A new 50-acre farm is slowly coming to life on Luxor’s west bank. Neatly tended rows of plants sit among the palm trees, thriving in the rich Nile-fed soil. There’s everything from tomatoes to bananas, as well as livestock, along with a duck pond and some ersatz pigeon towers built to hide an ugly structure on the skyline that interrupts the bucolic view. Dotted throughout the greenery stand shaded structures and small buildings, each a hub of human activity. Take the group of 30 or so local women, conversation bubbling in Arabic, who surround tables strewn with waxy rectangles—sugarcane pulp they’ve made into paper that’s drying in the sun. Under another lean-to, one man works to turn palm leaves into elaborate, rattan-like woven furniture—he’s even fashioned a small shelf for his cell phone, wedged into the mud wall by his right shoulder, to better keep it at hand.
There’s a team of ceramicists hard at work on slab and wheel, plus five men who sit listening to a tinny radio as they carve chunks of alabaster into rounded, tactile vases and lampshades. One of them offers to explain the process, smiling broadly. That stone is harvested from mountains more than 400 miles away, he says, then transported by donkey or camel. He and his team still use tools the ancient Egyptians relied on, like the hand crank boring into the stone’s center with the help of body weight to bear down on the unforgiving rock. Each piece is dried in the sun and then kiln-fired to bake it hard. He motions to cup one of the shades over an ear. “Like the sound of the sea,” he says.
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From left: The columns at the Temple of Khnum near the Nile River; view of Hotel Al Moudira’s luxury suite.
This farm, though, isn’t simply an agricultural and artisanal endeavor. Rather, it’s an extension of Al Moudira, the luxury hotel next door, where a small boutique is already stocked with the items these craftspeople produce. What’s more, guests will soon be encouraged to join classes and workshops (be warned that the alabaster-boring is biceps-busting, even for a few minutes). The property has other new elements, too, like an amphitheater for concerts amid the palm trees and an under-construction farm-to-table restaurant—a new home-from-home for British chef Gioconda Scott. She’s decamped here full-time for at least a year with her husband and young family, intrigued by the chance to cook with ingredients harvested within the compound. Everyone is welcoming and warm—other than a free-roaming ostrich, curious and slightly surly, which keeps skittish guard over the entire site.
It’s an extraordinary achievement given that, barely months before, the land was uncultivated, just another stretch of the open countryside here. Its creation was down to the hotel’s force-of-nature owner, Florian Amereller, a German-born lawyer who has lived and worked in the Middle East for much of his adult life. Al Moudira and its farm are part of an umbrella operation he has dubbed Egypt Beyond, through which Amereller is devoting his considerable energies (and resources) to a series of upscale tourism projects, including spectacular new villas and a yacht unlike any that has cruised down the Nile. Each venture is aimed at showcasing the best of his adoptive country, from Luxor to Cairo and around the country.
Al Moudira’s breakfast buffet.
The company’s efforts are well-timed—and much-needed. Coordinating a five-star trip through Egypt has been a disjointed, somewhat haphazard undertaking, with inconsistent service and quality standards from location to location. Egypt Beyond’s slowly emerging network of accommodations will neatly resolve that problem just as affluent travelers’ interest in the country is surging.
Egypt has long been a permanent fixture of the tourism circuit, its pyramids and mummies conferring an indelible allure. “It’s so banal to say Egypt is a bucket-list destination—it’s a journey, it’s a calling, it’s about the creation of mankind,” says Cari Gray of adventure specialist Gray & Co., a Robb Report Travel Master. She notes that despite conflict in the region, business to Egypt has grown in the past two years. In part, that’s down to the wave of high-end visitors, which the country’s operators are aggressively courting. Egypt Beyond is a key player, but it isn’t the only one. Take the new excitement in Siwa, for example, where the charge is being led by locally owned Kazazian, or Luxor, where Four Seasons is rumored to arrive on the east bank next year. That city’s storied but dilapidated Winter Palace hotel is a prime target for a top-tier operator, with both Orient-Express and Belmond whispered as would-be white knights. (The solar eclipse visible from Egypt in summer 2027—August 2, to be exact—is also driving renewed interest.) Nothing comes close right now, though, to the far-reaching, deep-pocketed efforts of Egypt Beyond, which Robb Report was granted exclusive access to preview.
A private pool at the hotel’s villas.
Al Moudira, the crown jewel in Amereller’s growing empire, isn’t new. It has been a mainstay of the tourism landscape in Luxor for more than 20 years and is an outlier for its location—all other accommodations are clustered together on the east bank, close to the modern city, rather than adjacent to the historic sites—as well as its origin story. The sprawling west-bank complex, with seating areas tucked around the winding gardens and a slim white cat that circles the breakfast tables with palpable hopefulness, was originally created by the indomitable Zeina Aboukheir, an Italian Lebanese designer. She embraced the nickname her construction workers gave her with such gusto that she adopted it for the hotel: Moudira means “lady boss.” She still lives on the property after having sold it to Amereller three years ago. “He thinks in the long term,” she says, slipping into French, and notes that he’s committed to the project for many years to come. “It’s very good that [he has] a perspective that involves developing the surrounding areas, too. In one way, he’s making a social enterprise.” Yoking Egypt Beyond’s efforts in luxury tourism directly to the local community ensures that some of the money spent by wealthy travelers on its properties funnels into the villages nearby. It’s no wonder that Amereller has that instinct, given that his wife, Margarita Andrade, an Ecuadorian expat who moved to Cairo 30 years ago, was the driving force behind Threads of Hope, which teaches refugee women needle-working skills that they can use to make linens. Its in-house brand, Malaika, is deployed throughout Al Moudira.
Florian is a visionary, and he’s redefining what’s possible in Egypt.
An Al Moudira villa, furnished with antique pieces sourced from across the Middle East.
Amereller is a restless, driven presence as he showcases more phases of the hotel complex, clambering around the building site where additional staff housing is under way (including a natty cottage for chef Scott and her family). There’s always a battery pack attached to the phone in his hand, and he fires off WhatsApp voice notes with abandon; he’ll leap into a construction area without hesitation, untroubled by the dustiness on his loafers. Amereller also talks excitedly of more to come—artists and writers invited to those cottages for residencies, for example, drawing inspiration as he has from Egypt.
From left: The living room in the El Sheikh Apartment- Salon, one of four apartments Beyond Egypt built inside Cairo’s landmark Immobilia building; a second luxury apartment inside the showcase building.
Nothing is more momentous than another Egypt Beyond construction project a short drive away along the Nile’s west bank, on Luxor’s outskirts: Beit el Nil. The 12-suite exclusive-use villa is like nothing else on the river’s edge here, with its own lush green gardens overlooking the countryside on the east bank, too. Amereller clambers around this site with the same vim, noticing some elaborate dry oak woodwork on a panel (too fussy, he thinks—another voice note). He bought the sprawling house from a Swiss woman and proceeded to gut-renovate it to his exacting requirements. He stops to admire the extra thick slabs of marble that he has insisted be used to rebuild the waterfront swimming pool, far harder to maneuver than lighter, slimmer stones; it’s a technical feat that the foreman smiles shyly to acknowledge. There’s also a jetty at the river’s edge where a dhow-like dahabeah could be moored for daily or overnight trips with special permission. Egypt Beyond actually already operates a small boat like that—the five-cabin Set Nefru—but it will soon be eclipsed by Amereller’s other major new launch. Well, if it leaves the dry dock in Cairo on time.
“It came like a bomb—that’s how usually Florian starts,” says architect Osama Kamal, as he walks around that second ship, a cruise vessel dubbed Nile Canopus, sitting in a shipyard an hour’s drive or so from the center of the city. “He’s very involved.” Kamal is one of Egypt Beyond’s key voices, a genial man with a shaved head who fled to Canada amid political uncertainty in the country but was drawn back to help rebuild his homeland for the next generation—including his daughter, who works alongside him. It was Kamal whom Amereller tapped as the contractor to reimagine Al Moudira after he acquired the property, updating the interiors and constructing a second large villa onsite that mirrors Villa Zeina, former owner Aboukheir’s home before she downsized to smaller quarters on the property. Kamal also worked on the series of four apartments that Egypt Beyond operates in the landmark Immobilia building, an Art Deco high-rise in downtown Cairo that dates back to the country’s mid-20th-century boom. Amereller bought those luxurious apartments on a whim, after meeting a resident of the building on a plane. The most impressive is the largest, on the 11th floor, though they all pose a stark contrast to the lobby, which can best be described as atmospherically derelict. It’s an unforgettable moment to stand on the terrace of that apartment, high over the hubbub of Cairo, as the noise of honking cars and the call to prayer swirl together and the sun sets slowly over the horizon.
Luxury riverboat Nile Canopus brings the river up close as it glides through the rush-fringed water.
The shipyard where Nile Canopus currently sits is just as noisy, albeit less romantic. Teams are working frantically so sailings can begin by the end of 2025, when it will make a major splash, not only for the luxury of its finishings but also for its stature. Licenses to operate such boats along the Nile are hard to acquire, explains Kamal, especially at a large size—and Nile Canopus, at almost 20 feet across and 180 feet long, is a rarity. That roominess (especially the width) allowed him to include eight standard cabins and four more suites with their own private balconies, as well as multiple common areas. Amereller plans to offer it primarily for exclusive-use charters. As for the design, Kamal’s focus is on traditional crafts. Many of the artisans, Kamal notes, are elderly, and there are few apprentices keen to learn their skills. “In two or three years, you couldn’t do some of this,” he says.
Four of the cabins have private balconies, including this one.
Egypt Beyond’s other efforts include another luxury villa, similar to Beit el Nil, in the town of Fayoum, two hours’ drive from Cairo and a longtime weekend getaway for wealthy locals. Kamal is in charge of that project, too. This growing network of prime properties around the country is sorely needed, according to Christopher Wilmot-Sitwell of Cazenove + Loyd, another Robb Report Travel Master. “You need to stay longer in each place, because then you can have a more relaxed way of sightseeing—don’t just go to the tick-the-box places,” he says. Wilmot-Sitwell’s clients for Egypt are increasingly larger, multigenerational groups keen to spend an extended time in the country and pace their trip better. Egypt Beyond understands that impulse better than almost any other operator, he adds. “You can do less each day and spread it out, and with a good captain on a private boat, you can get to any place when you know other people aren’t there,” he says. “It’s more luxurious, and it’s very, very flexible.” Gray & Co.’s Cari Gray similarly considers Amereller an astute strategist. “People are exhausted when they race through, so it’s better to have a base that’s a bit of an oasis,” she says. “Florian is a visionary, and he’s redefining what’s possible in Egypt, especially making it very accessible for travelers and helping them gain an appreciation for the craftsmanship.”
To that end, Nile Canopus will connect seamlessly between Aswan and Luxor, and at a leisurely tempo—the captain can pilot it to your whims—and it can even be moored on occasion at Beit el Nil to keep it on hand when needed for, say, a day trip down the Nile to the eye-poppingly intact reliefs at the Temple of Khnum in Esna. Still, the biggest luxury of staying at that new villa will be much simpler. Like Al Moudira, it sits on the west bank of the Nile—the same side as the Valley of the Kings and other major sites, like Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple, carved into the cliffs at Deir el-Bahari. The ease of access, without needing to join a wait for one of the bridges that span the Nile only sporadically here, creates unforgettable opportunities, like the chance to be the first person to walk into the valley, home to dozens of royal tombs, just after sunrise.
Decks are filled with custom, handmade furniture.
It’s so banal to say Egypt is a bucket-list destination—it’s a journey, it’s a calling…
Egypt Beyond’s operation includes a fleet of classic cars, including a 1968 Mercedes-Benz Stroke 8, which will ferry guests around with a guide—in my case, Tamer Daoud, who was born here and learned his trade from his grandfather, tagging along on his tours to soak up English and history. There’s no one in sight other than a few sleepy guards as we walk among the burial chambers. “If you visited Cairo and saw the pyramids, you expected nothing will be inside, because all the pyramids are empty. But here, it’s different,” he says, of its enduring appeal. “It’s the carvings and the colors. How could people do this three and a half thousand years ago? But today they’re making stone works using the tools that the Egyptians used.” And it’s the connection between today and the distant past that captures so beautifully what makes an immersion with Egypt Beyond so unforgettable.
The Luxury Oasis
It took Alexander the Great weeks to reach the desert oasis of Siwa from the ancient capital Memphis, just south of modern Cairo, a distance of more than 450 miles heading west. He went there to consult an ancient oracle, trekking across the so-called Great Sand Sea. Even now, it’s not an easy journey. There are no commercial flights from the capital, so the best option is to charter a plane for the hour or so trip or take a day’s drive from a commercial airport on the coast. Then again, perhaps the fact that it’s so hard to reach is the point.
“We’re living in a world where very few people take their time,” says Mounir Neamatalla, an environmentalist and businessman who was the first person to recognize the potential for high-end tourism here, building an eco-hotel in Siwa, Adrère Amellal, 20 years ago. “I resisted any temptation by the government to make it easy for airplanes to come to Siwa,” he says. “When you’ve got a large number of travelers, they have a way of impacting the environment in a harsh manner. This should be a light touch.”
Left to right: Siwa’s mineral- rich waters are renowned for their healing properties; the electricity-free Adrère Amellal eco-hotel in Siwa.
Neamatalla did, however, attract some noteworthy visitors. One of them was family friend and well-known architect India Mahdavi, whose mother’s family is Egyptian. The Paris-based Mahdavi collaborated with him on the hotel’s design. It deploys a traditional technique synonymous with Siwa, known as kershef, which compacts the salt-rich earth here into pallets that are then sun-dried and used as building blocks, material porous enough to naturally regulate the temperature within. The hotel is electricity-free, too, and relies solely on candles, the moon, or the sun, to illuminate it.
Another guest Neamatalla lured to the elusive spot: renowned nature and wildlife photographer Peter Beard, whose work will be highlighted in a permanent museum in conjunction with his estate, due to open this winter. Neamatalla hopes it will explore how Siwa inspired his later work. He isn’t the only photographer to be inspired by the settlement, either. War photographer and surrealist Lee Miller came here when she was living in Cairo and captured one of her most famous images, Portrait of Space, near Siwa. Neamatalla has a museum dedicated to her installed at his lodge, too.
Other hospitality companies are now following in Neamatalla’s footsteps, notably Egyptian luxury operator Kazazian, which is best known for its sleek, modern charter boats on the Nile. In spring 2026 it will debut the first of a series of planned boutique hotels in key sites beyond Cairo and Luxor. Siwa will serve as a template—think small-footprint, high-end accommodations in key locations where luxury travelers currently find few or no options. The Siwa site will welcome guests from March, according to general manager Raef Refaat. It will encompass a 100-acre site with eight stand-alone suites, plus an 8,600-square-foot option.
A rendering of a lobby in Kazazian’s forthcoming luxury boutique hotel in Siwa, opening March 2026.
“Siwa has a unique natural beauty that no human beings interfered with,” Refaat says, noting that the oasis was historically known for its healing waters and, strangely, sands. Kazazian will offer the chance for guests to engage in so-called sand baths, an age-old practice that involves stripping naked and being buried in scorching desert sand—often as hot as 113 degrees Fahrenheit—similar to a sauna. “If you’re an alcohol drinker, you’ll smell it coming out of your body—all the toxins,” he promises.
Cazenove + Loyd’s Christopher Wilmot-Sitwell is enthusiastic about this addition to the Egyptian circuit, having first visited in the 1980s after taking a series of trains to eventually reach Siwa. “Somewhere that takes that much effort to get to? You feel like you’re doing something,” he says, “and something special.”
Top, from left: Hotel Al Moudira’s luxury suite emphasizes handcrafted details that showcase traditional Egyptian skills; a restored 1968 Mercedes-Benz Stroke 8, part of a fleet of classic cars Egypt Beyond uses to ferry guests.
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