Egypt at a slower pace: the Pyramids, the Nile and the Red Sea

1. Day 1: Arrive in Cairo

   Cairo International Airport to your hotel near Giza

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

   Your trip starts at Cairo International Airport (CAI). We meet you in the arrivals hall, take your bags and drive you across the city to your hotel on the Giza side, close to the pyramid plateau, your base for the first three nights. Staying out here instead of downtown keeps tomorrow's drive to the pyramids to a few minutes and spares you Cairo's traffic on the sightseeing days. The rest of the day is yours to rest after the flight; the hotel has a lift and a garden or pool to sit by. In the early evening you meet your See Sight Tours guide and the group for a short briefing on the days ahead: which mornings start early and why, how the free afternoons work, the single tipping kitty, and what to pack for the river and the sea. Then a welcome dinner together at the hotel, so nobody has to go out again after a long flight.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Cairo International Airport (CAI)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner at the hotel

   Free time: Rest of the day free

   Activity: Under 1 km on foot.

2. Day 2: Giza at opening, then a free afternoon

   The pyramid plateau by vehicle, lunch, back to the hotel

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Giza
   Day 2 details

   This is an early morning because the plateau demands it: by late morning the sand is hot and the coaches have arrived, so we are at the gate when it opens, after an early breakfast at the hotel from about 7 am. With a licensed Egyptologist you see the Great Pyramid of Khufu, built about 4,500 years ago, and our vehicle carries you across the plateau instead of a long walk on sand: first to the panorama viewpoint, where the three pyramids line up across the desert, then down to the Great Sphinx beside the Valley Temple of Khafre. Nobody climbs inside a pyramid on this version; the passages are steep, low and stair-only. There are benches at the viewpoint, and the vehicle waits at each stop with cold water. We sit down to an early lunch near the plateau at about 11:30, so nobody goes long without food, and then you are back at the hotel. The whole afternoon and evening are free to sleep, swim or sit in the shade.

   Included

   • Giza pyramids and the Great Sphinx with a licensed Egyptologist
   • Vehicle across the plateau to the panorama viewpoint and the Sphinx
   • Sit-down lunch near the plateau

   Easier option: Stay with the vehicle at the panorama viewpoint and see the Sphinx from the viewing terrace without walking down.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 2 km on foot over 3 hours, on sand and uneven stone, with the vehicle at every stop. Breakfast from about 7 am; leave the hotel about 7:45 am.

   

3. Day 3: Saqqara in the cool, the Grand Egyptian Museum in the heat

   South to Saqqara and Memphis, then the museum at Giza

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Giza
   Day 3 details

   A later start, about 9 am, and the order is chosen for the heat: the outdoor site first, the air-conditioned museum after lunch. Saqqara is about 45 minutes south, home to the Step Pyramid of Djoser, designed by the architect Imhotep around 4,700 years ago. You walk in through the colonnade to the great courtyard, and the vehicle then takes you to a decorated noble's tomb with a level entrance, chosen on the day for its access. At nearby Memphis, once the capital of ancient Egypt, a colossal statue of Ramesses II lies under a roof in an open-air museum among palm groves, with benches in the shade. Lunch is at a local restaurant on the way back. In the afternoon, the Grand Egyptian Museum: lifts between the levels, seats in the galleries, and the Tutankhamun galleries showing his tomb treasures together. We leave when you have had enough, not when the clock says so.

   Included

   • Saqqara and the Step Pyramid of Djoser with a licensed Egyptologist
   • Memphis open-air museum
   • Grand Egyptian Museum, including the Tutankhamun galleries
   • Lunch at a local restaurant

   Optional experiences

   • An evening in Khan el-Khalili, with a vehicle drop at the edge of the bazaar and dinner in the old city

   Easier option: Skip the noble's tomb and wait in the shade at Saqqara; at the museum, borrow one of its wheelchairs if offered and see only the Tutankhamun galleries.

   Activity: About 4 km on foot over the day, half of it indoors on level museum floors. Leave the hotel about 9 am.

   

4. Day 4: Fly to Aswan and onto the Nile

   Cairo to Aswan by air, then on board, with a felucca at golden hour

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Aswan (on board)
   Day 4 details

   No early start: breakfast, then the vehicle takes the group and the bags to Cairo airport for a late-morning flight south to Aswan (the time is confirmed with your booking), about an hour and a half in the air. At Aswan the vehicle meets you and drives you to the riverbank, where your Nile boat is your home for the next three nights: you unpack once, and the river does the travelling. We ask for a boat with a lift between decks, and the crew carry your bags on board. Lunch is on board, and the afternoon is free to rest in your cabin or sit on the sun deck. As the light turns gold, a felucca takes the group out on the water past Elephantine Island and Kitchener's Island. It is a quiet, seated hour under a white sail, with the granite boulders and the desert on the west bank turning orange at sunset. Dinner is back on board.

   Included

   • Flight from Cairo to Aswan
   • Felucca sail around Elephantine and Kitchener's islands at golden hour

   Easier option: Stay on the sun deck and watch the feluccas from the boat; boarding a felucca means a step down with a crew member's hand.

   Free time: Afternoon free on board

   Activity: Under 1 km on foot. The felucca is a step down from the jetty with a hand from the crew.

   

5. Day 5: Abu Simbel by air, then Kom Ombo at dusk

   Aswan to Abu Simbel and back by plane, then by boat to Kom Ombo and on to Edfu

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Edfu (on board)
   Day 5 details

   This is the heaviest day of the trip, and we say so plainly: wake-up is about 5 am, because Abu Simbel demands it. The temples face east, the early sun lights the facade, and by midday the site is hot and full. Most trips drive about three and a half hours each way in the dark; we fly instead, about 45 minutes from Aswan, and a short bus ride takes you to the temples. The four seated colossi of Ramesses II, each about 20 m tall, are cut into the rock; inside, the halls are level and the path is paved. Next door, the smaller temple honours Queen Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. Both were moved up the hill in the 1960s in a rescue led by UNESCO. You fly back to Aswan for lunch on board as the boat sails north, with the afternoon to rest in your cabin. At dusk the boat moors at Kom Ombo and the group walks up to the double temple of Sobek and Haroeris for about 45 minutes as it is lit up. Then the boat sails on to Edfu while you have dinner.

   Included

   • Return flights from Aswan to Abu Simbel
   • Great Temple of Ramesses II and the Temple of Nefertari and Hathor
   • Kom Ombo temple at dusk

   Easier option: Kom Ombo is a few steps up from the mooring; you can watch it lit up from the sun deck instead.

   Free time: Afternoon on board to rest

   Activity: About 3.5 km on foot: paved and level paths at Abu Simbel, and about 500 m with a few steps at Kom Ombo. Wake-up about 5 am; the flight time sets the start.

   

6. Day 6: Edfu, then a lazy day on the river

   The Temple of Horus at opening, then the Esna lock and Luxor

   • Drive about 18 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Luxor (on board)
   Day 6 details

   The boat moors overnight at Edfu, so the visit comes first thing: the temple courtyard has no shade, and by mid-morning it is hot and busy with other boats' groups. A vehicle takes you the short way to the Temple of Horus, finished in the Ptolemaic period a little over 2,000 years ago and one of the best preserved temples in Egypt, with its great pylon, open courtyard and roofed inner halls still standing. The floors are level and your guide keeps the visit to about an hour. Then you are back on board by mid-morning, and the rest of the day belongs to the river. From the sun deck you watch farms, palm groves and mudbrick villages slide past, and in the afternoon the boat waits its turn at the lock at Esna. Nothing else is planned. Sunset is from the deck, with tea, and the boat reaches Luxor, where it moors for the night.

   Included

   • Temple of Horus at Edfu, at opening, with a vehicle from the mooring
   • Sailing through the Esna lock

   Easier option: Stay on board; the boat does not sail until the group is back.

   Free time: Afternoon free on deck while the boat sails

   Activity: About 1.5 km on foot on level stone. Leave the boat about 7 am.

   

7. Day 7: Karnak at opening and Luxor Temple after dark

   Luxor's east bank, with a rest in the middle of the day

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Luxor
   Day 7 details

   Karnak opens early, and we are there at opening because the courts have little shade and the coaches fill them by ten. The sun comes in low through the 134 columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall, and your Egyptologist walks you on level paths from the hall to the sacred lake, with stops on the stone benches along the way. Karnak grew over about 2,000 years of building by pharaoh after pharaoh. Then you leave the boat and check into your Luxor hotel on the river for two nights. The middle of the day is yours to rest in a room with a lift and air conditioning. In the early evening, when the air is cool, the vehicle drops you at Luxor Temple, floodlit after dark, and you walk its flat avenue to where the Avenue of Sphinxes sets off towards Karnak. Dinner is close by, so the evening ends without a long walk back.

   Included

   • Karnak Temple with a licensed Egyptologist, at opening
   • Luxor Temple after dark
   • Dinner near Luxor Temple

   Easier option: At Karnak, sit in the hypostyle hall while the group walks on to the sacred lake; Luxor Temple is flat and can be seen from the forecourt.

   Free time: Midday and afternoon free at the hotel

   Activity: About 4 km on foot over two visits, on level, uneven stone. Leave the boat about 6:45 am.

   

8. Day 8: The West Bank by tram and ramp

   The Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hatshepsut, with an optional paid balloon at dawn

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Luxor
   Day 8 details

   Your choice this morning. If you want the balloon, pick-up is before dawn and you drift over the West Bank as the sun rises; it means climbing into a basket and standing for about 45 minutes, so it is an optional extra, paid locally; we tell you the price when we confirm your dates. Everyone else sleeps, and the group meets after breakfast. The Valley of the Kings is hot by noon, so we go early in the morning: a small electric tram carries you from the visitor centre to the valley, and your Egyptologist picks three tombs with gentle sloping corridors instead of long stairs. Tutankhamun's tomb is included for those who want its short stair. At the terraced Temple of Hatshepsut a tram again saves the walk from the car park, and the terraces are joined by ramps, not stairs. A stop at the Colossi of Memnon, which you can see from the vehicle, then lunch on the West Bank and back to the hotel. The afternoon is free.

   Included

   • Valley of the Kings, three tombs plus the tomb of Tutankhamun
   • Electric trams at the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hatshepsut
   • Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari
   • Colossi of Memnon
   • Lunch on the West Bank

   Optional experiences

   • Sunrise hot-air balloon over the West Bank with a licensed operator, paid extra (pick-up about 4:30 am)

   Easier option: See one tomb instead of three, and wait in the shade of the visitor centre; Hatshepsut's lower terrace is reached by a gentle ramp.

   More active option: The sunrise balloon over the West Bank before breakfast, a paid extra (pick-up about 4:30 am).

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 3 km on foot, with trams at both sites. Leave the hotel about 8 am, or about 4:30 am for the balloon.

9. Day 9: Across the desert to the Red Sea

   Luxor to the coast near Safaga, at Soma Bay

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Soma Bay
   Day 9 details

   A slow morning: breakfast, and nothing before about 10 am. Then the drive east to the Red Sea, roughly 250 km and about three hours, the one drive of the trip at our three-hour limit, with a half-hour break at a roadside rest stop halfway. The road follows the Nile north to Qena, then turns into the Eastern Desert and crosses bare, rust-coloured mountains before dropping to the coast at Safaga. We base you near Safaga, at Soma Bay, instead of Hurghada, because the road from Luxor is about an hour shorter and the bay is quieter. Your hotel is on the beach, with calm water, a lift, shade and sun loungers, and it is your base for the last three nights, so the bags come out once and stay put. You arrive in time for a late lunch on your own and a first swim, and the group meets for dinner at the hotel tonight.

   Included

   • Drive from Luxor to the Red Sea coast with a rest stop
   • Dinner at the hotel

   Free time: Late afternoon free

   Activity: Under 1 km on foot. Leave Luxor about 10 am.

10. Day 10: A free day by the sea

    Soma Bay, at your own pace

    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Soma Bay
    Day 10 details

    Nothing is planned today, on purpose. After nine days of temples, this is a full day to sleep in, read in the shade, swim in calm water from the beach or the hotel pool, or sit on the terrace and watch the kitesurfers far out in the bay. Your guide stays at the hotel and is happy to arrange anything you would like: a massage, a glass-bottom boat for an hour over the house reef, or a taxi into Safaga. If you would like to try snorkelling before tomorrow's boat, the guide can take a few of you into the shallows from the beach to practise with a mask and fins, standing on sand. Lunch and dinner are on your own today, at the hotel or nearby. This is also the spare day in the plan: if a flight time or a boat schedule changed something earlier in the trip, we use part of today to catch it up.

    Included

    • Free day, your guide on hand at the hotel

    Optional experiences

    • A glass-bottom boat over the house reef
    • A massage at the hotel spa

    Free time: Whole day free

    Activity: As much or as little as you like.

11. Day 11: A gentle reef day by boat

    By boat to the reefs off Safaga, back by mid-afternoon

    • Drive about 18 min
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Soma Bay
    Day 11 details

    The morning boat leaves from the marina at about 9 am, before the afternoon wind picks up. We book a licensed dive centre, and a snorkel guide briefs the group on reef etiquette before leading each swim over hard and soft corals, where parrotfish, anemonefish and sometimes a turtle are seen. Masks, fins, life vests and swim noodles are provided. We ask the dive centre for a boat that suits this trip: a shaded upper deck, a gangway and a ladder with handrails into the water, and either a glass-bottom viewing section or a short stop at a sandy beach so non-swimmers see the reef too. We confirm the boat with your dates. You choose how much to swim: join the guide in the water, stay close to the ladder, or watch from the deck. Lunch is on board. You are back at the hotel by mid-afternoon, with time to rest before a farewell dinner together.

    Included

    • Reef boat trip with a licensed dive centre and a snorkel guide
    • Snorkel gear, life vests and swim noodles
    • Lunch on board
    • Farewell dinner

    Optional experiences

    • A try-dive with a dive instructor, paid to the dive centre

    Easier option: Stay on the shaded deck, or swim only at the ladder with a life vest.

    More active option: Two longer guided swims at the outer reef with the snorkel guide.

    Free time: Mid-afternoon free

    Activity: Under 1 km on foot. We ask for boarding by a gangway with handrails. Leave the hotel about 8:30 am.

    

12. Day 12: A slow morning and home

    Soma Bay to Hurghada International Airport (HRG)

    • Drive about 45 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 12 details

    Your last morning on the Red Sea is free, with no wake-up call: a final swim, a long breakfast or a walk along the beach. Then the vehicle takes you and your bags to Hurghada International Airport (HRG), about 50 km and 45 minutes up the coast. We group the transfers by flight time, so flights leaving after about 1 pm are easiest; earlier flights are fine with an earlier transfer. There are no direct flights from Hurghada to Canada, so most guests fly home via Cairo on a domestic flight or via a European hub such as Frankfurt, Paris or London; we suggest connections that leave time for the transfer. If you would rather end the trip in Cairo, ask us when you book and we can arrange the domestic flight and a night near Cairo airport. Airport assistance with a wheelchair to the gate is free if you ask your airline at least 48 hours ahead. Your guide rides with the first transfer and stays reachable by phone until the last guest has flown, in case a flight changes.

    Included

    • Transfer to Hurghada International Airport (HRG)

    Free time: Morning free

    Activity: Under 1 km on foot.

Wildlife and weather: October to April is the cool season, and November to March is the most comfortable for this version. We do not run it from May to September, when Luxor and Aswan often pass 40°C. Winter nights on the Nile and in the desert are cool, so bring a warm layer. The Red Sea is calm enough to snorkel most mornings, but wind can cancel a boat or a balloon; we retry when we can.

• Giza3 nights
• Aswan (on board)1 night
• Edfu (on board)1 night
• Luxor (on board)1 night
• Luxor2 nights
• Soma Bay3 nights