BOUTIQUE HOTELS of AFRICA: EGYPT

The Al Moudira hotel is a beautiful palace located on the West bank of the Nile - the side of the Nile where Egypt's most breathtaking antique sites lie. Al Moudira has used the resources of the artisans of Egypt and the Orient to produce a unique decor of rare elegance.

Between the Nile and the mountains, Al Moudira is just a few minutes away (4km) from the Valley of the Kings. This is where the most famous pharaohs, Ramses II, Toutankhamon, Seti 1st - were laid to rest. The ochre-coloured outer walls of the Al Moudira hotel encircles a luxuriant eight-hectare garden with a swimming pool, an oasis in the desert. The hotel lies on the borderland where the cultivated fields end and the desert begins. Sugar cane growers across the way tend their fields with donkeys and camels just as their ancestors have done for thousands of years. The whole place exudes a wonderful feeling of peace and tranquillity.