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Located 15 minutes from the airport, the Baron is friendly, clean and a little run down. Guests needn’t bother with the little shopping mall on the second floor, there are plenty of stores close by. But the bank, with acceptable market rates on foreign currency, is a useful convenience. The Starlight Restaurant on the top floor offers a great view of the sprawl of Heliopolis, the once elegant suburb, and of the army club next door. The Café le Jardin, which serves international dishes at reasonable prices, has a few open-air tables. The rooms are small but acceptable, with new carpet, cleans walls and functional bathrooms.
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The Cosmopolitan is not what most business travellers expect of an hotel. An old classic in the middle of Cairo, it’s a little run down and doesn’t offer all the amenities that larger chains are able to provide. Despite its shortcomings, however, the staff are exceedingly friendly and eager to help. They can offer a suite or make arrangements with a local restaurant to accommodate business meetings.
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If your principal criterion for selecting a hotel is airport proximity, the Mövenpick, located between Cairo International’s two main terminals, is the place for you. Unfortunately, this means that guests here are a half-hour drive from Downtown. The architecture is uninspired, but the building is well sound-proofed, the lobby is pleasant and the rooms are fine. It offers a range of meeting rooms to accommodate groups from 10 to 500. The staff are at times grudging in their service, but with Mövenpick’s reputation at stake they come around quickly. The gardens surrounding the hotel form a pleasant backdrop for a stroll or a meal at the Italian restaurant, and the jogging track is a healthy alternative to the in-house casino.
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Owned by the family of the same [name] (famous for racing and off-roading), the Siag Pyramids Hotel is, frankly, a bit strange. The walls are lined in maroon velvet, the restaurants appear abandoned most of the time, and the staff make themselves scarce. Making up for this, though, is one of the best Pyramids views in the city, especially from the roof-top restaurant. The hotel’s three conference rooms can hold up to 180 people each. The pool is huge and all the rooms have a decent view of either the Pyramids or the lake behind the hotel.
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The Windsor, while lacking most of the\r\[name]nities demanded by the modern traveller, nonetheless commands a surprisingly large and loyal following. Friendly, honest service certainly accounts for some of this devotion, but most of it probably comes down to sheer atmosphere. The reception area, with its massive switchboard and ancient cage lift, does not seem to have changed at all since the ’50s, and the rooms (basic but generally clean and decent) seem to have stepped out of the same time machine. The bar is a favourite ex-pat watering hole, and a regular roster of interesting characters can usually be found watching TV or holding forth in the corner over local beer.
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