Egypt: Cairo, Alexandria, Siwa and the White Desert

Arrive in Cairo

Cairo International Airport to your hotel in central Cairo

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Cairo
• Environ 1 h de route

Soir

In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the days ahead: how the Western Desert drives are paced and broken up, what to pack for the night in a tent in the White Desert, which entries are already paid and what to carry in cash for Siwa. Then we drive to Al-Azhar Park, a hilltop garden on the eastern edge of Islamic Cairo, for the view across the old city's minarets to the Citadel as the light goes, and sit down to a welcome dinner of Egyptian mezze, grills and koshari nearby, a good first lesson in what to order for the rest of the week. If you land too late to join, we keep the briefing notes for you.

Compris

• Pick-up at Cairo International Airport (CAI)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Dusk view over Islamic Cairo from Al-Azhar Park
• Welcome dinner

Giza at opening and the Grand Egyptian Museum

Cairo to the Giza plateau and the Grand Egyptian Museum, then back to Cairo

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Cairo
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal near the plateau. In the afternoon we go into the Grand Egyptian Museum, a few minutes away, on a pre-booked timed entry: the grand staircase lined with royal statues, then the Tutankhamun galleries, where the treasures from his tomb are shown together.

Soir

Back at the hotel by late afternoon, the evening is free; your guide can suggest a rooftop for the pyramids after dark.

Compris

• Giza plateau at opening time with your guide: the Great Pyramid, Khafre and Menkaure from outside, the panorama viewpoint, the Sphinx and the Valley Temple
• Sit-down lunch near Giza
• Grand Egyptian Museum on a timed entry, including the Tutankhamun galleries

Activités en option

• Going inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu (separate ticket, sold on the day)

Medieval Cairo, then the train to Alexandria

Islamic Cairo on foot, then Cairo to Alexandria by train

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Alexandria
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

A morning on foot in medieval Cairo before the streets fill. We start at Bab al-Futuh, one of the Fatimid gates in the old city wall, and walk south down Al-Muizz Street, the spine of Historic Cairo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, past the mosque of al-Hakim, the Qalawun complex with its domed mausoleum and old hospital, and the carved wooden window screens of the Ottoman-era houses. We stop for mint tea at a cafe on the edge of Khan el-Khalili, the bazaar that has traded here since the 14th century, with time to browse and no shopping stops arranged for commission.

Après-midi

After lunch at a local restaurant we take an afternoon train from Ramses Station to Alexandria, about two and a half to three hours across the Nile Delta, with fields, canals and brick villages at the window. Our vehicle drives ahead with the luggage and meets us at the station.

Soir

The evening is free on the Corniche.

Compris

• Walk through Islamic Cairo with your guide: Bab al-Futuh, Al-Muizz Street, the mosque of al-Hakim and the Qalawun complex
• Mint tea at a cafe by Khan el-Khalili, with time in the bazaar
• Sit-down lunch in Cairo
• Train from Cairo to Alexandria

Roman Alexandria and Qaitbay at sunset

Kom el Shoqafa, Pompey's Pillar, Kom el-Dikka, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Citadel of Qaitbay

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Alexandria
• Environ 30 min de route

Après-midi

After the small Roman theatre at Kom el-Dikka we sit down to a fish lunch near the Eastern Harbour, where you choose the catch by weight. In the afternoon we visit the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, opened in 2002 as a successor to the ancient library, then walk the Corniche to the Citadel of Qaitbay, built in the 1470s on the site of the Pharos lighthouse, as the sun drops into the Mediterranean.

Compris

• Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
• Pompey's Pillar and the Serapeum site
• The Roman theatre at Kom el-Dikka
• Fish lunch by the Eastern Harbour
• Bibliotheca Alexandrina
• Citadel of Qaitbay at sunset

Along the coast and into the desert to Siwa

Alexandria to El Alamein and Marsa Matruh, then south across the desert to Siwa

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Siwa
• Environ 8 h de route

Après-midi

We break it into three parts, with a stop at El Alamein after about an hour and a half, lunch in Marsa Matruh and a tea stop halfway down the Siwa road. We leave Alexandria at 8 am and drive about an hour and a half west along the coast to El Alamein, where the Commonwealth War Cemetery and the war museum tell the story of the 1942 battles in the Western Desert. About two and a half hours more brings us to Marsa Matruh for a sit-down lunch of grilled fish and a short walk by the pale-blue sea. The last stretch, about four hours, turns south onto the desert road to Siwa, across a flat limestone plateau, with a tea stop at a roadside rest house about halfway. Your guide talks you through the war history and the oasis ahead on the way.

Soir

We reach Siwa at about 6 pm, check in for three nights and have dinner at the hotel.

Compris

• El Alamein: the Commonwealth War Cemetery and the war museum
• Sit-down lunch in Marsa Matruh
• Dinner at the hotel in Siwa

Siwa: the Oracle, the springs and Shali

Gebel al-Mawta, Aghurmi and the Temple of the Oracle, Cleopatra's Spring, Shali

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Siwa
• Environ 30 min de route

Après-midi

Lunch is in town and the afternoon is free. Late in the day we walk up through the ruins of Shali, the 13th-century fortress town built of kershef, a mix of salt and mud, to watch the sun set over the oasis.

Compris

• Gebel al-Mawta (Mountain of the Dead) with a local guide
• The Temple of the Oracle of Amun at Aghurmi
• Swim at Cleopatra's Spring
• Sit-down lunch in Siwa
• Shali fortress at sunset

Activités en option

• Bicycle hire to ride among the palm groves

Salt pools and the Great Sand Sea

Siwa's salt lakes, then by 4x4 to Bir Wahed in the Great Sand Sea

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Siwa
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

In the morning we drive out to the salt lakes near town, where salt extraction has left pools of turquoise water ringed with white crust. The water is so salty you float without effort, and the morning light gives the best colour.

Après-midi

Rinse off with fresh water we bring along, then head back to town for lunch and a free afternoon: ride a bicycle through the palm groves, look for Siwan embroidery and dates, or rest. At about 3 pm we switch to 4x4s with local drivers and head south into the Great Sand Sea, where the dunes begin a few kilometres beyond the last palms. The drivers take the dune crests briskly for those who want the thrill and gently for those who do not.

Soir

We stop at Bir Wahed, a hot spring in the sand with a cold lake nearby, then stay on a high dune for sunset and drive back to Siwa under the first stars.

Compris

• Floating in Siwa's salt pools
• Sit-down lunch in Siwa
• Afternoon 4x4 into the Great Sand Sea with local drivers
• The hot spring at Bir Wahed
• Sunset from the dunes

Activités en option

• Sandboarding on the dunes
• Bicycle hire

Across the desert to Bahariya and a night in the White Desert

Siwa to Bawiti by 4x4 on the desert road, then via the Black Desert and Crystal Mountain to the White Desert

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : White Desert
• Environ 8 h de route

Après-midi

We leave Siwa at 7 am, the trip's other early start, stop once for tea and reach Bawiti at about 1:30 pm for a short sit-down lunch. South of town the sand darkens in the Black Desert, where volcanic rock caps the hills, and we stop briefly at Crystal Mountain, a ridge of quartz crystals.

Soir

We reach camp in the White Desert National Park at about 4:30 to 5 pm: near dusk from November to January, earlier in the light in October and from February. Camp is a tent per room with mattresses and bedding, and a separate bathroom tent with a toilet. Dinner is cooked over the fire.

Compris

• Siwa to Bahariya by 4x4 on the desert road, with permits
• Sit-down lunch in Bawiti
• The Black Desert and Crystal Mountain on the way south
• Dinner and a night at a White Desert camp

White Desert sunrise and back to Cairo

White Desert to Bawiti by 4x4, then Bahariya to Cairo

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Cairo
• Environ 6.5 h de route

Soir

Get up for sunrise: the chalk formations, carved by the wind into mushrooms and towers, turn from blue to white as the light comes up, and the sand often holds the tracks of fennec foxes that came by in the night. After breakfast at camp we drive slowly north through the formations and the Agabat valley back to Bawiti, about two hours with photo stops, where a hotel day room gives everyone a hot shower before lunch. The road from Bahariya to Cairo is paved and straight, about 365 km and four and a half hours across the open Western Desert, with one rest stop. That makes about six and a half hours of driving today, more than our usual cap, because there is no shorter way out of the oasis; your guide breaks it up and talks you through the desert geology on the way. We reach your Cairo hotel in the late afternoon, and in the evening we gather for a farewell dinner at a Cairo restaurant.

Compris

• White Desert sunrise
• Breakfast at camp
• 4x4 through the Agabat valley back to Bawiti
• Hotel day room in Bawiti for a shower
• Sit-down lunch in Bawiti
• Farewell dinner in Cairo

Depart from Cairo

Your hotel in central Cairo to Cairo International Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 1 h de route

Matin

The trip ends after breakfast.

Après-midi

Your guide arranges your drive to Cairo International Airport, about 45 minutes to an hour from a central hotel depending on traffic; allow three hours at the airport before an international flight, so a flight after about midday is comfortable. With a later flight, the morning is free: the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square is close to the downtown hotels if it is open when you travel (we confirm), and Coptic Cairo, with the Hanging Church and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, is a short metro ride south. Hotel check-out is usually around noon, and your guide can arrange luggage storage. If you would like to stay on, we can book extra nights in Cairo, or join one of our Nile trips, which start in Cairo: Egypt: Pyramids, Abu Simbel and the Nile, or Egypt, the Nile and the Red Sea.

Compris

• Drop-off at Cairo International Airport (CAI)

Activités en option

• The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square
• Coptic Cairo