There's no doubt that Upper Egypt is a distinct part of Egypt. Al Minia is one of the northern-most of all. Al Minia is called by some to be The Bride of Upper Egypt.

Al Minia Governorate

Minia, a governorate of more than 4.000.000 population, is one of the most important and interesting tourist destinations in Egypt. It lies on the western bank of the River Nile, almost midway between Cairo and Luxor. The 245 K.M separating Minia from Cairo can be covered in three and half hours by an air-conditioned train or by car along the western desert, the eastern desert, or the green valley roads.

the website of the governorate is VERY good and VERY informative, actually 90% of my info i posted here and helped me plan the trip came from the website:

www.minia.gov.eg

Hotels in Minia

You may wish to download this PDF for info. u will find all the hotels available there, all the nile cruises and all the important numbers for touristic informations and helpdesk

Hotels Recommended by us

4 stars

siva nefertiti coralia hotel

(www.sivahotels.com) across the street from atoun, now they offer special 10-15% discount for sahara safaris after our last stay there, it has a swimming pool and a nile view

210 double room b&b, 160 single room b&b, 270 triple room b&b, also they have garden view chalets 170 double room b&b, 130 single room b&b, foreigners single 60$ double 70$ triple 85$

we stayed there for 2 nights, the service is very good, the food is clean and good, served as an open buffet if there is a lot of guests and in seperate set dishes if small group, it has a swimming pool which is wel maintained. all the hotel rooms have a direct nile view and the POLICE presence is a bit TOO much specially if you are accompanying foreigners so safety wise, it is TOO safe and laso in all around el minia, we were tailed in our first night by a policeman dressed in civilian clothing, both in the restaurant we ate in and then in atoun when we sat for a shisha and coffee, so FEEL SAFE :)

Atoun

(directly by the nile)

210 double room b&b, 160 single room b&b

great surroundings, challets like day use syle and directly on the nile, only 42 chalets are available so it is usual to find the whole place fully booked in high season

it has a very good coffee shop right by the nile and also a restaurant cafe inside the nile in the form of a boathouse (3awama), it also has a nice garden coffee shop and last but not least VOODOO discotheque :)

horus

(directly by the nile)

200 double room b&b, 150 single room b&b

never tried but marwa farid tried it, she says the rooms are nicer than atoun but the food sucks, and anyways atoun and horus hotels are besides each other, seperated by a wall only.

3 stars

cleopatra hotel

(www.cleopatrahotelmenia.com)

75 single 120 double 150 triple room b&b

we tried it in our trip back from djarra, the hotel is fair, rooms are okay, clean but not too fancy, restaurant is on the roof of the hotel with a very nice view of el minia and the nile, food is okay, and it is in Taha Hussein St. just behind nefertiti hotel.

Eating

well there are a lot of options for food in minia

by the korneich

1. KFC gebli (means to the south, and the other direction is ba7ari to the north, so when u ask for directions, they tell u tegabbel or teba77ar)
2. Atoun hotel
3. Horus hotel
4. Taha Hussein St.: just parallel to the korneich st. it has ALL SORTS of food shops from pizza to shawerma to foul&falafel to CREPE (seems like a new trend in minia now), to koshari to grilled meat.
5. our personal trial was BONDOKA which is a restaurant similar to abdelwahab and balba3 and hosni styles in alexandria, there are 2 BONDOKA in the street one in its busy middle which is the old one and one at the very far end of the street which is the new one, both same managment. very good food, lots of options and not expensive too, we were 11 persons and our bill was under 400 L.E and we ATE a lot cuz it was after a full day touring from 8 am to 6 pm

Sites To Visit

The wealth of archaeological sites of great importance in Minia Governorate is equal to that of any other part of Egypt , Luxor included, although many of the sites in Minia is yet to receive the full attention of excavators and scholars that they deserve. Minia governorate is an important agricultural as well as industrial region. Among its principal crops are sugar-cane, cotton, beans, Soya beans, garlic, onion, vegetables of various sorts: tomatoes, potatoes, watermelons, and grapes. Among the leading local industries are food processing, specially sugar and drying of onions, spinning of cotton, perfumes, oils, fats, cement, quarrying, and brick. A new Minia town and an industrial region have been recently established at the eastern bank of the Nile.

Tell El Amarna (Arabic: تل العمارنة)

In area of Deir Mawas (Arabic: دير مواس)

is 67km south east of Minia so u have to cross the nile in the south by a ferry (me3addeya)

For details, go here.

Mallawi (Arabic: ملَّوى), Ashmounin (Arabic: الأشمونين), Hermopolis, Tuna el gabal (Arabic: تونا الجبل)

are all scattered in the area of mallawi which is 45 kms south of minia on the same western bank so u just go south from minia till mallawi and then u start the tour going west and inside the area

For details, go here.

Benni Hassan (Arabic: بنى حسن), Istabl Antar (Arabic: اسطبل عنتر), Zawyet el Soltan (Arabic: زاوية السلطان)

almost 25 kms south east of minia so u have to cross the big bridge & then go south

For details go here.

Deir el Adra (Arabic: دير العدرا), Gabal el Teir (Arabic: جبل الطير), Tehna el Gabal (Arabic: تهنا الجبل), Frazer Tombs

15-25 kms north east of minia at Samalut, so u also have to cross the bridge to the east then go north

TEHNA EL GABAL

To the north of Minia, on the eastern bank of the Nile, about 7 km is Tehna El-Gabal. There are ancient Egyptian mines dating from the Old Kingdom to the Roman period. Here, also, ruins of a large temple (Nero Temple) dedicated to the gods Amun and Sobek. There are also decorated rock-cut tombs dating back to the Old Kingdom called Fraser's tombs located about 2 km south of Tehna El-Gabal. The most important of these tombs are the Tomb of Nyka-ankh, Steward of the palace and overseer of the priests of Hathor of the ancient city of Tenis, and the tomb of Kahab, a province Nomarch in the 5th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom.

SAMALUT

A district situated about 25 Km north of Minia on the eastern bank of the Nile. At the mouth of a side valley on the bank is seen a steep rocky hill, Gebel –El-Teir, on the flat of which is the Coptic Monastery of Deir –El-Adra (monastery of the Virgin). The original building of the church of the convent was constructed by Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the great, in the fourth century. She is also believed to be responsible for founding the monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai.

The convent is one of the spots where the holy family rested during their flight into Egypt. The sanctuary is hewn from rock, with doorway, now half buried in rubble decorated in Byzantine style. From the top of the hill there is a magnificent view of the Nile valley with vast planted areas. According to the Arab historian, El-Makrizi, Gebel El-Teir "mountain of the bird" gets its name from the legend which states that on the holy day of the convent, all the bukir birds in Egypt assemble there, and each in turn thrusts its beak into a cleft of the rock, until one of them dies.