Hi there, we use cookies to improve your experience on our website. You can update your settings by clicking the Privacy policy link at the bottom of the page. Now that convoys are I hope no longer mandatory between Luxor and Sohag, are tourists also free to travel in buses and service taxis? Also, if someone arrives in El Balyana by whatever transport wanting to go to Abydos, is a police escort still required for that?
Starting in Qena, I would like to visit Dendara and Abydos, and then travel onward to Minya in one day. This should be feasible, except that according to egyptrail. Are there other humbler trains that leave later which a lone female tourist might be able to take? I did notice that there's a train from Sohag to Minya which leaves at , which would leave an extra hour for sightseeing if I could get to Sohag.
If anyone has information about alternate means of transport along this route, approximately how frequently and how late it runs, and whether tourists are allowed, this would be very helpful! Convoys are no longer mandatory, but that doesn't necessarily free up public transport.
Security details are still assigned to foreign tourists, and in some parts esp. Flag down a microbus to a remote monastery, and the officers may threaten to revoke the driver's license if he takes you. Hop on a bus and suddenly it's "broken down".
In some parts, particularly if there have been recent outbreaks of sectarian violence, they may toss you in the back of their truck with soldiers and escort you directly to the rail station or out of town. In others, you will find police laid back and cooperative - even helpful. I recall one time when after hours of attrition - in which the police blocked every attempt to board public transport and I finally resorted to walking the 25 km to a ruined church - my security detail finally gave in and agreed to drive me in their armored vehicles to any place I desired.
