7 days, 6 nights: Giza, Saqqara and the Grand Egyptian Museum, a flight to Luxor for 3 nights with Karnak, the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut's temple, then historic Cairo and a day trip to Alexandria. Includes hotels with breakfast, both flights, an Egyptologist and entrance fees.
This private 7-day tour joins Egypt's three great periods in one week: the Old Kingdom pyramids of Giza and Saqqara, the New Kingdom temples and tombs of Luxor, and the Greek and Roman city of Alexandria on the Mediterranean. You fly south to Luxor at the end of the Giza day, spend three nights there so the East Bank and the West Bank each get their own day, then fly back to Cairo for the city's museums and Islamic quarter, and drive to Alexandria for a full day on the coast.
The sites are the ones most first-time visitors come for, plus Alexandria, which shorter tours often leave out: the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, Karnak and Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings and the temple of Hatshepsut, the Egyptian Museum, the Citadel and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Khan el-Khalili, and in Alexandria the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, Pompey's Pillar, the Citadel of Qaitbay and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. A certified Egyptologist guides every sightseeing day, the vehicle is private for your group, and both domestic flights are included. The first evening ends with a dinner cruise on the Nile in Cairo.
It is a weaker fit if you want Aswan, Abu Simbel or time on the river: there is no cruise on this route. In that case, look at our Egypt classic tours, or ask for a tailor-made trip. If you are unsure about the Alexandria day, read should you visit Cairo or Alexandria.
The pace is brisk. Days 2 and 5 are long, with a flight at one end, and Day 6 has about six hours on the road in total. Expect walking on uneven ground and sloping corridors in the tombs. The travel days are:
Our representative meets you in the arrival hall of Cairo International Airport, helps with the formalities and your luggage, and walks you to your private air-conditioned vehicle. The drive to the hotel takes 30 to 60 minutes, depending on traffic and on where the hotel is.
In the evening you are driven to the pier for a dinner cruise of about two hours on the Nile through central Cairo, with a buffet dinner, live Egyptian music, a belly dance show and a Tanoura performance, the whirling dance with a colourful skirt that grew out of the Sufi tradition. The bridges and towers of the city are lit up along the river. You are driven back to the hotel afterwards.
Tomorrow you check out of the hotel in the morning and fly to Luxor in the evening, so pack a small day bag for the sightseeing day tonight.
After breakfast you check out and meet your Egyptologist. On the Giza Plateau stand the three main pyramids, built for the Fourth Dynasty kings Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure about 4,500 years ago. The Great Pyramid of Khufu, finished around 2560 BC, is the oldest and largest of them and the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing; it was the tallest building on earth for more than 3,800 years. Going inside needs a separate ticket bought at the site.
Below the pyramids you see the Great Sphinx, carved from the bedrock with the body of a lion and a royal head usually linked to Khafre, and the Valley Temple of Khafre, built of huge granite blocks, where the funeral rites of the king began.
The Grand Egyptian Museum stands about 2 km from the pyramids. You enter through the Grand Hall with its colossal statue of Ramses II, climb the Grand Staircase lined with royal statues, and see the Tutankhamun galleries, where the objects from the young king's tomb are displayed together. Your guide chooses a route through the key pieces to fit the day.
After lunch at a local restaurant you drive about 30 minutes south to Saqqara, the burial ground of ancient Memphis. The Step Pyramid of Djoser, designed by the architect Imhotep around 2650 BC, rises in six stages and is the earliest large stone building in Egypt: the model the pyramids of Giza grew from.
You transfer to Cairo airport for the flight to Luxor, about one hour. Our representative meets you on arrival and drives you to your hotel for three nights.
After breakfast your guide takes you to Karnak, the great temple of Amun, Mut and Khonsu, the gods of Thebes. It was built and enlarged for some 2,000 years, so each pharaoh's work can be read in its pylons and courts. The Great Hypostyle Hall alone has 134 columns, the tallest about 21 metres high, and the obelisks of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut still stand at the heart of the temple. Allow two to three hours.
Lunch is at a local restaurant, then you return to the hotel to rest through the hottest hours.
Luxor Temple, built mainly under Amenhotep III and Ramses II, stands in the centre of the modern town and is lit after dark, when the columns and the seated statues of Ramses II look their best. It was the setting of the Opet festival, when the statue of Amun was carried from Karnak along the Avenue of Sphinxes, about 2.7 km long. One of the two obelisks at its entrance still stands; the other has been in the Place de la Concorde in Paris since 1836.
The Sound and Light show at Karnak is an optional extra in the evening, if you would rather see Karnak after dark too.
You cross to the West Bank after an early breakfast, to beat the heat. 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; 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.
At Deir el-Bahari, the temple of Queen Hatshepsut rises in three terraces against the cliffs, designed by her official Senenmut. She ruled as pharaoh for about two decades, and the reliefs record her trading expedition to the land of Punt.
After lunch at a local restaurant you stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two seated statues of Amenhotep III, each about 18 metres tall, that once stood at the entrance of his mortuary temple. Visitors in Roman times came to hear one of them "sing" at dawn, a sound probably caused by the stone warming after a crack.
You are back at the hotel in the afternoon. A sunrise hot-air balloon flight over the West Bank is an optional extra for this morning; read whether a balloon ride in Luxor is worth it.
After breakfast you check out and fly from Luxor to Cairo, about one hour. Your guide meets you on arrival. This is a full day with many stops: the order and the time at each one depend on the flight time, and your guide adjusts them to your group.
Opened in 1902 in Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum holds one of the largest collections of ancient Egyptian objects in the world, from Old Kingdom statues to the gold of the royal tombs of Tanis.
After lunch at a local restaurant you drive to the Citadel, built from 1176 by Salah El-Din (Saladin) on the Muqattam hills to defend the city. Inside, the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, finished in the 1840s in the Ottoman style, has the great dome and slender minarets seen across Cairo.
At the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat, the Royal Mummies Hall shows the mummies of kings and queens of the New Kingdom, among them Ramses II and Hatshepsut, moved here from Tahrir in a procession through the city in 2021.
The day ends on Al-Muizz Street, the main street of Fatimid Cairo, lined with mosques, madrasas and houses from the 10th to the 19th century, and in Khan el-Khalili, a market since the late 14th century. You are then driven to your hotel for two nights.
After breakfast you drive with your guide to Alexandria, about 220 km on the desert road, two and a half to three hours. The city was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC and was the capital of Egypt under the Ptolemies, the Greek dynasty that ended with Cleopatra.
The Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, mainly from the 2nd century AD, are a burial complex cut three levels into the rock and reached by a spiral staircase. Their carvings mix Egyptian gods with Greek and Roman dress and architecture, a picture of the mixed city Alexandria was. A short drive away stands Pompey's Pillar, a column of red Aswan granite about 27 metres tall, raised around AD 300 in honour of the emperor Diocletian on the site of the Serapeum temple.
Lunch is fresh fish or seafood at a local restaurant near the sea.
The Citadel of Qaitbay was built in 1477 to 1479 by the Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbay at the entrance of the Eastern Harbour, on the site of the Pharos, the ancient lighthouse and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. You walk its walls with the Mediterranean on three sides, then follow the Corniche to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, opened in 2002 near the site of the ancient library. Its great reading room slopes towards the sea under a roof shaped like a tilted disc.
You drive back to Cairo in the late afternoon and reach your hotel in the evening. Read what to see in one day in Alexandria for more ideas.
After breakfast you check out, and 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, such as Coptic Cairo with the Hanging Church and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, an optional extra.
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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.
October to April is the most comfortable time. From December to February, daytime temperatures are around 18 to 22 °C in Cairo and 23 to 26 °C in Luxor, with cool mornings; Alexandria is a few degrees cooler and windier, and it gets most of its rain in December and January, so pack a light waterproof then. From May to September, Luxor often passes 40 °C, so the West Bank is visited at the start of the day, while Alexandria stays milder, around 30 °C, thanks to the sea breeze. Christmas, New Year and Easter are the busiest weeks, when flights 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. 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 Khan el-Khalili, toilets at some sites, photo permits and drinks. 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 confirms your booking. We send you a secure payment link for the deposit; the balance is paid in cash or by card on arrival in Egypt, unless your written offer gives another date. We never ask for card details by email, chat or WhatsApp. 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 flights to and from Egypt; Egypt entry visa and travel insurance; Extra tickets at the sites: inside the Great Pyramid, and the tombs of Tutankhamun, Seti I and Ramses VI; Optional activities, such as the Karnak Sound and Light show and a hot-air balloon flight in Luxor; Drinks with meals, early check-in, late check-out and personal expenses; Tips for guides and drivers.
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.
You fly from Cairo to Luxor on the evening of Day 2 and back on the morning of Day 5, about one hour each way; both flights are included. Alexandria is a day trip by road from Cairo in your private vehicle, about two and a half to three hours each way. Book your international flights to and from Cairo.
Not a multi-day cruise: you stay in hotels in Cairo and Luxor. The first evening includes a dinner cruise of about two hours on the Nile in Cairo. If you would like to sail between Luxor and Aswan, we can replace the Luxor hotel nights with a cruise in a tailor-made version.
Yes, if you are interested in the Greek and Roman history of Egypt or want to see the Mediterranean. The day is long, with about five to six hours on the road in total, but the four main sites are close together in the city. If you prefer a slower day in Cairo, we can swap it for Coptic Cairo and Memphis instead.
The standard ticket includes three tombs among those open on the day; the tombs open to visitors rotate. The tombs of Tutankhamun, Seti I and Ramses VI need a separate ticket bought at the site, at extra cost. Your guide will suggest which ones to choose on the day.
Yes. Your guide and vehicle are for your group only. The Nile dinner cruise on Day 1 is shared with other guests, as are the hotels.
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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