GoBus Egypt Review

If you are planning to travel with GoBus in Egypt, you MUST read this!

Today I wanted to share with you my honest review of an Egyptian bus company – GoBus. Visit their website here: https://go-bus.com/?lang=en

For those of you who have never been to Egypt, let me tell you: distances are a big deal. Egypt is a big country, and unfortunately when it comes to public transport is not that well connected.

Having said that, unless you are a very brave person and decide to drive your own car, most of the people opt for domestic flights. Now, of course, they are the fastest way to travel – but they are not necessarily the best one. They can be pretty expensive, not to mention that if you are tight with time it can be hard to find a flight that suits your needs.

So: hire a car is off the grid, planes are expensive and not flexible, the railway is basically non-existent… what can you do?

GoBus of course! (No pun intended)

I came across this bus company during my recent trip to Egypt. My partner and I were desperately trying to find a way to get out of Sharm El Sheikh to continue our journey to Cairo and Luxor. That’s when we found GoBus.

The good aspects.

Now, travelling by bus is always a pain I’m not going to lie. The journey duration is usually long (7 hours from Sharm to Cairo and 9 hours from Cairo to Luxor – minimum!). But there are some good aspects to it.

1. Cost: these buses are SO VERY CHEAP. We paid around 200 LE (£10) each for the Sharm-Cairo trip and around 400 LE each for Cairo to Luxor trip (we travelled first class 😀 )
2. Flexibility: there are many buses throughout the day and night. You can choose the time of departure that suits you better.
3. Level of comfort: you can choose among different buses. You can travel first class (still very cheap in comparison to European prices!) or you can travel basic. What we like is the fact that there is a choice.

So, why are there so many bad reviews?

However. If you read the reviews on the Internet they are horrible. I was legit scared after booking the first trip with them that I would find myself in some half-broken dirty bus for a whole 7 hours.

Now, I’m not saying that those reviews are a little bit over the top (or maybe they are?), I am sure that some of those people had horrible experiences. But my guess is that most of the negative reviews come from the following reasons:

1. They didn’t know you can book different classes of service.

Of course, if you don’t know this and you book the first bus available, you can end up on the worst bus they have. We have travelled on two different buses: the Deluxe Plus and the Elite Plus +. The Deluxe Plus was a rather regular bus, you can compare to the National Express buses. It was clean and ok comfortable. The Elite Plus + was amazing – I genuinely loved it. They have extra-wide seats, every seat has is own TV screen and they even serve a meal! (We had breakfast as we were travelling during the night).

They have other types of buses too. The only one I don’t recommend is their ‘Classic’ bus, as it can be a little bit too basic (and I am sure it is the one most of the people leaving bad reviews chose).

So, you see that if you choose the right bus you can avoid any bad surprise.

2. Their expectations were too high.

Let’s be honest guys – when you pay £10 for a 7 hours trip you can’t expect the same comfort you would have on a first class Emirates Airlines journey right?

Even though my opinion is that the service is still good for the price you pay, there are some minor issues.

For example, the toilet on the bus is not the cleanest after a couple of hours. You can easily sort this out by going to the toilet in one of the rest areas where the bus stops.

Another issue is that sometimes the journey takes longer than advertised, due to the many checkpoints on the road (especially if you are travelling through the Sinai Desert). Sometimes the military checks just the bus documentation, but other times you might be asked to show your ID too – so keep it handy!

3.They were not aware of some Egyptian customs.

I read on some reviews that the people were mostly complaining about the fact that you have to tip 5 LE to the guy who puts your luggage on the bus. I mean, I understand that you could have done so yourselves and that he first puts the luggage on and then ask for money but guys – didn’t you notice that tipping is like the fundamental of Egyptian culture?

Do you want to go to the toilet? Tip. You want someone to take a picture for you? Tip. Do you ask someone for some information? Tip.

You shouldn’t really be surprised that someone is asking you to tip them. And let’s not forget that we are talking about 5 LE for each suitcase – which is exactly 20 pence. C’mon, don’t be stingy. 😊

Review of GoBus – My final score.

If you had a different experience and would like to share, just drop a comment below! I am curious to hear about your experience with GoBus.

If you’d like more information or have some questions, again – just leave a comment or send me an email and I will get back to you as soon as possible.