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We had a last minute glitch which left us three weeks away from our first trip to Egypt and no hotel booking. So, we started researching Cairo hotels, using Trip Advisor and other web sites, we happened upon City View. I sent a few preliminary emails and Adel always answered me quickly, efficiently and was very helpful. Thankfully City View had 2 rooms available for our dates at a VERY reasonable price ($60US per night). I booked everything by email and was even offered a free airport pick up. For first time travellers to Egypt, we totally appreciated it.
Given everything offered on the hotel web site, versus the quoted room charge per night, I have to admit, it really did sound too good to be true. Turns out, it was exactly as advertised and we got incredible value for our money!
Location:
The hotel is located downtown, directly across from the Museum, on the 5th floor of an office building. It looks a bit run down from the outside, but once at the hotel, it’s extremely clean and the staff is amazing!
Security:
There is a dedicated hotel elevator which has a bellman manning it on both ends (building lobby and hotel lobby) and in order for the elevator to work, it takes a special scan card which is kept by the bellmen. We appreciated the thought put into this extra security.
Rooms:
Extremely clean, slightly small, but bright rooms with private bathrooms. Our room had 2 twin beds, in a perfect world I would have loved a king (a true king and not 2 twins pushed together), but for the price of the room, I was fine with the twin beds. There is a bar fridge in each room, stocked with 2 water and 2 soft drinks for a small charge (approx. $0.40CDN per drink). Our room had a balcony overlooking the Museum and it was amazing to sit out there in the evenings and watch the Cairo traffic in all its controlled chaos. For light sleepers, bring earplugs, because the traffic is 24/7 and the Egyptian driver uses his horn to communicate frequently.
Restaurant:
The extremely reasonable cost of the room also included a full breakfast. The food was wonderful (mix of local and “western” breakfast options), the staff amazing. The restaurant also sells soft drinks and bottled water (at very reasonable prices), which proved to be extremely helpful on those days we had tours organized. There is also 24hr room service advertised, although we never tried it out.
Internet:
There is free WiFi in the rooms, but for those of us travelling without computers, the hotel has 2 computers you can use and purchase internet time at an incredibly reasonable rate. I paid 5LE (about $1) for 30 minutes of internet.
Staff:
Absolutely wonderful! Everyone had a cheerful greeting for us when we left for the day and asked how our day had been upon our return. They genuinely wanted us to have a great visit to Cairo. The front desk staff had very useful tips for us, about sights and safety/security. They offer tours also, but we had already booked with a private tour operator, so I’m not able to comment on that.
City View accepts credit cards for payment, but they do pass along the 3% credit charge to you, we brought the cash with us to pay and avoided the surcharge.
I highly recommend the City View Hotel, great location, great value and great staff! |
