Happy View Inn Hotel

We needed a base for exploring other parts of Egypt, and this place just about worked for that. For the price it was okay, though it felt more like a youth hostel than a hotel. The staff were pleasant and tried to help, and the spacious room had a TV, kettle and fridge. WiFi was good when the router hadn’t been taken away. Breakfast was basic: fried eggs, pitta style bread, chips, cucumber dip and bean dip. Noise was the biggest problem, with other guests banging, screaming and shouting. It wasn’t the animals, traffic or mosque outside. You do get a good view of the pyramids from a distance, but look down and the hotel is beside a rubbish dump. Flies around the rooftop dining area put us off eating there. The building felt shabby and run down, and the health and safety standards seemed dubious, in a typical Cairo way. The bathroom was something else: you could shower while sitting on the toilet, with no curtain or door between them. The lift was also quite a sight, beyond what words can describe. It’s near the pyramids, but the surrounding area was covered in rubbish and full of donkeys and horses. It didn’t feel like a setting most British tourists would enjoy. The hotel was called Happy View Hotel, though Tippy View Hotel would have fit better.