columbia sky city

Breakfast comes to the room. It's nothing special, just eggs, white cheese, fava beans, and tea. The staff are polite and nice, and the spacious, clean room looks out over the city's main road. The ceiling is peeled and unhealthy, though, and the building entrance is dirty and feels dangerous. That entrance kept this from a four-star rating. It's a boutique hotel in an excellent central Cairo location, but not suitable for older people or families with kids.

I booked by phone, but when I arrived the price was more than double the rate on booking.com. The room listed as available online was suddenly unavailable, and the whole thing felt shady, so I left without staying. I wouldn't recommend it. In response to the hotel's reply: that's simply not true. The room still shows as available on booking.com, and you didn't offer to change the price.

We stayed two nights, and I think I came away with more than ten mosquito bites. Breakfast was really good, though it was served a bit late in the morning. There's a mosque very close by, so expect an early start to the day. Citronella candles or something similar could do wonders for the mosquitoes. I'm not sure if they're sold around Cairo, but I hope they help if you can find them.

Very affordable and handy for a short stay, with cozy rooms that feel like home. They do need to improve the room cleaning. It's also close to downtown, restaurants, regular cinemas, public transport, and banks.