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
Festivals · Updated November 2026
Egypt has three new years worth knowing. New Year's Eve on 31 December is a hotel and cruise-boat celebration, in the busiest and dearest week of the year. The Coptic New Year, Nayrouz, falls on 11 September, or 12 September in some years. The next one is Sunday 12 September 2027. The ancient Egyptians opened their year with the Nile flood, which they linked to the star Sirius. There is also the Islamic New Year, expected in early June 2027. Here is what each one means for a visitor.
Quieter than many people expect. Egypt has no big public countdown. Most of the celebrating happens inside hotels and on Nile cruise boats, where drink is served.
Many hotels and boats hold a New Year's Eve dinner. Ask whether yours does, whether it is compulsory, and what it costs. Several festive packages from Memphis Tours, the operator behind our trips, leave a gala dinner in Cairo out of the price. Check the total, with every supplement included.
Keep the party indoors. Drinking is legal in hotels, licensed bars and restaurants, on boats and in resorts. Drinking in the street is illegal, according to UK government advice. Public drunkenness is badly received, and New Year's Eve does not change that.
New Year's Eve 2026 falls on Thursday 31 December. New Year's Day, 1 January 2027, is a Friday, which is already part of Egypt's weekend.
1 January is missing from Egypt's seven fixed national holidays. It is a paid day off for Coptic Catholic and Protestant workers only. For most Egyptians it is an ordinary day.
The bigger holiday comes a week later. Coptic Christmas on 7 January is a national public holiday. Our Christmas in Egypt page covers both dates.
On a Nile cruise. A boat between Luxor and Aswan gives you temples by day and a dinner on board at night. Cabins over Christmas and New Year sell out first, so book the boat before anything else.
In Cairo or Giza. City hotels hold their own dinners, and you can see the pyramids on New Year's Day. We found no regular public event at the pyramids on 31 December, so plan your night around your hotel.
On the Red Sea. Resorts in Hurghada, El Gouna and Sharm el-Sheikh have bars and dinners on site. The sea is about 23C in December, so a swim on 1 January is possible.
Pack for cold nights wherever you go. Days in Luxor average about 24C in December, and Cairo about 20C. After dark, Upper Egypt drops to single figures.
It is the most expensive time of the year. Christmas and New Year are the two busiest weeks in Egypt. Hotels, Nile boats and domestic flights all cost more than in early November or late February.
Book early, and read the terms. Memphis Tours applies a stricter cancellation scale over Christmas, New Year and Easter. Cancel 61 days or more before arrival and you pay 25%. Inside 14 days, you pay the full price. Its festive packages also ask for a 50% deposit.
Our three tours for these weeks are below. Each fixes the Nile cabin and the internal flights in advance. Cairo, Aswan and a Nile Cruise runs 7 days from US$1,890 per person. Cairo, a Nile Cruise and Hurghada runs 11 days from US$2,560. Cairo, Luxor, a Nile Cruise and the White Desert runs 14 days from US$3,815. Holiday dates are priced when you send your request.
Nayrouz is the first day of the Coptic year. It falls on 11 September, or on 12 September in the year before a leap year. The next Nayrouz is Sunday 12 September 2027, which opens the Coptic year 1744.
The Coptic Church counts its years from AD 284, when the Roman emperor Diocletian came to power. Copts call it the Era of the Martyrs, so Nayrouz is also a feast for the martyrs. Red dates are a traditional food. Their red skin stands for the martyrs' blood.
Nayrouz is a church feast. It is not a public holiday. A visitor will see little beyond church services, unless you are invited into a Coptic home.
The Coptic calendar keeps the old Egyptian months, starting with Thout. In the old farming year, Nayrouz fell at the start of the flood season.
The ancient Egyptians called it Wepet Renpet, the "opening of the year". Their civil year had 365 days: twelve months of 30 days, plus five extra days at the end.
The year had three seasons, each of four months. Akhet was the flood, Peret the growing season, and Shemu the harvest. New Year's Day was the first day of Akhet.
The flood was tied to a star. After weeks out of sight, Sirius reappeared in the sky just before dawn. The Egyptians saw it as the goddess Sopdet. Its return came close to the start of the yearly Nile flood, and many scholars think the calendar was based on it.
The civil calendar had no leap day. So its New Year slipped against the seasons by about a day every four years. It came back into line with Sirius only after about 1,460 years.
People gave gifts at the New Year. The best-known are small faience flasks, often inscribed with good wishes. Museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York hold examples.
Go to the Temple of Dendera, north of Luxor. Its two staircases were built for the New Year procession. Priests carried the goddess's statue up one stair to a kiosk on the roof, where dawn sunlight renewed it. Then they carried it down the other.
The reliefs along the stairs show the procession in motion. Walk them slowly, and ask your guide to point out the priests and their offerings.
There is no modern festival on the ancient date. The temples are the way to see it.
The Islamic New Year falls about three weeks after Eid al-Adha. In 2027 Eid al-Adha is expected on 16 May, so the Islamic New Year is expected in early June. No official estimate has been published yet.
It is a public holiday, so banks and government offices close. The Cabinet may move the day off to a Thursday. For visitors it is a quiet day, with no public event to see.
New Year's Eve, if your dates are fixed by school holidays. The weather is the best of the year. Book early, accept peak prices, and enjoy a dinner in a hotel or on a boat.
Nayrouz and the Islamic New Year change little for a visitor. Neither is worth moving a trip for. The ancient New Year lives on at Dendera, which you can visit any day.
If your dates cover New Year, say so in your request. We will ask Memphis Tours what the holiday adds to your trip. For safety questions, read the current advice from the US State Department and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Yes, mostly in hotels, on Nile cruise boats and in Red Sea resorts. Egypt has no big public countdown. Ask whether your hotel or boat holds a dinner, whether it is compulsory, and what it costs.
No. It is a paid day off for Coptic Catholic and Protestant workers only. In 2027 it falls on a Friday, part of the weekend anyway. Coptic Christmas on 7 January is the public holiday.
It can mean three things. The Coptic New Year, Nayrouz, falls on 11 or 12 September. The ancient Egyptian New Year, Wepet Renpet, was tied to the Nile flood and the star Sirius. Many people also simply mean 31 December.
Sunday 12 September 2027. It opens the Coptic year 1744. In most years Nayrouz falls on 11 September, and on 12 September in the year before a leap year.
Yes, in hotels, licensed restaurants and bars, on cruise boats and in resorts. Drinking in the street is illegal, and public drunkenness is badly received.
Yes. Christmas and New Year are the two busiest and dearest weeks of the year. Book the Nile boat and internal flights first. Check whether a New Year's Eve dinner is included or extra.
Wepet Renpet, the "opening of the year". It fell on the first day of the flood season. Its link with Sirius rising before dawn is why many scholars think the calendar was based on that star.
Expected in early June 2027, about three weeks after Eid al-Adha. It is a public holiday in Egypt. No official estimate has been published yet.
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.
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
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
14 days · Desert & oases
Fourteen days that add the Western Desert to the usual route: Cairo, two days of Luxor on land, four nights sailing to Aswan, then a drive west to Bahariya and a night out among the white chalk formations.
from US$3,815 / per person
