YaFandem
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A mud-brick lodge, domes and palms, at the desert's edge.
  • The dune runs straight into the water — the Wadi el-Rayan view.
  • Herons on the lake, at the hour the water turns gold.

Fayoum · Tunis and Lake Qarun

Fayoum's eco-lodges

Mud-brick guesthouses above the lake, two hours from Cairo.

€€€ High end

Around Tunis village, a dozen lodges built of mud brick, without air conditioning, with kitchen gardens and a view over Lake Qarun. The format — short stay, local materials, farm cooking — has grown fast and made Fayoum Cairenes' favourite weekend.

The extra bit

Book for a Sunday or Monday: the Egyptian weekend fills everything and doubles the prices.

Know before you go

Cool nights from October to March, and little heating: bring warm clothes.

Directions

Tunis village, north shore of Lake Qarun, Fayoum

Directions

In the same spirit

  • Wadi El Rayan

    A desert depression filled with the Fayoum's drainage water: two lakes and dunes.

    FayoumWadi El Rayan

    €€ Mid-rangeWhere locals go

  • Whale Valley

    Unmissable

    Skeletons of whales with legs, left in the sand exactly where they were uncovered.

    FayoumWadi El Hitan

    €€ Mid-rangeUNESCO

  • Lake Qarun

    A salt lake below sea level, all that is left of the ancients' Lake Moeris.

    FayoumLake Qarun

    € BudgetSunset