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
Nile and Red Sea
To combine a Nile cruise and the Red Sea, do the cruise first and the beach second. Sail from Aswan to Luxor, then drive about four hours east to Hurghada and rest for three nights or more. Hurghada is the easiest beach to reach from the Nile. Marsa Alam works too, with a longer drive. Ten to sixteen days covers Cairo, the river and the coast. Below is how each part fits, and the five tours we sell that do it.
Hurghada after the cruiseMarsa Alam after the cruise| Hurghada after the cruise | Marsa Alam after the cruise | |
|---|---|---|
| Road from Luxor | About 290 km, roughly four hours | Four to five hours across the desert, via Edfu |
| Flights | Far more direct flights from Europe than Luxor. Our tours fly you back to Cairo | Mostly charter and seasonal. Many routes fly once a week |
| Reef and beach | Mixed hotel beaches. The best snorkelling usually means a boat, such as the Giftun day | Reef often straight off the beach, with no boat needed |
| Around the hotel | A real town, with the old quarter, a marina and restaurants | Hotels spread along one desert road, with little to walk to |
| On our tours | All five tours that add a beach stay use Hurghada | None of our tours go here |
| Best for | Resting after the temples, first-time snorkellers, short beach stays | Keen snorkellers and divers staying a week |
The short answer
Pick Hurghada for two to four nights after a cruise. The drive is shorter, the flights are easier, and it is the coast every tour we sell uses. Pick Marsa Alam if the reef is the reason for the trip and you can stay a week.
Do the temples first. Temple days start early and involve a lot of walking in the heat. You want that while you are fresh. The beach days then come when you need them.
Geography agrees. A cruise that sails from Aswan to Luxor finishes about four hours from Hurghada. You can leave the boat in the morning, see Karnak and Luxor Temple, and be at the beach for dinner.
All five tours we sell that add the Red Sea run in this order. None of them drives back to Luxor afterwards. You fly from Hurghada to Cairo instead, which is included.
By road, from Luxor. The drive is about 290 kilometres and takes roughly four hours with a stop. It runs north along the Nile to Qena, east across the desert to Safaga, then up the coast to Hurghada.
On our tours the transfer is a private air-conditioned car, and it is in the price. It comes after a morning of sightseeing in Luxor, so the temples are done before you get in the car. Most people sleep through the desert part.
The cruises in these tours sail north, from Aswan to Luxor, so they end where the road east begins. Our Luxor to Hurghada page covers the drive in detail.
Hurghada is the easiest. It is about four hours from Luxor, and it takes far more direct flights from Europe than Luxor does. The town runs about 40 kilometres along the coast. The bays south of town, such as Sahl Hasheesh and Makadi, have sandy beaches and easier swimming.
Marsa Alam is the pick for reef. You can often reach the coral straight from the beach. The cost is a drive of four to five hours from Luxor, and flights that are mostly charter and seasonal.
El Gouna, about 25 kilometres north of Hurghada, has calm lagoons that suit small children. Sharm el-Sheikh and Dahab are in Sinai, a separate leg that needs a flight. They make sense as their own part of a trip. As a stop after a cruise they cost a travel day.
Three nights on the boat covers the standard sights: Philae, Kom Ombo, Edfu and both banks at Luxor. Sailing north from Aswan takes three nights. Sailing south from Luxor takes four, and leaves you at Aswan, far from the coast.
For the beach, three nights is the minimum that feels like a rest. That gives you two full free days. Two nights, as on our eight-day trip, is a short stop by the sea after the temples. A full week works if the coast is half the reason for the trip.
Add Cairo at the start, and most trips land between ten and sixteen days. Ten days is Cairo, the river and the coast at a brisk pace. Thirteen to sixteen days adds time in Cairo, Aswan or Luxor.
October and November are the best months to do both. Luxor's typical daytime high is around 34C in October and 28C in November. The sea off Hurghada is still around 28C and 26C.
March and April work well too. Luxor reaches around 29C and 35C, and the sea warms from about 23C to 25C.
In December and January the temples are at their most comfortable, around 23C to 24C in Luxor. The sea is around 22C to 23C, which is fine for a swim but cool for a long one. From June to August the sea is warmest, around 29C to 31C, while Luxor reaches 41C.
We sell the tours of one Egyptian operator, Memphis Tours. Five of them combine the Nile and the Red Sea, and all five use Hurghada. Prices are per person, land only, on the standard plan.
Nile Cruise and Hurghada, 10 days, from US$2,310. Two days in Cairo, three nights sailing Aswan to Luxor, then three nights at Hurghada with nothing booked. This is the simplest version of the trip.
Cairo, a Nile Cruise and Hurghada, 11 days, from US$2,560. The same route, plus a last Cairo day for the royal mummies, the Citadel and Coptic Cairo. The 13-day version, from US$2,945, adds more Cairo and a night in Aswan before the boat.
The Grand Tour of Egypt, 16 days, from US$3,910, adds two days of Luxor on land, including Dendera and Abydos, before the coast. Cairo, Luxor and Hurghada, 8 days, from US$2,040, has no boat and two nights by the sea.
The Hurghada nights are unscheduled. Board at the hotel is soft all-inclusive, with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Which drinks that covers varies by hotel, so confirm it when you book. Excursions such as snorkelling or diving trips are optional and cost extra.
The hotel depends on the plan you choose. The comfort plan uses Continental Hotel Hurghada, which sits on its own sandy beach in Hurghada. The luxury plan uses KaiSol Romance Resort in Sahl Hasheesh, south of town, which describes itself as adults only. We checked both on the hotels' own websites in November 2026.
On the boat, the sightseeing is shared with a small group of about 15 people. The Cairo touring is private, and so are all transfers.
Yes. Sail from Aswan to Luxor, then drive about four hours to Hurghada. Five of the tours we sell do exactly this, with the transfer and the flight back to Cairo included.
The cruise first. Temple days are hot and busy, so do them while you are fresh. A cruise that ends in Luxor also leaves you about four hours from the coast.
By road from Luxor, about 290 kilometres and roughly four hours. On our tours it is a private air-conditioned transfer after a morning at Karnak and Luxor Temple, and it is in the price.
Hurghada, for most people. It is about four hours from Luxor and has the most flights. Marsa Alam has better reef from the beach, but it is four to five hours from Luxor and flights are mostly charter.
Ten days covers Cairo, a three-night cruise and three nights at the beach. Thirteen to sixteen days gives each part more room. Under eight days, drop the beach or the cruise.
The flight from Hurghada to Cairo is included on all five tours. International flights are not. You fly home from Cairo at the end of the trip.
October and November. Luxor is warm without the summer heat, and the sea off Hurghada is still around 26C to 28C. March and April are the next best.
Read the current Egypt travel advice from the US State Department and the UK FCDO before you go. They update it when things change. Our tours use a private car and driver for this transfer.
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.
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
