By type of trip
Nile Cruises Luxor to Aswan: Routes, Boats and Prices
Classic Egypt Tours: Cairo, Luxor and Aswan Itineraries
Nile Cruise and Red Sea Holidays: Two-Week Egypt Trips
White Desert Tours from Cairo: Oases and Desert Camping
Short Breaks in Egypt: Three and Four Day Cairo Trips
Tailor-made Egypt Tours: Private Trips Built Around You
Cairo, Luxor and Aswan
The Pyramids, the Grand Egyptian Museum and a sail south — the route almost everyone takes first.
About these trips
If it is your first time in Egypt, the classic Egypt route is the shape of trip that works: two nights in Cairo for Giza and the museum, a flight south, then the Nile between Luxor and Aswan.
Eight days is comfortable. Ten lets you add Abu Simbel and slow down in Aswan. Under a week and something has to go.
A classic Egypt route has three fixed points. Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Luxor for Karnak and the Valley of the Kings. Aswan for Philae and the felucca hour before sunset.
Most people fly between Cairo and Luxor. The flight takes an hour. The overnight train takes twelve and saves a hotel night, and some travellers prefer it. We will book either.
Abu Simbel sits three hours south of Aswan by road. It needs an early start and a long day. Add it if you have ten days. Skip it at eight and you will not feel short-changed.
Eight days works. Two nights in Cairo, a flight south, four nights on the river, one night to fly home.
Ten days is better. You get Abu Simbel, a slower Luxor, and a morning that is not spent packing.
Under seven days, something goes. Usually it is Aswan, which is the city most people wish they had kept.
Entry rules, opening hours, security advice and exchange rates all move. Check them at the source, not here.
Written and checked by the Nile Trip Guide editorial team · Last reviewed . Entry rules, prices and opening hours change — check anything critical against the official sources linked on this page.
7 itineraries
7 days · Classic Egypt
A 7 day Egypt itinerary that takes the river the other way round: Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum first, then a flight south to Aswan and three nights sailing down to Luxor.
from US$1,890 / per person
8 days · Classic Egypt
The route most people take first, at the length it was built for: Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, then a flight to Luxor and four nights sailing down to Aswan.
from US$2,135 / per person
9 days · Classic Egypt
The standard Cairo and Nile cruise route with the day most itineraries cut: a second Cairo day at the end for the Royal Mummies, the Citadel and Coptic Cairo.
from US$2,385 / per person
10 days · Classic Egypt
Five nights in Cairo either side of a four-night sail from Luxor to Aswan. The Cairo days are private, just your party and a guide; the sightseeing off the boat is shared with a small group.
from US$2,635 / per person
12 days · Classic Egypt
The standard Cairo-and-cruise route with two extra nights in a Luxor hotel before boarding, which is what buys you the Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu, the Ramesseum, and a day out to Dendera and Abydos.
from US$3,160 / per person
15 days · Classic Egypt
Fifteen days of the ancient sites without a beach stop: Cairo, two days of Luxor on land, four nights sailing to Aswan, a Nubian village, then back to Cairo for Alexandria, Saqqara and Dahshur.
from US$3,985 / per person
16 days · Classic Egypt
Sixteen days and very little left out: Cairo, a flight to Aswan, three nights sailing down to Luxor, two more days of Luxor on land, three nights on the Red Sea, then back to Cairo for Saqqara and Dahshur.
from US$3,910 / per person
