Hi all
just did Siwa Bahariya road few weeks ago ( for maybe the 15Th time in the last 8 month) ,
about permits ,
it is so easy now to get it ,
5 USD for each person and 10 USD for the car and some few Egyptian pounds more
if you are foreigner depend on the officer mood ,he might ask you to take a military guide ,or you can be in a convoy with the rest of the cars which will drive in the same way ,usually you make permits like a day before you depart and then he will ask you to be in front of the military office around 7 to 7:30 am the day you will travel ,
if there is any local guides will do the trip he will put you in convoy with them ,or he will put an escort with you ,just to make sure you will have safe trip
you must pass through check point ,i dint think its a good idea at all to not do that (as its smuggling route and close to Libyan border ,just dint do it
the route is OK ,easy to do ,but there is 2 sand dunes areas can be really hard and lots of digging,( show respect to the desert )
these route known for locals as the tires and suspension eater ,very easy to tear Tyre or two there

the good news they are working really hard and fast on it and i think in a year or two will be easy 2 wheel drive road
to hire a 4x4 car from Siwa to Bahariya or vise verse is from 1000 to 1400 Egyptian pound (check the rate today is 5.6 per 1 USD
cheers