Accommodations and Food

There are three hotels in downtown Mut, all more than a little warm in summer. The Tourist Rest House by the bus station is almost clean, but oh-so-steamy and full of flies (LE3-80 per bed). The best option in town is the Gardens Hotel (tel. 94 15 77), which has clean, breezy rooms with fans, and a pleasant, palm-shaded garden out back. From the bus station, turn right at the mosque and continue one block past Hamdy’s Restaurant; you’ll find the hotel on your right. (Singles LE6, with bath LE8. Doubles LEU, with bath LE12.) Further along past Anwar’s Restaurant is the grungy and sweltering Dar al-Wafden Hotel. (LE3 for a bed, LE4.5O for a bed made special by a slab of carpet on the floor.)

A little to the north along the Farafra highway, Dakhla’s package-tour hotel, The Mebarez (tel. 94 15 24), offers nothing you won’t find much more cheaply at The Gardens. Three km east of town, the Rest House, 100m to the left of the Farafra road next to the hot ferrous spring and murky pool, has quaint rooms, private baths, and only partially effective screens (LE4.25 per person). Thirty-two km down the road from Mut in the village of Al-Qasr, also along the main highway, is a rest house with large clean rooms (LE5 per person). Finally, camping is a very viable option. The area behind the hot springs has many dunes and few insects. A number of the nearby springs also provide good spots at which to pitch tents.

While it’s not saying much, Dakhia probably has the best food in the oases. Ham-dy’s Restaurant on New Valley St., halfway between the Mosque and the highway, was about to change ownership in the summer of 1993, when a full meal Qfr-chicken, vegetables, rice, and salad) cost LE7.70. One block east of Hamdy’s, Anwar’s Desert Paradise Restaurant serves up full meals for LE7.5O. Along the highway, Shehaab, just west of New Valley St., is a local favorite (full meals LE5). Abu Muhammad’s Restaurant, another 100m west, is the cleanest place in town, but all that soap and antiseptic has raised prices (meals around LE10). The comments book makes excellent reading.