El Mesala Hotel — Hotel in Al Baairat Village

Its a middle of the road hotel with good value being clean and comfortable enough. Perfect view of the Nile River and East Bank. Being right next from the ferry that brings you over to the East Bank too. Only a couple Egyptian Pounds to travel across, so cheap. Awesome view of the Nile River, East Bank of Luxor and surrounding areas from rooftop restaurant that cant be beat either. But you had better be in good shape because to climb up to restaurant is a long set of stairs to the top, depending on what floor you are on. Family-run store across the little alley-way was awesome, charging me all Egyptian prices too which was a real treat. If your a tourist expect to pay higher prices for everything, but not at this mom-and-pop store. Payed 30 Egyptian Pounds for Marlboro cigs which is less than $2 USD. Big bottle of waters only 3 Egyptian Pounds, so dirt cheap. Mohamed Rady was wonderful. Providing courteous treatment with his special attention to all the guests. He worked the restaurant and treated us with excellent service & awesome cooking. He obviously works hard to ensure his guests are all happy and satisfied. His cooking is a notch above the rest with it being gourmet and fine cuisine. No hot water in my room, plus awkward taking shower, as water gets all over the floor because shower curtain is too small to keep the water from splashing all over. Had to keep requesting extra towels so I could sop all the water off the floor that was turning into a mini-lake. Had to actually turn off shower stream, then get out of the shower in order to soap myself up, meanwhile standing on wet towels on the bathroom floor to keep water from spraying everywhere. Then turn back on the water in the shower and get back in order to rinse my soap off. Mohamed Younes, the manager of El Mesala seemed nice, but there was something about him I didn't like. Honestly, can't put my finger on the reason why. I was a little "put off" when he went into a tangent talking about Donald Trump and heavy politics for 15 minutes strait, before explaining the tour options. His biggest mistake was he called us too late for the second half of our tour, knowing that there was not enough time to fully complete Luxor Museum, Karnak and Luxor Temple adequately. Our trip via boat ended up being rushed which soured the rest of day. He was responsible turning the remaining of our tour experience into complete disappointment. Lost the value of money after paying for full enjoyment of touring. Although not totally Mohamed's fault as it was my ex-wife's idea to combine a 2-day tour into one, I blindly went along with this idea, not realizing what a huge mistake it would end up being. But in my opinion, we were taken advantage of by Mohamed with him calling us so late in the afternoon, knowing all the sites on the tour schedule closed up by 5:30 pm. Missed Luxor Museum because of this. Mohamed Younes called us at 3:30 pm, just as we were relaxing and enjoying lunch on the balcony. It was a great day up to this point. I told him to cancel the 2nd half until the next day, but Mohamed argued by firmly saying "already confirmed." So, I unfortunately agreed, which is my biggest regret for cooperating with this and going along with ludicrous situation. You never want to rush touring Luxor and Karnak Temples, because they are both so amazing and you need plenty of time to fully appreciate! But all we had was about 1/2 hour for each Karnak and Luxor Temples and that was it. I was so upset & frustrated and will never forget. So I left a small tip express my disappointment. Also, was over-charged by them doing my laundry, as it ended up being much more money that I originally thought. Plus picking up my clothes was greatly delayed due to it being a cloudy day. The clothes were being air-dried apparently. This created a big dilemma as needed a clean shirt to visit Valley of the Kings. So forced to stop by laundry facility for special pick-up and shirt still wet. Hotel cab driver on way to Luxor airport tried to get extra money out of us saying he had to pay...

Everyone tells me they missed this or that in Luxor, so the first thing I wanted to know is if I can have a nice quiet place away from the crowd, easy to move around, and with one person that could provide me all touristy attractions without the need to look around. And I found it. Allow me to explain you better as I don’t think many of whom I know had the same experience in Luxor.

1- the city is crowded and hassle is a lot so I was VERY pleased to find out this place is on the WEST bank, away from the city - that holds not much besides the attractions so yeah, point.

2- great room, balcony, Nile river and Luxor temple view. A/C is good. Shower works well. A big plus because RESTING IS A BIG DEAL in Luxor in order to wake up easily and avoid crowded attractions as well as sleeping in a quiet nice place - which is hard to find in Egypt. It’s a family hotel managed by Mohamed and his sons. They are lovely people READY to help you. With whatever you need, believe me. Give it a try.

3- restaurant at the accommodation - which means, when you’re back from whatever attraction you’re seeing you will be exhausted and can just eat at the same place you are and get some sleep. Luxor is not famous by dining culture so don’t waste your time trying to find “the perfect dinner place” -you can do this elsewhere in Egypt. They also serve it in your room. There’s a big swimming pool as well.

4- I BOOKED ALL ATTRACTIONS AT ONCE AND IT WAS ABSOLUTELY WORTH. Mohamed invited me to his office and we discussed what would be the best to do in my time. I payed everything upfront so I don’t need to worry about places to visit - after one month in Egypt I figured this is the best option. He chooses my guides and drives a and I don’t think I could have chosen better. BIG POINT, REALLY. Temples of Karnak and Luxor you can do on your own or have a guide as well.

So it went like this: 1st day: Ballon ride and Valley of Kings with guide (Hussein, cool honest guy with no “blablabla”, one of the bests in Egypt, really), some monuments and back to hotel. Free aftetnoon to rest and chill (they helped me with beers too)

2nd day: Valley of Nobles, valley of Queens, a few temples around that area, only me and my driver. Perfect. I had privacy and comfort... cool man (Osram)

3rd day: ABYDOS & Dendera If you don’t go to these temples you’re missing out the two most intriguing places in Egypt. Coming from someone who has been traveling to ancient places for a while and visited most of Egypt I can assure you it is worth it. This was really something. Raggi, my driver, pointed by Mohamed - the owner, arrived in Abydos in just 2 hours (he knew some short cuts and people). I was astonished. Usually takes 4-5h, I was already planning to spend a whole day. The drive was perfect. Read a bit about the temple on the way, AC on, comfort car - better than taxis, and the driver is a gentelman, he waits you when you’re onsite - it took me 1h30-2h each temple - and doesn’t talk to you unless you start the chat. Which is good, gives you privacy and I really care about those.

I could have done more but I needed to continue my trip.

So in the end I had an amazing hang in Luxor, spending a lot of time in things that matter like museums, thumbs and so and avoiding unnecessary hassle (Egyptians WILL slow you down, keep in mind.

I recommend the...

An honest and fair review of the hotel after spending 4 nights in it. This is based on my sole experience as a solo seasoned traveler around the globe.

After spending 2 weeks in Egypt, my last days were spent in Luxor. I could feel the aggressiveness of the locals straight away. Unless it's for their own benefits, in short giving them money, they would act rude, not even greeting you when you enter the hotel and not even looking/answering at you when you ask questions. This kind of attitude is just despicable from the front desk. Your money is apparently just what they are interested in. I wanted to ask to book a transportation, the receptionist just kept doing what he was doing without paying attention to me. even after I greeted him an start asking. I then walked away and made a comment about it saying it was fine that he is too busy to listen to me. He then tried to come back to me shouting "hey, hey, hey !!!, heyy". I couldn't care less and didn't pay attention to him for the rest of the stay. This is what you get when you are budgeting too much I guess.

Location of the hotel : West bank is not ideal. Almost dead at night, and crossing is a real burden. At that time of writing, crossing should cost you 1USD (which is very high but you are a tourist...) Now I crossed like 8 times and every time I need to argue to get this price, as they were asking 2 or more $. Really unpleasant. East bank is better.

About the room, it was way too expensive. Mine was located on the left side of the building when facing the Nile, meaning that you have the huge parking lot under your window and balcony. Buses are pilling up in the morning starting at 05.00, engines running... You can imagine the smell of diesel exhaust in the room, not talking about all the noises and vibrations. This will last at least till 16.00 when tours are ending on the West bank.

Rooms are old, no water pressure in the shower, no towels available in the room (I needed to ask 3 times), very noisy, poor wifi connection.

Roof terrace and restaurant are okay. Staff over there is nice and food is okay. Swimming pool is a plus and cleaned on regular basis. Supermarket and restaurants next door are convenient.

On my last day, I asked 4 times (one written down) for a transportation to the airport. It was very early in the morning. I stated I wanted to cross the river and take a taxi from the east bank (quick easy way to reach the airport), that I didn't want to go via the bridge... Guess what they did... yep you got it right, via the bridge...

Not a pleasant experience...