We stayed at the Cairo Le Sphinx from 19-23 Dec 2011. Our flight was delayed, so we arrived at night so we couldn't tell if our room had a pyramid view until the next morning. When we opened the curtains, it was a bit of a shock to see how close they actually were!

This hotel is very affordable, it was clean and the food was good. It's not 5 star, so don't expect it to be. They do an excellent steak in the R&J Lounge/Restaurant. The hotel seemed very focused on getting the guests allocated to a driver for the duration of your stay as soon as we checked in. We changed our driver after the first day after we paid to go to Saqqara at 3pm when the site closed at 4pm.

There are a number of shops within the hotel and I bought a Lonely Planet Egypt guide at one of them which was invaluable during our trip. There are some pool tables on the 1st floor and a small selection of books you can borrow.

We stayed at this hotel for its location. For that purpose it was ideal and I think it was good value for the price we paid. If you want to use it as a base for seeing Cairo, I would stay closer to the city.

Relocated here on short notice after my Egyptian friend insisted that I not stay near Tahrir Square due to concerns about my safety. The pros - The tariff was good value. The staff were mostly friendly and helpful. The reception area is nice and the pool looked great although too cold for swimming. My room had a great view of the pyramids. Now the cons - no wifi in room, rooms are tired and a bit grungy. None of the frills you would expect of a five star hotel but then the tariff wasn't five star either. This is more of a potential four star tourist resort that needs to renovate rooms. Breakfast was adequate. Ample food at buffet dinner. Best meal was at the cafe. Overall, ok but nothing memorable apart from the view.

Overall it was alright. Very poor service. Staff couldn't speak English, so had a bit of poor communication the duration of our stay. Not a very brilliant location as it's far away from town and landmarks.

Seriously. I think I am going to have to stop using TA for overseas adventures. I am not sure if the rest of the world has such low standards as to deem this a good hotel but come on. This place is old, dated, and the rooms are dark and dingy. Also, my husband was bit 5-6 times by mosquitos the moment we laid down to sleep. The hotel's solution? Switch us to another room? Nope. Spray a bunch of bug spray and let us try and sleep in the room with the noxious, chemical smell? Yep. Awesome. Don't want to even think about the kind of dangerous chemicals I'm sure were in that spray (no government guidelines on that kind of thing over there I'm quite sure). Oh well, at least we are now past the incubation period of West Nile and appear to be ok. Also, in the land of the Middle East apparently it is still acceptable to smoke indoors anywhere you like. So even though your room is "non-smoking" there is a lovely blue haze that can be seen (and smelled) in all other parts of the hotel. The only reason I am even giving this place 2 circles is that there wasn't any hair on the sheets. Yes, I am serious. This is a feat unto itself when staying in this part of the world. Apparently, most others are not bothered by finding (many) dark, strange hairs on pillows, sheets and towels but I am. Do yourself a favor and book the Le Meriden next door. Ate there for lunch one day (and didn't get sick which is a small miracle in Egypt) Don't expect 5 stars but maybe you won't find hair...