Staying in the Albahenshal Heritage Lodge is a wonderfully unique experience. The lodge is sited in Siwa, which is a quaint and wonderful oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt and maybe the cleanest village in Egypt. The lodge is built into the ruins of the ancient town of Siwa which was destroyed by three days of rain in 1926, using basically the same means of mud brick construction as the original town (except for the bathrooms which are modern).

While my wife and I give this hotel the highest rating of any hotel we stayed in in Egypt, I give one caution: the hotel is not for people who need all the modern conveniences. For example the only heat for the rooms is to have a brazier brought in with coals from the fireplace the heats the second floor restaurant. This won't be a problem during the warm months of the year but in January we had to dress warmly at all times and shower during the heat of the day since to shower at night time was experience quite a chill out of the shower.

The food at Albahenshal was the best Egyptian cuisine we had in Egypt, without exception. They have an excellent chef, and the servers are not only competent and service oriented, but fun to be served by. One of them taught me how to tie a turban. And while breakfast is from 8:00 to 10:00, the kitchen crew was willing to provide me with coffee or tea every morning at 7:00.

Another asset at the lodge was their German/English speaking concierge, Gabriela Haack. We were at the lodge during the beginning of the protests of January/February 2011 and Gabriela went out of her way to get us safe lodging in Alexandria on our way to the Cairo Airport, and the whole crew at the hotel went our of their way to caution us about what to expect on the way.

If you're thinking about what to do on an Egypt trip, be sure to look up Siwa in Wikipedia, and then give the Albabenshal lodge a try.