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
The best Egypt cultural tour we sell is the 15-day Cairo, Luxor and Nile Cruise. It visits 28 sites and museums, by our count, from US$3,985 per person. The 16-day Grand Tour visits 23 and the 12-day trip visits 20. All three add Dendera and Abydos, two temples most tours skip. Below is how the tours compare, who guides you, and what each adds in Cairo, Luxor and beyond.
We counted every site and museum on the scheduled days of each tour we sell. Optional extras are left out. The Giza pyramids and Sphinx count as one, and so does Coptic Cairo.
Cairo, Luxor and a Nile Cruise, fifteen days, comes top with 28. It starts at US$3,985 per person. It is the only tour with Kalabsha Temple and a day in Alexandria, for Pompey's Pillar, the library, the Qaitbay citadel and the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa.
The Grand Tour of Egypt, sixteen days, visits 23, from US$3,910. It trades Alexandria for three nights at the beach at Hurghada.
Cairo, Luxor and a Nile Cruise, twelve days, visits 20, from US$3,160. It is the shortest tour with Dendera, Abydos and the quieter Luxor west bank.
Cairo, the Nile and the White Desert, fourteen days, has the same 20 as the twelve-day trip. It adds the Golden Mummies showroom and two nobles' tombs at Bahariya, then a night in the desert. It starts at US$3,815.
For comparison, the ten-day and thirteen-day cruise tours visit 15 each. The five-day Cairo Short Break visits 6.
Every tour lists an English-speaking guide on touring days. The plans do not say the guides are Egyptologists, so we do not claim it. If the guide's background matters to you, ask about it when you send your request.
In Cairo, and on part of the Luxor touring on the 12 and 14-day tours, the touring is private. You have your own guide and vehicle, so you can stay longer in the rooms that interest you.
On the Nile cruise, the sightseeing is shared with a group of around 15 people from the boat. The group keeps one pace, so time at each temple is fixed.
Most of our tours with Cairo days visit the Citadel in Islamic Cairo. It is a medieval fortress on the Muqattam Hills, begun by Saladin in 1176. Inside it stands the Muhammad Ali Mosque, whose twin minarets you see from across the city.
Khan el-Khalili is the medieval trading quarter at the centre of Islamic Cairo. Several tours finish a day there. It is a market first, so go for the streets and the buildings around it as much as the shopping.
Coptic Cairo is a small walled quarter inside the Roman fortress of Babylon. It holds some of Egypt's oldest churches.
The tours visit the Hanging Church and the Ben Ezra Synagogue. St Sergius and the Coptic Museum are in the same few streets, and two to three hours covers all four.
The Grand Egyptian Museum stands about two kilometres from the pyramids. It now holds the Tutankhamun treasures, and every tour with Cairo days includes it.
The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square opened in 1902. It still holds the Narmer Palette, the treasures of Tanis and statues of the pyramid builders. The 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16-day tours include it, along with the ten-day cruise tour and the Cairo Short Break.
The royal mummies moved to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation in 2021. Its Royal Mummies hall is on most of our tours with a final Cairo day.
Abydos sits roughly three hours' drive north of Luxor. The Temple of Seti I there holds some of the finest relief carving to survive in Egypt, and a corridor carved with a list of kings.
Dendera is about 60 km north of Luxor, near Qena. Its Temple of Hathor has painted ceilings in better condition than anything at Karnak or Luxor.
The two sit on the same road, so they make one long day from a Luxor hotel. Four of our tours include it: the 12, 14, 15 and 16-day trips. On a shorter tour, ask whether the day can be added.
Every tour with Luxor covers Karnak, Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's temple and the Colossi of Memnon. That is the standard set.
The 12, 14, 15 and 16-day tours add a second west bank day. It takes in the Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu and the Ramesseum.
Along the river, the cruises stop at Edfu for the Temple of Horus and at Kom Ombo for the temple shared by Sobek and Haroeris. In Aswan they visit Philae and the granite quarries.
The 15-day and 16-day tours spend a day south of Cairo. You see the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, then the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. Sneferu built both of the Dahshur pyramids.
The day ends with lunch at a local family's home in the farmland around Dahshur. It is one of the few times on any tour that you eat in a home.
On our count, the 15-day Cairo, Luxor and Nile Cruise, with 28 sites and museums, from US$3,985 per person. It includes Dendera, Abydos, Kalabsha, Alexandria, Saqqara and Dahshur.
The operator lists an English-speaking guide on touring days. Its plans do not say Egyptologist. If that matters to you, ask about the guide when you send your request.
Four: the 12, 14, 15 and 16-day tours. Each spends a full day on both, from a Luxor hotel, with lunch at a local restaurant.
Most do. The Cairo days include the Citadel and the Muhammad Ali Mosque, and several end at Khan el-Khalili, in the heart of Islamic Cairo.
Every tour with Cairo days visits the Grand Egyptian Museum. Most also visit the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square or the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation, and the longer tours visit both.
No. Both are extra tickets, paid at the gate. The site entries listed in each tour plan are included.
A lot. Giza, the Luxor west bank, Karnak, Dendera, Abydos and Dahshur are each a few hours on uneven ground, often in heat. October to April is the comfortable time to go.
Yes. The 12-day Cairo, Luxor and Nile Cruise covers 20 sites, including Dendera and Abydos, from US$3,160 per person.
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.
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
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
