Originally Posted by
IAN-UK
I stay at the Semiramis mainly for its location though as a grande dame of Cairo's hotel scene it also has a comforting buzz. I've never been seriously upset by any of its services, but you are spot on about the antiquated bathrooms. And service can be glacial if they don't smell a tip.
Ramadan is an awkward time, and lot of what daytime effort is available to Semiramis management seems to go into preparing and coordinating the iftar excesses.
The IC CityStars is slicker, more modern in every sense of the word, and the bathrooms are sleek. it's way out of the centre in Nasr City, but close to the airport, and it forms part of the city's most glitzy mall complex. It's usually significantly more expensive than he Semiramis.
I wrote about my experience in the Semiramis thread over at the IHG forum.
I would have wanted to visit the CityStars mall just to see the contrast between it and the rest of the city, and I was planning to, but it seemed so far away from everything, so I let it be. I should probably have stayed the last night at IC CityStars, which would have enabled me to visit the mall easily. OTOH, at 6 am, the drive from the Semiramis to the airport took only 20 minutes, so in that respect, I was close to the airport already...
Cairo was a great experience.