Morocco

My wife and I have recently returned from the Moroccan Circuit Tour with Encounters Travel and really enjoyed it. Our guide Khalid and our driver Mohammed were great - really helpful and friendly.

The booking process with Encounters Travel was really good and we always got a quick response to any questions we had.

On the tour, the minibus was modern, comfortable and air conditioned. We experienced many different things, from exploring the busy markets of Marrakech and Fes to riding a camel before watching the sunset in the Sahara. We also did the optional quad biking and rock climbing trips and everything was well organised and good fun.

Several of the hotels were quite basic, but all had working air conditioning and were clean. For the price we paid, we felt that everything was good value.

One or two of the reviews of Encounters Travel on here are quite negative, but that does not reflect the experience that we had in Morocco.

From the minute we stepped into the Arrivals area at Cairo airport to stepping into the Departures area 10 days later were looked after with care and friendliness and with great efficiency. Any queries we had were quickly dealt with, (thank you Ahmed) and we couldn’t fault anything.
Both our guides in Cairo and on our Dahabiya (Mohammeds) were excellent, so full of knowledge and able to bring 4000 years of history alive for us.
The 4 days on Dahabiya Orient was magical - comfortable, relaxing with a fantastic crew who looked after the 6 of us so well and made us really welcome.
The two downsides were our lovely hotel in Cairo, Le Riad Charme, full of character and with excellent staff, but was opposite a very noisy cafe which played loud music till 2 am!
And in Luxor where, for some reason, our itinerary was compacted into 1 day rather than a day and a half, which was very tiring as we had left our Cairo hotel at 3:30 am, but our hotel Al Moudira was fabulous and we were able to totally relax and enjoy the surroundings after a long hot day.

Thank you Encounters Travel for helping to make our wonderful trip to Egypt so good.

Sara
Kent.

We recently did a trip to Jordan and Egypt and we had a stellar and miraculous experience. The guides in the tours were incredible. And I want to comment on all the negative reviews. If you dont want a long bus ride, book a different tour. I enjoyed seeing the real egypt and jordan by bus and traveling through the Sahara and villages. People who are complaining are spoiled and entitled. Also, I want to comment on tipping. The reason the guide wanted you to tip in advance is because I noticed people at the end of our tour had no money left to tip and I was embarrassed to be around them. I was embarrassed to be an American by the way other Americans tipped our bus driver and our guides. If you cant afford to tip the guides and drivers then maybe you shouldnt be on the tour. Lastly, there are ATM’s everywhere so don’t give me the excuse that you had no access to money. Super Mo, Ahmed, and our driver Mohammed were magnificent. Other than the two Americans named Laura and myself and husband, the rest of the Americans basically sucked because of their lack of showing adequate appreciation to tip accordingly.

I've been on many guided tours throughout the years and this was by far the most enjoyable. Our tour guide Super Mo (short for Mohammed) is an Egyptologist and brought all the of ancient mythology to life, including having us act out a short play that explained the genesis of the ancient Egyptian gods. We saw the Great Pyramids and Sphinx, Antiquities Museum in Cairo, Abu Simbel, Temple of Philae, Luxor, Karnak, Hatshepsut, the Valley of the Kings, Deir el Medina, a Nubian village, and spent two days just relaxing at a beach resort in Hurghada.

Deir El Medina (where the crypt workers were buried) was just as amazing, if not more, than where the royalty was buried. This is because much less looting took place there and the painted frescoes are still extremely vibrant. I'm very grateful to Super Mo for bringing our attention to these undersung parts of ancient Egypt. He was incredibly knowledgeable and kind of a comedian at the same time. It was really hard to tell that he'd never been to the States before because he really seemed to get our humor. Our tour companions were also all very nice and we named ourselves Team Falafel after a several-day streak of ordering falafel to accompany our meals. It's yummy. Try it.

The accommodations were all very nice within the context of a non-first-world nation. We never went more than 2.5 hours without access to a bathroom. Even so, this was the hardest part of the trip for me since I have Crohn's disease and even in remission it's mentally tough for me to be without a very clean bathroom at all hours. But if you want to get out and see the world, you just have to grin and bear it.

There were two solo women travelers in our group and I would feel completely comfortable coming back as a solo woman as long as I came with this tour company or another reputable company. I've seen quite a few women go to Egypt on their own without a set agenda, but this would be outside my comfort zone.

My favorite part of the tour was Deir el Medina and the dinner at the Nubian village. My husband gave me a head cold mid-trip so I didn't get to go on the felucca cruise. My least favorite part was the pushiness of the street vendors and, at two hotels, that we had to go through a sales speech about salon services before we could enter the gym.

The name of our tour company was Encounters Travels and I highly recommend them. They were with us 100% of the time including before and after airport security. They took care of everything from helping me resolve an ATM issue to taking someone clothes shopping because the airline misplaced her luggage.

Everything we saw was awe-inspiring. The food was all delicious. Definitely go! I hope you have a great time! There was so much more to see that I will probably be back.

This is my 2nd experience with Encounters. First time was Morocco 2017 Desert Safari Tour & now Egypt - Nubian Adventure Tour. As a Solo traveler at times, I am grateful for Encounters and their top notch service! Very organized form beginning to end, Emails by Mariska to the Itinerary - transfers, hotel and food! (Food in Egypt is Amazing!) From the arrival and airport transfers and their on the spot representative, Saul gives you information on the next steps for the tour. Upon arrival at the Hotel we were told our daily itinerary by tour guide Aboudy! As a group tour our guide Aboudy was the best, with a sense of professionalism he was very attentive and always curtious, organized & funny! Great Egyptologist! He knows his country and History!! Best of all I love the energy and passion he shows while speaking about the history of Egypt. From the temples, to the Valley of the Kings to the Felucca experience to Karnak (my favorite) & optional trips like Abu Simbel and Alexandria (is a must add-on & also my favorites) I was able to explore Alexandria with Aboudy as my personal tour guide! I learned so much! This trip with Encounters by far is and will always be a memorable one!! I will always travel with them to check off my Bucketlist! Thank you Encounters Travel!!! Thank you Egypt!