Egypt: Cairo, Alexandria, Siwa and the White Desert

1. Day 1: Arrive in Cairo

   Cairo International Airport to your hotel in central Cairo

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Cairo
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Cairo International Airport (CAI) at any time today. A driver meets you in the arrivals hall and takes you to a central hotel, usually 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic, If you land early, rest, or take a short walk near the hotel. 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.

   Included

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

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Day 2: Giza at opening and the Grand Egyptian Museum

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

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Cairo
   Day 2 details

   We leave early so we are at the Giza plateau when the gates open, usually 7 or 8 am depending on the season, while the stone is cool and before most coaches arrive; this and the day 8 desert departure are the trip's only early starts. Your guide walks you around the Great Pyramid of Khufu, built about 4,500 years ago, and the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, then we drive up to the panorama viewpoint for the view of all three across the sand. We finish at the Sphinx and the Valley Temple of Khafre beside it. 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. Back at the hotel by late afternoon, the evening is free; your guide can suggest a rooftop for the pyramids after dark.

   Included

   • 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

   Optional experiences

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

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot at Giza on sand and uneven ground with little shade, and 2 to 3 hours on your feet in the museum.

   

3. Day 3: Medieval Cairo, then the train to Alexandria

   Islamic Cairo on foot, then Cairo to Alexandria by train

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Alexandria
   Day 3 details

   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. 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. The evening is free on the Corniche.

   Included

   • 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

   Free time: Evening free in Alexandria

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot on cobbles and uneven paving; mosques ask for covered shoulders and knees, and women may be asked to cover their hair.

   

4. Day 4: Roman Alexandria and Qaitbay at sunset

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

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Alexandria
   Day 4 details

   Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC and was the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt for three centuries. Most of that city lies under the modern one, so today is about the pieces that surface. We start underground, close to opening, at the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, a 2nd-century AD burial complex cut down several levels into the rock, where Egyptian gods appear in Roman dress on the walls. Pompey's Pillar, raised for the emperor Diocletian in AD 297, stands a few minutes away on the site of the Serapeum. 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.

   Included

   • 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

   Easier option: Skip the Corniche walk: the vehicle takes you straight to Qaitbay, or back to the hotel after the library.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: Steep spiral stairs down into the catacombs; otherwise easy walking, about 3 km along the Corniche.

5. Day 5: Along the coast and into the desert to Siwa

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

   • Drive about 8 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Siwa
   Day 5 details

   The longest drive of the trip, about 590 km and roughly eight hours on the road, over our usual four-hour cap because Siwa has no railway and no regular scheduled flights. 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. We reach Siwa at about 6 pm, check in for three nights and have dinner at the hotel.

   Included

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

   Activity: About eight hours of driving, leaving at 8 am, with three breaks: El Alamein, lunch in Marsa Matruh and a tea stop. Passports are checked at police checkpoints on the Siwa road; keep yours to hand.

6. Day 6: Siwa: the Oracle, the springs and Shali

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

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Siwa
   Day 6 details

   Siwa sits in a depression below sea level about 50 km from the Libyan border, a green spread of date palms and olive groves around salt lakes, and its people speak Siwi, an Amazigh (Berber) language, as well as Arabic. After a slow start we drive a few minutes to Gebel al-Mawta, the Mountain of the Dead, a hill honeycombed with rock tombs from the Late and Ptolemaic periods; the painted tomb of Si-Amun is the one to see when it is open. Next is Aghurmi, where the Temple of the Oracle of Amun stands on a rock above the palms; Alexander the Great came here in 331 BC to consult the oracle. We cool off at Cleopatra's Spring, a round stone pool fed by a natural spring, where you can swim. 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.

   Included

   • 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

   Optional experiences

   • Bicycle hire to ride among the palm groves

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: Short climbs on uneven mud-brick paths at Shali and Gebel al-Mawta. Swim in a T-shirt and shorts at the spring.

7. Day 7: Salt pools and the Great Sand Sea

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

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Siwa
   Day 7 details

   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. 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. 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.

   Included

   • 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

   Optional experiences

   • Sandboarding on the dunes
   • Bicycle hire

   Easier option: Stay in Siwa for the afternoon, or ride along in the 4x4 and skip the steep dune runs.

   More active option: Sandboarding down the dunes near Bir Wahed before sunset.

   Free time: Early afternoon free

   Activity: The salt pools sting cuts and eyes; bring water shoes. The dune drive is bumpy and can be done gently.

8. Day 8: 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

   • Drive about 8 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in White Desert
   Day 8 details

   The second long day: about 420 km from Siwa to Bawiti in Bahariya, then about 140 km into the White Desert, roughly eight hours of driving in all. It runs over our usual cap because this is the only direct route between the two oases; the alternative runs back through Matruh and Cairo, well over 1,000 km. The Siwa to Bahariya road needs a permit for foreign travellers that we confirm before the trip runs; we drive it in 4x4s with local drivers. 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. 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.

   Included

   • 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

   More active option: Climb one of the small black-capped hills in the Black Desert for the view south, about 15 minutes up loose rock, if the light allows.

   Activity: About eight hours of driving, leaving Siwa at 7 am, with a tea stop, lunch and two short photo stops; we reach camp at about 4:30 to 5 pm. There is no shower at camp; bring a warm layer, a head torch and a hat for the night.

9. Day 9: White Desert sunrise and back to Cairo

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

   • Drive about 6.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Cairo
   Day 9 details

   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.

   Included

   • 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

   Activity: About six and a half hours of driving with photo stops, a shower stop and lunch.

10. Day 10: Depart from Cairo

    Your hotel in central Cairo to Cairo International Airport

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 10 details

    The trip ends after breakfast. 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.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Cairo International Airport (CAI)

    Optional experiences

    • The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square
    • Coptic Cairo

    Free time: Free until your airport transfer

    Activity: Book a flight leaving after about midday, or tell us and we time your transfer for an earlier one.

Wildlife and weather: October to April is the season: desert days are warm and clear, Alexandria can be cool, windy and wet in December and January, and desert nights are cold from December to February. From May to September Siwa and the desert are too hot for this route. In the White Desert, fennec foxes sometimes visit camp at night.

• Cairo2 nights
• Alexandria2 nights
• Siwa3 nights
• White Desert1 night
• Cairo1 night