Cairo #2 (Egypt): Our Pyramid-View Room at the Marriott Mena House
In Egypt, there are three historic hotels that really appeal to me: Winter Palace, Old Cataract, and Mena House. Last time, we stayed at the legendary Winter Palace in Luxor. This time, we’re thrilled to spend a night at the legendary Mena House, at the gates of the pyramids.
Part 1: Travel Journal
Part 2: Practical Tips
Part 1: Travel Journal
Mena House Hotel (Booking link), located at the foot of the majestic Giza Pyramids in Cairo, is one of Egypt’s most iconic establishments. Built in 1869, originally as a hunting lodge for King Ismail Pasha, who wanted to host foreign dignitaries during the inauguration of the Suez Canal. Built in a sumptuous Oriental style, the building was intended to reflect Egypt’s grandeur and refinement at that time.
Over the years, the lodge was converted into a hotel by a wealthy English couple, Frederick and Jessie Head. They named it “Mena House,” in homage to the legendary King Menes, founder of the first pharaonic dynasty. From its beginnings as a hotel in 1886, Mena House attracted a prestigious clientele, drawn by its exceptional location and unparalleled luxury.
During World War II, Mena House played a strategic role by hosting diplomatic conferences. Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and other world leaders stayed there, strengthening its historic aura. Subsequently, it became a meeting place for artists, writers, and celebrities, cementing its reputation as an iconic hotel.
Today, though modernized with contemporary amenities, Mena House retains its old-world charm. While the historic building is closed and has been “under renovation” for years, the modern buildings reflect the style of the old one, with characteristic patterns visible on the balconies.
Even though the city has sprawled right up to the foot of the pyramids, Mena House remains the closest hotel to the pyramids, with spectacular views from the rooms. That’s why I dream of staying there at least one night, to see what it feels like to see the Pyramid of Cheops from bed.
Mena House with Marriott Bonvoy Points
Mena House Hotel (Booking link) is part of the Marriott group, and thankfully so, because we were able to fund our stay with Marriott Bonvoy points accumulated over years thanks to the American Express card. As a Vietnamese proverb would say, “three years of work burned in one hour,” all those points went toward a single night, but this time, the Marriott Bonvoy points/price ratio of the room is particularly attractive. Note: You often see perks we get here and there with American Express, it’s a card I highly recommend; the first year is free with our sponsorship and you’ll see if you want to keep it or not.
We book midweek hoping for an upgrade, but the hotel has few room categories. Since we’re already booking a higher category (pyramid-view room), all they can do for Gold status guests like us is provide a cake to wish us a happy anniversary (we informed them in advance), push the two twin beds together, and offer early check-in and late check-out, standard Gold status perks. But we did well to book the pyramid-view room because at the last minute, no rooms of that type were available.
All the rooms are the same; only the view changes: garden view, pool view, partial pyramid view, or FULL pyramid view.
Day 2 (continued)
From Cairo, after visiting the old Egyptian Museum, we find an Uber that takes us to Mena House with a big detour because the new road leading to the new Egyptian Museum near Giza blocks part of the old road. We can already see the pyramids from the road.
So it takes us 40 minutes to get to Mena House. The security check at the hotel entrance is very thorough: our car is checked by a dog, then by a security guard who inspects the trunk, and only then are we dropped off 50 meters from the entrance. We collect our luggage and walk along the water basin to the reception.
Here again, a quick check (metal detection), and we learn that our room is already ready (it’s 1 PM), and it’s very accessible since it’s on the ground floor. Before coming, as with all Marriott reservations, we’re allowed to check in online a few days prior and specify by email if we’re there for a special occasion. That’s the case; we also want to celebrate our anniversary, so we mentioned it. We love the view from the balcony, but we’re bothered by being so low, on the ground floor, with people passing right in front of the room. We express our dissatisfaction, and the front desk says they’ll check and get back to us later.
5 minutes later, the phone rings, and we’re told to come back to the front desk with our luggage. They’re going to change our room.
We return to the front desk, and the General Manager (I think) sees us with our luggage and is very shocked. She asks us to excuse her, saying we should have left our luggage in the room and that a porter should have helped us move it. The receptionist from earlier is gone; it’s the GM herself who shows us our new room, a bit more to the left compared to the other room, but on the first floor this time (Egyptian second floor). I would have liked to be at the very top (Egyptian fourth floor), but when we see the bed full of flower petals and a cake saying “Happy 15th Anniversary” on the table, we understand that this is OUR room, the one the receptionist should have given us from the start, so we happily accept it.
And here is the view from the bed. I don’t know if you can see it well, but there are indeed two pyramids!
Since being here is a little dream of mine, you can imagine we’re not going to combine visits with a stay at Mena House. For 24 hours, we’ll just stay here and won’t even leave the hotel.
The pool is huge, and what I love is the system of small pools that cascade down to the main pool, giving the impression of having the Nile within the gardens. The water is nice, and JB even got to swim a bit. It’s extremely luxurious, especially since we’re literally 100 meters from the desert. Sure, the city has crept closer to the pyramids for tourism, but beyond the pyramids, it’s truly desert. This is where Egypt’s very first pool was built, inaugurated in 1892. I don’t have photos of the old pool though.
The hotel has a sauna/hammam, and you need to book in advance (30 min/session, free). There are other paid services (massages, facials), but it’s better to book ahead because slots go fast. With the Egyptian pound’s decline, such services have become very affordable for a 5-star hotel.
We’re strolling through the garden…
…which leads us to restaurant 139. In the end, the restaurant offers the best view of the pyramids because it’s perfectly aligned.
In the evening, we dine at this restaurant 139, which has some Egyptian specialties alongside a very international menu. We still make sure to reserve because outside guests can also come for dinner. I always find it a bit unfair that hotel guests sometimes don’t get the best tables because of these external guests, so I also specify I want a table right by the pond with a view of the pyramids. The waitress says she can’t promise such a table, but for dinner, we arrive at exactly 7 PM and, giving our room number, we indeed get a table with a view. A manager came to ask for our room number, so I’m not sure if it’s a coincidence or if it was really reserved for hotel guests.
You can see the pyramids a bit because it’s almost a full moon, and there’s a small light outlining the shape of the Pyramid of Khufu on one side. This light goes out at 7:30 PM, the time of the first sound-and-light show at the Sphinx.
It’s quite good; expect around 600 LE per person + 24% for tips and service + gratuity. There’s even a little dance show.
Here’s the hotel map; our room is in building 11.
We’re torn between visiting the pyramids super early the next morning plus a late checkout (as a Gold member, I think we can push for a 4 PM checkout) or staying at the hotel until noon only and visiting the pyramids during tourists’ lunch break. I waver until the last minute. But when I slip under the covers and rediscover Marriott’s good bedding, I tell myself a nice sleep-in is well deserved. JB appreciates the absolute calm. It’s true that in Athens last month, we had a particularly noisy Airbnb, with construction, trucks, and a dog crying all day. Here, it’s absolute silence.
Apparently, Sofitel’s bedding (the famous So Bed) and Marriott’s are the best among 5-star hotel chains. Unfortunately, we couldn’t access the So Bed during our Sofitel stays, so I can only vouch for Marriott’s bedding. JB tries to find the name of Marriott’s sheet supplier, but on the sheet, it says “shop on marriott.com”. Both hotel chains sell their linens on their websites. Handy! Egyptian cotton is very famous; I have no idea if they use real Egyptian cotton at Mena House, but I hope so!
Day 3
I asked JB to open the curtains wide before bed, so I can wake up in the morning and see the pyramids from bed as soon as I open my eyes. It’s even dazzling because the light is very strong early on, even in December. It’s hard to describe the joy I feel when I open my eyes and see this incredible, one-of-a-kind shape from my bed. I’ve dreamed of it so much! I wanted this experience so badly! For those of us who travel a lot, sometimes we wake up and don’t know which country we’re in, but here, no confusion possible!!
You can see a haze of pollution/desert sand covering the pyramids in the morning. That’s why most tourists visit museums in the morning and only come to see the pyramids in the afternoon for a clearer view.
The old building is much closer to the pyramids but faces the street, so I’m not surprised it’s closed because it wouldn’t be luxurious enough. But from Mena House, you can’t see the base of the pyramid, hidden by a sort of plateau. Indeed, as noted in this historical photo, the view from Mena House before didn’t cover the base of the pyramids. You also can’t see the third pyramid.
Well, it’s breakfast time. The trick when you want to visit a lot and not waste time on lunch is to have a hearty breakfast in the morning. Breakfast isn’t included in the room rates; you have to add about 23 dollars extra. The servers make sure to move guests as soon as a table with a view becomes available. This morning, there are only hotel guests (unlike lunch and dinner), so it’s more relaxed, no Instagrammers in sight. It’s a different vibe when there are outside guests because they come for the photos and are very competitive about tables with a view or spend ages taking photos of themselves in cocktail dresses, at the risk of stepping on or disturbing hotel guests.
A quick scan to see who’s with us at breakfast: very few couples, mostly families, no young children. I think Egypt remains a fairly family-friendly destination; it’s such an incredible destination that people seem to want to experience it as a family. It’s mid-December and we don’t hear any French being spoken; I imagine French tourists come more for Christmas. For guests at such a prestigious hotel, people are rather sloppily dressed. The quiet luxurymight not be what we’re shown on Instagram; Instagram’s quiet luxury isn’t quietenough. Here it’s too quiet because it looks like they all shop at Shein, which is funny! It contrasts a lot with the logo-laden “luxury” at Sofitel Hanoi, where guests are more like billboards: Louis Vuitton on top, Gucci on the bottom, Dior shoes… We’ll have occasion to talk about old money / new money later.
JB enjoys the pool, then the sauna/hammam (reserved in advance). What’s a bit of a shame at Mena House is that the reception doesn’t tell us at all about the services offered. Normally at Marriott, there are always nice activities, artisans doing demos… we discovered by chance that there’s a pianist who comes before dinner near the reception, for example. The free sauna/hammam, we had to find out on our own. The layout of the buildings is super weird and doesn’t maximize its location relative to the pyramids. Some garden paths are way too close to the ground-floor balconies. Add to that plenty of other not-at-all feng shui details; bad architecture can make you feel very uncomfortable. Despite the location, there’s no rooftop. I think given its history, these were buildings added over time, so it lacks the surgical, optimized architecture of modern palaces. In short, this hotel doesn’t quite meet the standards of a 5-star hotel, let alone a Marriott, whether in terms of infrastructure or service. That said, even at Winter Palace, another historic and prestigious hotel, we had the same issues, so I think it must be the Egyptian standard. But we’ll forgive all that because the view is unique in the world. And above all, we only paid for it with our Marriott points.
But when you pay with your wallet, it can stick in your throat, as is the case for a gentleman checking out at the same time as us. The reason: a leaking sink. The tone rises and only comes down when the gentleman gets 50% off the room price for the inconvenience.
We leave all our luggage with the concierge and walk to the Pyramids. Mena House is only a 7-minute walk from the Pyramid of Khufu, which is convenient! JB bought the entry tickets in advance on the official site, and we know the Giza Plateau pretty well by now (having traversed it three times last time). We did well to go when people are having lunch because, as you’ll see, we got super lucky and had so many quiet moments. The rest in our next article.
In conclusion, Mena House is great when it’s paid for with Marriott Bonvoy points or miles, or when you book looooong in advance and get discounted rates. I find the price-performance ratio not so great, but if you absolutely want that view, it’ll be cheaper to come for lunch at Restaurant 139 (come early to get a good table) as an outside guest. For views not quite facing the Pyramid of Khufu but still with a nice view, I’ll suggest other alternatives later.
The rest of our adventures in Cairo, is right here
Part 2: Practical Tips
- Room with direct pyramid view: between 500 euros and 870 euros/night, without breakfast (Booking link)
- You can also choose a room with partial pyramid view; in this case, the pyramids are only visible from a certain spot on the balcony
- Garden view rooms are cheaper, but there’s no point staying at Mena House with a garden view. Better to book a 3-star hotel in Giza with a Sphinx view and pay half as much. Well, that’s my opinion.
- Meal at Restaurant 139: about 25 dollars/person
- Breakfast: about 23 dollars/person
- Transport Cairo – Mena House: 5 euros with Uber
