8 days, 7 nights without flights: Giza, the sleeper train to Luxor for the Valley of the Kings and Karnak, the road to Aswan for Philae and a felucca, Abu Simbel by private car, then the train back to Cairo. Includes hotels, the sleeper train, an Egyptologist and entrance fees.
This private 8-day tour covers Egypt from Giza to Abu Simbel on the ground, the way travelers crossed the country before domestic flights. After a day at the Pyramids of Giza you board the overnight sleeper train to Luxor, wake up in Upper Egypt and spend a full day on both banks of the Nile. A private car takes you south along the river to Aswan for Philae Temple, a Nubian village and a felucca sail, and the next morning starts before dawn for the drive across the desert to the temples of Ramses II at Abu Simbel. That evening the sleeper train takes you back north, and the last two days in Cairo are kept free.
The sites on the route are the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, the Valley of the Kings, the temple of Hatshepsut, the Colossi of Memnon, Karnak and Luxor Temple, Philae Temple, a Nubian village on the west bank at Aswan, and the two temples of Abu Simbel. Your guide and vehicle are private for your group, the Abu Simbel trip is by private car, and both sleeper-train nights, with dinner and breakfast on board, are included in the price.
It is a weaker fit if you sleep badly on trains, if you want a Nile cruise, or if your time in Egypt is very short. For those, the same sites can be done by air on a tailor-made trip, or with a cruise on one of our Egypt classic tours.
This is the most active route of its length: two nights on the train and an Abu Simbel day that starts at about 3:30 am. Expect walking on uneven ground and sloping corridors in the tombs. The long transfers are:
Our representative meets you in the arrival hall of Cairo International Airport, helps you through the arrival formalities and walks you to your private air-conditioned car. The drive to the hotel takes 30 to 60 minutes, depending on traffic. The hotel offers a welcome drink at check-in.
Your tour leader hands you the programme and explains the logistics of the week: tomorrow's pick-up time, the evening train to Luxor, and what to keep in your small overnight bag. If you land early enough, the evening is free to walk or rest.
No meals are included today. Tomorrow you check out in the morning and only return to a Cairo hotel on Day 6, so keep your luggage packed for the train.
After breakfast and check-out, your Egyptologist takes you to the Giza Plateau. The three main pyramids were built for the Fourth Dynasty kings Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure about 4,500 years ago, and the Great Pyramid of Khufu is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing. Your guide explains how they were built and how the plateau worked as a royal cemetery. Going inside the Great Pyramid needs a separate ticket bought at the site.
Below the pyramids you see the Great Sphinx and the Valley Temple of Khafre, built of huge granite blocks, where the king's funeral rites began.
Lunch is at a local restaurant. The rest of the afternoon is easy, with time to rest before the night journey; your luggage stays in the car.
In the evening you transfer to the station for the sleeper train to Luxor. Each cabin has two berths, a washbasin and bedding; the attendant serves dinner in the cabin and makes up the beds afterwards. The train runs south through the night along the Nile valley.
Breakfast is served on the train, which reaches Luxor at about 7 am. Your guide meets you on the platform, your luggage goes to the hotel, and you cross straight to the West Bank while it is still cool.
After lunch at a local restaurant you check in to the hotel for a short rest, then visit the East Bank. Karnak, the temple of Amun, was built and enlarged over some 2,000 years; its Great Hypostyle Hall has 134 columns. Our guide to facts about the Temple of Karnak tells its story. Luxor Temple, in the centre of town, is at its best in the late afternoon, when the lights come on along its colonnade and the Avenue of Sphinxes.
You spend the night at your hotel in Luxor.
After breakfast your private car and guide take you south to Aswan, about 210 km and three and a half hours. The road follows the Nile past sugar-cane fields, Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo; the temples of Edfu and Kom Ombo are not in this programme but can be added on the way as an optional stop, which makes the day longer.
A short motorboat ride takes you to Philae, the temple of the goddess Isis. It was moved stone by stone to Agilkia Island in the 1970s, in a UNESCO campaign, to save it from the rising water between the two Aswan dams. Read more in our guide to visiting Philae Temple. Lunch is at a local restaurant.
On the west bank of Aswan you visit a Nubian village, with its painted houses and domed roofs. The Nubians lived along this part of the Nile long before the High Dam flooded much of their land in the 1960s; a family welcomes you for tea, and you can see their crafts.
The day ends on a felucca, the traditional sailing boat of the Nile, around Elephantine Island and the granite rocks of the First Cataract as the sun goes down. You spend the night at your hotel in Aswan; go to bed early.
The day starts at about 3:30 am with an early breakfast or a breakfast box, and your private car leaves Aswan for Abu Simbel, about 280 km and three and a half hours across the Western Desert. The sun rises over the desert on the way.
The Great Temple was cut into the rock for Ramses II in the 13th century BC; four seated statues of the king, about 20 metres tall, guard its entrance, and the sanctuary inside holds statues of Ptah, Amun-Re, Re-Horakhty and the king himself. The smaller temple next to it is dedicated to Hathor and to Nefertari, his queen. Between 1964 and 1968 both temples were cut into blocks and rebuilt about 65 metres higher, to save them from Lake Nasser, in one of UNESCO's best-known rescue campaigns. Our page of facts about Abu Simbel has more.
You drive back to Aswan in the early afternoon, with lunch on the way or on arrival, and time to rest before the train.
In the late afternoon or early evening you board the sleeper train north. Dinner is served in your cabin, and the train runs through the night, about 13 to 14 hours in all.
Breakfast is served on the train. Our representative meets you at Giza station and drives you to your hotel. If your room is not ready yet, you can leave your luggage and freshen up.
After two nights on the train, the day is yours to rest. In the evening, Khan el-Khalili, a market since the late 14th century, is a good place for dinner and a walk among the lamps and spices; ask our representative to arrange a car if you want one.
Breakfast is at the hotel and the day is free. Many travelers use it for one of these options, at extra cost and bookable through us:
Alexandria is about three hours north by road. A private day there usually covers:
The Grand Egyptian Museum with the Tutankhamun galleries, Coptic Cairo with the Hanging Church, or the Citadel of Saladin with the Mosque of Muhammad Ali.
You spend the night at your hotel in Cairo.
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.
October to April is the best time for this route, because so much of it is outdoors in the south. In winter, days are around 23 to 26 °C in Luxor and Aswan and 19 to 22 °C in Cairo, but the pre-dawn start to Abu Simbel and the night trains are cold, often under 10 °C in the desert in January. From May to September, Aswan and Abu Simbel can pass 42 °C, and the visits are kept to the early morning. Twice a year, on about 22 February and 22 October, the rising sun reaches the inner sanctuary of the Great Temple at Abu Simbel; read about the Abu Simbel Sun Festival if your dates are close.
Our full list of what to pack for a trip to Egypt has more.
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 need it on the train and at the Abu Simbel road checkpoints. The visa is not included in the tour price.
The currency is the Egyptian pound. Cards work in most hotels, but on the train, in the Nubian village and at Abu Simbel cash is easier, so carry small notes. A tip for the cabin attendant on each train night is customary. Tips are not included in the price; the tipping guide in the travel policies below gives the usual amounts, and 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 Airfare; Entry visa to Egypt; Any optional tours; Personal Spending; Tipping.
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.
Each cabin has two berths that are made up as beds after dinner, a washbasin, and bedding; toilets are at the end of the carriage. Dinner and breakfast are served in your cabin and are included. The train is comfortable but basic, so a small overnight bag, earplugs and a warm layer help. Both train nights are included in the price.
Yes. Because the tour is private, either train can be replaced by a domestic flight (Cairo to Luxor, Aswan to Cairo). The plan changes, a hotel night replaces the train night, and the price changes with it; tell us when you enquire.
About 280 km each way from Aswan, three and a half hours on the road. You leave at about 3:30 am, spend around two hours at the temples and are back in Aswan in the early afternoon, before the evening train to Cairo. The trip is by private car with your guide.
No. This route uses hotels in Luxor and Aswan, the road between them and the sleeper train. The Nile is part of the trip on the felucca sail in Aswan. If you would like a cruise, look at our Nile cruises or ask for a tailor-made version.
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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