Fifteen days that go further than the classic route: Cairo and Giza, the desert monasteries and Alexandria, El Alamein, a four-night Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan, a night beside the temples of Abu Simbel, Aswan and the fossil valley of Wadi El-Hitan, with a private guide and both domestic flights included.
This private 15-day tour covers more of Egypt than the usual one or two weeks. It starts with the Pyramids of Giza and the Egyptian Museum, then heads north through the monasteries of Wadi El Natrun to Alexandria on the Mediterranean, and back to Cairo by way of the Second World War cemeteries of El Alamein. A flight takes you to Luxor, where you board a Nile cruise for four nights upriver to Aswan. From Aswan you drive south to Abu Simbel and stay the night beside the temples of Ramses II, then spend two more days in Aswan before flying back to Cairo for Islamic Cairo and a desert day in Fayoum.
Along the way you see the sites most visitors come for, the Pyramids and the Sphinx, Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philae and Abu Simbel, and several that most short tours leave out: the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Mosque of Ibn Tulun and the Gayer-Anderson Museum, and the whale fossils of Wadi El-Hitan. A certified Egyptologist guides the sightseeing days, the vehicle is private for your group, and both domestic flights, Cairo to Luxor and Aswan to Cairo, are included, together with the Sound and Light show at Abu Simbel, a felucca ride in Aswan and the 4x4 trip in Fayoum.
It is a weaker fit if you want beach days (there are none), if long road days tire you, or if your time is shorter. Our Egypt classic tours cover the main sites in 8 to 11 days, and a tailor-made trip can take out Alexandria or Fayoum, or add the Red Sea.
The pace is moderate to busy, with long road days balanced by four slower days on the cruise and a free afternoon in Aswan. Expect walking on uneven ground at most sites, steps down into the catacombs and the tombs, and sand on the Fayoum day. The main transfers are:
Our representative meets you in the arrival hall of Cairo International Airport, helps with the visa and the formalities, and walks you to your private air-conditioned vehicle. The drive to your hotel near the pyramids takes about an hour, depending on traffic.
In the early evening your tour leader meets you at the hotel to go through the plan: the pick-up times, what to wear for the monasteries on Day 3, and the flight to Luxor on Day 6. Afterwards you go out for a welcome dinner at a local restaurant, a first taste of Egyptian food such as koshari (rice, lentils and pasta under a spiced tomato sauce and crisp onions) and fatta (rice and bread with meat and a garlic and vinegar sauce).
The afternoon is free. If you would like to start sightseeing straight away, these are optional extras: the Museum of Islamic Art in Bab el-Khalq, with one of the largest collections of Islamic ceramics, glass, metalwork and manuscripts in the world; a half-day visit to Saqqara and Memphis; or a walk through the 19th-century streets of Downtown Cairo.
After breakfast your Egyptologist meets you at the hotel and you drive the short distance to the Giza Plateau. The three main pyramids were built for the Fourth Dynasty kings Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure about 4,500 years ago. The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the largest of them and the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing. Your guide explains how they were built, who built them, and how the plateau worked as a royal cemetery with its temples, causeways and the tombs of officials. Going inside the Great Pyramid needs a separate ticket bought at the site.
Below the pyramids stands the Great Sphinx, carved from the bedrock with the body of a lion and the head of a king, usually identified as Khafre. Beside it is Khafre's Valley Temple, built of huge granite blocks, where his funeral rites began.
After lunch you drive into central Cairo, about 45 minutes, to the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square. Opened in 1902, it was for more than a century the home of Egypt's great collections. Tutankhamun's treasures have since moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza and the royal mummies to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, but the old building still shows thousands of objects: the Narmer Palette, which records the unification of Egypt around 3100 BC, Old Kingdom statues and reliefs, objects of daily life, and the gold and silver burial treasures of the kings of Tanis. Your guide picks a route through the key rooms in about two hours.
You are back at the hotel in the late afternoon. The evening is free.
After breakfast you check out and drive north-west on the Cairo to Alexandria Desert Road, about 1 hour 30 minutes, to Wadi El Natrun. This low valley in the Western Desert, once a source of the natron salt the ancient Egyptians used in mummification, became one of the first centres of Christian monastic life in the 4th century, when Saint Macarius the Great settled here. Dozens of monasteries once stood in the valley; four are still active today.
You visit the Monastery of Saint Bishoy (Deir Anba Bishoy), named after a 4th-century monk. Inside its walls are old churches with icons, the keep where the monks once took refuge from raids, palm gardens and the monks' farm. A monk or your guide shows you round; the monastery is a working religious community, so dress modestly and keep your voice low in the churches. Opening times can change on feast days and during fasts.
The drive continues to Alexandria, about 1 hour 30 minutes, and you check in to your hotel. Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC and was the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt for almost three centuries, the city of the Lighthouse, the ancient Library and Cleopatra.
The evening is free for a walk along the Corniche, the seafront road that curves around the Eastern Harbour, and dinner at one of the city's fish restaurants.
After breakfast your guide takes you to the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, a burial complex of the 2nd century AD cut deep into the rock and reached by a spiral staircase. They were found by chance in 1900, when, by the local story, a donkey cart fell through the ground. The main tomb mixes Egyptian, Greek and Roman styles: Anubis appears in the armour of a Roman soldier, and Egyptian gods stand beside Greek decoration. The lower level is often flooded and closed. Nearby, if time allows, is Pompey's Pillar, a granite column of about 27 metres raised for the emperor Diocletian.
The new Library of Alexandria opened in 2002 near the site of the ancient library of the Ptolemies. Its main reading room steps down under a tilted roof like a disc rising from the sea, and the granite wall outside is carved with letters from scripts of the world. The complex also holds museums of antiquities and manuscripts; your guide chooses what to see in the time you have. Lunch is at a local restaurant.
Fort Qaitbay was built by the Mamluk sultan Qaitbay in the 1470s and 1480s at the tip of the Eastern Harbour, on the site of the Pharos, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Stones of the fallen lighthouse were used in its walls. From the ramparts you look back along the curve of the Corniche.
The evening is free in Alexandria.
After breakfast you check out and drive west along the coast to El Alamein, about 1 hour 30 minutes. In 1942 two battles were fought here between the Axis forces of Rommel and the British Eighth Army under Auchinleck and then Montgomery. The Second Battle of El Alamein, in October and November 1942, ended the Axis advance on Egypt and the Suez Canal and turned the war in North Africa.
You visit the Commonwealth War Cemetery, with more than 7,000 graves of soldiers from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and other countries in quiet rows above the desert, and, when time allows, the German and Italian memorials further west along the coast. The El Alamein War Museum shows uniforms, weapons, vehicles and maps of the campaign. This is a place of remembrance: take photographs with care.
Lunch is on the way: feteer meshaltet, a flaky layered pastry eaten with honey, cheese or savoury fillings. The drive back to Cairo through the desert takes about 3 hours 30 minutes to 4 hours, and you reach your hotel in the evening.
After an early breakfast you check out and transfer to Cairo airport for the domestic flight to Luxor, about 1 hour. Your guide meets you on arrival and you board your Nile cruise ship, your home for the next four nights, or go straight to the first visit while your luggage is taken on board.
Karnak was the great temple of Amun-Ra, built and enlarged by pharaohs over some 2,000 years, from the Middle Kingdom to the Ptolemies. You walk through its pylons into the Great Hypostyle Hall, where 134 columns, the tallest about 21 metres high, still carry traces of their paint. The obelisks of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut stand at the heart of the temple, and the Sacred Lake lies to one side.
Lunch is on the ship. In the afternoon you visit Animal Care in Egypt (ACE), a charity clinic in Luxor that treats working horses, donkeys and other animals free of charge and teaches owners how to care for them. Its staff show you the clinic and explain the work.
Dinner is on board, with the ship moored in Luxor.
This is an early start, to see the West Bank before the heat. The Valley of the Kings holds more than 60 tombs cut into the hills for the pharaohs of the New Kingdom, among them Ramses II and Tutankhamun. The standard ticket opens three tombs among those open on the day; the tombs of Tutankhamun, Seti I and Ramses VI need a separate ticket bought at the site. Inside, the painted corridors show the king's journey through the underworld and his rebirth with the sun. Our guide to the best tombs in the Valley of the Kings helps you choose.
At Deir el-Bahari, the temple of Queen Hatshepsut rises in three terraces against the cliffs. She ruled as pharaoh for about two decades in the 15th century BC, and the reliefs record her expedition to the land of Punt. On the way back you stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two seated statues of Amenhotep III, each about 18 metres tall, which once guarded the entrance of his mortuary temple.
Lunch is on the sun deck as the ship leaves Luxor and sails south, passing the lock at Esna. Dinner is on board, and the ship reaches Edfu during the night.
After breakfast you go ashore at Edfu, usually by horse carriage from the river. The Temple of Horus, built between 237 and 57 BC, is the most complete temple in Egypt: its pylon, roofed halls and granite shrine still stand much as they were built, and the walls tell the story of the battle between Horus and Seth.
Lunch is on board while the ship continues south past fields, palm groves and villages on both banks. It is the quietest part of the cruise, good for the sun deck or a book.
Kom Ombo stands right on the riverbank. It is a double temple of the Ptolemaic period, with two entrances and two sanctuaries side by side, one for Sobek, the crocodile god, and one for Haroeris, Horus the Elder. Your guide shows you the relief often read as a set of medical instruments and the Nilometer that measured the height of the river. In the Crocodile Museum next door are mummified crocodiles from a nearby cemetery.
The ship sails on to Aswan, where you have dinner on board.
After breakfast you take a short motorboat ride to Agilkia Island and the temple of Philae, dedicated to the goddess Isis. It was one of the last places where the old religion was practised, and the last known hieroglyphic inscription, from AD 394, is carved here. The whole temple was moved stone by stone from its flooded island in the 1970s, in a UNESCO campaign, to save it from the water held between the old and new dams.
Back in town you walk through Aswan's market street, Sharia el-Souk, with stalls of spices, dried hibiscus, dates, baskets and Nubian crafts. Prices are usually lower than in Luxor, and bargaining is expected.
Lunch is on the ship and the afternoon is free on the sun deck, with the granite islands and feluccas of Aswan around you. Dinner is on board, and you spend your last night on the ship. Tomorrow starts early, so pack a small bag for the night at Abu Simbel.
After breakfast you leave the ship, and your private vehicle takes you south through the Nubian Desert to Abu Simbel, about 280 km and about 3 hours 30 minutes, with a short stop on the way. You check in to your hotel by Lake Nasser.
The Great Temple of Abu Simbel was cut into the sandstone cliff for Ramses II in the 13th century BC. Four seated statues of the king, about 20 metres tall, guard the entrance; inside, the reliefs show his campaigns, including the Battle of Kadesh. Twice a year, around 22 February and 22 October, the rising sun reaches the sanctuary at the back of the temple. The smaller temple beside it is dedicated to Hathor and to his queen, Nefertari. In the 1960s both temples were cut into blocks and raised about 65 metres to their present place, to save them from Lake Nasser. Staying here means you see them in the quieter afternoon, after the day visitors have left. Our facts about Abu Simbel give more background.
After dinner at the hotel you return to the temples for the Sound and Light show, which tells the story of Ramses II and of the rescue of the temples, with the facades lit against the night sky. The show is included. You spend the night at Abu Simbel.
After breakfast by the lake you drive back to Aswan, about 3 hours 30 minutes, and check in to your hotel before lunch. The rest of the day is slower.
In the afternoon you go to the Sofitel Legend Old Cataract, the hotel opened in 1899 on a granite ledge above the first cataract of the Nile. Agatha Christie stayed here, and the hotel appears in the film of her novel Death on the Nile. Tea on the terrace looks across the river to Elephantine Island and the desert hills of the West Bank, and is the best place in Aswan to watch the sunset.
Dinner is your choice; your tour leader can suggest a Nubian restaurant. If you would like another visit, the Nubian Museum, which tells the history of Nubia and of the temples rescued from Lake Nasser, is an optional extra.
After breakfast you drive to the High Dam, about 13 km south of the town. Completed in 1970, it ended the yearly Nile flood, brought electricity to much of Egypt and created Lake Nasser; it also flooded Nubia, and its villages and temples had to be moved. You then visit the Unfinished Obelisk in the ancient granite quarries. Had it been finished it would have stood about 42 metres tall; a crack in the stone stopped the work and left the ancient quarrying methods in view.
After a break at the hotel you sail by felucca, the traditional Nile sailing boat, to Elephantine Island. In ancient times it was the southern frontier town of Egypt and the home of Khnum, the ram-headed god of the Nile's source. Today two Nubian villages, Siou and Koti, stand among its palms, and you walk through their lanes with your guide. The felucca brings you back as the sun sets.
Dinner is in a Nubian setting, with dishes of the region such as slow-cooked stews, fresh bread and grilled fish. You spend the night in Aswan.
After breakfast you transfer to Aswan airport for the domestic flight to Cairo, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Our representative meets you on arrival and drives you to your hotel for a short rest.
Your guide takes you into historic Cairo. Lunch is koshari at a local place, the city's favourite everyday dish. The Mosque of Ibn Tulun, finished in AD 879, is one of the oldest mosques in Cairo that keeps its original form: a vast courtyard surrounded by arcades of pointed arches, with carved stucco decoration and a minaret with an outside spiral stair. Next to it, the Gayer-Anderson Museum occupies two 16th- and 17th-century houses joined together and furnished by a British army doctor in the 1930s and 1940s; its rooms and screened windows show how a wealthy Cairo house worked.
The day ends at Khan el-Khalili, a market since the late 14th century, with lanes of lamps, spices, silver and fabric and craftsmen at work. There is time to shop or to sit at El Fishawy, one of Cairo's oldest cafés.
In the evening you are invited to dinner in the home of an Egyptian family, a home-cooked meal and a chance to talk about everyday life in the city.
After an early breakfast you drive south-west from Cairo to the Fayoum, about 2 hours 30 minutes. Wadi El Rayan is a protected area where two desert lakes, fed by drainage water from the Fayoum's fields, are joined by a channel with a small set of waterfalls, a rare sight in Egypt. Around them are dunes and rock formations, and birds gather on the water in winter.
You change to a 4x4 for the desert track to Wadi El-Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005. About 40 million years ago this desert was the floor of a shallow sea, and the skeletons of early whales such as Basilosaurus and Dorudon lie where they were found, some still with traces of hind legs. They show how whales evolved from land animals into ocean mammals. A marked trail leads between the fossils, and the Fossils and Climate Change Museum at the site explains what they mean. Lunch is in the desert.
You drive back to Cairo in the late afternoon and reach your hotel in the early evening for your last night.
After breakfast, our representative drives you to Cairo International Airport in time for your international flight; airlines usually ask you to be at the airport three hours before departure. This is the end of the tour.
If your flight leaves late in the day, ask us when you book about extra sightseeing, for example the Grand Egyptian Museum with the treasures of Tutankhamun, or the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization with the Royal Mummies Hall; both are optional extras.
Comfortable, well located
More space and better ships
Our highest level
Children pay less, see the children policy below. Christmas, New Year and Easter dates add 25%. Prices are per person in US dollars.
October to April is the most comfortable time for this route. From December to February, days are around 18 to 22 °C in Cairo and Alexandria and 23 to 26 °C in Luxor and Aswan, but nights in the desert and on the cruise deck are cool, and Alexandria can be rainy and windy in winter. From May to September, Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel often pass 40 °C, so the visits start early and the long drives are timed for the cooler hours; Alexandria, on the sea, stays milder in summer. Christmas, New Year and Easter are the busiest weeks, when cruises and hotels fill first.
Many nationalities can buy a tourist visa on arrival at Cairo airport or apply for an e-visa in advance on Egypt's official portal, visa2egypt.gov.eg. The rules and the fee depend on your passport, so check them before you book your flights. Your passport should be valid for at least six months from the day you arrive, and you should carry it on the road days: there are police checkpoints on the desert roads, including the road to Abu Simbel. The visa is not included in the tour price.
The currency is the Egyptian pound. Cards are accepted in most hotels and larger shops; keep small notes for markets, toilets at some sites, the felucca crew and personal extras, as card payment is rare in Aswan's souk and in Fayoum. Tips are not included in the price. The tipping guide in the travel policies below gives the usual amounts; how much you give is your choice.
All prices are per person in US dollars. The price changes with the season (winter 1 October to 30 April, summer 1 May to 30 September), the accommodation level and the size of the group. Christmas, New Year and Easter dates add 25%. Your quote lists the final price and everything it covers. After the deposit, changes to your itinerary cost US$25 per request, plus any third-party fees.
A deposit of 30% of the total tour cost is required at the time of booking. The final payment is due 30 days before departure, and bookings made within 30 days of departure are paid in full. We accept Visa or Master Card by secure online payment, Visa or Master Card by email, and wire transfer. We confirm every booking by email.
No-show travelers are charged 100%. During peak events in Egypt, hotels and Nile cruises do not refund deposits. Groups of more than 10 people may have different terms.
Add each child and their age in the enquiry form so the quote is exact.
Optional visits, such as a hot air balloon ride in Luxor, a Sound and Light show or a felucca ride, are not in the price. Tell us which ones you want and we add them to your quote with their cost.
Not included in the price: International flight tickets; Egypt entry visa; Personal expenses; Tips & gratuities; Optional tours; Travel insurance; Beverages; Any services not listed.
Tipping is customary in Egypt and is not included in the price. A usual amount for a private tour is US$8 to 10 per person per day for your guide, US$4 to 5 for your driver and US$5 to 8 per person per day for the crew on a Nile cruise. Your guide can advise you on the day.
By private vehicle from Cairo to Alexandria, El Alamein and back, from Aswan to Abu Simbel and back, and to Fayoum; by domestic flight from Cairo to Luxor (about 1 hour) and from Aswan to Cairo (about 1 hour 20 minutes); and by Nile cruise ship from Luxor to Aswan. Both flights are included. Book your international flights to and from Cairo.
Most visitors see Abu Simbel on a day trip that leaves Aswan around 4 am. Staying the night lets you drive down in daylight, see the temples in the afternoon when the crowds have gone, watch the Sound and Light show and return to Aswan without rushing. The hotels at Abu Simbel are simple compared with Aswan, so expect comfortable rather than luxurious rooms.
No, the tour is private for your own group: your guide and vehicle are not shared. The Nile cruise ship and the hotels are shared with other guests, as on any cruise or hotel stay.
A moderate level is enough. There are steep steps in the catacombs of Alexandria and sloping corridors in the tombs, uneven ground at most sites, a short walk on sand at Wadi El-Hitan, and several long road days. If anyone in your group has limited mobility, tell us when you enquire so the guide can plan around it.
Yes. Because the tour is private, nights can be added in Cairo or Aswan, a day can be dropped, or beach days in Hurghada or Sharm El Sheikh can be added at the end, and the price changes with them. Tell us your dates and what you would like.
Independent reviews on the platforms travelers already trust.
Amazing Egyptian vacation! We did an 11 day private tour of Cairo, cruise on the Nile between Aswan and Luxor and a 4 day stay in Hurghada. The guided tours were very interesting, with extremely knowledgeable guides, attentive and helpful.
Egypt package to the Pyramids of Giza and Saqqara was a fascinating journey through Egypt's ancient past ,guide knowledge, the majesty of the pyramids, and the historical depth of Saqqara made this tour truly enriching!
our honeymoon to Egypt ,Giza and Saqqara was a magical escape into history The pyramids looming in the distance, the quiet serenity of the desert, and the ancient wonders of Saqqara created moments that will be with me forever!
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