G’day Folks, and with today’s ‘Accommodation Review’ I am taking you to the Egyptian capital of Cairo where I stayed at a place called the ‘El Otel’. Did I think it was a hotel when I booked it? Yes. It is in fact a… well not sure of the perfect word but I think ‘hotel’ is probably not it. A group of rooms converted across a couple of floors in an old Cairo building – Cairo has some brilliant buildings built in the late 1800s through to around 1940 I would guess, full of character and repurposed at times too like this one.

The first problem though I encountered was finding the thing. As it is a bit of a different kind of accommodation, it’s not well known and to be fair to the owners and managers of it, they did not do a great job with signage. So I walked up and down the street a number of times before finding the place.

Having said that to get to reception on what I think was the fifth floor, I had to take the coolest lift (elevator) in town which was small and stuffy and at one point the light went out in it so nearly pitch dark too. But it was old school and who doesn’t love an old school lift?

Location wise it’s close to the Mohammed Naguib Metro station and is in the downtown district, so that’s a plus and you can walk not far and soon find places to eat and more. The staff are young and energetic and eager to help you out. So full marks to them for that (they are Egyptian too, this is not a foreign run hostel or something like that).

The room. Well it’s fine. The pictures actually make it look worse than it actually was, but it was quite small and it is basic. There is air conditioning and a little balcony which was kinda nice and I definitely should have photographed that. But I didn’t.

The bath room is quite poky. The shower again is one that is not properly separated from the rest of the bathroom. The shower was okay.

The bed is bigger than it looks in the photos, I think it was a double. Sleep was fine, there was a little tea room with a fridge you could use to store stuff in if you needed to and make a cup of tea or noodles I guess just across the corridor.

The price was around $82AUD a night, or $53USD, so it was a mid-range option. My room was a floor up from reception and there are a bunch of rooms connected to reception and so I can’t say of there were any noise issues for those in that section of the place, but for me the noise issues were because my side of the building overlooked a street with open cafes on it at night, although they were done by 12 midnight or a little after, and it was more general noise which I find affects my sleep less than someone having an audible conversation. WiFi I found slow but like Saudi Arabia, Egypt has very slow internet wherever you go. At least I could upload SOME files for backup here, albeit overnight.

All in all, it has a nice vibe and was a nice change from the more standard hotels I had been staying at on the Dhaka to Dakar journey, and the staff were really a highlight.

Andy’s Ratings:

Location: 4/5

Cleanliness: 3/5

Service: 4/5

Noise: 2/5

Value for Money: 3/5

Total: 16/25 (64/100)

Thanks for popping by! May the Journey Never End!