Evolution’s Sweet Tooth

My husband and I went to Egypt for 10 days in 2007. We've never been to Greece, so I can't conmemt on that, but can give you a few tips on Egypt. We found that the big expense was airfare to get there. Once you are there, as long as you book reasonably priced hotels, the rest was cheap. Meals are relatively cheap compared with the US and you can bargin with everyone taxi drivers, souvenir shops, etc.- Check Expedia or Travelocity for the best airfare into Cairo. Then go to that airline's website and buy it should be a bit cheaper.- You don't need a tour if you are reasonably comfortable as a traveler. We found that English-speaking taxi drivers were plentiful, and they all want to be your driver for the day and take you to major sites. Hiring a taxi driver for the day if much, much cheaper than taking a tour. And you'd have essentially the same experience. We hired local guides for 2 days, and found that they gave us a simple overview and then gave us free time to wander the sites. We could have made do with a guide book and a driver. Tip: Get a driver from a good hotel, and they will speak good English. It cost around $35-40 / day for the 2 of us, and they were willing to take us anywhere. If you get a random taxi off the street, they will be at least $10 cheaper per day, but probably won't speak good English.- We spent 3 nights at Le Meridien Pyramids in Giza. It was $109 a night for the upgrade for pyramid views. We loved the hotel and found it a good base to see the Giza Pyramids as well as take a day trip to see the pyramids at Saqqara and Dahshur. The Giza Pyramids and Sphinx were the highlight of our trip!!!- We bought internal airfare tickets from Egypt Air to go from Cairo to Luxor for around 150 USD. It's easy to find taxis to take you from the airport to you hotel.- You can spend 2 days in Luxor. One day on the east bank visiting Luxor temple and Karnak. The ther day on the west bank visiting the temple of Hatshepsut, the Valley of Kings, and the Valley of Queens. Again, use a taxi to save on the cost.- We got tickets from Luxor to Abu Simbel via Aswan also from Egypt Air, and then used a local taxi to take us to the Abu Simbel temple. We also hired a local driver to take us around Aswan for the afternoon, as Egypt Air forces a long stopover. - We stayed at the Sofitel Karnak for about $110 a night. Decent hotel by the Nile with a great pool, but the service left something to be desired. Check for a full review. If you don't want to spend the money on the trip to Abu Simbel (which was cool), then substitute a day trip from Cairo to Alexandria, which should be nice. We spent a few nights in downtown Cairo, and splurged on the Grand Hyatt. You can definitely find cheaper accommodations than that, although it was a nice hotel. Cairo downtown has good sights as well the Egyptian Museum, Citadel, several large mosques, and the bazaar. - Note that the locals around the tour sites can be aggressive in trying to take your picure for a fee, or selling you their guide services. Be forceful / confident in saying NO.Good luck!