I used to live in Cairo and knew that it is quite hard to find a cheap hotel in the neighborhood of Zamalek, where upper-class Egyptians and most foreigners reside. I was specifically looking for a reasonably priced hotel in this area when I returned for a short visit, but besides the Marriott and the Hilton (which were not affordable) there is not much choice in Zamalek.

However, I was quite pleased with the Horus House Hotel. It is still too expensive for what you get, but that is the price you have to pay for staying in the westernized centre of Cairo. The location of Zamalek (island in the Nile) is amazing, you are in the middle of everything and all sights are only a short taxi ride away (depending on the traffic).

The house is one of the old villas you find all over Zamalek, therefor the rooms are almost too huge for the few pieces of furniture they have in it. Regarding cleanliness it was okay. Anywhere else you would expect more for this price, but you have to keep in mind, it is Egypt and have the best location possible, so when I had neither hot water nor a working heating, but hundreds of holes in my blanket instead, I was not surprised. Also the fact that nothing happened after I complained about the lacking hot water did not shock me, I had bigger troubles when I actually had my own flat in Cairo (like three weeks without electricity).

The house itself is quite cute, the street in which it is is lush and green (which is rare in Cairo), has lots of trees and is quiet (for Egyptian standards). There are restaurants, coffeeshops, banks, bookshops, hotels with pools and gyms etc near-by and as I already mentioned: You can easily access everything else by cab.

In the three days I was there, I never made it to the breakfast, but I saw that they are serving food throughout the day and there were always quite a few people sitting in the restaurant - so it cannot be that bad, because there are amazing restaurants within walking-distance but people obviously chose to eat in.

All in all it is definitely not a hotel you book in order to enjoy the hotel, but I was quite satisfied.

The staff was very polite and friendly, no rude comments towards female foreigners (which is not the norm in Egypt).