Upon arrival in Cairo, you will be met by our representative in Egypt and transferred to your hotel for overnight. Hotel: Steigenberger Pyramids (5*) or similar 

Your private Egyptologist tour guide and driver will pick you up at 8:30AM to start your tour. Visit Sakkara to see the prototype of the pyramids, the Step Pyramid, built for the 3rd Dynasty Pharaoh Djoser by the exalted architect Imhotep. Stop by a Carpet Institute and watch how the Grand Fathers of Egyptian used to wave carpets. Lunch en route. Drive to Giza Plateau for a great photos leaning on, catching or kissing the famous pyramids. Visit from outside the Great Pyramids of Cheops (one of the original Seven Wonders of the World), Khafre and Menakaure, then the Valley Temple, and the Sphinx. (B,L)

Breakfast at the hotel, check-out and drive to the GEM (Grand Egyptian Museum) a brand new museum, for a detailed and guided tour. This museum is a new crown jewel of Egypt, but it also be one of the largest, most modern, and most renowned museums in the entire world. Among other fascinating exhibits, see the treasures of the Tomb of Tutankhamen. Lunch en route. Continue to Old Cairo and walk back in time to the sixth Century BC, Visit the Old Hanging Church, the Church of Abu Serga where some believe the Holy Family sheltered while in Egypt, then Ben Ezra Synagogue. After a day of touring, you will be transferred to the airport for your flight from Cairo to Luxor. Upon arrival, you will be met by your Tour representative and transferred to your hotel for overnight. Hotel: Sonesta St. George (5*) or similar (B,L) 

Our representative will meet you at your hotel, and assist you with check-out. 

Begin touring with a visit to Karnak Temple, called by some “the Temple of Temples.” It is the largest place of worship ever built. Its ancient name Ipet-isut means “the most sacred of places.” The temple, or, more correctly, the complex of temples, was built over more than two thousand years by generation after generation of pharaohs. Cruise ship on the Nile: Blue Shadow or similar (5*)  (B, L, D)

After breakfast onboard, cross to the West Bank of the Nile and visit the wondrous Valley of the Kings, a vast city of the dead where the magnificent tombs of 62 pharaohs have been discovered. The tombs were carved deep into the desert rock, richly decorated and filled with treasures for the afterlife of the pharaohs. Visit several of the tombs. Next, visit the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. This beautiful monument to the reign of the only female pharaoh rises out of the desert plain in a series of terraces and merges with the sheer limestone cliffs that surround it. (B, L, D)

After breakfast on board, set out by horse-drawn carriage to visit the Temple of Horus, the most perfectly preserved of all the Nile Temples. Horus, also known as Haroeris, was the falcon-headed solar war god. Return to your cruise vessel by carriage and sail to Kom Ombo. Visit the Temple of Sobek, the crocodile-headed god of fertility and creator of the world. The temple stands at a bend in the Nile where, in ancient times, sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the riverbank. 

Lunch, dinner and overnight on board. Sail to Aswan for overnight. (B, L, D)

After breakfast on board, take a tour by a motor-boat ride to the Temple of Philae on the island of Agilka. The temple was dedicated to Isis, sister/wife of Osiris and patroness of the Ptolemaic rule. After lunch on your cruise, sail around Elephantine Island on a felucca, the traditional Egyptian sail boat. Elephantine Island is the largest of the Aswan area islands, and is the site of some of the most ancient remains in Egypt, with artifacts dating to pre-dynastic periods. Elephantine is Greek for Elephant. In ancient times, the island was called Abu or Yabu, which also means elephant. (B, L, D)

Abu Simbel is an optional tour (a full-day tour) that should be booked in advance 

For those who booked it:   

“Early breakfast, check out and fly to Abu Simbel, enjoy the scenery of the road, Arrive Abu Simbel. Visit the temples that were built over a 25 year span and are one of the most prodigious feats of engineering in Egypt. The entire complex of temples was moved to its present location 90 feet above its old site to protect it from the rising water of the Nile when the Aswan Dam was built in the early sixties. 

Back to Aswan.”

Everyone, fly back to Cairo from Aswan. 

You will be met by our representative and transferred to your hotel.

Overnight in your hotel in Cairo. Hotel: Intercontinental City Stars (5*) or similar

Early breakfast, Check-out.

Transfer to Cairo airport and assistance with check-in for your flight to one of our destinations or back home.