Where to stay

Where to stay in Egypt

| sjwhitehouse

We spent a fantastic 10 days in Egypt (see our Egypt itinerary here), during which we stayed in some really great places and some more functional places which do the job if you are on a lower budget or booking last minute. We booked this trip at short notice because we went during the COVID pandemic and we weren’t sure we were going to be able to leave the UK. So all the places mentioned in the blog below were available when booking only a couple of weeks ahead at most. Now Egypt is more easy to visit, it is likely that some of these places may get booked up further in advance.

Al Moudira

This characterful and traditional hotel was on the west bank of the Nile, the quieter side, away from all the hustle and bustle of Luxor city. We stayed here as a base to visit the Valley of the Kings as this is also on the west bank and therefore it helped us get an early start to beat the crowds.

Colourful Al Moudira

The grounds are quite large and colourful pottery paths wend their way through them, connecting the rooms, the dining room area and the pool.

The room and bathroom at Al Moudira

The rooms were ginormous and lavishly decorate on the interior with frescoes and ornaments. The bathroom was equally large. The food in the restaurant was excellent, which is certainly a good thing, because i’m not sure if there were many other dining options on this side of the river. The dining area was lovely and felt like you were eating in a tropical garden with the evening warmth, all the plants and the water feature in the centre.

The pool and main courtyard at Al Moudira

There are only two gripes about the place. Firstly it is almost twice as expensive as the Hilton on the other side of the river, as a result we stayed here for one night and in the Hilton for two. It is a much more memorable experience than the Hilton due to the lovely colourful style and design and feels a lot more authentic, so I would say it is worth the extra money. Secondly due to its lovely countryside location you are more open to be attacked by mosquitoes and sand flies. Make sure you bring your mosquito repellent, especially around sunset time.

Luxor Hilton Resort & Spa

We would never normally choose to stay in a luxury hotel chain because they feel a bit soulless and generic, where you feel you could be anywhere in the world. However in Egypt we made an exception and we would recommend that you stay here as well. Although it didn’t have the charm and the character of Al Moudira, it was a 5 star hotel on the banks of the Nile for about £60 a night. And that, is not to be sniffed at.

The room and balcony at the Hilton

The Hilton is on the eastern bank of the Nile, on the same side as Luxor city, and the two temples of Karnak and Luxor. This made it quite easy to get out early to see Karnak temple on our first day. It is a little further into the centre of Luxor and we ordered a cab to take us there.

With a huge range of facilities including a gym, kids play area, several restaurants, some shops but the pick of the lot was the spa infinity pool where you could relax, order a beer and watch the sun go down over the Nile while Egpytian feluccas sail past.

The sunset view from the Hilton Spa infinity pool

The rooms weren’t particularly special but came with all the amenities and cleanliness you would expect from a Hilton. It had a balcony, I think ours was Nile view, which was a little tenuous given that the main view was of a sail canopy over the bar below.

The Hilton Resort & Spa

There were a few different restaurant options, but the food was a little bland, so we chose to get a taxi into town and eat there, which is one of the benefits of the eastern bank location.

Nour El Nil Dahabiya

We did a 5 day, 4 night Nile Cruise from Luxor to Aswan with Nour El Nil which was amazing. Our accommodation for the four nights was a beautiful, traditional dahabiya sailing boat. The company have several different dahabiyas to stay on depending on your budget (although none of them are cheap). We stayed on one called the “El Nil” which came with 10 en-suite cabins, two of which were panoramic cabins at the back of the boat with huge glass windows. We had a simple cabin, which was lovely, clean and well decorated, but not much bigger than the bed itself. The size really doesn’t matter though, all you will be using the room for is going to sleep. During the day you are on the deck above relaxing in one of the many lounging seats, enjoying the view across the Nile and getting pampered by the staff.

Traditional Egyptian dahabiya sailing boats

The staff were great and doubled up as tour guides, drivers, cooks, cleaners and waiters. The whole boat would eat together on the main table on the top deck and the food was big dishes meant for sharing. There is always a risk on these sorts of things that the food becomes samey, but it didn’t, it was delicious.

The cabin onboard the “El Nil”

The only thing which might put you off is the price. It is expensive, but it includes all your food, drinks, tours and four nights of accommodation. It is totally worth it. Sailing down the river powered by the wind in small groups is so serene. The bigger boats are cheaper, but you are sharing them, and all the sites with hundreds of other people. Because they are so big, they can’t stop off at all the places the Nour El Nil dahabiyas can either.

The top deck of the “El Nil”

Panorama Pyramids Inn

The name of this hotel is apt, as it is right next to the entrance to the Giza Plateau. We got there at about 2am after struggling to get a lift from the airport and woke up to a slightly hazy, but brilliant view of the pyramids, which was a great way to start our first day. We had breakfast on the roof terrace overlooking the pyramids and then simply went downstairs and 2 minutes later we were at the entrance gate.

The view from the roof terrace of Panorama Pyramids Inn

We booked the hotel knowing we were going to arrive late and get up early to go to the pyramids before jetting straight off to Luxor. Due to its location and its low price it absolutely delivered for us on this. If it wasn’t for the location, the place wouldn’t really be worth writing home about, the rooms were functional and the breakfast was decent. But the location, that was excellent.

They offered an airport pick up which was another bonus, as Giza is the other side of Cairo from the airport and we didn’t fancy having to haggle for a cab (in a country famous for its haggling) when we arrived tired from our flight. Well, it would have been a bonus. The airport transfer didn’t show up and we did have to get a taxi. They refunded us the cost of the transfer, and I will give them the benefit of the doubt that it was the police causing the delay and it was a one off.

The Marriott Mena Hotel

If you have slightly more time in Giza, and a much larger budget, the Marriott Mena hotel is the best hotel in the area. The view from breakfast and all around the hotel is dominated by the the Great Pyramid of Giza, which is only a short walk away from the front gates.

We didn’t stay here so we can’t comment on the rooms, but we did come for lunch and it was very nice.

The view from breakfast at the Marriott Mena Hotel

New President Hotel

We stayed in the New President Hotel in Cairo’s popular district of Zamalek. Zamalek is a leafy area on an island in the centre of the Nile. It feels less hectic and more European than the rest of the city, which is loud and busy and brash. In truth the hotel was a little short of character and I’m guessing it is a recent extension to the well-establish President Hotel next door. That said, it was reasonable in price, the rooms were large and clean and due to the great location, it wasn’t too far from the sites and it was quieter at night.

The New President Hotel

Where to stay in El Nido

| sjwhitehouse

Our Philippines Itinerary covered Coron, Palawan, Bohol and Cebu Islands over a period of three weeks. In this article we will provide a brief review on each of the places we stayed in El Nido.

Buko Beach Resort

Buko Beach Resort is a gorgeous little hotel situated right in front of Corong Corong Beach. It was definitely our pick of the all the accommodation available to us in El Nido. It is made up of about 10 huts with elegantly pitched roofs that run all the way to the floor. The restaurant and pool is beach front and are a great place to watch the sun go down over the rugged karsts of Bacuit Bay. There is also a private beach front villa for families.

Buko Beack Resort pool and restaurant overlooking Corong Corong Beach

The location on the beach was great as it allowed us to walk out the hotel and along the beach until we found some kayaks for hire. We then paddled out into Bacuit Bay from Corong Corong beach to see the sites away from all the busy tours.

The hotel is one of the more pricey accommodation options we stayed at during our trip to the Philippines. El Nido generally has a lot of back packer accommodation and we found it difficult to find a middle ground of not too expensive but also quite nice.

Nacpan Beach Resort

Nacpan Beach Resort neighbours its sibling hotel, Nacpan Beach Glamping. If you are not so keen on the camping, this is a good substitute. It is right in front of Nacpan beach, 5km of glorious sand lined with palm trees. Unfortunately for us, the rain came down at Nacpan and we didn’t see the place in it’s full glory.

The hotel was fairly reasonable considering we booked it the day before during peak season, its position on Nacpan beach and the size of the rooms. The rooms were nice, with a beach facing balcony and a huge bathroom. The internet was strong given its distance from El Nido or any medium sized town.

The two Nacpan Beach hotels play their part in turtle conservation. The turtles lay their eggs on Nacpan beach several times a year and they are scooped up and protected in hatcheries at Nacpan Beach Glamping. We were lucky enough to take part in the release of the baby turtles back into the sea.

On the negative side the hotel seemed like it was brand new and was still trying to find its feet with tourists in the region. There were parts of it that looked like they were still being constructed, and perhaps fairly cheaply. The restaurant wasn’t great and seemed to be catering to European and American tourists with the food on the menu.

Fisheye The Rooms

This neat little BnB in the centre of El Nido was a really good find for us. The accommodation is three rooms behind a shop selling some floaty tourist souvenirs and clothes, so you probably wouldn’t stumble across it without trawling all the accommodation apps carefully.

The location was perfect. It enabled us to wander around El Nido town in the evening and grab dinner and then in the morning it was close to the beach where we needed to be for a tour to Bacuit Bay. Despite the brown bed covers, it was done nicely inside and was very comfortable. The breakfast was great in the morning as well. It did exactly what we needed it to do for a fairly cheap, last minute accommodation option.

Where to stay in Coron

| sjwhitehouse

Our Philippines Itinerary covered Coron, Palawan, Bohol and Cebu Islands over a period of three weeks. In this article we will provide a brief review on each of the places we stayed in Coron.

Paolyn House Boats

The Paolyn House Boats’ website may be a little off putting and so might the price, but please do not be put off. We started our holiday in the Philippines here and it was by far and away our favourite place. It was magical.

The Houseboats are tethered platforms which float in a beautiful lagoon in the lee of Coron Island. The staff are all locals from the tribes on Coron island who have been employed as part of the project, without which the House Boats would not have been possible. Coron island is privately owned by the tribes who live on it, and tourists can only access specific tourist spots such as Kayangan Lake and Barracuda Lake.

Paolyn House Boat Reception

To get there, they provide a water taxi across the bay from Coron town proper to the main reception building where you will be greeted by an enthusiastic member of staff. This is the main Houseboat where the kitchen and dining room is, as well as the reception. From here private little boats will take you to your House boat in the lagoon, driven carefully over the coral reefs by a member of staff.

Your own Houseboat will be fairly basic, the toilet is a pump action flush, the internet is pretty limited and the rooms are fairly small. But none of that matters. You will have your own decking area to sunbathe and take in the view, your own water sports equipment including kayak, paddle boards and snorkels and you can get your meals paddled out to you by boat. You can simply dive straight off your deck and snorkel with coral and fish, or paddle board around the bay taking in the mind-blowing scenery above water. The best bit though, is that the main sights are just around the corner. You can kayak to twin lagoon in 10 minutes, and if you do one of the tours offered (which are private), you can be at all the popular sights like Kayangan lake and Barracuda lake well before anyone else arrives from Coron Town Proper. Setting off early on a tour then allows you to spend the rest of the day chilling on your Houseboat decking and exploring the coastline nearby.

The most affordable House Boat

The prices are not insignificant if you are on a budget and all the tours are extra on top of that. It is much cheaper to stay in a hostel in Coron Town Proper and join a shared tour across the bay. However, if you splash your money somewhere on your Philippines holiday, this is the place to do it. It’s such a memorable and unique place to stay. Please don’t save your money here to splurge on a generic luxury chain hotel.

The Funny Lion

We stayed in the Funny Lion for two nights while we were in Coron Town Proper, technically on Busuanga island, across the bay form Coron Island. We originally only planned to be there for a night, but our expedition with Big Dream Boat Man across to El Nido was delayed (and eventually cancelled due to high winds). It is a great base for Coron Proper and is without doubt one of the nicer accommodation options in the town, which mostly consists of hostels for back packers. It has a great menu and a fantastic roof terrace with plunge pools, making it a great place to watch the sun dip over Coron island in the evening. The rooms are nice and clean as well, so it ticks pretty much all the boxes.

The pool at the back of the Funny Lion

I really liked the name of the Funny Lion, it exudes character. However if I am being critical I found the Funny Lion in Coron (there is another one in El Nido) to be a little short in character. Perhaps this was because we had just come from Paolyn Houseboats which oozed charater and authenticity. It felt like it was trying to be too upmarket for what it was here. I would say it was quite expensive as well, although we booked one of the nicer rooms.

Our room in the Funny Lion

Where to Stay in Sri Lanka

| sjwhitehouse

We visited Sri Lanka for a couple of weeks after we graduated from University (see our two week itinerary in Sri Lanka). Having not started working in the corporate world at the time, we weren’t blessed with bags of cash, so the aim of this blog is to show how easy it is to stay somewhere really nice, on a small budget in Sri Lanka. Of course there were some places where we got it wrong and found ourselves without air conditioning or in the right location, but there were a good number of places we booked which hit the nail on the head.

Panorama Rock Cafe – Rekawa

The main attraction at Rekawa, near to Tangalle in southern Sri Lanka, is to watch the turtles clambering up the beach to lay their eggs and bury them in the soft sand beaches. Because this marvel of nature occurs at night, we wanted to stay near to the Turtle Watch Rekawa site so that could easily get there and back without losing too much sleep.

Panorama Rock Cafe is a beautiful little hotel found on the quiet and extremely pretty spit of beach between the sea and Rekawa lagoon. It is made up of a cluster of cute little cabins nestled among the palms right on the beach front. For around £25 a night, you can’t expect luxury, but the cabins certainly do the job and there’s not many places with a better location and outlook.

One thing to bear in mind is that the waves here (and on the south coast in general) are extremely powerful and swimming in this little paradise is not quite so blissful as you might think.

Panorama Rock Cafe

Siraii Village – Wirawila

Saraii Village

We based ourselves in Wirawila to visit Yala National Park which is famous for its Leopards. The park itself is a short drive from Wirawila and Tissamaharama, the largest town in the area.

Saraii village was one of our favourite hotels on the trip. This amazing hotel is made up of several thatched tree houses perched high in the trees – it’s every kid’s dream! The bedroom is situated on a large wooden platform, which can be reached by a couple of fairly steep, but pretty secure wooden ladders. It certainly makes lugging your baggage up there quite a challenge, not to mention clambering down in the middle of the night to go to the loo. Each treehouse has it’s own private bathroom on the ground floor which is kept remarkably clean, though as you are staying in and amongst nature don’t be too surprised to find one or two tree frogs hanging out in the toilet!

There is a restaurant onsite which serves some great food for breakfast and dinner, and features regular visitors in the shape of monitor lizards (which we huge but completely harmless).

We managed to bag this beautiful tree top room for only £40 a night – an absolute bargain for such a cool hotel experience.

Little Folly – Ella

Ella is an extremely pretty town in the highlands, just south of central Sri Lanka. A stop here is a no-brainer on your tour of this beautiful island. It is a small town but there are still a fair few accommodation options available, ranging from wooden cabins to some swanky, balconied hotels overlooking Adam’s Peak, Ella’s Rock and with a view all the way down to the sea in the south.

We chose a rustic log cabin just on the edges of Ella, called Little Folly. This bed and breakfast, poking out from a pine forest on the road to Adam’s Peak serves excellent cakes, so even if you aren’t staying here, it is certainly worth popping in for some afternoon tea on the way back from the peak.

For as little as £20, you can get a spacious and rather characterful cabin for the nigh, including breakfast in the morning.

Back of Beyond (Pidurangala hotel)- Sigiriya

Sigiriya is an unmissable stop on your Sri Lanka trip. Basing yourself around here for a couple of days allows you to visit Sigiriya Rock, Dambulla Cave Temples and our favourite part of the whole trip, Minneriya National Park.

We went with our driver’s recommendation for accommodation here – a great perk of having a driver was his knowledge of where to go and where to stay (see our blog Getting a Driver in Sri Lanka for more reasons if you’re not yet convinced it’s worth it). The accommodation was another rustic hotel hidden away in the jungle out in the sticks, called Back of Beyond. The hotel was made up of several thatched, terracotta coloured, mud walled, cabins and some tree houses, joined together by a maze of paths. We opted for a room on the ground this time (though again our bathroom was very popular among the tree frogs). The cabins were extremely well decorated considering how cut off from the outside world they were and how rustic they appeared from the outside.

The Pidurangala hotel is part of the larger Back of Beyond chain of rustic hotels which spans across some of the major tourists hot spots in Sri Lanka such as Yala National Park. This was one of the more expensive hotels on the trip, at £55 a night, but it was certainly worth it and was a great base for the sites in the area.

Unfortunately we were so excited by the Elephants of Minneriya National Park and Sigiriya Rock, that we completely forgot to photograph this lovely hotel.

COlombo COurtyard – Colombo

On our trip we spent a couple of days in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s captial city. Colombo is home to the main international airport and so depending on the times of your arrival and departure flights it may be necessary to stay here.

We splashed out at Colombo Courtyard on the last night to end our trip in style. This 4 star hotel in the heart of the city is certified as a carbon neutral hotel and has an extremely contemporary design and atmosphere.

The hotel has a wide range of amenities including a restaurant, a roof terrace bar, a gym & spa and a pool. The pool isn’t particularly large but its good enough for a quick dip and a splash around.

We stayed in a superior deluxe double room which was extremely nice, with a large amount of floor space, four poster bed a bath the size of a small plunge pool. This was only for £75 a night, which we thought was pretty good value. The other perk we cashed in on was the breakfast in bed service on the day of our flight. This was excellent.

Galle Face Hotel – COlombo

For a more traditional hotel steeped in history we would recommend the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo. The hotel is perceived by many as the most elegant and prestigious place to stay in the city. The building certainly has a sense of grandeur and the decor transports you back in time with its cavernous rooms, its tasseled cushions and its heavily patterned rugs. It sits on the sea front with beautiful views out to sea and across Galle Face Green, the kilometre long stretch of land running parallel to the sea which once was a popular place to go for a walk in Victorian times. Now the green is full of local kids playing football and flying their kites.

The hotel has a very grand courtyard with perfectly manicured lawns reaching down to the sea which make it a very popular wedding destination. It is also very well equipped with a number of facilities including a spa and a decadent wine cellar.