Review: Le Meridien Cairo Airport

Thanks so much for such a great post. I even emailed the link to my parents.. As they are worried about our Travels to Africa.. Let alone Egypt. We are staying at the JW marriott when we go in Feb. Rates are unbelievable for club level! We are going to try and use your guide as well. Keep the posts coming, PS- I'm still waiting for Iceland 🙂

Hold on, Ben, you say the hotel is connected to T3, and you're arriving from T1, but then the escalators connect to T1 and "not useful if you're flying out of T3". So, which is which?

@ w -- Got my words twisted. Fixed now -- escalators are connected to T3.

@ Melissa -- Enjoy Egypt! And promise I'm writing these reports as fast as I can. 🙂

So when will you start posting on dad's trip?

@ Eric -- Once the trip actually starts.

@Melissa - I wouldn't recommend JW Marriott as it's a little bit too far from really anything and it isn't very glamorous. Trust me, if you're going for the points, I suggest the Cairo Marriott Hotel, which is absolutely fabulous and conveniently located. If you're not, shoot for maybe the Four Seasons Nile Plaza (pricey) or the Kempinski (also pricey). Cairo Marriott Hotel is super nice, though!

@Ben - There's a people mover that works between T1 and T3 v.v.
Did you know: T2 was built before T1, and by the time T1 was finished, they closed T2. When they decided to build one more terminal, they named it T3, and therefore there's only T1 and T3 now, and in the 70s and 80s, there was only T2.

And Ben, please, make sure you have this trip done before you start your father's so that we can possibly be able to follow your father's birthday trip more "live"

Have a nice day!

The US State Department doesnt have any travel warnings for Egypt currently which is probably a sign that they consider the situation to have improved (considering they do have one for Israel). Still a good place to be careful and probably dont want to visit the Sinai but it seems like the Pyrmaids should be safe.

Since you have been flying business class long haul, what difference does it have at 3am? if you were really tired after flying, perhaps, there is little value in flying J. why didnt u stay in a cat 1 in cairo as you need to go out anyways.

@ Alan -- Why was I tired?

1) I had a 14 hour delay
2) I had a 10 hour flight with a five hour layover connecting to another four hour flight
3) I was jetlagged after having flown from the US a couple of days prior
4) One of the things I do for a living is review airlines and hotels, so while I might otherwise go straight to sleep on a plane, in my case I stay up and try to review as many aspects of the products as possible
5) The flight had wifi and I chose to work on it, since it was partly during US business hours
6) My friend was flying out of Cairo Airport at 1PM the day I was arriving, so it was most convenient for us both to be near the airport so she could leave right away after the tour

Hey Ben,

Staying in Cairo at the Le Meridien Pyramids for 3 nights in May (thanks to your award booking services)-- after reading this I think I'm going to change our last night to this hotel since we have a 6 AM flight to Sharm El Sheikh. Looks like a great place and it will probably save me a couple hours of sleep!!

@ Joe -- Enjoy the trip and sounds like a good idea!

Ummm, you do realise there is a monorail at CAI that links terminals, including a stop for the Le Meridien?

@ Lucky - if/when QR starts flying A380 to New York and publishes a cheap F fare ex-CAI, this is where we are going to hold a reader meet-up, right? LOL

P.S. It's a little bit spooky to see Egypt so empty. There are touristy areas like all inclusive resorts outside of Cairo that should be doing a little bit better, I think.

Another very nice airport hotel is the Fairmont Towers. Service is impeccable and the hotel is physically beautiful. I was once also upgraded to a suite there -- it wasn't as huge as yours, but was quite impressive also. And the bath amenities really stood out. I can't remember the name of the brand, but it was British and just fantastic!!

You gotta feel terrible for these hotels, though, having to put out such spreads in the lounges (and buying so much food for the restaurants) when they know that the hotel is empty. 🙁 They must be really hurting.

Nice report . Just one thing to comment the airport terminals at Cairo are connected . There is a people mover train https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cairo-Airport-Automated-People-Mover-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%A9/396499620419960

Ben, awesome review. I just booked this hotel, going to Cairo for a week so hope no Easter terror or political violence occurs.

Can't wait and thanks for great detailed review! Have you been back since 2014?