Guest Book

I stayed at Mara House with my son for 4 nights in January 2013. The accomodation is in a "genuine" Egyptian neigbourhood away from the other hotels and about 5 minutes from the railway station. The accomodation was a large living room with a large bedroom. Breakfast, which was included in the price, was continental in nature and perfectly fine. Unfortunately time precluded taking some of the tours that Mara organised and unfortunately we were not able to attend the Egyptian feast as the chef was ill on the relevant day.

The biggest plus of Mara house is that the staff (and I will no doubt spell these names wrong) Sahry and his colleague (Amr). They genuinely cared that you had a good experience in Luxor and were always anxious to ensure that the vist was as hassle free as possible. In particular, we had a difficult situation with a caliche driver who upped his fee by a great deal and became very aggressive. Sahry and Amr came out of Mara House at what was 1 am in the morning and spoke with him, arranged a reasonable fee and directed us inside.

Overall I would recommend Mara House. Being in a genuine Egyptian neighbourhood, you really benefit from meeting real Egyptians who are not out to hassle you and we were touched by the acts of kindness shown to us (such as a local giving us a "no obligation" ride on the back of his moped to Mara House when we got slightly lost one night). It is slightly out of the town centre (15 minutes walk to Luxor temple) compared with other hotels and did not have a TV (if this is important to you) etc, but if you are willing to walk or use the fixed rate taxis/caliche that Mara House organises and wish to experience a less touristy side of Luxor, it is perfect.