Coming up today, we ride Egypt's 'LUXURY' Tourist Sleeper Train along the length of the
country, but is it actually any good? Hello and welcome back to Egypt! You join me
from my spectacular hotel rooftop overlooking the Pyramids of Giza. This 4-star hotel
only cost €45 (£40, $50) per night! Tonight we'll be taking Egypt's the Watania overnight service from here in Cairo,
down to stunning Southern city of Luxor. This magnificent station, the main one
in Egypt's capital does, if anything, look better at night, than in the day! The separate ticket office for this sleeper train, is located just to the right hand
side and outside the main entrance. OK, let's head inside. Before you're allowed in, your bags are X-rayed and you
walk through a metal detector. And then we find ourselves in the
main concourse. Just look at this spectacular ceiling centrepiece, how stunning! Downstairs are a few shops and snack outlets, and upstairs are some restaurants,
and the 'Foreigners Ticket Office'. (See my Egyptian Talgo review for an
explanation of this, it's linked above now!) Time to head to our platform, which is
right over the far side of the station, the furthest one from the main concourse. I walked down a central corridor under the tracks,
and as far as I could see, there were no lifts, or accessible routes available.
You can however enter the station from the opposite side, which goes
straight to the departure platform. A worker carries out a quick litter
pick before our train arrives. There are more snack stalls, toilets, a waiting
room, and some platform side seating over here. Our train pulls in around 15 minutes before
departure, hauled by this General Electric ES30ACi diesel-electric locmotive, which
has a top speed of 120kmh or 75mph. Trailing is a rake of 'deluxe'
sleeper coaches. These are all pretty much identical, and each feature 9x
two-bed sleeper compartments per carriage. Let's have a quick look at our behemoth
of a loco, and then get on board! There is no level boarding, and unfortunately, I couldn't see any ramps or
lifts or anything for assistance. We'll be in Coach 2, beds 13 (& 14), as I've booked solo occupancy
of this compartment for tonight. Let's check out our route
from Cairo down to Luxor... We depart on time at 19:45. The route on
Train No.86 to Luxor is 645km (400mi), and it's scheduled to take us 10
hours & 25 minutes of travel time, arriving at 06:10 tomorrow morning. Solo occupancy of this deluxe
compartment is priced at $126 (£101, €114). This is the foreigner's price,
there are huge discounts for Egyptians, and other citizens of Arab countries. If you're travelling as a couple, the foreigners's
price is $80 (£64, €73) each. This can be booked online, a max of 30 days in advance,
and must be paid in US$. If you want AD-FREE early access to every video, great perks and to help me to
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from just £1.99 month. Just click the link above now, or
in the description of every video, or the JOIN button below. Thank you! OK, time to check out the compartment! The door can be locked from the inside, and there should be a security
chain too, but mine was broken. Let's close the curtains, so we have full privacy. Two really comfy pillows are provided,
probably the best I've ever had on a train! The mattress was soft, and all the
bedding looked (and smelt!) very clean. Each bunk has a storage net,
and cupholder available. By the door, you'll find the
switches for the night light, main room lights, A/C, and also
the annoucement volume controls. As I'm travelling alone, the top bunk was
pre-made on my arrival. These comfy seats are for use in the daytime, and then fold down
to make the lower bunk, if there's two of you. In the space above the door/corridor,
is a large luggage storage area. Coat hooks and hangers are
provided to hang your clothes. And if you are travelling in a group,
interconnecting cabins are avilable. The (pretty filthy) tables slot in to the wall, as shown here. Each room has a sink with
running water & soap provided. This is also where you'll find
the rooms only power socket. A litter bin can be found under the window. Overall, it's not a bad sleeper room,
but for one that is sold as 'deluxe', I do feel it's showing its age,
and needs a good refurbishment. Dinner and breakfast are included in your
fare. I actually ordered the vegetarian option, but the attendant said they only had chicken.
So I guess I'll have the chicken then! It was actually reasonably tasty, and far
from the worst meal I've had on a train! Final order of business tonight,
let's check out the toilets... There was water, soap and toilet roll, but the
hand dryer didn't work, and the toilet lid wasn't attached. As with the general theme of the train,
they needed a good clean too! There is also a lounge car where
you can relax and have a drink, but as it's getting late,
I'm going to settle down... I slept exceptionally well, around
7 hours. The beds are super comfy, and both the ride quality and noise levels
were also good. I feel very refreshed! As soon as the attendant saw I was up and
about, he brought me breakfast to my room. Again, this was pretty good
for a complimentary offering. As we have done for nearly all the night, we are again paralleling the
course of the majestic River Nile. Top Tip: This train goes all the way to Aswan,
some 3hrs further south, but the fare is the same as going to Luxor. Unfortunately, I
didn't have time to do that on this trip. One more thing, there is no
WiFi provided on this train. Stay tuned to the end and I'll
take you on a mini-tour of the stunning city of Luxor, and its beautiful temple. But first, let me give you my
summary of this overnight trip from Cairo to Luxor on the Watania Sleeper Train. They call it 'deluxe', but it's far from
it. But, let's start with the positives, the beds were great, and I slept really well. I was also pleasantly surprised
by the food, it was good. The main issues are the state of the compartments,
and general cleanliness. They could do with a full refurb, to make this a flagship product.
Because it could be great! That being said, it's relatively
good value, for what you get, and a fairly comfortable and efficient way
to travel over night from Egypt's capital, to either Luxor or Aswan. We arrived around 10 mins late, at 06:20. If you do take this train, as it arrives early,
I'd recommend staying at the 4-star Iberotel in Luxor, as they let me check in at 07:00 for
just a $10 fee, and it only costs $40/night. Oh and do, be ready to be full-on hassled
by the taxi drivers when you walk outside! Have you been on any Egyptian
train before? Which route did you do and how was it? Leave me a comment below! Time to go for a wander around Luxor! I'm always open to new video ideas,
so leave me a comment, or a DM on Instagram or Twitter if there's anything
you really want to see on the channel. Don't forget to subscribe as
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and I'll see you next week!
