Fifteen days around the total solar eclipse of 2 August 2027: Cairo, Giza and Alexandria, the eclipse at Karnak in Luxor, a four-night Nile cruise to Aswan with Abu Simbel, and four days on the Red Sea in Sharm El Sheikh, with the domestic flights and the train included.
On 2 August 2027 the Moon's shadow crosses Egypt, and Luxor lies close to the centre of the path of totality. Over the city the Sun is fully covered for a little more than six minutes, around 1 pm local time. This private 15-day tour, from 28 July to 11 August 2027, builds a complete Egypt holiday around that day. You watch the eclipse from Karnak, the great temple of the sun god Amun-Ra, after five days in Cairo and Alexandria, then sail upriver on a four-night Nile cruise to Aswan with an excursion to Abu Simbel, and end with four days on the Red Sea in Sharm El Sheikh before a last night in Cairo.
The sites cover the whole span of ancient Egypt: the Pyramids of Giza and Saqqara, the Egyptian Museum, the Citadel of Saladin and Khan el-Khalili, the catacombs and Fort Qaitbay in Alexandria, Coptic Cairo, Karnak and Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut's temple, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Abu Simbel and Philae. An Egyptologist guides the sightseeing days, the transfers are in a private vehicle, and the domestic flights and the morning train from Aswan to Luxor on eclipse day are included.
If you have less time, the 4-day Cairo and Luxor eclipse tour and the other trips in our Egypt solar eclipse 2027 tours focus on the eclipse itself. For the timing and the science, see how long the Luxor eclipse will last.
It is a weaker fit if you do not cope well with heat: late July and early August are the hottest weeks of the year in Upper Egypt. It is also a long trip with several early starts, including a 5 am train on eclipse morning. A tailor-made trip can shorten it or move the beach days.
The first ten days are busy, and the last five are slow. Sightseeing starts early to avoid the midday heat, with breaks in the afternoon. The travel days are:
Our representative meets you in the arrival hall of Cairo International Airport with a name card, helps with the visa, baggage and customs, and walks you to your private air-conditioned vehicle. The drive to your hotel takes 30 to 60 minutes, depending on traffic and where your hotel is.
A welcome drink is served at check-in, and the rest of the day is free to rest. Your tour leader goes through the plan with you, including the timing of eclipse day, and checks that everyone has eclipse glasses. No meals are included today.
After an early breakfast, to beat the summer heat, your Egyptologist takes you to the Giza Plateau. The pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure were built about 4,500 years ago; the Great Pyramid of Khufu is the largest and the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing. Your guide explains how they were built and why they are aligned so precisely to the points of the compass, a reminder of how closely the Egyptians watched the sky. Below them you see the Great Sphinx and Khafre's Valley Temple. Going inside the Great Pyramid needs a separate ticket.
After lunch at a local restaurant you drive south to Saqqara, about 45 minutes. The Step Pyramid of Djoser, designed by the architect Imhotep around 2650 BC, is the earliest large stone building in Egypt and the model the later pyramids grew from. You return to the hotel in the afternoon.
After breakfast you visit the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square, opened in 1902. Tutankhamun's treasures have moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum and the royal mummies to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, but the old building still holds thousands of statues, coffins and jewels, among them the Narmer Palette and the gold and silver burial treasures of the kings of Tanis.
The Citadel was begun by Salah ad-Din (Saladin) in 1176 and was the seat of Egypt's rulers for some 700 years. You visit the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, built in the Ottoman style between 1830 and 1848, with its large domes and slim minarets, and look out over the minarets of medieval Cairo from the terrace. Lunch is at a local restaurant.
You end the day in Khan el-Khalili, a market since the late 14th century, with lanes of lamps, spices, silver and fabric, and time for a mint tea before the drive back to your hotel.
After an early breakfast you drive to Alexandria, about 3 hours on the Desert Road. Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, it was the capital of the Ptolemies and the greatest city of the Greek world.
The Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, from the 2nd century AD, go down a spiral staircase to a tomb that mixes Egyptian, Greek and Roman art; Anubis appears in the armour of a Roman soldier. Nearby, Pompey's Pillar, a granite column of about 27 metres, was raised for the emperor Diocletian around AD 300 on the site of the Serapeum.
Fort Qaitbay was built in the 15th century on the site of the Pharos, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; from its walls you look along the curve of the harbour. You also see the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, opened in 2002 near the site of the ancient library, with its tilted disc of a roof. Lunch is at a seaside restaurant, and you drive back to Cairo in the evening.
After breakfast you check out and visit Old Cairo, the Coptic quarter built around the Roman fortress of Babylon. The Hanging Church takes its name from its position over the fortress gatehouse. The Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, Abu Serga, stands over the crypt where, by tradition, the Holy Family rested during their flight into Egypt. The Ben Ezra Synagogue nearby is where the Cairo Geniza, a store of medieval Jewish manuscripts, was found. Shoulders and knees should be covered.
After lunch at a local restaurant you transfer to Cairo airport for the flight to Aswan, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Our representative meets you and drives you to your hotel. Go to bed early: tomorrow starts at dawn.
You leave your hotel before 5 am with a breakfast box and board the morning train from Aswan to Luxor, about 3 hours along the river. Your guide meets you at Luxor station around 8 am and takes you to Karnak, on the northern edge of the city; your luggage goes ahead to the cruise ship.
Access and the viewing places inside Karnak on 2 August depend on the arrangements made by Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities for the day; we confirm the details with your booking. While you wait, your Egyptologist walks you through the temple of Amun-Ra, enlarged over some 2,000 years: the Great Hypostyle Hall with its 134 columns, the obelisks of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut, and the Sacred Lake.
The partial phase begins late in the morning: the Moon slowly covers the Sun, the light flattens and the air cools a little. Watch this phase only through certified eclipse glasses. Totality comes around 1 pm Egypt summer time and lasts a little more than six minutes over Luxor. The sky darkens enough for bright planets and stars to appear, the pale solar corona surrounds the black disc of the Moon, and a band of sunset colours runs around the horizon. Only during totality is it safe to look without glasses; put them back on the moment the first bright point of the Sun reappears. The partial phase continues until the middle of the afternoon.
After lunch and a rest out of the heat, you visit Luxor Temple in the late afternoon, built mainly under Amenhotep III and Ramses II and joined to Karnak by the Avenue of Sphinxes. You then board your Nile cruise ship, your home for the next four nights. Dinner is on board.
After an early breakfast on board you cross to the West Bank. The Valley of the Kings holds more than 60 tombs cut 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. Their painted corridors follow the sun god's journey through the twelve hours of the night, a fitting subject after the eclipse.
The temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari rises in three terraces against the cliffs, with reliefs of 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 (some 60 feet) tall.
Lunch is on board as the ship sails south and passes through the lock at Esna, where traders often row out to sell cloth to the passengers. Dinner is on board, and the ship reaches Edfu during the night.
After breakfast a horse carriage takes you to the Temple of Horus, built between 237 and 57 BC and the most complete temple in Egypt; its walls tell the story of the battle between Horus and Seth.
Lunch is on board as the ship sails on. At Kom Ombo, the double temple of the Ptolemaic period stands on the riverbank, with one sanctuary for Sobek, the crocodile god, and one for Haroeris, a falcon god. In the Crocodile Museum next door are mummified crocodiles from a nearby cemetery. The ship sails on to Aswan at sunset, and dinner is on board.
You leave the ship before dawn with a breakfast box for the drive of about 280 km and 3 hours 30 minutes through the Nubian Desert.
The Great Temple was cut into the cliff for Ramses II in the 13th century BC; four seated colossi about 20 metres high guard its entrance, and its halls show his victories, including the Battle of Kadesh. Its axis was planned so that, twice a year, the rising sun reaches the statues in the inner sanctuary. The smaller temple is dedicated to Hathor and to Queen Nefertari. In the 1960s both temples were cut into blocks and rebuilt about 65 metres higher to save them from Lake Nasser. Read more in our facts about Abu Simbel.
You drive back to the ship in Aswan for a late lunch and a quiet afternoon on the sun deck. Dinner is on board; this is your last night on the ship.
After breakfast you leave the ship. At the High Dam, completed in 1970, you look out over Lake Nasser, one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. In the ancient granite quarries lies the Unfinished Obelisk, about 42 metres long, abandoned when a crack appeared in the stone. A motorboat then takes you to Agilkia Island and the temple of Isis at Philae, moved stone by stone in the 1970s to save it from the rising water.
After lunch at a local restaurant you transfer to Aswan airport for your flight to Sharm El Sheikh; there are few direct flights, so this is usually a connection through Cairo. Our team meets you on arrival and drives you to your beach hotel for four nights.
The days in Sharm El Sheikh are yours. After ten busy days, many travelers spend this one on the beach or by the pool. The reefs of the Red Sea start a few metres from many hotel beaches, and in August the water is around 28 °C.
If you want to do more, these are the usual options, all optional extras bookable through us or your hotel: snorkelling or an introductory dive with an instructor; a glass-bottom boat or a semi-submarine to see the coral without getting wet; or, in the cooler evening, a quad bike or camel ride into the desert ending at a Bedouin camp. In the evening, Naama Bay has a promenade of cafés and shops, and the Old Market has the Al Mustafa Mosque and local shops.
A second free day. A good choice is a full-day boat trip to Ras Mohammed National Park, at the southern tip of the Sinai, where the walls of coral drop into deep blue water and the fish are plentiful; boats usually make two or three snorkelling stops and serve lunch on board. Another is simply to rest: the midday sun in August is fierce, so plan outdoor activities for the morning and late afternoon. Both boat trips and dives are optional extras.
Your last full day on the Red Sea. Divers and snorkellers often choose the reefs of the Strait of Tiran, between Sharm El Sheikh and Tiran Island, known for their coral and the chance of seeing turtles. On land, a full-day trip goes to the Coloured Canyon near Nuweiba, about 2 hours 30 minutes away, for a walk between rock walls of red, yellow and purple sandstone; or you can ride a quad bike or a camel to a Bedouin camp for tea at sunset. All are optional extras. In the evening, pack for tomorrow's flight and check the baggage allowance on your domestic ticket.
After breakfast you transfer to Sharm El Sheikh airport for the flight to Cairo, about 1 hour. Our representative meets you on arrival and drives you to your hotel. After lunch at a local restaurant, the rest of the day is free: a last walk in the city, shopping, or, in the evening, an optional dinner cruise on the Nile. Settle your departure time with our representative before the evening.
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.
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Children pay less, see the children policy below. Christmas, New Year and Easter dates add 25%. Prices are per person in US dollars.
The dates are set by the eclipse: 28 July to 11 August 2027. This is high summer. Expect 40 °C or more by day in Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel, around 35 °C in Cairo, and around 30 °C on the coast in Alexandria, where the sea breeze helps. In Sharm El Sheikh the air is often 35 to 40 °C and the sea around 28 °C, ideal for snorkelling. August is the main holiday month for Egyptian families too, so the coast and the eclipse dates are busy; hotels, cruise ships and flights around 2 August are held only once a booking is confirmed.
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. This route needs the full Egyptian tourist visa, not the free Sinai stamp used by some visitors who fly directly to Sharm El Sheikh. Your passport should be valid for at least six months from the day you arrive. 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, cold drinks on eclipse day and personal extras. 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: flights abroad; Arrival visa; protection from trips; Advice; Drinks and food are not covered; Any other outing?.
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.
28 July to 11 August 2027. Day 6, eclipse day, is Monday 2 August 2027. Because the tour is built around the eclipse, the dates cannot move; nights can be added before or after.
Hotel rooms in Luxor on the night of 1 August are very scarce, and the cruise from Luxor to Aswan starts that evening. Sleeping in Aswan and taking the early train, about 3 hours, puts you at Karnak in the morning, well before the partial phase begins. The train ticket is included.
A little more than six minutes, around 1 pm Egypt summer time. The partial phases before and after last more than an hour each. Exact times to the minute depend on where you stand; your guide confirms them for Karnak before the day.
Very hot: 40 °C or more in Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel, around 35 °C in Cairo and 35 to 40 °C in Sharm El Sheikh. The visits start early, the middle of the day is spent on the ship or at the hotel, and you should drink water often. Clouds are very rare in Upper Egypt in August, which is why Luxor is such a good place to watch the eclipse.
No, the tour is private for your own group: your guide and vehicle are not shared. The cruise ship, the train, the flights and the hotels are shared with other passengers and guests.
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