Happy Land Hotel - Luxor, Egypt

Comment by Jose Velasquez

March 2007

For 55 Egyptian Pounds per night, you get a single room (with a double bed), a private bathroom, and a generous breakfast each morning (cereal, milk, lemonade, fruit salad with crepes, bread, jam, butter, and coffee). The rooms also come with mosquito coils, soap, two decent sized towels, some have a fridge, all have AC, and all include toilet paper. A nice thing about this hotel is you get fresh sheets and towels every day. Happy Land Hotel, like other budget hotels, also rents out bikes. They charge 10 Egyptian pounds for the day. My advice is rent a bike on the West Bank. That way you can avoid the annoyances of touts who want to help you cross the Nile (and you'll save yourself 1 pound and a headache by not taking one on the local ferry). If you're just checking out Luxor Temple and Karnak, rent the bike from the hotel. Bottled water at the hotel is pretty cheap at one and a half liters for 2EL. Although the hotel is not licensed, you can drink beer/wine in your own room. There's a restaurant located on the roof terrace. It's pricey, but some of the meals are amazing. Try the club sandwich, it'll leave your mouth watering. Neat thing about the restaurant is if it's a cool night, or you just want to eat by yourself, you can take your dishes down to your room (provided you return the plates when you're done). If cheaper fare is your style, there's a real cheap restaurant further down the street (it's to your left, near the end of the street, when you exit the hotel). There are two very handy maps of Luxor in the lobby. It would be nice if the Hotel offered small paper versions of those maps, to make it easy to navigate around town. Front desk service is friendly, albeit some of them are pretty sweet-talkers, and they'll try to convince you to book a tour through the Hotel. My advice is if you like to bargain, and you're no stranger to haggling, you'll find better deals where the donkeys and feluccas are actually located. If you're in a group (three or more), the rates are much better through the hotel than what you could find on your own. In any case, if you ask the front desk, they'll tell you what you should be paying for ferries, for museums, and for taxis (and at that they are very honest and knowledgeable). Many nationalities use this hotel. When I stayed, there was a French woman, a couple of Germans, an Australian, some Scandinavians, a Japanese, and some Chinese tourists. Laundry service is available at the hotel. It was pretty cheap for me. I did a huge load for 14EL. Also, if your train/flight leaves late in the day (i.e. past noon, which is checkout time), you can leave your bags in a room on the terrace, and take a free shower at the end of your day. However, Happy Land Hotel is a bit hidden (in a quiet, albeit decrepit looking street). The nice thing is it's real close to Nile street (the main drag). When you exit the hotel, hang a right, take your second left, and then hang a right. The only down side to this proximity is finding your way back. I got a little lost trying to find the hotel again. If the hotel provided its customers with photocopies of the maps in the lobby, it would make things so much easier. The Hotel's internet is old school, telephone-modem style. Thankfully, there's a high speed internet place located just down the street (to the left when you exit, very near the cheap eatery). Some of the stairs on the third floor are a little slippery. Watch your step. Overall it's an excellent hotel for the money. Very friendly and knowledgeable staff, and an amazing breakfast each morning. I just walked in -- I never made a reservation, which was another bonus, they had comfortable beds for someone who hadn't booked a night there.