Six of the best historic hotels in Egypt

From lamp-lit rooms with views once enjoyed by Alexander the Great to a Churchill favourite, these hotels have atmosphere in spades.

CAIRO MARRIOTT MENA HOUSE

Mena House Marriott

Egypt’s most famous hotel is right beside the gates to the Pyramids of Giza. It was built as a hunting lodge in 1869 for the Empress Eugenie, in town to open the Suez Canal. Later Cairo-based English architect Henri Favarger expanded it into a hotel, which stormed onto the Cairo scene in 1887. Home of Egypt’s first swimming pool, Australian troops were stationed nearby while it served as a hospital in World War I, and later, writers and artists including Arthur Conan Doyle and Charlie Chaplin wintered and scribed at the hotel, which is where Churchill, Roosevelt and Kai-Shek signed the independence of the Korean peninsula in 1943. A decade on, Cecil B DeMille and Charlton Heston stayed during the filming of The Ten Commandments, and it hosted pre-Camp David peace talks between Egypt and Israel in the 1970s. Today, the modern Pyramid wing puts the Pyramids of Giza right outside your window, while the historic Palace wing has been enjoying a protracted renovation, to open later in 2023. From $334, see marriott.com

ALEXANDRIA STEIGENBERGER CECIL HOTEL

Location, location, location.

When you’re staying here, know that you’re snuggling up with Al Capone and Winston Churchill (who pretty much stayed in every well-placed hotel in North Africa). Built in 1929, it’s location, location, location: the four-star hotel faces Alexandria’s Corniche and looks out to the Qaitbay Citadel and the Mediterranean Sea. For a hit of history, take a drink in the Monty Bar, named for Field Marshal Montgomery, who faced off against Field Marshal Rommel at the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942. Round out your stay with a visit to the El Alamein war cemetery, 120 kilometres west of Alexandria, which is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. From $145, steigenberger.com

ASWAN SOFITEL LEGEND OLD CATARACT

Aswan Sofitel Legend Old Cataract.

One of Egypt’s grand dames, the Cataract Hotel was designed by Mena House architect Henri Favarger, built in 1899 by Thomas Cook & Son and given a French polish when the Accor group took it over in 2011. The historic Palace wing gets all the glory – find here the signature Sir Winston Churchill and the Agatha Christie suites (Christie wrote Death on the Nile here). Meanwhile, the newer Nile wing, built in 1961 for the opening of the Aswan High Dam, gets bigger, brighter rooms and the top floor has the best views of the Nile and Nubia below. There are 138 rooms, a sunken hammam, Aswan’s top restaurant, and the Nile-facing terrace is the best place for sundowners, as done by tsars and princesses before you. From $625. See sofitel.accorhotels.com

LUXOR SOFITEL WINTER PALACE LUXOR

Luxor Sofitel Winter Palace.

Luxor’s east bank is about life – the Old Kingdom treasures of Karnak and Luxor Temple, and – less loftily – the Sofitel Winter Palace. Like its Aswan counterpart, the hotel was built with Thomas Cook & Son, and opened in 1907. It shot to international fame as the bolthole of Lord Carnarvon, the patron of Egyptologist Howard Carter, who discovered King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Carter used the hotel as his media HQ, posting updates for waiting journalists as he uncovered the riches of the Valley of the Kings. For full immersion, take high tea in the Victorian lounge and the pick of its 92 guestrooms are, naturally, the Nile-facing suites. From $238. See sofitel.accorhotels.com

CAIRO MARRIOTT HOTEL & OMAR KHAYYAM CASINO

Cairo Marriott once served as a hospital for Australian casualties from the battle of Gallipoli.Credit: Alamy

Australia has an unusual place in the history of this Nile-side hotel in the upmarket Cairo suburb of Zamalek. The original section is the Gezirah Palace, like the Mena House, whipped up in 1869 for Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie before its hotel conversion in 1894. In World War I, the hotel became the No 2 Australian General Hospital after a wave of casualties were shipped from Turkey to Cairo after the Battle of Gallipoli and distributed between Mena House and what is now the Cairo Marriott. While the rooms – in two modern towers – are awaiting a much-needed renovation, the gem is the original palace, allegedly modelled on the Palace of Versailles. From $334, marriott.com

SIWA ADRERE AMELLAL

Siwa Adrere Amellal.

Draw back the curtains in this hand-made, mudbrick hotel for views of the Great Sand Sea and Siwa’s dramatical salt lake. It’s a view once enjoyed by Alexander the Great, who visited in 321BC to consult the ancient Oracle of Amon, whose temple you can still visit today. The eco-hotel is in the indigenous architecture style and is made of kershef, a mix of saltrock and straw. There is no plastic and no electricity, no reception and no menus; at night, beeswax candles and oil lamps light your route to the organic-food restaurant and the 40 rooms use date palm fronds for shade and furniture. Set 16 kilometres from the centre of the oasis town of Siwa, it’s an isolated hotel in an isolated oasis, 50 kilometres from the Libyan border. From $823, see adrereamellal.com

Belinda Jackson stayed as a guest of Siwa Adrere Amellal and Marriott Mena House.