Egyptian Wedding in Mövenpick Hotel Cairo Media City

Movenpick hotel is located on the outskirt of Cairo, I know the location may not be ideal if you wanted to visit the Giza Pyramid as it is about 20km away and takes about an hour to reach. But Movenpick has its charm too, it has a very good Aqua Park and two largest shopping malls nearby.  The mall of Egypt, one of the largest shopping arcades in the Middle East is here.

The lobby is grand and during my visit, we saw the Egyptian wedding was held here.

Aqua Park or Pool Review

I have stayed in many resorts around the world and Movenpick has one of the best aqua parks that I have seen so far. The layout is very beautiful and there are a number of pools for both adults and children to play or swim. It was winter month during my visit, so we did not bother to go down to the pool.

If you look from the top, it certainly has a nice layout.

Room Review

There are a number of rooms to choose from with a pool view or garden view or both with garden and pool view.

The room is very spacious but please bring along a pair of sandals as there are no sandals provided in the room.  You will need it when you go to the pool or walk to the restaurant for breakfast or dinner.

Bathroom Review

It has all the toiletries in the bathroom.  Both toilet and bidet can be seen located next to each other.

The shower cum bathtub is also available.

Breakfast Review

This is a big resort and the restaurant can sit up to a hundred visitors. The breakfast range is huge and it has both Western and Egyptian cuisine.

My breakfast

I choose Aish Baladi also known as the Egyptian bread. It is the national breakfast in Egypt and it is traditionally made using whole wheat. It has a pocket in the middle of the bread where you can put things that you like inside and eat it the way you like. You can also dip into sesame sauce which also makes a lovely appetizer on its own.

Egyptian Dessert

Egyptian desserts are very sweet, just to name some of them are Basbousa, Kanafeh, Mahalabiya – also known as Egyptian Milk custard.

Dipping sauce

Egyptian Wedding

During our stay, we encounter an Egyptian wedding. In the hotel, there is a “Zaffa” procession with drummers at the entrance to receive guests and the couple. Zaffa entrance is popular in Egyptian weddings and other middle eastern countries. We hear drums and various string instruments plus a dabke leader who begins the dance, then the rest of the dancers follow the leader, synchronizing with his every movement as they make their entrance. Zaffa performance is one of the most exciting parts of an Arabic wedding.

Once the bride and groom make an entrance, Zaffa groups start off the wedding with traditional music and dance down the aisle. I can feel it is a very high energy entrance, a very good vibe.

Final thoughts:

Glad to be able to see how a traditional Egyptian wedding is like in Movenpick Hotel.  The Zaffa entrance performance is really a special moment for the bride and the groom. You will see all the focus is on her when she enters the reception and the lobby. I like how the traditional music was played and it is truly an amazing performance.

About the hotel, it has a great aqua park and I am sure it would be lovely if you are here in the summer.