There are no trains to Abu Simbel, but a bus service operates from Aswan (275 km).  It departs Aswan at 07:00, arriving Abu Simbel at 10:00.  It leaves Abu Simbel at 13:00 arriving back in Aswan at 16:00.  There are also many tourist day tours, most leaving Aswan very early - for example, 04:00 - for about LE55 (£5 or $9).

Buses to Sharm el Sheik (Sinai)

There are no trains to Sharm el Sheik, but there are buses to and from Cairo, most run by the East Delta Bus Co, some by the Super Jet Bus Co. (neither company has a website, but try www.MarvelousEgyptTravel.com for bus times).  Sharm el Sheik to Cairo (485 km) takes about 7 hours by bus, and there are about 6 or 7 buses daily including an overnight bus.  The fare is around LE60 (£6 or $11).  Sharm El Sheik is the far side of the Gulf of Suez from the Nile Valley, so for Luxor you either need to return to Cairo by bus, then travel by train from Cairo to Luxor, or you can cross by ferry (3 weekly) from Sharm el Sheik to Hurghada, spend the night there then continue to Luxor by bus.  There is a three-times-weekly fast ferry from Sharm el Sheik to Hurghada, plus a three-times-weekly slow ferry.

Buses to Hurghada

There are no trains to Hurghada but there are buses from both Cairo and Luxor, run by Super Jet or El Gouna bus companies (no website, but try www.MarvelousEgyptTravel.com for bus times).  Hurghada to Cairo (500 km) takes about 7 hours by bus with 3-4 departures daily, fare around LE55 (£5/$10).  Hurghada to Luxor (255 km) takes 4 hours by bus, with 2 departures daily (around 06:00 and 12:00 from Luxor, 05:00 and 17:00 from Hurghada.  There is a three-times-weekly fast ferry from Hurghada to Sharm el Sheik, plus a three-times-weekly slow ferry.

Siwa Oasis

There are no trains to Siwa.  A daily bus links Siwa with Alexandria (590 km), departing Alex at 08:230, returning from Siwa at 08:00.  There's also a weekly bus direct from Cairo, on Wednesday nights, run by the West Delta Bus Co.

There are no international trains from Egypt, but buses will get you to Libya, there's a ferry to Jordan and a Nile steamer from Aswan to Sudan.  There are currently NO passenger ferries between Egypt and anywhere in Europe, as the services from Greece via Israel were all suspended in 2001.

Cairo - Amman (Jordan) - Damascus (Syria) - Istanbul (Turkey)...

There is a daily direct bus from Cairo to Amman, run by JETT of Jordan and taking 19 hours, exact times northbound not known - note that this crosses Israel, and you may be refused entry to Syria later on if you have any sign of a visit to Israel in your passport.  Alternatively, if you want to avoid Israel:

• Take a bus from Cairo to Nuweiba on the Red Sea.  A bus leaves Cairo main bus station at around 07:00, taking about 6 hours to reach Nuweiba.

• Take the daily fast catamaran (departing 15:30, crossing 1 hour) or the daily conventional ferry (departing 15:00, crossing 3-4 hours) from Nuweiba to Aqaba in southern Jordan.  The fare is about $45 for the ferry or $50 for the fast catamaran.  You must check in at least 2 hours before departure, and pay your fare in US$ cash.  There may also be an Egyptian exit tax to pay, about $10.

• You will probably need to spend the night in Aqaba.  There are regular buses and service taxis from Aqaba to Petra and Amman, costing around 3 or 4 JD, see the Jordan page.  For trains and buses onwards to Damascus, see the Jordan page.  For trains from Damascus to Aleppo & Istanbul, see the Syria page.

• Details of the southbound journey from Amman to Cairo are shown on the Jordan page.

Cairo - Tripoli (Libya) - Tunis (Tunisia) - Morocco...

IF you have a Libyan visa, there are buses from Egypt into Libya.  However, at present the Libyan government will not grant visas for independent travel to Libya, only for people on tours organised by a recognised Libyan travel agency.  There are buses from Libya into Tunisia, but it's not possible to travel on to Morocco overland, as the Algerian/Moroccan border is closed and Algeria has security problems which make it a no-go zone for westerners.

Cairo - Aswan - Wadi Halfa - Khartoum (Sudan)...

A weekly Nile steamer links Aswan with the Sudan, with a twice-monthly train connection for Khartoum:

• For trains from Cairo to Aswan, see above. 

• A weekly Nile steamer, run by Nile Valley River Transport, sails every Monday at 12:00 from Aswan High Dam (El Sadd el Ali) to Wadi Halfa in Sudan, arriving on Tuesday.  The 1st class fare (with cabin) costs about £E 131, meal included, the 2nd class fares (deck place) is around £E 78. 

• A weekly train connects with the Nile steamer, leaving Wadi Halfa at 19:00 every Wednesday, arriving Atbara at 02:00 on Friday night and Khartoum at 12:30 on Friday.  It has 1st class sleepers, 1st 2nd & 3rd class seats.  The train is slow, old and basic, but should get you there give or take the odd breakdown...  It's not air-con, so bring plenty of water as it can get very hot as the train crosses the desert.  The Wadi Halfa-Khartoum 1st class fare is reportedly around SD 4,500 (£10 or $18).

• Northbound, the weekly train leaves Khartoum New Central station at 08:40 on Mondays, Atbara 19:00 on Mondays, arriving Wadi Halfa at 22:45 on Wednesdays.  The ferry sails from Wadi Halfa on Wednesdays around 16:00, arriving Aswan lunchtime on Thursday.  Train and ferry are indeed supposed to connect, so information may be dodgy here, and feedback would be welcome..!  The northbound ferry fare is around 5,000 Sudanese dinars (£12 or $20) 1st class.  Don't forget the Sudan exit tax when leaving Sudan.

• Feedback would be welcome, as information on both the ferry and Sudanese train is not consistent - ..!

Traveller's reports, Cairo-Khartoum: 

Traveller Leonie Purvis travelled Cairo-Khartoum in 2006:  "We got our Sudanese visas at the embassy in Cairo – after being told by the Sudanese Embassy in London that this was not possible!! I believe we broke the waiting record as we got our visas in 1 hour and 20 mins. Cost was US$100 each (but more if you are a US passport holder at US$150 and you are told to come back in a month!). Letter of recommendation is required from your own embassy regardless where you are from (this cost US$10 for a NZ passport holder and US$25 for a British passport holder).  Bought our tickets in Aswan for the ferry – first class cabin – was pretty expensive at £90 for two – but we decided to splash out!! Nothing special, just two bunks and a port hole window. Ticket included dinner and breakfast as well as a cold drink. Ferry left on Monday at 7pm and we were told to be at the port at 10am in the morning but they took all day to load the cargo. Was okay though as the captain plied us with hot tea and chatted the hours away! One thing to be aware of, although you don’t officially need a Yellow Fever Certificate, when you give your passport in to customs on the boat, they will ask if you have the certificate, if you don’t have one, you have to pay a “Fine”. Luckily, we had one from our previous trip to South America, which was still valid.   Arrived in Wadi Halfa around lunch time the next day. Have to go through customs hall while they search your bag for any alcohol you may be trying to smuggle in. Stayed in a local “hotel” which was a mud hut with two cot style beds in it for US$10 for 2 people. Shared toilet/washing facilities - Loo was a hole in the ground, shower was a bucket of water you take from a tap and go into a cubicle. This place was a great way to make friends with Sudanese people travelling to and from Egypt. Ate at a local restaurant which was fine and cheap. There was a local market with amazingly fresh fruit for sale.  Brought our tickets the night before for the train out the next day at a cost of US$40 per person first class. You also have to register with the police on entering Sudan which cost us another US$40 each. Even though there are banks in Wadi Halfa and they have exchange rate boards out – they do not exchange US$. You can do so through the guys hanging around outside the police station though – this is where we were directed by the police themselves!  Train to Khartoum is extremely run down – wouldn’t bother with a first class ticket as this hardly gives you any more comfort than 2nd class – unless you book the whole compartment but you will have to pay per seat and there are six seats. Our compartment was full of people (more than there were seats) as well as a huge amount of cargo which traders bribe the guards to store anywhere on the train. Most of the traders themselves did not even have a ticket but again bribed the guards so corridors, toilets and anywhere there was the smallest amount of space was full of bodies!  Fantastic journey though – amazingly friendly people who constantly shared their food with us and every time the train stopped, paid for our tea or coffee. The only way we managed to return the favour was to sneak out of our compartment and pay the tea seller in advance!! We reached Khartoum at about 9am on the Wednesday morning. Taxi from the station to centre of Khartoum cost us $4 – stayed in a hotel close to the centre – don’t know the name as was not in English. Found accommodation pretty dear – US$19 for our very basic double room – very run down – shared facilities no restaurant or anything. Ate in the market – kebabs and the like. Can highly recommend the fresh fruit juice stalls – fruit is blended with ice and boy you will need it!! I have never been anywhere so hot in my life – it was close to 50 degrees when we were there and we ate very little in Khartoum – just drank a lot of water and fruit juice.  For moving on the bus station has been relocated from the market to well outside of Khartoum – nice new building with Air Con though!!

This used to be easy.  Adriatica Line's 'Espresso Egitto' used to sail weekly from Venice and Piraeus to Alexandria.  Michael Palin used it in 1989 and I used it in 1990 - Michael gets everywhere a year or two before I do, and he doesn't have to pay for his own ticket...  Sadly, the terrorist problems in Egypt ended this service.  Until 2001, Salamis Lines sailed weekly from Greece to Egypt via Cyprus, but services are now suspended because of the problems in Israel, the ship's ultimate destination - check with their UK agents www.viamare.com.  There are now no ferries to Egypt from anywhere in Europe at all.

An alternative more adventurous option is to travel overland by train via Istanbul, Syria and Jordan.  See the London to Jordan page for info on the train journey from London to Amman.  From Amman, there is a daily long-distance bus leaving at 03:00 and taking some 19 hours to reach Cairo.  It is run by Jordan Express Tourist and Transport Co (JETT), telephone Amman 662722, fax 601507.  A better option, avoiding Israel is to take a bus or taxi from Amman or Petra to Aqaba for the ferry to Nuweiba in Egypt, for buses to Cairo.  See below for more information.

Right:  The entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings at Luxor.