Egypt must be the world's oldest tourist destination, mainly due to the awe‐inspiring pyramids, the only survivor of the seven wonders of the ancient world. But there is much more to Egypt than the pyramids as this revised Footprint guide makes clear.
The guides contents are split into the following sections: Introducing Egypt; Essentials; Cairo; Around Cairo and the Nile delta; Middle Egypt; Luxor; South of Luxor; Alexandria and the Mediterranean Coast; Suez Canal Zone; Sinai; Red Sea and the Eastern Desert; Western Desert; Background; Footnotes. The first section has a general two‐page map showing the highlights of the country and a nine‐page Foot in the Door overall guide to Egypt including 18 colour photographs. This is rather a good introduction to the country giving wider perspective to the many faces of Egypt, such as the cities and deserts, not just the ancient monuments that Egypt instantly brings to mind.
The next section, Essentials, gives all the usual details needed for travelling to and around Egypt, e.g. when to go, where to go, health, money, getting there, customs and laws, getting around, sleeping, eating, shopping, etc. This section I found to be very detailed, up to date and comprehensive. In each section there is also a sub‐contents called Footprint Features that contain tips and interesting facts. These have amusing titles such as Mummy Comes Home and Never Smile at a Crocodile and catch your eye while browsing through the book.
Each of the ten chapters on the areas of Egypt start with a small map with the area covered highlighted and contents of the section listed. The last two sections of the guide, Background and Footnotes, contain everything else that the tourist might wish to know, such as history of the country, culture, environment, books to read, basic language, indexes, etc.
Also included in the Footnotes section are nine pages of colour maps. The print of the book is in the standard Footprint black, white and red with no photographs other than the ones in the Introduction, although it does have small plans of the main temples, towns, railways, etc. It would have been useful to have a photograph of the main sites described, just to give the traveller an idea of what to look for.
This said, like other Footprint guides, this is an easy book to handle with good quality paper and a matt gloss cover, which should stand the wear and tear of suntan lotion covered hands! The size of the book is small enough to fit in a travel bag yet large enough in content to be the only one needed for travelling. It would be ideal in the travel section of a library, especially those serving the general public.
