Name: Mara House Luxor
Address: Salah Al Din Al Ayoubi, Luxor, Luxor, Luxor, 1364225, Egypt
Rating: 9

24-hour reception

Smoking areas

Ticket assistance

Gift shop

No elevators

General

Laundry

Concierge services

Services and amenities

Coffee/tea for guests

Breakfast

Restaurant

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Tour assistance

Tourist services

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Luxor International Airport

Mara House Luxor

Luxor

Wow! An oasis! A charming little hotel more like a bend and breakfast. Spacious and comfortable rooms like a step back in time. Amr and Aylie take great care of you tending to your every need. The Salahadeen feast has to be experienced. So delicious! Mo is an amazing tour guide. Very knowledgeable, keeps you away from the crowds. Mara has great recommendations for tours. Highly recommend!!

Thanks for an amazing stay!

For an authentic experience, leave the modern hotels behind and enjoy the charm of an Ottoman-styled, private house with rich brocades and oriental furnishings. Modern plumbing and a/c, fridge, kettle and sink keep one in the 21st century (CE!).
Manager Amr is a great chef and attentive to culinary tastes. Enjoy the roof deck in the cooler months.
Mara and Amr arranged great tours for me.
All must be paid for up front and in cash. Bring lots!
I had a great stay in Mara House.

Step back in Time

Just got back from a fabulous stay at Mara House. Our two bedroom suite was spacious and comfortable. The loaded bar was a pleasant surprise, especially with the reasonable prices’
So you really at home, if you want see the real Egypt and experience the local

Best place

We had a very mixed experience at Mara House and ultimately would not recommend it to other travelers. On the one hand, the staff were incredibly helpful whenever we asked for something. Some of our family were sick with the Egyptian stomach bacteria and unable to eat anything but bland food. When we brought them eggs to boil and watermelon to cut up, they obliged us happily. They even made us a special tea. And when Mara learned that we were ill, she told us about the bacteria and made sure we had the medicine we needed to get well. The dining room is very elegant and the room was spacious, with neat old furniture.

All that said, the hotel was run-down. The bathroom was functional but oddly set up, with the toilet and shower in the same space. And there was no hot water and often the water tap in the shower didn't work. At one point, we went to shower and realized there was no water at all. So we had to walk down several flights of stairs to have them turn it on. We were never provided with a way to reach any staff for help. So we always ran up and down the stairs when we needed them--as did they. Also, there was a giant kitchen, which excited us until we realized that it had no plates, mugs, or utensils--just a few wine glasses. 

Also they didn't provide the basic things one would expect. E.g., there was no shampoo (we had to ask for it, and a staff member kindly ran to the store at 10 PM at night to get us shampoo, which was too late for us to use that night). They didn't provide even a couple of free bottles of water as every hotel in Egypt does, no matter the price of the hotel. We each got one tiny, thin towel, and there wasn't even a box of tissues anywhere. These are small things, but they make a guest feel welcome and cared for. 

To us, all of this was reflective of the various ways Mara is cutting corners to cut costs. For instance, when we came into our room (and this was true of the breakfast room, too), the air conditioner had not been started in advance--Luxor is incredibly hot this time of year (like 108 F), and so we were drenched in sweat by the time we settled our bags down or ate our breakfast. When we would leave for a few hours, someone would come in and turn off the A/C if we left it on. We got used to calling in advance to ask them to start it up for us. These cost-cutting measures were in evidence during the booking process, too. We booked on a third party booking website and paid our deposit via Paypal, as she asked, but she wanted the rest of the bill paid in cash when we arrived. We have never been asked to do this during our travels, in and beyond Egypt; we don't like traveling with a lot of cash on us. 

In sum:  the staff was wonderful but the experience was not one we wished to repeat.

A bit run-down and spare amenities

This was a lovely place to stay. My husband and I took our 3 young sons to Egypt and we spent 3 days in Luxor, staying at Mara House. We were very well catered for, the breakfasts and the evening meals were delicious, the apartment was beautifully presented and well-equipped nd very comfortable. We had a peaceful and enjoyable stay. We took a tour to Dendara and Abydos on one day (absolutely gorgeous) , and the Valley of the Kings on another which was everything you would hope for it to be; these were organised by Mara and were excellent. I really do recommend this hotel for travellers with families, we felt well looked after and were sad to leave.

A lovely place to stay for me and my family

We were looking forward to our visit to Luxor and Mara House ever since we first contacted Mara by email in September 2022 and it did not disappoint. Despite booking international hotels in Cairo, our experience with Mara was much more personalized and that was reassuring. Mara was not only wonderfully responsive and very generous with tips and advice, her website is also packed with great information which was of immense help during our entire Egypt trip.

As expected, our family of 3 thoroughly enjoyed our three nights at Mara House. Amr took such good care of us, making sure my husband, who was coming down with a cold, always had a hot cup of tea on hand. Amr and his lovely wife were also such innovative and excellent cooks, we enjoyed breakfast and dinner at Mara House each day and loved all our delicious meals. 

The house itself has such an original and Old World feel. One can imagine one is in old Luxor of the past and that adds to the charm. Add to that the wonderful service (last minute taxis that Amr arranged to drop us off and pick us up at Luxor Temple one night and Karnak Temple the next, packed lunches ordered the night before for our day trips, super early hot breakfasts to get us going before the 7am pick-up by our cruise operator) and you can't beat the experience!

A Lovely Stay

My family and I recently stayed at Mara House and all the credit of our enjoyable stay goes to Amr. Amr, who did everything from taking our bags up three flights of stairs, made us hot tea to welcome us, ordered pizza for our lunch, arranged a taxi to take us to the sites we wanted to see, and, with his wife, made us an amazing dinner and breakfast, is really what made Mara House worth the visit. I will admit that I had trepidations prior to arriving at Mara House. Mara, the owner, does not come off the best during text exchanges and made me curious as to how she has managed to stay in the hospitality business. I was genuinely worried about how our stay was going to go and if we were to be treated well once we arrived. Thankfully, Amr more than made up for any hesitation that I had and truly made us feel welcome and taken care of. As for Mara House itself, it is a very charming place albeit not in the best location. We stayed in many different hotels during our Egypt trip, including The Fairmont in Cairo and The Four Seasons in Alexandria, however Mara House definitely stands out as a unique and wonderful memory in our travels. I would highly recommend staying there, especially for those who enjoy more intimate experiences in their travels.

Charming hotel and great hospitality

Amazing experience at Mara house! Everyone was so friendly, the rooms were beautiful, and the food was amazing! Would absolutely stay again! It’s only about a 15 min walk from the center of the city, and felt very safe the whole time. We loved the hospitality from Amr and Mara was very communicative and helpful!

Amazing Time!

I read Mara's blog for a couple of years, always thinking "someday, when we go to Egypt, I want to stay at Mara House!" And even with all of that buildup of anticipation, she did not disappoint - in fact, our experience surpassed expectations! Mara was so kind and so helpful as we were planning our trip. She found a guide for us in Cairo when our initial plans unexpectedly fell through, and she arranged an awesome guide and driver in Luxor who took my husband and I, and a couple of other charming Mara House guests, to see as many temples and tombs as we could pack in. But the real treat for me was coming back to Mara House each evening to a home-cooked dinner by Amr, the house manager. So delicious, so healthy - it was food for the soul. We didn't want to eat anywhere else - we were hooked! And being greeted with sweet mint tea... aaaah. Heaven! My only wish is to meet Mara in person someday (she was out of Egypt at the time, but still so responsive to questions!) and say how much we appreciate what she does and the care with which she does it. Mara House is magical. Also, special thanks to Amr and his family for all the little touches that make this place feel like visiting a friend's home.

The most memorable and special part of Egypt for us was Mara House!

AMAZING, words cannot describe how welcome and cosy my family felt while staying at Mara House!. The site is a true oasis in the middle of Luxor, and I am not only talking about the house itself but also about the cherished service we were provided by Amr and his family who is the house manager; we never felt like one more guest in hotel chain but rather we felt like friends or family invited to stay and it that way you get a perspective of how Egyptians live by staying in a real Egyptian house rather than a hotel. With that in mind Mara House is not for you if you are looking for a big hotel chain with restaurants, buffet, swimming pool, luxury, lots of tourists, big reception desk and people working around in suits; Mara House is about being independent, free spirits, and have different points of view of Egypt; and YES you should order The Salahadeen Feast dinner because I can guarantee you that it will be the best meal you will have in your Egyptian vacation because it is cooked with love like your granny will do and it taste delicious. 

Apart from staying at Mara House we also booked our entire Egypt tours with her, from Cairo to Luxor, including the Nile Cruise and some add on sites we wanted to see; Mara did a  pristine job on coordinating everything and providing information along the way (both at the time of booking but also when we were in Egypt) and despite we had an issue with a driver pick up at the airport in Cairo; Mara quickly corrected it and even reimburse us for that pick up without having to ask her to do it. 

I would truthy recommend Mara and her team for your Egyptian adventures. 


Mara House Luxor

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