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HECA/CAI - Cairo - Hilton Heliopolis - September 2023

Located about a terrifying 10 minute Uber ride from the airport, Cairo traffic is sporty at best. The hotel had been selected for us by the customer, and I had no input, nonetheless I had reasonable expectations based on the location. The Hotel is located close to the airport adjacent to the flight path for 05C and R on one side and 05L on the other, it has three wings and is six floor high. Even numbered rooms X022 – X040 ”should” have rooms that face the ramp at Almaza airbase and beyond that, the approach to 05C and R at Cairo. As many will know if you check in using the Hilton app you can select your own room so that was the plan, I had been reserved a king sized room by the customer and the first issue was that there was a limited number of king sized rooms available on each floor and none in the XX22 to XX40 range. At that point wanting to be sure of a room with some sort of a view I selected room 5119 which was at the extreme end of the wing closes to the airport. I arrived at the hotel just after 01:00 Looking out of the window in daylight I realised a couple of things

1)   The Hotel may be six floor high but the buildings around it are 8-10 stories blocking any view I was extremely fortunate that one of the buildings had been demolished leaving a brief view of aircraft on approach, once the replacement building has been built the view will go again. 

2)   The wind was up and therefore there was a lot of sand in the atmosphere, and the approach was only just visible. Fortunately, I was able to make out aircraft landing on 05C but 05R was impossible.    

The Le Meridien hotel on the airport looks like it would be great for spotting, it’s got rooms facing every runway and is connected to the Egyptair terminal by walkway. The lift lobbies and other corridors look to have a lot of glass so I imagine that regardless of the view from your room other runways and airport areas can be seen. 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/9PLjErDJYXC9DDKH7