The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

After taking directions from the friendly doorman, we headed up to the third floor and patiently waited for the door to be opened. The spa is a spacious apartment, complete with wooden floors, chandeliers and shaggy rugs taking up the entire floor of the building. The treatment rooms were old fashioned and a little shabby, but clean. We arrived without an appointment and requested a facial (250LE) and a manicure (40LE). The male receptionist advised a deep cleansing facial, using Oxygen products to unclog our pores. We were then asked to pay upfront, which seemed a little unusual.

After twenty long minutes of waiting, listening to the jazz playing over the speakers, we were informed that the nail technician was not there and had taken all the nail polishes with her. We stuck with our decision and settled for a manicure without polish – effectively just a tidy up.   

Of all the girls shuffling from room to room in their flip flops and pyjama type tracksuits, we didn’t expect that we’d be allocated their resident transvestite; seriously. Of course we didn’t mind that he was dressed as a woman, or that he had hands three times the size of ours – even the facial stubble didn’t phase us – however, we did mind that he/she clearly didn’t have much experience in manicuring.