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
Trip types
On the tours we sell, the Red Sea beach nights at Hurghada are soft all-inclusive. The Nile cruise nights are full board. The Cairo nights are breakfast only, with lunch out on each touring day. So an Egypt all inclusive tour here means a beach stay at the end of a guided trip. Five of our tours include one, from US$2,040 per person. Below is what each part covers, what costs extra, and how this compares with a week at one resort.
A week at one all-inclusive resortA tour that ends with a beach stay| A week at one all-inclusive resort | A tour that ends with a beach stay | |
|---|---|---|
| What you see | The resort, the beach and any excursions you add | Cairo, the Nile temples, then the Red Sea |
| All-inclusive nights | Every night | The two or three Hurghada nights only |
| Other nights | None | Full board on the boat, breakfast in Cairo hotels |
| Guide and transfers | Usually an airport transfer only | An English-speaking guide on touring days and private transfers |
| Flights inside Egypt | Not needed | Included on all five tours |
| Pace | Slow from the first day | Busy temple days, then free beach days |
| Best for | A rest, with little interest in the sites | A first trip that should include the pyramids and the Nile |
The short answer
Pick a resort week if rest is the whole point. Pick a tour with a beach stay if you want the pyramids, the temples and the sea in one trip. We only sell the second kind.
The board changes as the trip moves. Our partner, the Egyptian operator Memphis Tours, lists it for every night of every plan.
Hurghada beach nights are soft all-inclusive. The 10-day and 11-day tours list them as "full board, soft all-inclusive". The 8-day, 13-day and 16-day tours list them as "soft all-inclusive with breakfast, lunch and dinner". On the free beach days, all three meals are at the hotel.
Nile cruise nights are full board. Lunch, dinner and breakfast are served on the boat. Drinks on board cost extra.
Cairo nights are breakfast only. The same goes for the Luxor and Aswan hotel nights on the longer tours. On each touring day, lunch at a local restaurant is part of the plan. Dinner on those days is up to you.
The operator does not publish a definition, and neither do the sources we use. What the plans do say is that breakfast, lunch and dinner are covered at the beach hotel.
Drinks are the part to check. Which drinks are included, and whether alcohol or imported brands are part of it, varies by hotel. Ask for the drinks list for your hotel when you send your request. Then you know before you land.
Your hotel depends on the plan level you choose: standard, comfort or luxury. Our guide to where to stay in Hurghada covers the areas and what each is like.
International flights and your Egypt visa are extra on every tour. So are meals and drinks beyond the ones listed, such as dinner in Cairo or a drink on the boat.
Optional tours cost extra. That includes the balloon flight at Luxor, Abu Simbel where it is offered, and any boat trip or diving day from Hurghada.
Some tickets are extra too. Going inside one of the pyramids, or into Tutankhamun's tomb, is paid at the gate.
Tipping is the biggest extra people forget. The tour pages suggest about US$10 to 15 per person per day for your guide and about US$5 for the driver. On the boat, allow US$5 to 10 per person per night for the crew box. Hotel staff at the beach expect small notes too.
Quite a lot sits around the meals. You are met at the airports by the operator's own representatives. All transfers are in a private air-conditioned vehicle.
The flights inside Egypt are in the price on all five tours. So is the road transfer from Luxor to Hurghada. That drive is about 290 km and takes roughly four hours.
You also get an English-speaking guide on touring days and bottled water in the vehicle. Prices are per person, based on two people sharing a room.
A week at one resort is the simplest holiday. You fly in, unpack once and spend very little after you arrive. The cost is that you see almost nothing of Egypt beyond the coast, unless you book excursions.
A tour with a beach stay puts the effort first. You spend four to ten days on Cairo and the Nile, with early starts and a lot of walking. Then you stop moving for two or three nights at Hurghada.
We sell tours, so we do not book resort-only weeks. If a resort week is what you want, a beach package from a holiday company in your own country is the usual route. If you want the pyramids and the temples as well, read on.
Cairo, Luxor and Hurghada, eight days, starts at US$2,040 per person. It has no boat and two nights on the coast.
The Nile Cruise and Hurghada trip, ten days, starts at US$2,310. Cairo, a Nile Cruise and Hurghada, eleven days, starts at US$2,560. Both sail three nights from Aswan to Luxor and spend three nights at Hurghada.
The thirteen-day version starts at US$2,945 and adds a night in Aswan and an extra Cairo day. The Grand Tour of Egypt, sixteen days, starts at US$3,910. It adds Dendera, Abydos and Saqqara around the same three beach nights.
All five end the beach stay with an included flight from Hurghada back to Cairo.
You want the temples cool enough to walk and the sea warm enough to swim. April, October and November give you both.
In April, Luxor reaches about 35C and the sea about 25C. In October it is about 34C in Luxor with a 28C sea. November is the most even month, with Luxor around 28C and the sea around 26C.
December to February is best for the temples, at 23 to 25C in Luxor. The sea drops to about 22C, which is swimmable but cool. From June to August Luxor sits around 41C, while the sea is at its warmest.
Partly. The Hurghada beach nights are soft all-inclusive. The Nile cruise nights are full board, and the Cairo hotel nights are breakfast only. Lunch at a local restaurant is included on each touring day.
The tour plans say breakfast, lunch and dinner at the beach hotel. Which drinks are included varies by hotel. Ask for your hotel's drinks list when you book.
No. The cruise is full board, so meals are covered. Drinks on board are paid extra, and the boats publish no price list, so ask before you board.
Yes. Tipping is not in any of the tour prices. Allow about US$10 to 15 per person per day for your guide, about US$5 for the driver and US$5 to 10 per person per night for the boat crew.
No. We sell guided tours from one Egyptian operator. The longest beach stay on them is three nights. A resort-only week is easier to book as a beach package in your own country.
Cairo, Luxor and Hurghada, eight days, from US$2,040 per person. It has two soft all-inclusive nights at Hurghada and no Nile cruise.
Flights inside Egypt are included on all five tours, including Hurghada back to Cairo. International flights to and from Egypt are not.
April, October or November. The temples are warm but workable, and the Red Sea is between 25C and 28C.
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.
Plan this trip
A real itinerary with real prices, usually within 24 hours. Nothing is booked and nothing is charged until you say yes.
8 days · Nile & Red Sea
No boat on this one. Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, a night in Luxor for both banks, two nights on the Red Sea, then back to Cairo for the Citadel, Coptic Cairo and the Royal Mummies.
from US$2,040 / per person
10 days · Nile & Red Sea
Egypt in three parts: two days in Cairo, three nights sailing Aswan to Luxor, then three nights on the Red Sea with nothing scheduled. The temples first, the sea afterwards.
from US$2,310 / per person
11 days · Nile & Red Sea
The 10 day Nile-and-Red-Sea route with one more day in Cairo at the end, spent on the Citadel, Coptic Cairo and the Royal Mummies. Two days in Cairo, three nights on the river, three on the sea.
from US$2,560 / per person
13 days · Nile & Red Sea
Thirteen days that give the ancient sites a week and then stop moving: Cairo, a flight to Aswan, three nights sailing down to Luxor, and three nights on the Red Sea at Hurghada before flying back for a last day in Cairo.
from US$2,945 / 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
