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
Temples, then the coast
The temples first, then a week on the Red Sea. A combination German and Italian travellers book heavily.
About these trips
Six days of ruins is a lot, particularly with children. Adding a week on the Red Sea at Hurghada or Marsa Alam turns a demanding cultural trip into a holiday, and the transfer from Luxor is only about four hours.
Two weeks is the usual length: Cairo, a cruise, then seven nights on the coast with a direct flight home from Hurghada.
Temple days are long and hot. You walk on stone from eight in the morning. By day six most people have had enough history.
The Red Sea fixes that. You fly Luxor to Hurghada in under an hour, or drive it in four. Then the trip changes gear completely.
The water stays warm year-round. Reefs sit close to shore, so snorkelling needs no boat and no licence. Divers get wrecks and walls within a short ride.
Hurghada has the flights, the restaurants and the shorter transfer from Luxor. It also has the crowds.
Marsa Alam sits three hours further south. Fewer hotels, better reefs, and a real chance of swimming with dugongs at Marsa Mubarak.
El Gouna splits the difference. It is a built resort town rather than a strip, and it suits families who want to walk somewhere in the evening.
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.
4 itineraries
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
