Cairo: Cairo Marriott (5 Star Hotel)

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Address: 16 saraya el gezira street, Po box 33 , Cairo , Egypt
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Lonely Planet review

A 19th-century palace provides the lobby and other public areas, but the rooms are all in two modern towers. Renovated in 2007, with touches such as plasma-screen TVs and extra-plush beds, the rooms are some of the more comfortable in this price bracket, even if the standard bathrooms are as small as prison cells. It also has a popular garden café and a great pool.

This has long been the address in lovely Zamalek, offering sumptuous respite from Cairo's chaos. Behind a gorgeous neo-Islamic frontage of cast-iron arcades, the interior of the palace (where the lobby/reception area is) offers a lavish mix of Middle Eastern styles that is infinitely interesting to explore. Outside, standing in the wonderful garden, admiring the pool (thoughtfully featuring indoor and outdoor areas), you can't help but be a little dismayed at the towers either side that represent your lodgings. While the rooms are fine, it does spoil the magic. There's a choice of views (Nile view from the south tower is perhaps the best) and rooms closest to Sharia 26th of July in the north tower can be noisy. While the location almost guarantees that you'll be taxiing everywhere, it's a wonderful address to come back to.