New Years In Cairo

[morganeats]

I will be spending new years in Cairo this year with my fiancee. We are looking for something to do, but it doesnt have to be a wild party. I understand that alot of people just have nice long dinners and go from there. Id like a recommendation for a cool dinner spot, not too stuffy but maybe more on the fun relaxed side. We are probably going to stay at the fairmont nile city or somewhere in that area. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

[roxlet]

My friend -- a native of Cairo -- just emailed me back, she said:
"Tamarai - it's in nile city

But they have to have reservations"

I know nothing further...

[morganeats]

thank you so much! I will check it out. When I saw that there was a Buddah Bar in the Sofitel that jumped to my mind as a good option. Ive been to the Buddah Bar in paris and las vegas and they are pretty fun. Ill check out Tamarai though bc Id like to do something more off the beat and path if I can

[roxlet]

I emailed her again and she said that Tamarai is a club but that they have good food.

[inner_peace]

Just joined chowdown and saw your post. I did New Years last year at Buddha Bar, it was nice, not crowded. Sofitel also has a nice pool/spa area. Its quite a lovely hotel. One thing about Cairo, you dont need to book 30 days in advance for tickets. For Buddha Bar we literally purchased within a week of New Years! They say Sharm El Sheikh is the best place to spend New Years, if you can get there for the weekend (this option does require advance booking for new years). Otherwise, you will find many hotel parties in Cairo, there is an info # to call to find out about venues for New Years and you will get all the Cairo parties and prices on the phone. I think you can ask your hotel what this # is, it should be pretty well known #.

I have to recommend this restaurant: Al Araby on 81 Abd El Manam Reyad: http://www.aswakegypt.com/b2b/templat...
They have great grilled meats and dishes, reasonably priced. Not a fancy place but the food is really good. Grilled chicken is great, the lamb, rice with noodle.

There is also an excellent Indian restaurant at the Hilton Ramses. there are many places but these come to mind. Breakfast buffet at the Hyatt I happen to like very much. I love the fetyr, so delicious.

Things to do: horseback riding in the desert. Many do this on Jan 1, what a great way to salute the New Years on horseback in the Saharan desert? If interested, I can give you the name of a place that has lovely horses, a bit pricey but clean and reliable horses.

Then of course you must to go khan Khaleelee - well known souk, sit for sheesha and tea, shop the souk. Cant recommend any restuarants in the souk, its more for the experience, the sheesha.
Good luck!

[roxlet]

After thinking about it, I would suggest having dinner at one of the hotel restaurants. I remember eating at an Asian Restaurant called Buddah Bar, I think, in one of the hotels and it also had a casino that didn't get cranking until pretty late. The restaurants at the Four Seasons are very swank-ola and we used to have lunch frequently at La Gourmandise (the Four Seasons in Giza), in the cafe in the lobby (not recommended for New Years), but we also checked out some of the other restaurants, and they looked pretty nice, and would probably be festive for New Year's. The restaurants in the hotels also have the advantage of serving alcohol, which most non-hotel affiliated restaurants do not. We never got there, but there is also a party boat on the Nile that people thought was really fun. Wael may know more about that, but it's pretty Egyptian and they probably don't serve alcohol. I was living there with my then 13 year-old, so we didn't got to a lot of nightclubs, as you can imagine. Something that could be fun in a very touristy "I can't believe we're doing this" kind of way are the Nile dinner cruises. There is entertainment (bad pop singers, belly dancers and whirling dervishes), and the food is just OK, but there is an extremely festive atmosphere. We went in the summer as someone's guest for a birthday celebration, and we would never have gone otherwise, but it was fun in its way. I believe that there was alcohol on this boat too. Bear in mind that Cairo is a very nocturnal city, and New Year's in on a Friday, which is a day that everyone is off, so there is bound to be celebrations everywhere. I will ask some of my Egyptian friends if they have other suggestions.