Highlights

Itinerary

Day 1 – Arrive Cairo

Upon arrival in Cairo, you will be met by an Egypt representative near the Immigration counter. They will meet you and give each of you the Egypt entry visa. Once thru immigration, proceed to baggage claim and then you will be transferred to your hotel for check-in and overnight. Your hotel, STEIGENBERGER PYRAMIDS, is a 5-star property located near the Pyramids and only 30 minutes from the center of Cairo. This hotel is beautifully set in landscaped grounds with a view of the Giza Pyramids. All rooms will have a pyramid view.

Day 2 – Cairo

You will be met at the hotel by your private Egyptologist tour guide to start your tour. Visit the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, a prototype of the Giza pyramids, and the Imhotep Museum. Group will have lunch en route. Then roam the Giza Plateau, site of the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the pyramids of Menkaure and Khafre. Built in the Fourth Dynasty (approximately 2690 BC), this pyramid complex is the only survivor of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. You will have the opportunity to enter the interior of one of these legendary structures. Ride a camel across the sands of Giza, and gaze out over the whole plateau, the Great Sphinx backdropped by the pyramids, a setting that has captured the imaginations of adventurers for centuries. Continue through Khafre’s Valley Temple to the Great Sphinx.

Return to your hotel for dinner and overnight. (B,L,D)

Day 3 – Cairo

Visit the Grand Egyptian Museum, filled with artifacts from thousands of years of Egyptian history, including the mummies of powerful pharaohs and treasures from the Tomb of Tutankhamun. Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant. Continue to an institute of papyrus to see how papyrus is made and a demonstration of the new phosphoric paintings on papyrus. This evening, enjoy a dinner cruise party on the Nile.

Return to your hotel for overnight. (B,L,D)

Day 4 – Luxor

Visit the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, the only museum in Egypt offering a full overview of Egypt’s historical periods, from the Predynastic and Ancient Egyptian periods to contemporary times. The museum was developed over a period of 20 years through the cooperation of Egyptian government and UNESCO to showcase this globally important heritage in well organized and beautiful exhibits. Visit to the Saladin Citadel and the 12th Century Mohamed Ali Mosque, standing proudly in the highest point inside the courtyard of the Citadel Enjoy lunch en route. We will finish our touring today exploring Khan el Khalili Bazaar and mingling with locals in one of the coffee shops to enjoy Egyptian beverages.

Transfer to Cairo Airport for your late afternoon flight to Luxor. In Luxor, meet your local representative and transfer to your hotel for overnight. Your hotel, Sonesta St George is a beautiful 5-star property located on the east bank of the Nile. Side Nile View Room is included in your stay. (B,L)

Day 5 – Luxor 

Enjoy a relaxing morning before checking out from the hotel. Visit Dendera, where ruins include the Ptolomaic temple of the goddess Hathor, with its round zodiac ceiling representing the heavens as they were known by Greek and Egyptian astronomers. The temple was buried in sand up until mid-1800’s. Two Roman fountains flank the path leading to the temple’s massive entry gate. The mud-brick enclosure walls also date to the Roman era. Structures within the walls include the temple, a Coptic Basilica, and a temple to Isis.

Return to Luxor for lunch, a free afternoon and overnight. (B,L)

Day 6 – Nile Cruise from Luxor

Your tour representative will meet you at your hotel and transfer you to your deluxe Nile cruise vessel, the Acamar, for lunch. After lunch, visit Karnak Temple with your private guide. Known as “the Temple of Temples,” Karnak is the largest place of worship ever built. The sprawling complex of temples was built over a time span of more than two thousand years by generation after generation of pharaohs. Within the complex, the great Hypostyle Hall is an incredible forest of giant pillars covering an area larger than Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Next visit the Temple of Luxor built by Amenhotep III and Ramses II for ritual and festivals and dedicated to the god Amun. Return to your cruise for dinner and overnight on board. (B,L,D)

Day 7 – Edfu

After breakfast on board, cross to the west bank of the Nile and visit the wondrous Valley of the Kings, a vast city of the dead where more than 60 royal tombs have been discovered. The tombs were carved deep into the desert rock, richly decorated, and filled with treasures for the afterlife. Visit several of the tombs. Next, visit the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut.  This beautiful monument to the reign of one of the very few female pharaohs rises out of the desert plain in a series of terraces and merges with the sheer limestone cliffs that surround it. On the way back to Luxor, stop at the famed Colossi of Memnon, two 60ft, 700-ton statues of Amenhotep III. These colossal statues were known by the ancient Greeks to emit haunting voices at dawn. Though damaged by nature and ancient tourists, the statues are still impressive.  (B,L,D)

Day 8 – Aswan

After breakfast on board, set out by horse-drawn carriage to visit the Temple of Horus, the falcon-headed sky god, the most perfectly preserved of all the Nile temples. Return to your cruise vessel by carriage and sail to Kom Ombo. Visit the Temple of Sobek, the crocodile-headed god of fertility and creator of the world. The temple stands at a bend in the Nile where, in ancient times, sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the riverbank. (B,L,D)

Day 9 – Aswan

After breakfast on board, take a short motorboat ride to the Temple of Philae on the island of Agilka. The temple was dedicated to Isis, sister/wife of Osiris and patroness of the Ptolemaic rule. After lunch on your cruise, sail around Elephantine Island on a felucca, the traditional Egyptian sailboat. Elephantine Island is the largest of the Aswan area islands and is the site of some of the most ancient remains in Egypt, with artifacts dating to pre-dynastic periods.  Continue sailing around Kitchner Island. Lord Kitchner was given the island in appreciation for his campaigns in the Sudan. He imported plants from around the world to create his famous garden. From the river you have a nice view of the Aga Khan Mausoleum, an elegant pink granite structure built in the late 1950’s. (B,L,D)

Day 10 – Aswan

Disembark from the Nile cruise. Then take the camel to a Nubian Village around 30 minutes where you will visit a Nubian home and have a discussion with the family while tea is served; Nubians still speak their own language; you will be exposed to the family and the way the Nubians live. Enjoy a home base Nubian lunch. In the afternoon, walk through the Aswan Market, one of the famous old markets in Africa for the spices and herbs. Arrive at your hotel in an island off Aswan for dinner and overnight. (B,L,D)

Day 11 – Cairo

After breakfast checkout from the hotel and take a morning flight to Abu Simbel and visit the two awesome temples built by Ramses the Great. The entire complex of temples was moved to its present location 90 feet above its old site to protect it from the rising water of the Nile when the Aswan Dam was built in the early sixties. Fly back to Aswan and connect on to Cairo. You will be met by your tour representative and transferred to your hotel near the airport for overnight. This evening, enjoy a special farewell dinner at a local Mediterranean restaurant.  (B,D)

Day 12 – Depart for Home

You will be met at your hotel and transferred to Cairo International Airport for your departure flight. (B)

Tour Map