Drinks

[nefer21]

How much is a large bottle of water nowadays, and fizzy for a large bottle please?

[A-Four]

A bottle of water is very reasonably priced in Egypt, and as a rule most good hotels I have stayed at in Luxor leave a large bottle in your room each day. Avoid tap water at all cost, even for cleaning teeth.

Tonic water is available at many small supermarkets as is coke cola, which cost between 12 and 15LE, being there is 65LE to the £, I think you will agree that's much cheaper than the UK.
.

[John Landon]

A 2 litre bottle of water off the main drag in Luxor will cost around 20 LE about 30 pence.
It will cost more on the main road.

The hotel will charge considerably more. But even at say 55 to 60 LE that's still under a UK pound.

[nefer21]

Thank you for your answer.

Is Gerdas Garden still in business? I am thinking of staying in Karnak but have no idea where to eat. Any recommendations?

[John Landon]

Sorry, I can't help you with that one.
We seldom go down to that neck of the woods.
I don't recall eating anywhere in that area when we stayed there 20 plus years ago, before we migrated our accommodation to the south of the city.

We tend to dine at Maximes and Jewel of the Nile at the southern end of the town.
Jewel is a tad more expensive, but the fillets steaks are cooked to perfection and taste great.
The inside is well presented, clean and tidy, as good as any place you will find in Europe.

Best Value is Maximes, though these days they only have one floor now and the one member of staff, but the food is great and very reasonabley priced for tourists.
We were there on Friday night. No complaints from me or the good lady wife.

[crewmeal]

Try the Schweppes bitter lemon with mint, it's so refreshing, available at most shops in fridges usually outside along with all other soft drinks.

[nefer21]

Thanks for the info

[HEPZIBAH]

A bottle of water is very reasonably priced in Egypt, and as a rule most good hotels I have stayed at in Luxor leave a large bottle in your room each day. Avoid tap water at all cost, even for cleaning teeth.

Tonic water is available at many small supermarkets as is coke cola, which cost between 12 and 15LE, being there is 65LE to the £, I think you will agree that's much cheaper than the UK.
.

It would seem that I've never stayed at a 'good hotel' when visiting Luxor as I've never received a bottle of water in my room.
As for avoiding tap water at all cost - I've always cleaned my teeth with tap water, drank tap water in local's homes and, when necessary, which was often, drunk from the communal family cup of water. I never had a digestive or other health issue arising from this.
I don't suggest that others do this, but I do think people shouldn't be in such fear and alarm about doing it either.

[nefer21]

I have always cleaned my teeth in the past with tap water. Never been ill, my family have done the same.

[John Landon]

I will be honest, in all my years visiting Luxor, I too have had no issue brushing my teeth and rinsing out my mouth at the hotel, and even drinking the tap water that is available on the street on those little aluminum cubicles with cups tied to the taps.

However, this time after a 12 year absence, I noticed that in our bathroom the is now a warning label on the mirror advising not to drink the tap water.
I was curious and tried a little bit of it and to be honest it didn't taste good at all. There was a chemical taste to it.

I can only assume something has changed in the water supply. the hotel will give you water for drinking, so it's not scare tactics to make you buy thier water.

It may well be now that there is indeed a safe domestic supply of water, and also a lesser treated supply of water for other uses.

In places like Liverpool for example, they have good clean quality water piped in from reservoirs in my neck of the woods here in Wales, thier industrial water comes from the tidal estuary the Mersey river.
Many offices and hotels have both coming into the establishments. On the sinks in restrooms and the like, they too have signs saying not to drink the water.

Assuming that as Luxor is growing so fast, then lesser treated water may be used for the gardens and bathrooms, swimming pools etc, and the better quality water is for use for the kitchens.

I would however expect that all homes on the east bank would indeed have good quality water.

As for the hotels, probably not. Good quality water will come at a premium price and is such a valuable commodity out in the middle of a desert.

[nefer21]

Food for thought John, I would never had thought that there might be 2 qualities of water, in Luxor or UK. I thought water was just water. Thanks for enlightening me.

[A-Four]

It would seem that I've never stayed at a 'good hotel' when visiting Luxor as I've never received a bottle of water in my room.

After I gave up my home on the WB more that twelve years ago now, my new home for my visits was the Lotus Hotel, there was no bottle water in my room, so I immediately requested one, and each day after, another was left for me. There was no additional charge for this. Each time I stayed at this hotel over a number of years, the same applied.

For the past three years my holiday home in Luxor has been the Iberotel Hotel, a bottle of water is automatically placed in my room each day, without requesting, and at no additional cost. Both these hotels are excellent, as far as I am concerned. Would I recommend them ? NO, simply because some would find fault with the place, that is usually of their own making.

[nefer21]

Thank you for the hotel info regarding water. Does the Iberotel have any ramps down to the pool?

[A-Four]

Thank you for the hotel info regarding water. Does the Iberotel have any ramps down to the pool?

Into the garden area, yes, but not to the pool. To be honest, for anyone who is elderly or disabled the many steps to the pool area are not brilliant. The Lotus Hotel I believe may be a better option for pool access, if you have a disability.

[denisegr]

My very first visit 2002 we arrived at the boat late evening, there was no bottled water in the room so I used my duty free vodka to clean my teeth, (my excuse and I'm sticking to it). Since then I've only ever used the tap water with no ill effects

[HEPZIBAH]

It would seem that I've never stayed at a 'good hotel' when visiting Luxor as I've never received a bottle of water in my room.

After I gave up my home on the WB more that twelve years ago now, my new home for my visits was the Lotus Hotel, there was no bottle water in my room, so I immediately requested one, and each day after, another was left for me. There was no additional charge for this. Each time I stayed at this hotel over a number of years, the same applied.

For the past three years my holiday home in Luxor has been the Iberotel Hotel, a bottle of water is automatically placed in my room each day, without requesting, and at no additional cost. Both these hotels are excellent, as far as I am concerned. Would I recommend them ? NO, simply because some would find fault with the place, that is usually of their own making.

I have stayed at the Lotus Hotel, so it would seem that I have stayed at a good hotel after all.
Unfortunately, I arrived very late in the evening, certainly too late for me to take my work and travel weary body out to search for bottled water. I requested a bottle from the hotel, and got a hefty charge for it (from memory something like 5X's what it was selling for in small shops). Needless to say, from then on, I made sure I always bought a couple of bottles of water for my room before returning to the hotel each day. Other than that, I have found it a hotel to fit my simple needs although I've never really liked staying in the Little Britain area.

[crewmeal]

For the past three years my holiday home in Luxor has been the Iberotel Hotel, a bottle of water is automatically placed in my room each day, without requesting, and at no additional cost.

I too have stayed at the Iberotel for many years and found the service excellent and yes a large bottle of water was supplied FOC each day. The breakfast that's included was a good standard with plenty of choice available.

[nefer21]

Thank you for the info, I really appreciate it.