Given easy access from Cairo, there have to be good reasons why foreign tourists are so thin on the ground. Number one is the Governorate capital,
Fayoum City , which has all of Cairo's
drawbacks and few of its advantages. Avaricious drivers bedevil day excursions to the distant
antiquities , whilst
baksheesh -hungry locals pester visitors to
Lake Qaroun , where wealthy tourists are bussed in for shooting holidays. It is possible to get into the diverse
birdlife , local
moulids or
desert expeditions , but you have to be committed. If you're only lukewarm, a brief day-trip will probably discourage further contact.
As for the best time to go , the Fayoum's winters are warmer and drier than Cairo's, its summers milder than in Upper Egypt; however, cold winds in spring - known as the khamseen, coat everything with dust. At other times, the clarity of the air causes the sun's rays to burn more strongly than you'd expect.
Getting there
The
road from Cairo to the Fayoum starts near the Pyramids of Giza, whose silhouette sinks below the horizon as the road gains a barren plateau dotted with army bases, then (76km later) reaches the edge of the Fayoum depression. Once here, the Ptolemaic-Roman site of Kom Oshim is passed (on the left) before you sight Lake Qaroun and cruise down through Sinnuris into Fayoum City, driving past the Obelisk of Senusert I.
Buses (ŁE3.50) from Cairo's Ramses and Giza terminals (every 15-30min between 6.15am and 6.45pm) do the 100km journey in two hours; advance bookings are usually only necessary from midday Thursday till late on Saturday, or during Ramadan, Fayoumi moulids and public holidays. An alternative is to go to Midan Giza and grab a
service taxi . These seven-seater Peugeots or pack-'em-in minibuses run practically non-stop from early morning to late at night, charging ŁE5 for a stomach-churning high-speed ride past the wrecks of previous crashes, reaching Fayoum City in just over an hour -
inshallah. For those with more time on their hands, the daily
train from Cairo's Ramses and Giza stations (3rd class; ŁE3) takes a leisurely two or three hours to reach Fayoum City's central train station.
Coming from the Nile Valley , catch one of the half-hourly buses or service taxis from Beni Suef , which reach Fayoum City in an hour. The road runs through a cultivated strip beside the Bahr Yussef, so there's little sense of entering an oasis; en route it passes the start of tracks to the Lahun and Hawara pyramids. Buses and service taxis coming from this direction terminate at the Hawatim depot in the southwest of town.
