The Sleeper Train Experience

If you are touring Egypt with a local tour group, you will undoubtedly be using the sleeper train at some point. Don't get me wrong here - sleeper trains are an excellent way to travel if you are on a tight budget, although they are not necessarily cheap by Egyptian standards. As of now, the cost for 1 way sleeper train for double occupancy bound for Luxor/Aswan is $60 USD. This is about half the cost of flying, which is about $105/$135 USD one way to Luxor/Aswan. Flying takes about 1.5 hours, whereas sleeper trains take 12+ hours. However, because you are sleeping (or attempting to sleep) for the majority of the time, you end up saving on extra hotel accomodation.

Sleeper train cabins are small, and can almost feel like a jail cell due to a water basin being available in the cabin. Two "bunk-beds" are available, which the train attendent will gladly convert for you after having your dinner. The beds are very clean, which means you have one less thing to worry about. Being 6 feet tall, the bed was just about long enough for me. If I were a few inches taller, however, this may prove to be very uncomfortable experience. The toilets, on the other hand, can be questionable but is otherwise cleaner than any public toilets that are available.

The train cabins are supposed to be air conditioned, although the air conditioning for my cabin wasn't working for one of my trip. It was still a bit warm at night even though it is November, so I can't imagine what would happen in July if I were in the same cabin.

The meals on the sleeper trains are edible, but by no means gormet food. Breakfast usually consists of a variety of breads with butter/jam/cheese. If you have been pampered with continental breakfast at your hotel, then you will likely be disappointed. Dinner is usually rice with fish and another type of meat. I ate a rather delicious mystery meat that some of my friends claimed was fish, while others thought it was chicken. Personally, I thought it was chicken.

The movement of the train can be very wild at times, and the train seems to come to an abrupt stop very frequently during the middle of the night. I never really understood why this was the case. After hearing stories about train crashes in Egypt recently, I was no doubtedly worried each time we came to a stop. This also made it quite difficult to sleep at night, which will likely leave you drained and exhausted the next day.

So the moral of the story is, if you can afford the extra plane ticket + hotel accomodation + transportation to/from airport, then by all means go for that. You will have a much better night of sleeping. However if you don't mind an occational bump here and there and want to save some money, then the sleeper train service is a passable way of getting from point A to point B.