathroom was clean but looking well used and ready for refurb but everything worked well. We ate at a different restaurant with our guide so didn't sample the restaurant food on our first night.
We were up very early for a trip the next morning and saw the spectacular sunrise from the restaurant. The breakfast buffet selection was superb and there was a chef at the egg station who cooked us lovely omelettes. The waiter regularly came to see if we wanted refills of tea/coffee (we were the only people in the restaurant at 6 am). The breakfast was the highlight of the hotel for me! We checked out early so didn't see much of the hotel's facilities.
We went on a 4 night Nile cruise then stayed in Aswan at the Iberotel for a night then returned to El Luxor for two further nights and used it as a base whilst doing other trips. On the first night, the place was very quiet. We went to the Italian Restaurant by the pool which looked beautiful lit up at night. We ordered pizza which was acceptable but I've had much better - wouldn't order it again to be honest. We'd asked our guide to request a room on a higher floor away from the lift so we weren't disturbed all night and we were given room 601 which is on the top floor but still quite close to the lift. The room was freezing cold and there is no heating - only air conditioning that doesn't heat the rooms - so I put extra blankets on the bed and wrapped up well when not in bed. The bathroom was disappointing and worse than the first room we'd had. The toilet didn't flush properly and took a long time to refill, the sink was very slow to drain and the shower pressure was poor. The view from the room was much better than the first room as we were directly opposite the Nile. However I think I'd rather have the better bathroom and disturbed sleep from the second floor room.
We were disappointed with breakfast the next morning - having had such a pleasant experience on our first visit, we found the choice to be more limited and there was no egg station this time. Maybe there were fewer guests staying the second time around. What we did have was good though.
We ate in the 24 hr restaurant to the left of reception in the evening and ordered chilli & rice off the daily special menu which was delicious and well presented. I'd definitely eat in that restaurant if I were to return.
We had a late check out because we were doing an early morning hot air balloon ride at 6 am with Dream Balloons (highly recommended!) Our guide met us after our balloon ride and collected a breakfast box from our hotel for us which we enjoyed. We had 2 hours spare time when returning so packed then spent an hour on the sunbeds by the pool. It's a shame we didn't have time to use the pool because it's heated and looked so inviting! It's the only pool we found whilst in Egypt to be heated - all the others were freezing cold.
All in all, the El Luxor is good value for money and I would stay there again although reading other reviews, I'd probably request a room in the new wing and forego the Nile view (we didn't get chance to see much of it anyway as we were in our rooms for such a short time during our stay - it was really just a base for us).
- Mercure Luxor
- Mercure Hotel Luxor
- Accor Luxor
