Egypt, the Nile and the Red Sea

1. Day 1: Arrive in Cairo

   Cairo International Airport to your hotel near Giza

   • Meals on your own
   • Stay in Giza
   Day 1 details

   Your trip starts at Cairo International Airport (CAI). We meet you in the arrivals hall and drive you across the city to your hotel on the Giza side, close to the pyramid plateau, which is your base for the first three nights. Staying out here instead of downtown cuts tomorrow's drive to the pyramids to minutes, so the early entry is easy and you skip the worst of Cairo's traffic twice. The rest of the day is yours to rest after the flight. In the early evening you meet your See Sight Tours guide and the group for a short briefing on the days ahead: how we time each site for light and crowds, how the single tipping kitty works, and what to pack for the desert, the river and the reef.

   Included

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

   Free time: Rest of the day free

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

   The pyramid plateau, then the museum next door

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Giza
   Day 2 details

   We are at the Giza plateau gate when it opens, while the light is soft and before the big tour coaches arrive. With a licensed Egyptologist you walk around the Great Pyramid of Khufu, built about 4,500 years ago and the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing. Then a short drive to the panorama viewpoint, where all three pyramids line up across the desert, and down to the Great Sphinx, seen from beside the Valley Temple of Khafre. After lunch the Grand Egyptian Museum is a few minutes away: a colossal statue of Ramesses II greets you in the atrium, the grand staircase is lined with royal statues, and dedicated galleries show Tutankhamun's tomb treasures together. Late afternoon is free.

   Included

   • Giza pyramids and the Great Sphinx with a licensed Egyptologist
   • Panorama viewpoint on the plateau
   • Grand Egyptian Museum, including the Tutankhamun galleries

   Free time: Late afternoon free

   

3. Day 3: Saqqara, Memphis and Dahshur, then Islamic Cairo

   The quiet pyramids south of Giza, and an evening in the old city

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Giza
   Day 3 details

   Today is the quiet side of the pyramid age. South of Giza, Saqqara is home to the Step Pyramid of Djoser, designed by the architect Imhotep around 4,700 years ago and often called the oldest large stone building in the world. At nearby Memphis, once the capital of ancient Egypt, a colossal statue of Ramesses II lies in an open-air museum among palm groves. At Dahshur the Bent Pyramid changes angle partway up, and you can climb down a long, low passage into the chambers of the Red Pyramid, usually with only a handful of other visitors. Lunch is at a local restaurant on the way back, then a rest. After dark we head into Islamic Cairo to walk Al-Muizz Street, past medieval mosques and madrasas, to the lanes of Khan el-Khalili.

   Included

   • Saqqara and the Step Pyramid of Djoser
   • Memphis open-air museum
   • Dahshur: the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid
   • Evening walk on Al-Muizz Street and in Khan el-Khalili

   Your choice: Climb down the passage into the Red Pyramid / Stay outside and walk around the Dahshur pyramids Included in the price.

   Free time: Mid-afternoon rest at the hotel

   

4. Day 4: Fly to Aswan and drive to Abu Simbel

   Cairo to Aswan by air, then south through the desert

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Abu Simbel
   Day 4 details

   A morning flight takes you south from Cairo to Aswan, about an hour and a half in the air, and your vehicle is waiting at the airport. From there the road runs about 280 km south through the desert of Lower Nubia to Abu Simbel, roughly three and a half hours with a break on the way, while your guide tells the story of the Nubian monuments and the dams that flooded this valley. Unlike most trips, you do not come and go in one long day with a 3 am start: you sleep in Abu Simbel, close to the shore of Lake Nasser. In the evening the sound and light show plays across the temple facades, and the sky over the desert is usually clear and full of stars.

   Included

   • Flight from Cairo to Aswan
   • Drive from Aswan to Abu Simbel
   • Abu Simbel sound and light show

   Free time: Late afternoon free by Lake Nasser

   

5. Day 5: Abu Simbel at sunrise, then onto the Nile

   The temples at opening, back to Aswan and a felucca at golden hour

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Aswan (on board)
   Day 5 details

   The temples are a short walk from your hotel, so you are there when the site opens, as the early sun lights the four seated colossi of Ramesses II, each about 20 m tall, on the facade that faces east across the lake. Inside, the halls run deep into the rock; next door, the smaller temple honours Queen Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. Both temples were cut into blocks and moved higher up the hill in the 1960s to escape the rising lake, in an international rescue led by UNESCO. Then the drive back to Aswan and on board your Nile boat in time for lunch. Late in the afternoon a felucca sails you past Elephantine Island and Kitchener's Island at golden hour, with sunset on the water.

   Included

   • Great Temple of Ramesses II and the Temple of Nefertari and Hathor at opening
   • Drive from Abu Simbel to Aswan
   • Felucca sail around Elephantine and Kitchener's islands

   Free time: Early afternoon free on board

   

6. Day 6: Philae, a Nubian village and Kom Ombo

   By motorboat to Philae, tea on the West Bank, then sailing north

   • By boat
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Edfu (on board)
   Day 6 details

   An early start for Philae, the temple of Isis, reached by a small motorboat across the water between the old Aswan Dam and the High Dam. Arriving close to opening means calm water, soft light on the pylons and room to walk the colonnades. The whole temple was taken apart and rebuilt on Agilkia Island in the 1970s, after the old dam left it under water for much of the year. A short stop at the High Dam, then across the Nile to Gharb Soheil, a Nubian village of brightly painted houses, for tea in a family home: a named, unhurried visit, not a shop stop. Back on board for lunch, the boat sails north, and at dusk you step off at Kom Ombo, a double temple for the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon god Haroeris, before the boat sails on to Edfu overnight.

   Included

   • Philae Temple by motorboat, at opening
   • Aswan High Dam
   • Tea with a family in the Nubian village of Gharb Soheil
   • Kom Ombo temple and the Crocodile Museum at dusk

   Free time: Midday free on deck while the boat sails

   

7. Day 7: Edfu and a day on the river

   The Temple of Horus at opening, then the Esna lock

   • By boat
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Luxor (on board)
   Day 7 details

   The boat moors overnight at Edfu, so the visit comes first thing, before the heat: the Temple of Horus, finished in the Ptolemaic period a little over 2,000 years ago, is the best-preserved temple in Egypt, with its great pylon, open courtyard and roofed inner halls still standing. Then the rest of the day belongs to the river. From the sun deck you watch farms, palm groves, water buffalo and mudbrick villages slide past, and in the afternoon the boat waits its turn to pass through the lock at Esna, where traders in rowing boats sometimes call up to the deck. Nothing else is planned. Sunset is from the deck, and the boat reaches Luxor, where it moors for the night.

   Included

   • Temple of Horus at Edfu, at opening
   • Sailing through the Esna lock

   Free time: Afternoon free on deck

   

8. Day 8: Karnak at opening and Luxor Temple after dark

   The east bank of Luxor, with a free afternoon

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Luxor
   Day 8 details

   Karnak opens early and we are there at opening, when the sun comes in low through the 134 columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall and lights the carvings, hours before the tour coaches fill the courts. Karnak grew over about 2,000 years of building by pharaoh after pharaoh, and your Egyptologist walks you from the hall to the sacred lake and the obelisk of Hatshepsut. Then you leave the boat and check into your Luxor hotel for two nights. The afternoon is free: sleep, swim or stroll the Corniche along the river. After dark, when the air is cool, you walk through Luxor Temple under floodlights, to where the Avenue of Sphinxes sets off on its way to Karnak.

   Included

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

   Free time: Afternoon free

   

9. Day 9: Balloon at dawn and the West Bank

   Over the Theban hills by balloon, then the Valley of the Kings

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Luxor
   Day 9 details

   This is the one very early start of the trip, and it is worth it. Before dawn you cross to the West Bank, and your hot-air balloon lifts off as the sun rises over the Nile, drifting above green fields, the Colossi of Memnon and the bare cliffs that hide the Valley of the Kings. The balloon is included in the price. If wind grounds the flights, we try again the next morning before the drive to the coast. You land straight into the West Bank day: the Valley of the Kings near opening, with entry to three royal tombs and to Tutankhamun's, then the terraced Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari and a stop at the Colossi. Lunch, then the afternoon is free at the hotel to sleep or swim.

   Included

   • Sunrise hot-air balloon flight over the West Bank
   • Valley of the Kings, three tombs plus the tomb of Tutankhamun
   • Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari
   • Colossi of Memnon

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: Pick-up before dawn for the balloon, the only pre-dawn start of the trip

   

10. Day 10: Across the desert to the Red Sea

    Luxor to the coast near Hurghada

    • Drive about 4 h
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Hurghada
    Day 10 details

    A slow morning after yesterday's early start: breakfast, and nothing before mid-morning. Then the drive east to the Red Sea, roughly 290 km and about four hours. The road follows the Nile north to Qena, then turns into the Eastern Desert and climbs through bare, rust-coloured mountains, with a break on the way, before dropping to the coast at Safaga and running north. Your hotel is on the coast near Hurghada, with a beach and calm water for swimming, and it is your base for the last two nights. You arrive in the afternoon with time for a first swim. Dinner tonight is on your own; your guide can point you to good fish restaurants close by.

    Included

    • Drive from Luxor to the Red Sea coast

    Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

11. Day 11: A guided reef day at the Giftun Islands

    By boat into the Giftun Islands protected area

    • By boat
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Hurghada
    Day 11 details

    Today the Red Sea is organised, not just free time. A boat from a licensed dive centre takes the group out from Hurghada to the reefs of the Giftun Islands, a protected area, leaving in the morning before the wind picks up. A local snorkel guide briefs you on reef etiquette and leads each swim over hard and soft corals, with parrotfish, anemonefish and, with luck, a turtle. Masks, fins and life vests are provided, and less confident swimmers can stay close to the guide or the boat ladder. Lunch is on board, with a stop at a sandy island beach. Back by late afternoon, the evening is free for a farewell dinner together or a quiet night.

    Included

    • Reef boat trip to the Giftun Islands with a snorkel guide
    • Snorkel gear
    • Protected-area entry fee

    Your choice: Guided snorkelling at the Giftun reefs / A try-dive with a dive instructor Included in the price.

    Optional experiences

    • A try-dive with a dive instructor

    Free time: Evening free

    

12. Day 12: A free morning and home

    Hurghada International Airport (HRG)

    • 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 shore. Your guide sees you through checkout and rides with you to Hurghada International Airport (HRG) for your flight. Hurghada has domestic flights to Cairo for long-haul connections home and direct flights to many European cities, so plan a departure in the afternoon or evening and keep the morning for the sea. If you would rather end the trip in Cairo, ask us and we can book the domestic flight and a night near Cairo airport. That rounds off twelve days with the pyramids, three nights on the Nile, Luxor from the air and a day on the reef.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Hurghada International Airport (HRG)

    Free time: Morning free

Wildlife and weather: October to April is the cool season. From May to September, Luxor and Aswan are very hot, with daytime highs often near or above 40°C. The Red Sea is warm enough to snorkel all year, most comfortably in spring and autumn. Turtles are sometimes seen on the reef day; we cannot promise them. Balloon flights depend on the wind.

• Giza3 nights
• Abu Simbel1 night
• Aswan (on board)1 night
• Edfu (on board)1 night
• Luxor (on board)1 night
• Luxor2 nights
• Hurghada2 nights