The Talisman is overall an excellent hotel but it does have its quirks. However, if you know these quirks ahead of time and are OK with them, it can be quite an enjoyable stay.

The hotel is right in the downtown area. Cab drivers will not know the hotel, so you will need them to take you nearby and then walk. The surrounding area is safe, very crowded, and shops outside are open at least until Midnight. You can buy bootleg DVDs and lots of knock off clothes nearby.

The rooms themselves are quite basic, but very clean and well maintained. Given the location you can't expect much more. You can spend similar money and get much better rooms near the Airport (i.e. Hotel Concorde el Salam), but then you need to spend another $20 USD a day on cabs getting into and out of the downtown - and at least 30 min each way. The shower water cycles from hot to cold to hot, so it takes some getting used to. Every morning at 5 AM you will be woken up by prayers, which go on for about two minutes.

The front desk staff are very nice and helpful if you get to know them. They don't expect tips like high end hotels and are willing to give you tips - tips on where to go, what is a good price to pay for clothes at the Khan, etc! Alternatively, if you want to be left alone, they will leave you alone. We stayed at regular hotel chains in Cairo, and the front desk staff at the Talisman are much better!! They get to know you as people rather than just as money holding tourists.

Breakfast is basic as other reviews have stated. The fresh squeezed orange juice is great!

At the hotel, there is a tour operator, Hamdi. For two students, you can pay $40 USD each and get a day-trip tour of the Pyramids. The price is closer to $55 USD for a single person by yourself. The tour guides are very good - usually ~25 year old University students who are very knowledgeable - and there is also a driver, both of whom you tip at the end of the day. The only thing to watch out for is they try to take you to Alabaster/Jewelry "museum" stores and a very expensive, bad lunch. If you tell them ahead of time you don't want to do any of this, they will oblige, which is good. There are plenty of other food options if you are forceful, and bathrooms are available at all tourist sites, so don't worry about being forced to a store. Don't be pushed around!

Other little tidbits: The free internet at the hotel is great. It is hard to find good restaurants in Cairo - I'd suggest ignoring "mid-range" places and just going to the "fast-food" cheap eats places, or trying out some higher end places. Mid-range places seem to be targeted to tourists, with mostly bad food but with Western service/look/feel.

An oasis of calm in a hectic city. Wel loved our stay at the Talisman. The hotel owners have taken great care to furnish the rooms beautifully. Every corner holds an exquisite piece of antique furniture, and the rooms are literally picture perfect.

The service was excellent, and although lacking in the wide range of amenities you would find in a five star hotel, I would choose this place every time.

The hotel can be a bit difficult to find, but definitely worth perservering!

Extremely charming, richly decorated with warm colours and beautiful carved furniture. Our room was large, with airconditioning, a small refrigerator, TV. The bathroom had shower and bidet, and lots of spare towels.
Also charming is the elevator (to look at only - I recommend the stairs!), it can be a little tempremental.
Great location, and remarkably quiet considering how close it is to a main shopping street. Within walking distance to Egyptian Museum, a number of restaurants and a shopping mall.
Staff were friendly and quiet - very much in the background unless we needed them. Breakfast was included, and was the standard toast-croissant-egg-juice combo.
Our memory is of a quiet, romantic and gentle atmosphere, with the benefit of being smack bang in the middle of Cairo's busiest areas.

We recently stayed at the Talisman for three nights during the middle of the "Feast". This was a good time to stay there, as the streets were very crowded outside, even late at night when we first arrived, but it wasn't very loud in the hotel. The hotel is off Taalit Harb, just south of 26th July, two of the main streets in Cairo, down a populated alley across from the L'Americaine Cafe. The building seems a little sketchy when you walk in, but you take the old school elevator upstairs, and you enter the lobby. The rooms are cute, but on the smaller side. Our first night a ceiling tile fell in the bathroom, which could have been quite dangerous if we were in there at the time. Also, there's a note to put "nothing" in the toilet, including toilet paper. I don't have a problem with that, just not at $100 a night. That said, the place was clean and safe, two key things in any hotel in a foreign country. One note, you have to pay cash for your room. We did a tour of the pyramids offered through the Talisman, which was a good tour. Breakfast was decent enough. Overall, I'd probably stay there again, but the place it a little pricey for what it offers.