6 Days GEM and Valley of the Kings Tour

Arrival

The first day is deliberately light. After passport control and baggage collection, you meet our representative at the place given in your travel documents, which show the terminal, the meeting point and a local contact number. Your private air-conditioned vehicle then takes you to your hotel, 30 to 60 minutes depending on traffic; the pick-up is planned around your actual arrival. If your room is not ready, reception can keep your luggage until check-in.

Evening: dinner on the Nile

In the evening your driver collects you for dinner on the Nile, with the lights of Cairo along both banks. It is an easy way to see the city on your first night without a full program. Your driver brings you back to the hotel afterwards.

Morning: the Giza Plateau

After breakfast your Egyptologist collects you and plans the order of the day around the heat, the traffic and the crowds. The pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure were each part of a larger royal complex of temples, causeways, smaller pyramids and tombs, and your guide shows how they fitted together. The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing. The standard ticket covers the outside; going inside needs a separate ticket, subject to daily availability, and means steep, narrow, warm passages, so tell us of any mobility, heart or breathing concerns before you ask for it.

You then see the Great Sphinx and the Valley Temple of Khafre, and your guide explains how the Sphinx, the temple, the causeway and the pyramid belonged to one royal landscape. Lunch is at a restaurant on the way south.

Afternoon: Saqqara

Saqqara, about 45 minutes south of Giza, was the burial ground of Memphis, Egypt's first capital. The Step Pyramid of Djoser, designed by the architect Imhotep around 2650 BC, is the earliest large stone building in Egypt, set in a walled enclosure of courts and chapels. Your guide also shows you, when they are open, the Pyramid of Teti, with the Pyramid Texts carved in its burial chamber, and the tombs of officials with scenes of daily life. You return to the hotel in the late afternoon.

Morning: the Grand Egyptian Museum

After breakfast you check out and drive to the Grand Egyptian Museum, about 2 km from the pyramids. You enter through the Grand Hall, where the colossal statue of Ramses II stands, and climb the Grand Staircase, lined with royal statues and ending at a window that frames the pyramids. The heart of the visit is the Tutankhamun galleries, where the objects from his tomb are displayed together: the gold mask, the coffins, the chariots, jewellery and the furniture of a king's burial. Depending on access on the day and your ticket, the route can also include the boat of Khufu, the 4,500-year-old cedar ship found beside the Great Pyramid. Your guide plans the route around timed entry, the crowds and your flight; if you want more museum time, ask before you book. Our guide to Grand Egyptian Museum tickets has practical details.

Afternoon: flight to Luxor

After lunch at a restaurant near Giza, you transfer to Cairo airport, allowing time for traffic and check-in, for the domestic flight to Luxor, about 1 hour. Our representative meets you on landing and drives you to your hotel for three nights.

Morning: Karnak

After breakfast your Egyptologist takes you to Karnak, the temple of Amun-Ra, built and enlarged over some 2,000 years. You follow a focused route through its pylons, courts and chapels to the Great Hypostyle Hall, where 134 columns, the tallest about 21 metres high, still carry traces of paint, and on to the obelisks of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut and the Sacred Lake. Karnak covers a wide area, and your guide keeps the walking to the parts that match your interests.

Midday: lunch and a break

Lunch is at a restaurant in Luxor, followed by a rest at the hotel through the hottest hours when the schedule allows. Your representative confirms the evening pick-up time.

Late afternoon or evening: Luxor Temple

Luxor Temple, built mainly under Amenhotep III and Ramses II, is at its best in the late light and after sunset, when it is lit. You walk through the entrance with its seated statues and single obelisk (the other has stood in Paris since 1836), the colonnade and the courts. The Avenue of Sphinxes, about 2.7 km long, once joined it to Karnak for the yearly Opet festival. Festivals, maintenance or security instructions can change the exact time of the visit.

Morning: the Valley of the Kings

You start early to beat the heat and the queues. The Valley of the Kings holds more than 60 tombs cut into the hills for the pharaohs of the New Kingdom. The standard ticket opens three tombs among those open on the day, which change with restoration work; your guide chooses them by the paintings, the queues, the number of steps and your walking ability. The tombs of Tutankhamun, Seti I and Ramses V and VI need separate tickets. Tutankhamun's tomb is small, but it is the only royal tomb in the valley found almost intact, by Howard Carter in 1922, and the king's mummy still lies in it. Our guides to the best tombs and to how many tombs there are help you decide.

Midday: lunch

Lunch is at a restaurant on the West Bank, timed around the closing hour of the next site.

Afternoon: the Valley of the Queens

In the Valley of the Queens, at the southern end of the Theban hills, were buried the royal wives and some of the princes of the 19th and 20th Dynasties. The standard ticket covers selected tombs, such as those of the sons of Ramses III, whose paintings keep bright colours. The tomb of Queen Nefertari, wife of Ramses II, has some of the finest paintings in Egypt; it needs a separate ticket with a limited daily number of visitors, so ask for it before you book. You return to your hotel in the late afternoon.

After breakfast you check out; before you leave, check the safe and the wardrobe, and keep your passport, medicine and valuables in your hand luggage. Our representative meets you in the lobby for the transfer to Luxor airport and the domestic flight to Cairo, about 1 hour, timed to connect with your international flight.

We check the connection time before confirming your booking. If your international flight leaves too early for a safe same-day connection, we move the Luxor to Cairo flight to Day 5 and replace the last Luxor night with a night in Cairo; your confirmed itinerary shows the final plan. The tour ends at Cairo International Airport.