Guest Book

My saving grace in Egypt.

"After an absolutely horrid time in Cairo, I spent 4 days in Luxor at Mara's. The service I (my group of 4, that is) received was simply unprecedented.

First, I will start with the fact that Mara opened her doors for us as soon as we arrived in Luxor at 08:00. If you have done much traveling, you know what a pain it is to arrive that early only to wait until 11:30 to check in. We were taken care of 100% from the first minute we walked into the door. We were able to book all of the trips we wanted to do through Mara, at a MUCH lower rate than what competitors were offering online. My group did the West Bank tour and the Abydos tour. To make things even more of a treat, Mara took us on the Abydos tour herself! What a fountain of knowledge this woman is!

If you are looking for a comfortable place to hang your hat for a while, I highly recommend Mara House. From helping a sick member of the group with medicine to sitting up at night, drinking beer at the front desk sharing stories, Mara made us all feel right at home.

The rooms were spotless with very modern decor and working utilities, which is more than I can say about the 4 star hotel in Cairo I visited... As a special treat, Mara opened the restaurant for our first evening (they normally close in the summer.) Our group of 4 was joined by a British couple that had booked their Luxor trips through Mara. We were all exhausted by the time we were brought out the final course of the meal. Every single item on the menu was simply superb!

Maybe it does not matter to some, but the availability of alcohol meant a lot to me as well 🙂 Mara has a full stocked cooler of Stella and a bar with the main brand spirits as well. Some are not that big of drinkers, but I found it very difficult to find a decent hotel that actually had alcohol.

I am currently writing this review from the Hilton in Alexandria (btw, we would never have made it to Alexandria without Mara's helping us arrange last minute tickets after previous plans fell through) and each and every one of us is missing the comfort of home that Mara provided.

The hug as we were leaving was the ultimate kicker. Where else do you get such friendly service? If you want impersonal staff and melancholy service, you might want to look elsewhere, but if you want to feel like you truly belong where you are staying and have intelligent conversations with all of the staff and guests, I can do nothing more than HIGHLY recommend Mara House to anyone traveling to Luxor!"