Bucket List Travel is excited to offer a premium tour to Discover Ancient Egypt!  

Egypt is one of the most interesting and oldest civilizations in the world. The Great Pyramids of Giza, ancient Egyptian statues, and royal tombs continue to seize the attention of top archaeologists and the wider world.

And we are SO excited to be able to bring our guests to the magnificent new Grand Egyptian Museum.

If this is your first trip to Egypt, we recommend this "Discover Ancient Egypt" package. 

Five nights accommodation at a 5-star private villa in Cairo, four nights on a 5-star Nile Cruise, escorted by an English-speaking licensed Egyptologist, and ALL the must-see sights:

It’s the best experience in Egypt! 

We are excited that we can help you take this off your bucket list and make it happen!

Guided tours include transportation and entry fees to all these sites:

• Great Pyramids of Giza

• The Great Sphinx of Giza

• Camel ride at the Pyramids

• Step Pyramid in Sakkara

• Pyramid of King Teti 

• Mastaba tomb of Ka-Gmni

• Colossus of Ramses in Memphis

• The amazing new Grand Egyptian Museum

• Khan El Kalili Bazaar

• The Citadel of Saladin 

• Alabaster Mosque of Muhammed Ali

• The Madrassa Mosque of Sultan Hassan 

• Coptic Cairo - Hanging Church and Jewish Synagogue of Bin Ezra 

• Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, believed to be where Joseph, Mary and Jesus rested after their journey into Egypt

• Luxor and Karnak Temples

• Valley of the Kings

• Queen Hatshepsut Temple

• Colossi of Memnon

• Edfu Temple of the falcon God Horus

• Kom Ombo Temple

• Crocodile Mummification Museum

• Sunset Felucca sailboat ride on the Nile River

• Philae Temple of Goddess Isis and the High Dam 

The exciting new highlight of our tour is a visit to the long-awaited opening of the spectacular Grand Egyptian Museum. After 20 years of planning and construction, the grand opening of the museum was celebrated in November 2025!

We will spend one-and-a-half days exploring the GEM, the largest museum in the world (870,000 square feet) dedicated to a single civilization. The museum's 12 exhibition halls contain more than 100,000 artifacts, at least 20,000 of which are displayed for the first time ever.

.A Great Hall makes up the main entrance of the museum. Visitors are greeted by the 83-foot tall statue of Pharaoh Ramesses !!, which weighs 183,000 pounds. Rising out of the Great Hall is the 160,000 foot long Grand Staircase, which serves as a transitional gallery with more than 60 artifacts. At the top of the Grand Staircase, visitors will find themselves looking through glass walls out at the iconic Great Pyramids.

The crown jewel of the GEM is the entire collection of 5,398 treasures that were found in

King Tut's undisturbed tomb in 1922. This is the first time that all of the Boy King's riches are displayed together

A separate hall is dedicated to The Khufu Ships Museum which displays the two solar boats of King Khufu the builder of the Great Pyramid. They are among the oldest wooden ships ever discovered, dating to approximately 4,600 years ago.

The museum contains several coffee shops and restaurants,, cafes, bakeries and stores give visitors many options for managing a full day in the museum.

You should fly in to and out of Cairo, Egypt.

Please arrive in Cairo, Egypt on or before Wednesday, Jan 6, 2027. (If you are coming from the USA, you will need to fly out of the USA on or before Tuesday,  Jan 5, 2027.) 

Some people choose to come into Egypt a day earlier to rest before the tour. We will arrange accommodations for you for the night before the tour starts at an additional cost.

Your return flight should be scheduled on or after Friday, January 15, 2027.

PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS BEFORE YOU BOOK AIRFARE!!!!!!

This includes:

• Five nights in the 5-star WanderLuxe Villa in Cairo

• Four-night Nile cruise on a 5-star deluxe boat

• 21 meals: 9 breakfasts, 8 lunches, 4 dinners

• All tours provided by an English-speaking licensed Egyptologist

• Entrance fees to all sights included in itinerary

• Domestic flights in Egypt to/from Nile cruise

• All transportation, in modern air-conditioned vehicles, with free beverages and wi-fi on board

• Airport transfers

• Daily tips to drivers, porters, airport agents, restaurant and cruise staff (all but to tour guides)

It does not include:

• Airfare to and from Egypt.

• Visa on arrival at Cairo airport ($25 per person).

• Customary tip to tour guide

• Alcoholic beverages and mocktails

Drift peacefully through the sky above the Valley of the Kings on a relaxing 50-minute hot air balloon ride. Watch the sun rise from on high and take in panoramic views of the world’s most important archaeological site.

Take in aerial views of Luxor and its iconic landmarks, including Queen Hatsheput's temple and the Nile River. 

$210 per person includes transportation and balloon flight

Discover a magnificent part of Egypt that most first-time visitors miss on a private day trip to the Abu Simbel temples. 

As tales of the Egyptian gods ring in your ears, you’ll check out Abu Simbel’s great monuments — two massive rock-cut temples. One is dedicated to King Ramesses the Great, and the other to the love of his life, Nefertari.

Construction of the temple complex started in approximately 1264 BC and lasted for about 20 years.  

Located near the border with Sudan, Abu Simbel is about a three-hour drive through the desert south of Aswan.

$185 per person includes transportation and tour of the temples

The cost of this trip is $4,299 per person, based on double occupancy. 

This does NOT include airfare to and from Egypt.

Single supplement is $1,350.

Your space will be secured when we receive a deposit of $500.

Tour deposits are refundable up to 120 days prior to departure date. 

Deposits made after 120 days are non-refundable.

If we have reserved and paid for any nonrefundable services on your behalf, these are non-refundable.

The balance is due by three months before your departure (October 6, 2026.)

PAYMENT PLAN

We have a payment plan which allows the entire cost of the trip to be paid in 12 equal monthly installments of about $316. (You are welcome to make larger payments at less frequent intervals if you choose.) 

NOTE: Prices are subject to increase if our costs increase.

NOTE: There is a 1% registration fee added to your bill by WeTravel.

NOTE: if you pay by credit card, WeTravel will add a 3% fee. If you pay by direct debit from your bank account, there is no fee.

In the event that you need to cancel your trip, these fees will be applied:

• Between 120-61 days before your arrival date, 25% of the entire tour price.

• Between 60 and 46 days before your arrival date, 50% of the entire tour price.

• Between 45 and 31 days before your arrival date, 75% of the entire tour price.

• Between 30 and 1 days before your arrival date, 100% of the entire tour price.

As soon as you get off the plane, you will see our airport agent holding a sign with your name on it. He will help you get your Egyptian visa, lead you through VIP passport control, through baggage claim, and then escort you to your luxurious accommodation.

Meals: none included today

Accommodations: WanderLuxe Villa

What better way to begin your tour of amazing Egypt than with a visit to the Great Pyramids of Giza!

These three phenomenal pyramids served as monumental burial sites where the Ancient Egyptian kings were buried. We will walk around the pyramids, and you may climb up several rows of blocks. You will have the option to enter into the biggest and most famous - the Great Pyramid of Cheops. (Extra fee of about $25.)

We'll take a brief camel ride in front of the Pyramids with individual and group portraits! 

We'll visit the Great Sphinx of Giza - a limestone statue of a reclining mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. Facing directly from west to east, it stands on the Giza Plateau. The face of the Sphinx appears to represent the pharaoh Khafre. The original shape of the Sphinx was cut from bedrock. It measures 240 feet long from paw to tail, 66 feet high from the base to the top of the head and 62 feet wide at its rear haunches.

After lunch, we'll go discover the nearby Grand Egyptian Museum! After 20 years of planning and construction, the grand opening of the museum was celebrated in November 2025! It is the largest museum in the world (870,000 square feet) dedicated to a single civilization. Twelve exhibition halls contain more than 100,000 artifacts, at least 20,000 of which are displayed for the first time ever.

.A Great Hall makes up the main entrance of the museum. Visitors are greeted by the 83-foot tall statue of Pharaoh Ramesses !!, which weighs 183,000 pounds. Rising out of the Great Hall is the 160,000 foot long Grand Staircase, which serves as a transitional gallery with more than 60 artifacts. At the top of the Grand Staircase, visitors will find themselves looking through glass walls out at the iconic Great Pyramids.

Meals: Breakfast and lunch

Accommodations: WanderLuxe Villa

After breakfast this morning, we will return to the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) for the day.

During your free time, be sure to visit the crown jewel of the GEM: the entire collection of 5,398 treasures that were found in King Tut's undisturbed tomb in 1922. This is the first time that all of the Boy King's riches are displayed together.

A separate hall is dedicated to The Khufu Ships Museum which displays the two solar boats of King Khufu the builder of the Great Pyramid. They are among the oldest wooden ships ever discovered, dating to approximately 4,600 years ago.

The museum contains several coffee shops and restaurants,, cafes, bakeries and stores give visitors many options for managing a full day in the museum. We'll have lunch at one of these restaurants today, looking out on the Great Pyramids.

Meals: Breakfast and lunch

Accommodations: WanderLuxe Villa

After breakfast at the Villa in Cairo, we'll transfer to the Airport for a flight south to the magnificent city of Luxor. Upon arrival at Luxor, you will be transferred to board your 5-star deluxe Nile Cruise boat.

After settling in and having lunch on board, we'll visit the Karnak Temple complex, a vast open-air museum, and the second largest ancient religious site in the world (after the Angkor Wat Temple of Cambodia).

Construction at Karnak started 4,000 years ago and continued for 2,000 years. Each Egyptian ruler who worked at Karnak left his or her own architectural mark. Approximately 30 pharaohs contributed to the buildings here, creating a complex unlike any other.

Shopping opportunity: Alabaster and onyx shop.

When the sun goes down, we'll visit Luxor Temple and the Sphinx Avenue illuminated in the evening. Luxor Temple is a beautiful structure packed with history and legends. Construction took about 100 years, between 1370 BC and 1295 BC, and was added to by four different pharaohs.

We'll have a delicious buffet dinner on board the Nile Cruise boat.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Accommodations: Premium Nile cruise boat

If you're up for it, this morning you'll have an opportunity to take an optional Hot Air Balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings (additional cost)!

After this sunrise flight, the whole group will visit the Alabaster Village of Qurna and the Colossi of Memnon, two massive stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who reigned from 1386-1353 BC.

Then it's on to the famous Valley of the Kings, the most historically significant archeological site in the world. For the past 200 years, archeologists have been exploring the site, and have discovered 65 ancient tombs, including the most famous of all - the Tomb of King Tut! We'll enter and explore three tombs, and you'll have the option to visit Tut's tomb and see his actual mummy. (extra $20 USD to go in King Tut's tomb. )

We'll cross to the Valley of the Queens, and visit the magnificent Temple of Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut. She was the longest reigning female pharaoh in Egypt, ruling 20 years in the 15th century BC.

After lunch on board the Nile Cruise boat, you'll have the afternoon free to rest or sit on the sundeck of our boat and enjoy the sights and sounds of life on the banks of the mighty Nile.

After dinner on board the Nile Cruise boat, we'll meet and party with other cruise passengers at the Captain’s Cocktail Party in the lounge.

This evening, our boat will cross through the Essna Locks - a fascinating site to see!

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Accommodations: Nile cruise boat

After breakfast on board the Nile Cruise boat, we'll take a horse-drawn carriage ride to visit Edfu Temple, the best-preserved temple of the ancient world, dedicated to Horus the Falcon God. It was built between 237 and 57 BC, and is known for its gigantic pylons.

We'll return to the boat for lunch, and then visit Kom Ombo Temple. One side of the temple is dedicated to the Crocodile God Sobek, God of Fertility and Creator of the World. The other side is dedicated to the Falcon God Horus.

Nearby, we'll visit the Crocodile Mummification Museum. You will see well-preserved remains of crocodiles, cats, fish and other animals who were mummified by the ancient Egyptians. It will provide you with an understanding of the ancient art of mummification.

Tonight is the festive Galabeya party on board the Nile Cruise boat! It is a tradition on the Nile cruise boats to have a party where everyone wears a Galabeya, a traditional Egyptian gown. You can purchase one in the ship’s gift shop or in the market for as little as $10, and join in the fun!

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Accommodations: Premium Nile cruise boat

After breakfast, we'll explore the beautiful city of Aswan. We'll take a short boat ride to visit the Philae Temple, one of the most important monuments in southern Egypt. Philae was an ancient pilgrimage center for the cult of Isis. Saved from a watery grave by UNESCO’s rescue project, it was transferred block by block from a nearby island to escape being flooded when the Aswan Dam was built between 1972 and 1980.

After lunch on the boat, we'll take a leisurely Felucca sailboat ride on the Nile. Cruise the Nile River in a traditional sail boat, as Cleopatra did so many centuries ago. It's a perfect way to catching a cool breeze on a warm day and see the magnificent city on the Nile. 

We'll visit The Botanical Gardens on Kitchener’s Island, which covers 6.8 hectares, and are filled with hundreds of species of flora and birds. The island was given to Lord Horatio Kitchener in the 1890s when he was commander of the Egyptian army. Indulging his passion for beautiful palms and plants, Kitchener turned the entire island into the stunning Aswan Botanical Gardens, importing plants from the Far East, India and parts of Africa.

Then we'll have a chance to visit to Aswan Spice Market, and the main Aswan Market.

Shopping opportunity: Gold and silver jewelry.

Following dinner on board the Nile Cruise boat, we'll enjoy an exotic local dance show in the lounge.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Accommodations: Nile cruise boat

This morning, there is an optional early morning excursion to Abu Simbel – the grandest temple in Egypt. After a three-hour drive through the Sahara Desert, we'll visit the Temples of Ramses the Great and his Queen Nefetari.

The Abu Simbel temple was constructed as a place for people to worship Pharaoh Ramses II as a god following his death, as well as to be a show of power toward the recently conquered territory of Nubia. The most notable feature of the Abu Simbel temple are the four colossal statues of Ramses II on the outside.

If you choose not to go to Abu Simbel, you'll have the opportunity to relax on the boat or explore Aswan.

After a delicious Nubian tajin lunch, we'll take a short flight back to Cairo.. 

Meals: Breakfast and lunch

Accommodations: WanderLuxe Villa

After breakfast at the Villa, we'll drive 12 miles from Giza to Memphis, which was the capital of ancient Egypt. Here we'll visit the Memphis Colossus of Ramses, an enormous statue of the king about 34 feet long carved in limestone; and the Alabaster Sphinx, the second largest sphinx in Egypt. Carved between 1700 and 1400 BC, the Sphinx is 26 feet long and 13 feet tall and weighs around 90 tons.

Then on to Sakkara, one of the most extensive archaeological sites in Egypt, and the cemetery for the capital city of Memphis. Here we'll visit: 

• Step Pyramid, the oldest known of Egypt's 118 pyramids. It was built for King Djoser (2667-2648 BC) by the architect genius Imhotep, and consists of six terraces some 200 feet high.

• Mastaba tomb of Ka-Gmni, who was a judge and a priest. The reliefs found in this tomb are amazingly rich in detail.

• Enter King Teti's Pyramid, which was originally 172 feet high. Climb down a shaft into the burial chamber, which is richly carved with thousands of hieroglyphs.

After lunch at an authentic Egyptian restaurant. we'll visit Copic Cairo, a part of Old Cairo which was a stronghold for Christianity in Egypt both before and during the Islamic era. Most of its churches were built after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century.

We'll visit the Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus, believed to be where Mary, Joseph and Jesus visited after their journey into Egypt.

We'll visit the Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church (also known as the  Hanging Church), one of the oldest churches in Egypt which dates to the third century.

And then we'll visit the Ben Ezra Synagogue. According to local lore, it is located on the site where baby Moses was found. The geniza (or store room) of the synagogue was found in the 19th century to contain a treasure of forgotten, stored-away Hebrew, Aramaic and Judeo-Arabic secular and sacred manuscripts.

We will spend the afternoon at Khan el Kahlili Bazaar, a major souk (market) in the Islamic district of Cairo. It is significantly geared towards tourists, with shops that sell souvenirs, antiques and jewelry. Many traditional workshops also operate in the area, such as the goldsmiths' souk, which is still important for locals.  It has been an active marketplace since the late 15th century! 

Meals: Breakfast and lunch

Accommodations: WanderLuxe Villa

After breakfast in the Villa, we'll bring you to the airport for your departure from Egypt.