Egypt:Go Only If You Have No Other Place To Go

These are not my words, this is the opinion of many people who've been in Egypt and wrote their honest reviews on various travel review websites. Although most of the reviews were nice and recommending Egypt for other travellers, but the number of people who had troubles in Egypt is alarming, and if the authorities in Egypt need to keep tourism as one of the few sources of income, they must start solving these problems with a serious approach.
The main complaints can be summarized as follows:

• Rubbish and shocking amounts of dirt and smell
• beggars
• traffic and driving habits
• People are nosy and annoying
• Tips
• Food and water(it made me sick although I had been away for one year before I came back to Egypt)
• Abused by Taxi drivers
• Impossible to visit if you're disabled
• Black people were made fun of and called Negros!!!(We're not white after all)
• Service was never good even in 5 star hotels

This is what was wrote in The Sunday Herald Sun and was published in the travel section in Australia's news network about Egypt.

CROSSING Cairo's busy main roads gives new meaning to the term "walk like an Egyptian".
It is less a belly dance than a dance with death.
People take no notice of traffic lights.
Getting from our hotel overlooking the Nile to Cairo's Talaat Harb Square involved taking our lives into our hands.
We followed advice to attach ourselves to a local, some of whom hold their hands up like policemen to stop the cars, which surprisingly obey. No sign of road rage here.
The first time I tried it I gave up and hailed a taxi. The one Cairo driver who did not speak English stopped passing pedestrians, one of whom spoke French but not English, to ask them to translate.
He dropped us about a kilometre away after a hilarious ride in which we pretended to use seat belts as police drove past. The driver blew me a kiss as we leaped out, about 12 lanes of traffic closer to our destination than before we hailed him.
At least he did not propose to me – possibly because of the language barrier. But he charged about $10 for the trip, about three times the usual price.
So we began our walking tour. As we turned one corner, a man rushed up behind us.
"If you turn left at the next corner you'll be in the right area. Where are you from?" he said in a friendly manner.
"Oh Australia. Come into my house, please. My wife is from Perth. Please accept some Egyptian hospitality. What would you like to drink?"
We were then ushered into a room upstairs where we were shown a range of home-made oils (from flowers from his father's farm in the country) and small decorative bottles. And $40 later we left with our parcels. I hope the rose oil really is good for insomnia.
Egypt and scams have become synonymous. Visitors need to be wary.
The Egyptian Government and tourism authorities take this seriously and there are large fines and sometimes jail sentences for offenders.
But that did not stop a tourism policeman at a temple on the Nile asking for "baksheesh" – a tip – after he took a photo of my son and me.
Baksheesh, which in Arabic can mean alms, also calls for a wary approach.
On our Nile cruise we were told to put a tip in an envelope and leave it with reception at trip's end. Of course, that did not stop the housekeeper, who folded our towels to make wonderful animals, from expecting another handout.
At an alabaster factory on the West Bank, young, handsome staff pressed alabaster good luck scarab beetles into our hands and we paid outrageous prices for pottery "exactly" like that found in Tutankhamen's tomb.
Amani Talaat Kamel, our guide in Cairo, said tips should be given only to people who serve you.
"It is bad for Egypt's reputation, but some people make their living out of it," she said. "In the 1970s and '80s, some even made fortunes out of it. Some guests encourage them, so they will keep doing it."
She said scammers usually asked tourists if they had a guide before they quote inflated prices for souvenirs.
"We tell shopkeepers that if they leave the guests alone, they will probably spend more," Kamel said.
Watch shopkeepers and money-changers carefully. Count your changed money before you leave and use reputable changers – there are banks in the bigger hotels.
Before a short horse and carriage ride through the medieval town of Esna on the Nile, our driver asked for five Egyptian pounds (about $1). But at the end we were told: "No, five Euros."
It is best to use a guide to negotiate the payment for camel riding at the pyramids, where drivers are known to charge exorbitant prices.
But genuine tipping usually brings polite gratitude. One tourist went horse riding through the pyramids and was so happy with his experience he gave the horseman a large tip.
The horseman asked him not to tell his boss, then gave some money back, admitting he had not taken the tourist to one of the places promised.

If you think that they wrote this because they hate Egypt, Arabs and Muslims as people in Cairo prefer to say when being criticized, please refer to the travel reviews about Saudi Arabia and Iran, they found something nice and decent to write about two of the most non touristic countries in the world, not to mention Dubai and Tunisia.

And then read the reviews of individuals who visited Egypt and wrote about their experience afterwards. I chose this one, but you can read the rest if you have the time.

I spent a year in the Sinai (Egypt) and made numerous trips to Cairo. While being able to say that you have seen the Pyramids in person ~ always give you something to talk about; it truly is not worth the trip, unless you have nowhere else to go.A visit there is good for maybe 3 days. But one must be very aware of the economic situation there to understand what is going on when your American or western butt gets off the plane. The economy there is pathetic. Life for the typical Sediki on the street is one of survival. They see Americans ~ then it's payday. This is not to suggest that folks there are not good people ~ because as a whole Egyptians and Arabs in general are a warm gracious people. But when it comes to feeding yourself and/or your family ~ you do what you have to do.With that said, be prepared to tip, tip, tip, and tip large as this is many of those folks sole means of support. They are understandably pushy about it for reason listed above. Now for the place. Yes it's nice to see the Pyramids and also to say that you have seen the Nile (just don't step toe in it). The place is terribly crowded and travel by taxi is a nerve-wreaking experience. Good luck finding side-mirrors on the cars. There are frequent bumping and grinding on the streets. I suggest a mild sedative to travel in this place. Hell, even better just get plastered so you won't know if your time comes. Sediki is in a hurry to see Allah ~ but I wasn't necessarily in a hurry to see my maker (think I'd go to the bad place anyway).The place is filthy. I had never seen such filth since being in NYC and Philly. Don't eat ANYTHING that you don't prepare yourself. I know there are dishes that might be a delicacy; but beware. I can't spell qalimara (squid) ~ it was delicious; but boy did I pay for it and pay for it and pay for it. I lost 15 lbs.....that's the upside. I ate this at the International-something hotel right off the river in the nice part of Cairo. Still became sick as a dog. Do yourself a favor, bring peanut butter, jelly and bread. Or go on a diet.Don't go in the summer. The heat and believe it or not humidity is oppressive. The winter months are awesome. Overall, I would say not to go there; unless you are a world traveler and have seen everything else. Buy postcards of the pyramids. Otherwise, it's nothing but a huge, filthy, crowded mess of humanity. As for me, on a vacation I avoid humanity as much as possible.I hesitantly recommend this place.

Again this is only one of the few people who didn't like it, but Egypt must take all these complaints seriously and try to solve the problems before all hope was lost.