sleeper train in egypt with kids reviews

Should you take the sleeper train in Egypt from Cairo to Luxor with kids? Absolutely, yes! Do not miss it. But you should know going in that it’s a bucket list experience… meaning that it won’t always be comfortable but it will definitely be worth it! In short, you’re exchanging an epic experience (plus ‘savings’ on flights and two meals) for a night without sleep. ;)

The positives - this train runs overnight from Cairo to Luxor, from around 7:30pm to 6:30am. You’ll have an actual bed to sleep* in, dinner and breakfast are included, you reserve your spot ahead of time, and it’s pretty safe and clean. But the biggest reason to book it? I can promise that you will never forget the experience – the whole package. People always talk about the views at sunrise coming into Luxor – which is definitely a huge selling point. But the whole thing (see below) is really just crazy enough to make it a core memory for you and the kids too – so that alone is the reason to book it! Now, some detail…

Surprisingly, in many ways, it’s a first-class experience.

For six people, we had three private rooms, two of which connected to each other! There is an attendant assigned to each car, and they bring you food, help you set up your bed, and wake you up well in advance of your arrival. I showed the kids a video on TikTok where the influencer said “you get your own personal butler” which is a little misleading (as they are more akin to a flight attendant), but my kids loved that idea and wouldn’t let it go… and this guy lived up to expectations.

The room is equipped with a set of bunk beds, and they have sheets plus a pillow for each bed. The bottom bunk begins as a set of seats with add on side-tables, which makes it the perfect spot to eat your dinner, which is brought hot to you within the first hour. Then once it’s time to go to bed, you switch on your ‘help’ light, and the conductor comes to set up the bottom bed for you.

There is also a little sink in the room with a mirror, plus they provide a tiny toiletry kit and a face towel. Technically you have a knob to even control your thermostat, but I’m not sure it was really working… which didn’t matter because the temperature was comfortable for us.

So does this already sound way better than a flight? Yes – because in all these ways it’s definitely more comfortable!

With that said…

The train is definitely old. The bund beds, tray tables, and bunk ladder seemed to be from the 1920s…the windows were cracked… but most everything worked (and honestly seemed as clean as possible given the age), so the vintage served mostly as an extra layer of charm.

One exception here is the bathroom. There are two WC rooms at the end of the train car. They had a handwashing sink, were clean, and had toilet paper (better than other Egyptian bathrooms!). That is the end of the positive list though, as it was mostly terrifying. Going to the bathroom when it’s deafeningly loud and you can barely stand up from the shaking is never comfortable… plus a flush bar opening the toilet directly on to the train tracks is a little scary.

But we also had the added drama of a door between the train cars (next to the bathrooms) being broken and swinging wildly open – leading straight to the outside while we flew down the tracks… so… we visited the toilet once (and nobody, including me, went after dark).

And now for the worst part, you likely won’t *sleep at all

I’ll just say it. As an adult, you’ll be lucky to get any sleep at all. A few minutes here and there? Sure, maybe. I imagined a train gently lulling me to sleep with the motion and sound… and for our 4 year-old, that was exactly what happened. He slept like a baby and woke up refreshed and happy. The 6, 8, and 10-year? Not great.

But as adults? Forget it. If you read the ‘unpopular opinions’ on TikTok that people slept well … I can imagine it’s only possible with several (!) beers beforehand. We thought we’d be safe as we were coming off one redeye in coach followed by a very late arrival in Cairo with an early tour the next day… so on this third night, being exhausted, we were sure that we could fall asleep anywhere.

Wrong. It’s so bumpy at times that you can barely stand up, light makes its way between the tiny curtains in a strobe-like fashion, and the sound of the wheels on the tracks is actually ear piercing… but truly the worst part is that the total and complete inconsistency. For a couple minutes you may be going through a dark field at a reasonable pace… gently getting lulled to sleep. But within a few minutes you’ll definitely be awakened for any number of reasons – careening around a bend at breakneck speed, going through some kind of rough patch (?) where the intense vibrations will make all your fat cells burn, or making one of 100+ sudden dead stops (even though the route shows only a dozen scheduled stops, it seemed to stop every several minutes for unknown reasons)… it’s borderline torture.

Bill found this description online before we booked the tickets, and it’s so accurate that I must repeat it here. “To be brutally honest, it’s a bumpy and uncomfortable ride. At times the rumbling motion makes it feel like your body is being mined for gold nuggets. On the less bone jangling sections I managed to drift off into a light sleep only to be woken by jarring stops and bustling stations in the night. Unsurprisingly my smartwatch did not register any sleep. After our train journey we compared notes and decided the Egyptian sleeper train experience was one we were glad to have ticked off our bucket list. But next time we’ll fly. It is a very raw travel experience. Think of the Orient Express. And now imagine its grubbier, more fidgety three-year-old sibling. At times it’s exhausting and it would definitely benefit from a thorough scrub. But it’s also has its endearing side.”

And yeah, I read this beforehand just like you’re presumably reading my blog beforehand… and although Bill and I argued vehemently about whether to book this (for a solid 3 days) he finally agreed to book the tickets… and I’m so glad we did! It was the bucket list reference that got me, and I hope it gets you too, as I would recommend everyone do this once in their lifetime… you’ll never forget it (and neither will your kids)!

Other Tips –

It's great for kids but not for infants. Our kids absolutely loved this experience at 4, 6, 8, 10. I think you could go as young as 1… but it depends on your kid. I like to think of us as pretty creative… but even I would not be OK bumping around with an infant in the bottom bunk. Plus there is no space for even the tiniest crib… and the train is so bumpy that I would say it’s likely not safe for an infant to be in a travel crib anyway. So… I’d think a toddler and above is fine but would really think about a kid younger than that!

Book your tickets online in advance, as it does sell out! About 2 weeks out, we got the last 6 tickets on the train. And when we booked the tickets, we didn’t know what to expect as there isn’t a lot of information at booking. But they booked us three rooms right next to each other with one adjoining room, so don’t worry about the lack of information on the site.

Confirm your departing station in advance. There are a lot of train stations in Cairo, but of course you’ll need to be at a very specific one to get on this train. We left from "Upper Egypt" train station (aka Bashteel Railway Station). Make sure you know where you're going in advance, as most of the information at booking and on your tickets is in Arabic… which isn’t easy to translate to English if you only know a handful of phrases. We give this tip as we actually went to the wrong train station and it was only because we had miraculously arrived early enough that we were able (only with the help of the most generous locals) to get on another train to the right station just in time for departure.

Your peers: Most of our guides in Egypt said they had taken the sleeper train (and chuckled when we said we were doing it), so we expected it to be full of locals. It was most definitely not. Other than us, our entire car was filled with European tourists and their group guide. We also didn’t see a single other child on the train, but that isn’t surprising as we didn’t see many tourists with kids at all the sites either.

If possible to leave your bags in Cairo, do it. We left our bags there as we flew back to Cairo anyway to catch a flight out of Egypt, and I’d recommend you do the same. Though you get your own room, there is almost no floor space.

Let us know if you have any other burning questions!

Reviews from our peanut gallery –

William’s Review – I love Egypt and I love the sleeper train. I want to have my birthday party there.

Emily’s Review – 5 of 10. I did NOT know it would be that dirty. But I loved the bunk bed. I would suggest we find a bunkbed on a plane for next time.

Molly's Review - William and I got the most sleep and I actually loved the sleeping. Did not like all the stopping though. Also liked the views from my bed.

Andrew's Review – You should do this to see what it’s like. But maybe get off at the stop before the sleeping part. The food was great, but it’s your choice if you really want to stay for the sleeping part….