Just got back from 10 days in Egypt.
Look, seeing the Pyramids and Karnak temple was life changing. But man, the fatigue from people trying to sell you stuff every 5 seconds is REAL.
My tip: hire a guide not just for history, but to act as a “human shield” against vendors. Anyone else feel like they needed a vacation after their vacation to Egypt, lol?
Curious to see what y’all’s experience was like
Hey @katherine - welcome to the forum! I just got back from Egypt myself 
I 100% agree that having a guide and taking a tour saves you from some a lot of the ‘hassle’, literally a wave of the hand and people will leave you alone. But honestly, I really didn’t find it too bad at all.
I had read a lot of comments online about how bad this is before I went, and I guess I have travelled to places like India and understand what this side of things might be like but to me, it was pretty standard. People try to sell you things as you walk past, if you show any signs of interest, then you might get followed for a while until you break and buy something, or the item will be put in your hand without you noticing! But if you politely say ‘La Shukran’ (no thank you) and then ignore them from that point, it generally worked. Ideally, don’t let anyone see you browsing, if you are genuinely interested then stop, otherwise scan from a distance!
I even got into some convo’s with the traders/sellers a couple of times, and when I made it clear I wasn’t buying and just chatted to them about where they are from, where did they get their koshary for lunch etc, they were super friendly!
I know this is not a common opinion online, but this was my experience! And I suspect very much helped that I did 2 guided tours!
My guide in Egypt did act as a buffer but also clearly had some preferred and pre-arranged few sellers that he pimped me out to. 
@katherine I also spent 10 days in Egypt and had a bit of a mixed experience at first.
For the first two days I explored on my own in Cairo and honestly felt a bit unsafe and overwhelmed, especially with some taxi situations and the constant attention from vendors.
On the third day I joined a guided tour, and everything changed. It turned into one of the most memorable trips of my life. Having a guide made things much easier and I could finally relax and enjoy the incredible history and places.
If anyone is curious, this was the tour I joined:
https://www.tourradar.com/t/45553?utm_source=partner-fatospur&utm_medium=ambassador&utm_campaign=sharetour
After that, the whole experience — temples, the Nile, and the pyramids — became truly unforgettable.
Same experience in Cairo tbh, a guide made a huge difference just to keep vendors from swarming you every 2 mins. Pre-booked stuff helped too since they leave you alone more.
We hired a driver in Egypt.
Everyone knew Hassan, so we were left alone; and he didn’t take us to any ‘sales outlets’.
We were not in Cairo to go shopping.
Despite all of that, I still think Egypt is somewhere everyone should see at least once in their life. Even 10 days did not feel like enough to see everything properly.
