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Start by clicking on one of the main itineraries below to view the locations, towns, and attractions that are part of it. The whole day-by-day schedule is then available for viewing and additional customization, if desired.
A Classic Nile Valley trip covers the sites, cities, and monuments that everyone on a first trip to Egypt absolutely must see and experience in Cairo, Giza, and Luxor. These include:
Cairo – Egypt’s vibrant and bustling capital and, with more than 23 million inhabitants, one of the largest cities in the world;
The Pyramids of Giza (Giza) – the most famous historical monuments in the world that have stood as towering witnesses to history for nearly 5,000 years, among which is the Great Pyramid, the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World;
The Great Sphinx (Giza) – the majestic and mysterious guardian of the Giza Plateau;
Camel Riding in the Desert (Giza) – a truly unforgettable experience as you mount and then ride these friendly but stoic creatures across the dunes of the Sahara Desert overlooking the Pyramids;
The Grand Egyptian Museum (Giza) – the world’s newest and largest archaeological history museum dedicated to showcasing the excavated treasures of Egypt’s glorious ancient past, including, for the first time ever, the entire collection of King Tut’s golden treasures;
The Royal Mummy Collection (Cairo) – the real mummies of ancient Egypt’s greatest pharaohs are housed separately at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), including six different Ramses (including Ramses the Great), Thutmose I – IV, Seti I & II, Queen Hatshepsut (Egypt’s greatest female pharaoh), and many more;
The Citadel of Saladin (Cairo) – a walled medieval fortress that still towers over the modern city and offers breathtaking views of greater Cairo that stretch all the way out to the Pyramids of Giza;
Historic Mosques (Cairo) – a selection of Egypt’s most beautiful, important, and majestic mosques, including the Alabaster Mosque of Muhamed Ali (who is considered to be the founder of modern Egypt), the Al Hussein Mosque (dating back to 1154 and one of the holiest Islamic sites in Egypt), and Al Azhar Mosque (widely considered to be the equivalent of “the Vatican” of the Islamic world);
Old Islamic Cairo – a walk through the streets of “Old Cairo” to see how life, as it was 1000 years ago in Egypt, continues much in the same way into the modern era;
The Coptic Quarter (Cairo) – the historic hub of Egypt’s thriving Christian community that quite literally dates back to biblical times and is one of the oldest surviving indigenous Christian communities in the world;
The Khan el Khalili Bazaar (Cairo) – the Middle East’s oldest (and most authentic) surviving souq or market where you can find and buy literally anything under the sun, and where friendly haggling and sharp bargaining constitute a time-honored art form in which you’ll be expected to participate if you want to shop there;
Luxor – a calm and peaceful city along the Nile in southern Egypt that is home to more of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites than any other city and Egypt’s second most important historical region after Cairo/Giza;
The Valley of the Kings (Luxor) – the site of the patchwork of elaborate underground tombs belonging to Egypt’s most famous pharaohs, where Egypt’s dry arid climate has perfectly preserved much of the original color and splendor of these final resting places built for powerful kings who also were believed to be living gods;
Queen Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple (Luxor) – an imposing and fitting ancient memorial to Egypt’s greatest and most powerful female ruler who defied custom and gender stereotypes to seize the throne of ancient Egypt and rule in her own right as a full and legitimate pharaoh;
The Colossi of Memnon (Luxor) – the massive reconstructed statues of the pharaoh Amenhotep III which again stand and guard the entrance to what was once the massive mortuary temple of the most powerful pharaoh to ever rule Egypt;
Luxor Temple – one of the oldest continuously operational sites of religious worship in the world, this was originally a colossal ancient temple built by the pharaohs Ramses II and Tutankhamun, parts of which were later repurposed into a sanctuary for the worship of Roman deities, a chapel for Christian worship, and later a mosque which is still in use on the site today;
Luxor Museum – a small but well-designed modern museum that showcases many of the treasures that have come out of the many (and ongoing) archaeological excavations in and around the Luxor area; and
Karnak Temple (Luxor) – the second-largest religious complex in the world, the site simply known as Karnak is a mind-blowingly massive temple that took over 30 pharaohs and 2000 years to build… a true masterpiece of ancient Egypt on par with the Pyramids of Giza!
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A Full Nile Valley trip covers the complete itinerary of the above Classic Nile Valley trip, which spans Cairo, Giza, and Luxor, in addition to Aswan and Abu Simbel. The full list of sites, cities, and monuments visited on this trip includes:
Cairo – Egypt’s vibrant and bustling capital and, with more than 23 million inhabitants, one of the largest cities in the world;
The Pyramids of Giza (Giza) – the most famous historical monuments in the world that have stood as towering witnesses to history for nearly 5,000 years, among which is the Great Pyramid, the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World;
The Great Sphinx (Giza) – the majestic and mysterious guardian of the Giza Plateau;
Camel Riding in the Desert (Giza) – a truly unforgettable experience as you mount and then ride these friendly but stoic creatures across the dunes of the Sahara Desert overlooking the Pyramids;
The Grand Egyptian Museum (Giza) – the world’s newest and largest archaeological history museum dedicated to showcasing the excavated treasures of Egypt’s glorious ancient past, including, for the first time ever, the entire collection of King Tut’s golden treasures;
The Royal Mummy Collection (Cairo) – the real mummies of ancient Egypt’s greatest pharaohs are housed separately at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), including six different Ramses (including Ramses the Great), Thutmose I – IV, Seti I & II, Queen Hatshepsut (Egypt’s greatest female pharaoh), and many more;
The Citadel of Saladin (Cairo) – a walled medieval fortress that still towers over the modern city and offers breathtaking views of greater Cairo that stretch all the way out to the Pyramids of Giza;
Historic Mosques (Cairo) – a selection of Egypt’s most beautiful, important, and majestic mosques, including the Alabaster Mosque of Muhamed Ali (who is considered to be the founder of modern Egypt), the Al Hussein Mosque (dating back to 1154 and one of the holiest Islamic sites in Egypt), and Al Azhar Mosque (widely considered to be the equivalent of “the Vatican” of the Islamic world);
Old Islamic Cairo – a walk through the streets of “Old Cairo” to see how life, as it was 1000 years ago in Egypt, continues much in the same way into the modern era;
The Coptic Quarter (Cairo) – the historic hub of Egypt’s thriving Christian community that quite literally dates back to biblical times and is one of the oldest surviving indigenous Christian communities in the world;
The Khan el Khalili Bazaar (Cairo) – the Middle East’s oldest (and most authentic) surviving souq or market where you can find and buy literally anything under the sun, and where friendly haggling and sharp bargaining constitute a time-honored art form in which you’ll be expected to participate if you want to shop there;
Luxor – a calm and peaceful city along the Nile in southern Egypt that is home to more of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites than any other city and Egypt’s second most important historical region after Cairo/Giza;
The Valley of the Kings (Luxor) – the site of the patchwork of elaborate underground tombs belonging to Egypt’s most famous pharaohs, where Egypt’s dry arid climate has perfectly preserved much of the original color and splendor of these final resting places built for powerful kings who also were believed to be living gods;
Queen Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple (Luxor) – an imposing and fitting ancient memorial to Egypt’s greatest and most powerful female ruler who defied custom and gender stereotypes to seize the throne of ancient Egypt and rule in her own right as a full and legitimate pharaoh;
The Colossi of Memnon (Luxor) – the massive reconstructed statues of the pharaoh Amenhotep III which again stand and guard the entrance to what was once the massive mortuary temple of the most powerful pharaoh to ever rule Egypt;
Luxor Temple – one of the oldest continuously operational sites of religious worship in the world, this was originally a colossal ancient temple built by the pharaohs Ramses II and Tutankhamun, parts of which were later repurposed into a sanctuary for the worship of Roman deities, a chapel for Christian worship, and later a mosque which is still in use on the site today;
Luxor Museum – a small but well-designed modern museum that showcases many of the treasures that have come out of the many (and ongoing) archaeological excavations in and around the Luxor area;
Karnak Temple (Luxor) – the second-largest religious complex in the world, the site simply known as Karnak is a mind-blowingly massive temple that took over 30 pharaohs and 2000 years to build… a true masterpiece of ancient Egypt on par with the Pyramids of Giza;
Aswan – a tranquil village on the banks of the Nile in the far south of Egypt that served as the gateway to Nubia and the southern frontier of the mighty Egyptian empire;
The Temple of Isis at Philae (Aswan) – this Ptolemaic-era temple was built on an island to honor the goddess of fertility, motherhood, magic, death, healing, and rebirth;
The Nubian Museum (Aswan) – another small but beautiful and modern museum dedicated to the history, treasures, and artifacts of the Nubian civilization that originated in modern-day Sudan but which once also incorporated parts of the Egyptian empire including the area around Aswan;
Abu Simbel – this tiny village located 3-hours south of Aswan by road sits along the shores of the 200-kilometer-long Lake Nasser and is home to two remarkably well-preserved temples that served as a form of ancient propaganda intended to warn potential invaders from the south about the strength and might of the Egyptian empire that lay further downriver; and
The Temples of Ramses II and Nefertari (Abu Simbel) – these two small but imposing temples, which once stood on the shores of the Nile near the frontier between Egypt and Nubia, were cut into 1,042 blocks and moved to higher land along the shores of the newly created Lake Nasser between 1964 and 1968 in one of the most remarkable monument salvage operations in history!
A Classic Nile Valley with Red Sea trip covers the complete itinerary of the above Classic Nile Valley trip, which spans Cairo, Giza, and Luxor, in addition to a stay at the Red Sea. The full list of sites, cities, and monuments visited on this trip includes:
Cairo – Egypt’s vibrant and bustling capital and, with more than 23 million inhabitants, one of the largest cities in the world;
The Pyramids of Giza (Giza) – the most famous historical monuments in the world that have stood as towering witnesses to history for nearly 5,000 years, among which is the Great Pyramid, the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World;
The Great Sphinx (Giza) – the majestic and mysterious guardian of the Giza Plateau;
Camel Riding in the Desert (Giza) – a truly unforgettable experience as you mount and then ride these friendly but stoic creatures across the dunes of the Sahara Desert overlooking the Pyramids;
The Grand Egyptian Museum (Giza) – the world’s newest and largest archaeological history museum dedicated to showcasing the excavated treasures of Egypt’s glorious ancient past, including, for the first time ever, the entire collection of King Tut’s golden treasures;
The Royal Mummy Collection (Cairo) – the real mummies of ancient Egypt’s greatest pharaohs are housed separately at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), including six different Ramses (including Ramses the Great), Thutmose I – IV, Seti I & II, Queen Hatshepsut (Egypt’s greatest female pharaoh), and many more;
The Citadel of Saladin (Cairo) – a walled medieval fortress that still towers over the modern city and offers breathtaking views of greater Cairo that stretch all the way out to the Pyramids of Giza;
Historic Mosques (Cairo) – a selection of Egypt’s most beautiful, important, and majestic mosques, including the Alabaster Mosque of Muhamed Ali (who is considered to be the founder of modern Egypt), the Al Hussein Mosque (dating back to 1154 and one of the holiest Islamic sites in Egypt), and Al Azhar Mosque (widely considered to be the equivalent of “the Vatican” of the Islamic world);
Old Islamic Cairo – a walk through the streets of “Old Cairo” to see how life, as it was 1000 years ago in Egypt, continues much in the same way into the modern era;
The Coptic Quarter (Cairo) – the historic hub of Egypt’s thriving Christian community that quite literally dates back to biblical times and is one of the oldest surviving indigenous Christian communities in the world;
The Khan el Khalili Bazaar (Cairo) – the Middle East’s oldest (and most authentic) surviving souq or market where you can find and buy literally anything under the sun, and where friendly haggling and sharp bargaining constitute a time-honored art form in which you’ll be expected to participate if you want to shop there;
Luxor – a calm and peaceful city along the Nile in southern Egypt that is home to more of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites than any other city and Egypt’s second most important historical region after Cairo/Giza;
The Valley of the Kings (Luxor) – the site of the patchwork of elaborate underground tombs belonging to Egypt’s most famous pharaohs, where Egypt’s dry arid climate has perfectly preserved much of the original color and splendor of these final resting places built for powerful kings who also were believed to be living gods;
Queen Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple (Luxor) – an imposing and fitting ancient memorial to Egypt’s greatest and most powerful female ruler who defied custom and gender stereotypes to seize the throne of ancient Egypt and rule in her own right as a full and legitimate pharaoh;
The Colossi of Memnon (Luxor) – the massive reconstructed statues of the pharaoh Amenhotep III which again stand and guard the entrance to what was once the massive mortuary temple of the most powerful pharaoh to ever rule Egypt;
Luxor Temple – one of the oldest continuously operational sites of religious worship in the world, this was originally a colossal ancient temple built by the pharaohs Ramses II and Tutankhamun, parts of which were later repurposed into a sanctuary for the worship of Roman deities, a chapel for Christian worship, and later a mosque which is still in use on the site today;
Luxor Museum – a small but well-designed modern museum that showcases many of the treasures that have come out of the many (and ongoing) archaeological excavations in and around the Luxor area;
Karnak Temple (Luxor) – the second-largest religious complex in the world, the site simply known as Karnak is a mind-blowingly massive temple that took over 30 pharaohs and 2000 years to build… a true masterpiece of ancient Egypt on par with the Pyramids of Giza; and
The Red Sea – a nice, relaxing stay at a resort along Egypt’s beautiful Red Sea coast, featuring the region’s characteristic beautiful white-sand beaches, turquoise-blue waters, and world-famous colorful coral reefs!
A Full Nile Valley with Red Sea trip covers the complete itinerary of the above Full Nile Valley trip, which spans Cairo, Giza, Luxor, Aswan, and Abu Simbel, in addition to a stay at the Red Sea. The full list of sites, cities, and monuments visited on this trip includes:
Cairo – Egypt’s vibrant and bustling capital and, with more than 23 million inhabitants, one of the largest cities in the world;
The Pyramids of Giza (Giza) – the most famous historical monuments in the world that have stood as towering witnesses to history for nearly 5,000 years, among which is the Great Pyramid, the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World;
The Great Sphinx (Giza) – the majestic and mysterious guardian of the Giza Plateau;
Camel Riding in the Desert (Giza) – a truly unforgettable experience as you mount and then ride these friendly but stoic creatures across the dunes of the Sahara Desert overlooking the Pyramids;
The Grand Egyptian Museum (Giza) – the world’s newest and largest archaeological history museum dedicated to showcasing the excavated treasures of Egypt’s glorious ancient past, including, for the first time ever, the entire collection of King Tut’s golden treasures;
The Royal Mummy Collection (Cairo) – the real mummies of ancient Egypt’s greatest pharaohs are housed separately at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), including six different Ramses (including Ramses the Great), Thutmose I – IV, Seti I & II, Queen Hatshepsut (Egypt’s greatest female pharaoh), and many more;
The Citadel of Saladin (Cairo) – a walled medieval fortress that still towers over the modern city and offers breathtaking views of greater Cairo that stretch all the way out to the Pyramids of Giza;
Historic Mosques (Cairo) – a selection of Egypt’s most beautiful, important, and majestic mosques, including the Alabaster Mosque of Muhamed Ali (who is considered to be the founder of modern Egypt), the Al Hussein Mosque (dating back to 1154 and one of the holiest Islamic sites in Egypt), and Al Azhar Mosque (widely considered to be the equivalent of “the Vatican” of the Islamic world);
Old Islamic Cairo – a walk through the streets of “Old Cairo” to see how life, as it was 1000 years ago in Egypt, continues much in the same way into the modern era;
The Coptic Quarter (Cairo) – the historic hub of Egypt’s thriving Christian community that quite literally dates back to biblical times and is one of the oldest surviving indigenous Christian communities in the world;
The Khan el Khalili Bazaar (Cairo) – the Middle East’s oldest (and most authentic) surviving souq or market where you can find and buy literally anything under the sun, and where friendly haggling and sharp bargaining constitute a time-honored art form in which you’ll be expected to participate if you want to shop there;
Luxor – a calm and peaceful city along the Nile in southern Egypt that is home to more of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites than any other city and Egypt’s second most important historical region after Cairo/Giza;
The Valley of the Kings (Luxor) – the site of the patchwork of elaborate underground tombs belonging to Egypt’s most famous pharaohs, where Egypt’s dry arid climate has perfectly preserved much of the original color and splendor of these final resting places built for powerful kings who also were believed to be living gods;
Queen Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple (Luxor) – an imposing and fitting ancient memorial to Egypt’s greatest and most powerful female ruler who defied custom and gender stereotypes to seize the throne of ancient Egypt and rule in her own right as a full and legitimate pharaoh;
The Colossi of Memnon (Luxor) – the massive reconstructed statues of the pharaoh Amenhotep III which again stand and guard the entrance to what was once the massive mortuary temple of the most powerful pharaoh to ever rule Egypt;
Luxor Temple – one of the oldest continuously operational sites of religious worship in the world, this was originally a colossal ancient temple built by the pharaohs Ramses II and Tutankhamun, parts of which were later repurposed into a sanctuary for the worship of Roman deities, a chapel for Christian worship, and later a mosque which is still in use on the site today;
Luxor Museum – a small but well-designed modern museum that showcases many of the treasures that have come out of the many (and ongoing) archaeological excavations in and around the Luxor area;
Karnak Temple (Luxor) – the second-largest religious complex in the world, the site simply known as Karnak is a mind-blowingly massive temple that took over 30 pharaohs and 2000 years to build… a true masterpiece of ancient Egypt on par with the Pyramids of Giza;
Aswan – a tranquil village on the banks of the Nile in the far south of Egypt that served as the gateway to Nubia and the southern frontier of the mighty Egyptian empire;
The Temple of Isis at Philae (Aswan) – this Ptolemaic-era temple was built on an island to honor the goddess of fertility, motherhood, magic, death, healing, and rebirth;
The Nubian Museum (Aswan) – another small but beautiful and modern museum dedicated to the history, treasures, and artifacts of the Nubian civilization that originated in modern-day Sudan but which once also incorporated parts of the Egyptian empire including the area around Aswan;
Abu Simbel – this tiny village located 3-hours south of Aswan by road sits along the shores of the 200-kilometer-long Lake Nasser and is home to two remarkably well-preserved temples that served as a form of ancient propaganda intended to warn potential invaders from the south about the strength and might of the Egyptian empire that lay further downriver;
The Temples of Ramses II and Nefertari (Abu Simbel) – these two small but imposing temples, which once stood on the shores of the Nile near the frontier between Egypt and Nubia, were cut into 1,042 blocks and moved to higher land along the shores of the newly created Lake Nasser between 1964 and 1968 in one of the most remarkable monument salvage operations in history; and
The Red Sea – a nice, relaxing stay at a resort along Egypt’s beautiful Red Sea coast, featuring the region’s characteristic beautiful white-sand beaches, turquoise-blue waters, and world-famous colorful coral reefs!
A Full Nile Valley with Nile Cruise trip covers the complete itinerary of the above Full Nile Valley trip, which spans Cairo, Giza, Luxor, Aswan, and Abu Simbel, in addition to a 3-night dahabiya cruise along the Nile River. The full list of sites, cities, and monuments visited on this trip includes:
Cairo – Egypt’s vibrant and bustling capital and, with more than 23 million inhabitants, one of the largest cities in the world;
The Pyramids of Giza (Giza) – the most famous historical monuments in the world that have stood as towering witnesses to history for nearly 5,000 years, among which is the Great Pyramid, the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World;
The Great Sphinx (Giza) – the majestic and mysterious guardian of the Giza Plateau;
Camel Riding in the Desert (Giza) – a truly unforgettable experience as you mount and then ride these friendly but stoic creatures across the dunes of the Sahara Desert overlooking the Pyramids;
The Grand Egyptian Museum (Giza) – the world’s newest and largest archaeological history museum dedicated to showcasing the excavated treasures of Egypt’s glorious ancient past, including, for the first time ever, the entire collection of King Tut’s golden treasures;
The Royal Mummy Collection (Cairo) – the real mummies of ancient Egypt’s greatest pharaohs are housed separately at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), including six different Ramses (including Ramses the Great), Thutmose I – IV, Seti I & II, Queen Hatshepsut (Egypt’s greatest female pharaoh), and many more;
The Citadel of Saladin (Cairo) – a walled medieval fortress that still towers over the modern city and offers breathtaking views of greater Cairo that stretch all the way out to the Pyramids of Giza;
Historic Mosques (Cairo) – a selection of Egypt’s most beautiful, important, and majestic mosques, including the Alabaster Mosque of Muhamed Ali (who is considered to be the founder of modern Egypt), the Al Hussein Mosque (dating back to 1154 and one of the holiest Islamic sites in Egypt), and Al Azhar Mosque (widely considered to be the equivalent of “the Vatican” of the Islamic world);
Old Islamic Cairo – a walk through the streets of “Old Cairo” to see how life, as it was 1000 years ago in Egypt, continues much in the same way into the modern era;
The Coptic Quarter (Cairo) – the historic hub of Egypt’s thriving Christian community that quite literally dates back to biblical times and is one of the oldest surviving indigenous Christian communities in the world;
The Khan el Khalili Bazaar (Cairo) – the Middle East’s oldest (and most authentic) surviving souq or market where you can find and buy literally anything under the sun, and where friendly haggling and sharp bargaining constitute a time-honored art form in which you’ll be expected to participate if you want to shop there;
Luxor – a calm and peaceful city along the Nile in southern Egypt that is home to more of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites than any other city and Egypt’s second most important historical region after Cairo/Giza;
The Valley of the Kings (Luxor) – the site of the patchwork of elaborate underground tombs belonging to Egypt’s most famous pharaohs, where Egypt’s dry arid climate has perfectly preserved much of the original color and splendor of these final resting places built for powerful kings who also were believed to be living gods;
Queen Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple (Luxor) – an imposing and fitting ancient memorial to Egypt’s greatest and most powerful female ruler who defied custom and gender stereotypes to seize the throne of ancient Egypt and rule in her own right as a full and legitimate pharaoh;
The Colossi of Memnon (Luxor) – the massive reconstructed statues of the pharaoh Amenhotep III which again stand and guard the entrance to what was once the massive mortuary temple of the most powerful pharaoh to ever rule Egypt;
Luxor Temple – one of the oldest continuously operational sites of religious worship in the world, this was originally a colossal ancient temple built by the pharaohs Ramses II and Tutankhamun, parts of which were later repurposed into a sanctuary for the worship of Roman deities, a chapel for Christian worship, and later a mosque which is still in use on the site today;
Luxor Museum – a small but well-designed modern museum that showcases many of the treasures that have come out of the many (and ongoing) archaeological excavations in and around the Luxor area;
Karnak Temple (Luxor) – the second-largest religious complex in the world, the site simply known as Karnak is a mind-blowingly massive temple that took over 30 pharaohs and 2000 years to build… a true masterpiece of ancient Egypt on par with the Pyramids of Giza;
Aswan – a tranquil village on the banks of the Nile in the far south of Egypt that served as the gateway to Nubia and the southern frontier of the mighty Egyptian empire;
The Temple of Isis at Philae (Aswan) – this Ptolemaic-era temple was built on an island to honor the goddess of fertility, motherhood, magic, death, healing, and rebirth;
The Nubian Museum (Aswan) – another small but beautiful and modern museum dedicated to the history, treasures, and artifacts of the Nubian civilization that originated in modern-day Sudan but which once also incorporated parts of the Egyptian empire including the area around Aswan;
Abu Simbel – this tiny village located 3-hours south of Aswan by road sits along the shores of the 200-kilometer-long Lake Nasser and is home to two remarkably well-preserved temples that served as a form of ancient propaganda intended to warn potential invaders from the south about the strength and might of the Egyptian empire that lay further downriver;
The Temples of Ramses II and Nefertari (Abu Simbel) – these two small but imposing temples, which once stood on the shores of the Nile near the frontier between Egypt and Nubia, were cut into 1,042 blocks and moved to higher land along the shores of the newly created Lake Nasser between 1964 and 1968 in one of the most remarkable monument salvage operations in history; and
3-Night Nile Dahabiya Cruise – a peaceful, relaxing sail for three days and nights aboard a traditional dahabiya sailing yacht as you continue exploring some lesser-visited sites and temples along the river journey between Aswan and Luxor, including the Temple of Horus at Edfu, the Temple of Sobek at Kom Ombo, the tombs and quarries at Gebel el-Silsila, and the Temple of Khnum at Esna.
A Full Nile Valley with Alexandria trip covers the complete itinerary of the above Full Nile Valley trip, which spans Cairo, Giza, Luxor, Aswan, and Abu Simbel, in addition to a visit to the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. The full list of sites, cities, and monuments visited on this trip includes:
Cairo – Egypt’s vibrant and bustling capital and, with more than 23 million inhabitants, one of the largest cities in the world;
The Pyramids of Giza (Giza) – the most famous historical monuments in the world that have stood as towering witnesses to history for nearly 5,000 years, among which is the Great Pyramid, the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World;
The Great Sphinx (Giza) – the majestic and mysterious guardian of the Giza Plateau;
Camel Riding in the Desert (Giza) – a truly unforgettable experience as you mount and then ride these friendly but stoic creatures across the dunes of the Sahara Desert overlooking the Pyramids;
The Grand Egyptian Museum (Giza) – the world’s newest and largest archaeological history museum dedicated to showcasing the excavated treasures of Egypt’s glorious ancient past, including, for the first time ever, the entire collection of King Tut’s golden treasures;
The Royal Mummy Collection (Cairo) – the real mummies of ancient Egypt’s greatest pharaohs are housed separately at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), including six different Ramses (including Ramses the Great), Thutmose I – IV, Seti I & II, Queen Hatshepsut (Egypt’s greatest female pharaoh), and many more;
The Citadel of Saladin (Cairo) – a walled medieval fortress that still towers over the modern city and offers breathtaking views of greater Cairo that stretch all the way out to the Pyramids of Giza;
Historic Mosques (Cairo) – a selection of Egypt’s most beautiful, important, and majestic mosques, including the Alabaster Mosque of Muhamed Ali (who is considered to be the founder of modern Egypt), the Al Hussein Mosque (dating back to 1154 and one of the holiest Islamic sites in Egypt), and Al Azhar Mosque (widely considered to be the equivalent of “the Vatican” of the Islamic world);
Old Islamic Cairo – a walk through the streets of “Old Cairo” to see how life, as it was 1000 years ago in Egypt, continues much in the same way into the modern era;
The Coptic Quarter (Cairo) – the historic hub of Egypt’s thriving Christian community that quite literally dates back to biblical times and is one of the oldest surviving indigenous Christian communities in the world;
The Khan el Khalili Bazaar (Cairo) – the Middle East’s oldest (and most authentic) surviving souq or market where you can find and buy literally anything under the sun, and where friendly haggling and sharp bargaining constitute a time-honored art form in which you’ll be expected to participate if you want to shop there;
Luxor – a calm and peaceful city along the Nile in southern Egypt that is home to more of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites than any other city and Egypt’s second most important historical region after Cairo/Giza;
The Valley of the Kings (Luxor) – the site of the patchwork of elaborate underground tombs belonging to Egypt’s most famous pharaohs, where Egypt’s dry arid climate has perfectly preserved much of the original color and splendor of these final resting places built for powerful kings who also were believed to be living gods;
Queen Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple (Luxor) – an imposing and fitting ancient memorial to Egypt’s greatest and most powerful female ruler who defied custom and gender stereotypes to seize the throne of ancient Egypt and rule in her own right as a full and legitimate pharaoh;
The Colossi of Memnon (Luxor) – the massive reconstructed statues of the pharaoh Amenhotep III which again stand and guard the entrance to what was once the massive mortuary temple of the most powerful pharaoh to ever rule Egypt;
Luxor Temple – one of the oldest continuously operational sites of religious worship in the world, this was originally a colossal ancient temple built by the pharaohs Ramses II and Tutankhamun, parts of which were later repurposed into a sanctuary for the worship of Roman deities, a chapel for Christian worship, and later a mosque which is still in use on the site today;
Luxor Museum – a small but well-designed modern museum that showcases many of the treasures that have come out of the many (and ongoing) archaeological excavations in and around the Luxor area;
Karnak Temple (Luxor) – the second-largest religious complex in the world, the site simply known as Karnak is a mind-blowingly massive temple that took over 30 pharaohs and 2000 years to build… a true masterpiece of ancient Egypt on par with the Pyramids of Giza;
Aswan – a tranquil village on the banks of the Nile in the far south of Egypt that served as the gateway to Nubia and the southern frontier of the mighty Egyptian empire;
The Temple of Isis at Philae (Aswan) – this Ptolemaic-era temple was built on an island to honor the goddess of fertility, motherhood, magic, death, healing, and rebirth;
The Nubian Museum (Aswan) – another small but beautiful and modern museum dedicated to the history, treasures, and artifacts of the Nubian civilization that originated in modern-day Sudan but which once also incorporated parts of the Egyptian empire including the area around Aswan;
Abu Simbel – this tiny village located 3-hours south of Aswan by road sits along the shores of the 200-kilometer-long Lake Nasser and is home to two remarkably well-preserved temples that served as a form of ancient propaganda intended to warn potential invaders from the south about the strength and might of the Egyptian empire that lay further downriver;
The Temples of Ramses II and Nefertari (Abu Simbel) – these two small but imposing temples, which once stood on the shores of the Nile near the frontier between Egypt and Nubia, were cut into 1,042 blocks and moved to higher land along the shores of the newly created Lake Nasser between 1964 and 1968 in one of the most remarkable monument salvage operations in history;
Alexandria – once the capital of the Ptolemaic dynasty of ethnically Greco-Macedonian pharaohs that ruled Egypt following the region’s conquest by Alexander the Great, this bustling yet charming Mediterranean port city on Egypt’s north coast beckons visitors with a very different vibe from anywhere else in the country;
The Roman Theater – the site of new discoveries every few years as excavations continue, this area is now thought to have been an ancient Roman-era university complete with lecture halls, a theater, a bath complex, and beautiful newly unearthed (and remarkably intact) mosaic tile floors;
Alexandria National Museum – another of Egypt’s small but modern and well-presented niche museums focusing on the history of Alexandria and its unique place within the broader arch of Egypt’s long story;
The Greco-Roman Catacombs – only discovered as recently as the mid-20th century when a donkey carrying an overweighted cart full of stones fell through the water-logged earth into an open cavity beneath the city, Alexandria’s catacombs don’t feature gory skulls and bones but rather evidence of the unique blending of ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek and Roman statuary, artistic styles, and traditions;
The Library of Alexandria – once the most renowned center of learning and scholarship in the entire ancient world with its unparalleled collection of ancient papyrus scrolls and translated copies of every book aboard any ship that docked in Alexandria’s busy harbor, the ancient version of the city’s library caught fire and burned to the ground during the Roman siege, although it has been replaced by a commemorative modern library that rivals its ancient counterpart; and
Qaitbey Fortress – an eye-catching medieval fortress on the lip of Alexandria’s famous harbor that was built on the site of the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria which toppled to the ground after successive earthquakes in antiquity but whose foundation stones can still be seen in the foundation of the fortress’s interior, allowing visitors to lay eyes on surviving pieces of a second Wonder of the Ancient World that lies within Egypt!
A Full Nile Valley with Nile Cruise, Red Sea, & Alexandria trip covers all of Egypt’s major tourist destinations throughout the country from Cairo, Giza, and Luxor, to Aswan and Abu Simbel, to the Red Sea and Alexandria, and even a 3-night Nile River cruise. The full list of sites, cities, and monuments visited on this trip includes:
Cairo – Egypt’s vibrant and bustling capital and, with more than 23 million inhabitants, one of the largest cities in the world;
The Pyramids of Giza (Giza) – the most famous historical monuments in the world that have stood as towering witnesses to history for nearly 5,000 years, among which is the Great Pyramid, the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World;
The Great Sphinx (Giza) – the majestic and mysterious guardian of the Giza Plateau;
Camel Riding in the Desert (Giza) – a truly unforgettable experience as you mount and then ride these friendly but stoic creatures across the dunes of the Sahara Desert overlooking the Pyramids;
The Grand Egyptian Museum (Giza) – the world’s newest and largest archaeological history museum dedicated to showcasing the excavated treasures of Egypt’s glorious ancient past, including, for the first time ever, the entire collection of King Tut’s golden treasures;
The Royal Mummy Collection (Cairo) – the real mummies of ancient Egypt’s greatest pharaohs are housed separately at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), including six different Ramses (including Ramses the Great), Thutmose I – IV, Seti I & II, Queen Hatshepsut (Egypt’s greatest female pharaoh), and many more;
The Citadel of Saladin (Cairo) – a walled medieval fortress that still towers over the modern city and offers breathtaking views of greater Cairo that stretch all the way out to the Pyramids of Giza;
Historic Mosques (Cairo) – a selection of Egypt’s most beautiful, important, and majestic mosques, including the Alabaster Mosque of Muhamed Ali (who is considered to be the founder of modern Egypt), the Al Hussein Mosque (dating back to 1154 and one of the holiest Islamic sites in Egypt), and Al Azhar Mosque (widely considered to be the equivalent of “the Vatican” of the Islamic world);
Old Islamic Cairo – a walk through the streets of “Old Cairo” to see how life, as it was 1000 years ago in Egypt, continues much in the same way into the modern era;
The Coptic Quarter (Cairo) – the historic hub of Egypt’s thriving Christian community that quite literally dates back to biblical times and is one of the oldest surviving indigenous Christian communities in the world;
The Khan el Khalili Bazaar (Cairo) – the Middle East’s oldest (and most authentic) surviving souq or market where you can find and buy literally anything under the sun, and where friendly haggling and sharp bargaining constitute a time-honored art form in which you’ll be expected to participate if you want to shop there;
Luxor – a calm and peaceful city along the Nile in southern Egypt that is home to more of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites than any other city and Egypt’s second most important historical region after Cairo/Giza;
The Valley of the Kings (Luxor) – the site of the patchwork of elaborate underground tombs belonging to Egypt’s most famous pharaohs, where Egypt’s dry arid climate has perfectly preserved much of the original color and splendor of these final resting places built for powerful kings who also were believed to be living gods;
Queen Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple (Luxor) – an imposing and fitting ancient memorial to Egypt’s greatest and most powerful female ruler who defied custom and gender stereotypes to seize the throne of ancient Egypt and rule in her own right as a full and legitimate pharaoh;
The Colossi of Memnon (Luxor) – the massive reconstructed statues of the pharaoh Amenhotep III which again stand and guard the entrance to what was once the massive mortuary temple of the most powerful pharaoh to ever rule Egypt;
Luxor Temple – one of the oldest continuously operational sites of religious worship in the world, this was originally a colossal ancient temple built by the pharaohs Ramses II and Tutankhamun, parts of which were later repurposed into a sanctuary for the worship of Roman deities, a chapel for Christian worship, and later a mosque which is still in use on the site today;
Luxor Museum – a small but well-designed modern museum that showcases many of the treasures that have come out of the many (and ongoing) archaeological excavations in and around the Luxor area;
Karnak Temple (Luxor) – the second-largest religious complex in the world, the site simply known as Karnak is a mind-blowingly massive temple that took over 30 pharaohs and 2000 years to build… a true masterpiece of ancient Egypt on par with the Pyramids of Giza;
Aswan – a tranquil village on the banks of the Nile in the far south of Egypt that served as the gateway to Nubia and the southern frontier of the mighty Egyptian empire;
The Temple of Isis at Philae (Aswan) – this Ptolemaic-era temple was built on an island to honor the goddess of fertility, motherhood, magic, death, healing, and rebirth;
The Nubian Museum (Aswan) – another small but beautiful and modern museum dedicated to the history, treasures, and artifacts of the Nubian civilization that originated in modern-day Sudan but which once also incorporated parts of the Egyptian empire including the area around Aswan;
Abu Simbel – this tiny village located 3-hours south of Aswan by road sits along the shores of the 200-kilometer-long Lake Nasser and is home to two remarkably well-preserved temples that served as a form of ancient propaganda intended to warn potential invaders from the south about the strength and might of the Egyptian empire that lay further downriver;
The Temples of Ramses II and Nefertari (Abu Simbel) – these two small but imposing temples, which once stood on the shores of the Nile near the frontier between Egypt and Nubia, were cut into 1,042 blocks and moved to higher land along the shores of the newly created Lake Nasser between 1964 and 1968 in one of the most remarkable monument salvage operations in history;
The Red Sea – a nice, relaxing stay at a resort along Egypt’s beautiful Red Sea coast, featuring the region’s characteristic beautiful white-sand beaches, turquoise-blue waters, and world-famous colorful coral reefs;
Alexandria – once the capital of the Ptolemaic dynasty of ethnically Greco-Macedonian pharaohs that ruled Egypt following the region’s conquest by Alexander the Great, this bustling yet charming Mediterranean port city on Egypt’s north coast beckons visitors with a very different vibe from anywhere else in the country;
The Roman Theater – the site of new discoveries every few years as excavations continue, this area is now thought to have been an ancient Roman-era university complete with lecture halls, a theater, a bath complex, and beautiful newly unearthed (and remarkably intact) mosaic tile floors;
Alexandria National Museum – another of Egypt’s small but modern and well-presented niche museums focusing on the history of Alexandria and its unique place within the broader arch of Egypt’s long story;
The Greco-Roman Catacombs – only discovered as recently as the mid-20th century when a donkey carrying an overweighted cart full of stones fell through the water-logged earth into an open cavity beneath the city, Alexandria’s catacombs don’t feature gory skulls and bones but rather evidence of the unique blending of ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek and Roman statuary, artistic styles, and traditions;
The Library of Alexandria – once the most renowned center of learning and scholarship in the entire ancient world with its unparalleled collection of ancient papyrus scrolls and translated copies of every book aboard any ship that docked in Alexandria’s busy harbor, the ancient version of the city’s library caught fire and burned to the ground during the Roman siege, although it has been replaced by a commemorative modern library that rivals its ancient counterpart;
Qaitbey Fortress – an eye-catching medieval fortress on the lip of Alexandria’s famous harbor that was built on the site of the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria which toppled to the ground after successive earthquakes in antiquity but whose foundation stones can still be seen in the foundation of the fortress’s interior, allowing visitors to lay eyes on surviving pieces of a second Wonder of the Ancient World that lies within Egypt; and
3-Night Nile Dahabiya Cruise – a peaceful, relaxing sail for three days and nights aboard a traditional dahabiya sailing yacht as you continue exploring some lesser-visited sites and temples along the river journey between Aswan and Luxor, including the Temple of Horus at Edfu, the Temple of Sobek at Kom Ombo, the tombs and quarries at Gebel el-Silsila, and the Temple of Khnum at Esna.