The vast majority of Egypt is a desert, so if you like desert scenery, Egypt is a great place for you. In fairness, I must point out that "desert scenery" does not mean miles and miles of nothing but sand. The mountains of the Sinai are stunning beautiful, and the Western Oases are said to be spectacular as well (I've only seen pictures).
I suspect that every educated person in the world has heard of the Great Pyramids of Giza. Many have heard of Abu Simbel, the Karnak Temple or the Valley of Kings. What you may not know is that these are merely the most famous of the monuments in Egypt. You could literally spend months, if not years, visiting all of the ancient Pharonic monuments in Egypt. There are pyramids all along the Nile, as well as burial caves with pharonic paintings. There are probably even hundreds of monuments yet undiscovered. My personal favorites were Abu Simbel (it's a pain to get there, and expensive, but it's worth it) and the Karnak Temple. The Valley of Kings is interesting, especially if you like paintings. Personally, I was more awed by the fact that they dug such massive holes in the ground than I was by the paintings inside. The pyramids, in my opinion, are a "been there, done that" experience. They're interesting, and they're definitely awe-inspiring, but after you stand next to it and look into the sky thinking "damn, how the hell did they build that," the experience is pretty much over. The contents of the pyramids have been completely removed, leaving the inside barren and dull. Seeing the contents in a museum just doesn't cut it, if you ask me. Perhaps the worst thing about the famous monuments in Egypt is that they are absolutely covered in annoying Egyptian salesmen. They try to sell you everything from a camel ride to papyrus paintings to small carved statues. A camel ride around the pyramids is something some people just can't pass up, but unless you go with somebody who's been there numerous times before, try not to get upset when you find out that other people get the same thing for one fifth your price. Most people I spoke with found the National Museum to be really amazing, but since I've seen most of the most famous pieces (like the Rosetta Stone) in the British Museum or the Louvre, I really didn't care enough to even visit it. It's terrible, I know, but I've become a Museum Snob.
Weather is perhaps the greatest redeeming feature in Egypt. It's always sunny. Always. Most of Egypt gets only a few inches of rain a year. That said, I managed to miss by a couple days a huge rainstorm in Cairo, and one of my friends told me that it made a horrible, stinking mess of Cairo. (This was truly amazing to me, since Cairo is already such a horrible, stinking mess. The idea of it become many times worse is almost inconceivable.) Nevertheless, with over 350 days/year of sunshine, you can basically count on good weather. As far as temperature, however, you have to be a bit more careful. The thing to remember about the desert is that there's no moisture to hold the heat, so after the sun goes down, the ground loses its heat very rapidly, and the air temperature drops like a stone. It's easily possible to have temperatures exceeding 110F during the day, dropping down to sub-zero temperatures at night. In Cairo, of course, this is not so much an issue because it's on the Nile and not too terribly far from the coast, and thus the humidity is considerably higher. During the summer, Cairo is intolerably hot both day and night. In the winter, it's hot during the day and cold at night. In the summer in the far south, temperatures during the day can reach 120F, so if you want to go south, think about planning your trip during the winter. You'll probably never need an umbrella in Egypt, but don't forget the sunscreen.
Egypt can be cheap or expensive, depending on where and how you want to live and eat. If you're willing to risk street food, you can eat very cheaply ($0.50-$1/meal), but if you want something a bit safer, you're looking at anywhere from $3-10/meal. Accommodation is reasonably cheap, but ranges from good ($20-30/night) to "blood on the walls from all the dead flies" and "bring a sleeping bag, because you'd rather incinerate the sheets than sleep on them" ($3/night). Bargaining is an absolute must, and if you're not very good at bargaining, Egypt is a good place to learn. Personally, I think I deserve an MBA from Harvard just for my experiences bargaining in Egypt. One thing you have to be particularly aware of, however, is that Egyptians will lie to you in order to get your business. They'll agree on a price with the hawker in the train station, but then when you get to the hotel, you'll see that they don't actually have the room you agreed on, or they'll tell you "no, no, that price is for this room without a bathroom." At one point, I made a hawker really get specific, telling me exactly what was in the room and how much. When we got to the hotel, he tried to pull a fast one on me, and I reminded him of exactly what he'd said in the train station. He didn't deny that he had said it, he only answered "Sir, 6LE (less than $2) is no money. Nobody can give you a room like this for that kind of money." Needless to say, he didn't have an answer when I asked him why he had promised what he couldn't provide. You will find this kind of experience all too common if you spend much time in Egypt.
One particularly important warning: do not buy anything at the pyramids!! Everything is overpriced there, but for most people it's their first stop, so they don't know that. At any shop in central Cairo, you can buy the same stuff for a fraction of the price. At some other monuments, such as Hapsetshut near the Valley of the Kings, you can get some very good prices if you're good at bargaining, or you can get totally ripped off. I finally paid 2LE (about $0.60) for a small carved statue, simply because the man had been following me through the desert for almost a mile. Apparently, "I don't want it" wasn't in his vocabulary, despite the fact that I said it in his native Arabic. (In fact, "I don't want it" are the four best bargaining words. The price for this particular trinket had started at 10LE, and I never said anything but "I don't want it" over and over again, as he dropped his price to eight, then five, then three, and finally two. At this point, I'm glad I bought it, because the act of purchasing the thing makes for a much better story than the object itself.)
Egyptian food is pretty plain, but you can get some tasty, affordable cuisine. There are also numerous Lebanese restaurants in Egypt, which tend to make very good humus and baba ganough, among other things. The staple food of Egypt is beans, much like Mexican refried beans. The word for beans in Egyptian Arabic is pronounced "fool." Almost everything is served with baladhi bread, which literally means "national bread." Rich Egyptians eat with silverware, poor Egyptians (the vast majority) eat with their hands. You may read in the guidebooks that you can't eat with your left hand in Egypt (because it is reserved for toilet duties), but in fact I never found this to be the case, even in more remote areas. Napkins are rare, so usually you make a complete mess of your hands and then wash them at the end of the meal. Even in the small street stalls, there is usually a sink. Water in Cairo is safe to drink but tastes like pool water, because it is so heavily chlorinated (this bothers some people's stomachs as well). Water in other places in Egypt is not safe to drink. Eating at street stands will eventually lead to stomach trouble, but in five months in Egypt, I ate regularly at these places, and only got sick two or three times (though admittedly it lasted for about a week each time). The only other thing to think about is that your meat may not be what it says it is. It is highly probable, though I was told that I was eating lamb, that I have eaten camel at least once.
I hate to bash on the Egyptians in too many places on my website, so if you want an in-depth description, check out my February 1, 1999 journal entry. Though I arrived in the country with an open mind, my view of the Egyptians borders on racism at this point. If I meet an Egyptian these days, I'm still willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but the words "I'm from Egypt" definitely are not a good way to start a conversation with me.
Egypt is disgusting. Personal hygiene is virtually unheard of. Egypt does not take care of its poor at all, so they sleep in the streets. When a building is being constructed, the people building it usually live in it, despite the fact that it is nothing but a concrete frame with no electricity, water or sanitation. Men piss in the streets, or wherever they feel the need. Garbage is dropped wherever it's no longer wanted, and the streets are not cleaned often, if ever. The man making your sandwich definitely will not wear gloves, probably does not wash his hands, and may well pick his nose just before he picks up the vegetables for your sandwich. Public toilets do not have toilet paper, and in fact many Egyptians do not use toilet paper, choosing instead to use a bucket of water (or a spigot if one exists) and their hand. (This is where the tradition of eating only with the right hand comes from. Despite this fact, most Egyptians I met ate with both hands, even in shared dishes. One can only hope that they washed their hands prior to eating, but based on experience, I have my doubts.) Even if you only eat at fancy restaurants, if you spend enough time in Egypt, you are bound to get sick eventually. In Cairo there were times when the smell alone was enough to make me sick. Despite the fact that the sky is always clear, you cannot see the stars in Cairo, because the pollution is so thick. Every day, at the end of the day, I could wipe my face with a white cloth and turn the cloth a dirty black. When I cleaned out my ears or nose, everything was black from the pollution. I imagine that in the five months I spent in Egypt, I must have taken at least a year off of my life.
Except for the Sinai, which is covered in beautiful mountains, Egypt is basically flat. There are some lovely places in Egypt, but it's still flat.
Egyptians are the worst drivers I have ever seen in my life. I have heard that there are places in India or south-west Africa where the driving is worse, but I find that difficult to believe. Roughly 99% of the cars in Egypt have large dents in them, and I am not exaggerating. This is absolutely true, I swear. To be honest, I never understood why anybody bought fancy cars in Egypt, because they are pretty much guaranteed to get smashed up at some point. Virtually nobody wears seatbelts, and most taxis do not even have seatbelts. Most of the accidents which I personally witnessed were not very serious, but I did occasionally see bodies lying on the road as I passed by the scene of an accident on the highway. I was actually a passenger in a car which hit a pedestrian (two, I might add, on two seperate occasions, after which I decided never again to ride in the car with this driver), but as far as I could tell, the pedestrians were essentially unhurt in both cases. Needless to say, I do not recommend cycling in Egypt. If you do, however, for goodness' sake wear a helmet. If you're crazy enough to try it, road conditions vary from good to terrible, and many of the places you'll probably want to go will be dirt roads, so a mountain bike is advisable.