The Talisman is a very good hotel with an individual feel. Rooms were a decent size and well furnished. The staff were friendly and helpful.

The hotel is a little hidden away, up a sidestreet but it's worth looking it out. Overall a really nice hotel.

We picked this hotel solely on the Lonely Planet "Authors Choice" review and we were not disappointed.

Rooms are beautifully decorated in bright Arabian style. The hotel can be a bit difficult to find as there is no sign outside but if you head for the Hotel Minerva then it is in the same building (wonderful old wrought iron lift on left hand side of entrance hall).

The front desk (24 hour) people were always friendly and helpful at all times and got us settled in our room pretty quickly.

Breakfast is a cold affair. Lovely fresh juice, a croisant or two and some cold cuts.

Downtown can be a bit daunting when you first arrive in Cairo as it isn't the "touristy" area. Get used to the curious stares and you'll be fine!

All in all, a very satisfactory stay in a beautifully decorated B&B and a more "real" alternative to the big chain hotels.

My wife and I were very pleased with the fantastic experience of staying at the hotel, just downtown and a block away from very interesting features of Cairo. The service was impeccable; the employees very polite et quelques uns parlaient notre langue le Francais. Also we did appreciate the personable services of Travel Tour manager Hamdi El Shora both for Cairo but mostly for assisting us in our historical trip to Louxor.

A big 5 * for the whole! MICHEL and HELENE, from Canada, presently based in Ethiopia.

We booked three nights at this hotel through Lonely Planet, which gave it a 10 out of 10 and wrote that it never gave 10/10. We were excited and decided to splurge since it's a bit expensive for Cairo standards. The hotel rooms are nicely decorated and the hotel is in a good, central location though very difficult to find with a taxi. The breakfast that is included is a croissant, a glass of juice, as well as tea or coffee -- waiters are non-existent. All mini bar prices, as well as room service, are in euros even though last time I checked Cairo was in Egypt. The staff (with one exception -- the late late night gentleman) is unapproachable and don't do anything special to make your trip memorable, and the lobby contains three to four random people just hanging out which we found a bit awkward. We had planned on taking the overnight train to Luxor, but instead decided to take a quick flight in the morning, so we asked the hotel if we could stay one more night at the same price as well as our last night in Cairo as we caught our flight home from there. The late late night gentleman said no problem. The next morning, we were approached by a woman who questioned this and an argument ensued between her and another woman on whether they had availability or not. After an argument in arabic, they looked at me and simply said ok. When we went to check out and leave for Luxor, my husband went to get our bill to look it over and found that they had charged us 10% more on our 4th night even though they said the same price would be given. The man said that the late late night gentleman has no authority and doesn't know what he is talking about and that it is more expensive to book directly through the hotel than through the Lonely Planet website. We have been fortunate to travel extensively for both work and play and have never come across a policy such as this. He also came to tell us that the Lonely Planet guidebook stellar recommendation was simply "a business arrangement." Good to know!! They also charged us $3 or a 30 second phone call that they made for us to a local friend, yet did not tell us there would be a fee. Also, the "free" internet did not work for the first two days. When my husband went to pay the final bill in the local currency (as directed when we made the reservation), the man told us we had to pay in US dollars -- again we're in Cairo -- when we didn't have dollars, we paid in Egyptian pounds receiving a horrible conversion rate. After an argument between this man and my husband, we immediately cancelled our reservation for our last night in Cairo and the gentleman could've cared less. Overall, this hotel was extremely disappointing, nickel and diming its guests, had horrendous service, and we would never ever stay here again nor recommend it to friends (or enemies for that matter!) as there are sooo many other options in Cairo.