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
Solo travel in Egypt is easiest with a guide on land and a shared Nile cruise. A guide handles the tickets, taxis and sellers, which is where most of the effort goes when you travel alone. A cruise gives you company at the temples and at meals. The main cost of going solo is the room. Tour prices assume two people sharing, so ask for the price for one. Below is how each kind of trip works for one person.
Yes, for most people, with one caveat. You get a lot of attention. Sellers, drivers and touts approach anyone on their own, all day, in the busy parts of Cairo and Luxor.
None of it is a reason to stay home. It is the reason most solo travellers use a guide for the big sites. The guide deals with the approaches, and you get to look at the place.
The quieter places are easier. Aswan is calmer than Cairo. Dahab, on the Sinai coast, is one of the easiest places in Egypt to travel alone, with long-stay divers and dive courses that make meeting people simple.
Read your own government's advice first. For Americans that is the US State Department's Egypt page. For British travellers it is the UK FCDO's Egypt travel advice. Both change, so check again in the week you fly. We do not summarise either.
For women travelling alone, our guide on whether Egypt is safe for women covers what the attention looks like, how it differs by region, and taxis, the metro and evenings out.
Most problems visitors meet are small and about money. Agree every price out loud before anything starts. Take nothing placed in your hand. Count your change before you walk away. Our page on Egypt scams covers the common ones.
Tour prices are per person, based on two people sharing a room. That is how the operator prices every itinerary we sell. Hotel rooms and cruise cabins cost about the same whether one or two people use them, so travelling alone adds a single supplement.
The operator does not publish a solo price. Ask for it when you send your request, and ask for the supplement as a separate line. Then you can compare trips fairly.
Tips are per person, so they do not change much. Allow about US$10 to 15 per day for your guide, about US$5 for the driver, and US$5 to 10 per night for the boat's crew box.
On a private tour, the guide and the car are yours. You set the start time, stop when you like and skip what bores you. For someone alone, it also means you are rarely on a street working out where to go.
The trade-off is cost. The guide and car cost much the same for one person as for four, and you carry it alone. That makes private touring noticeably dearer for one.
The Cairo Short Break, five days, starts at US$935 per person. Every touring day is private, with your own English-speaking guide and an air-conditioned vehicle. You stay four nights in one hotel.
A Nile cruise is the easiest way to have company on a solo trip. The sightseeing from the boat is shared with a group of around 15 people. You visit the temples together, and meals are on board, so you see the same faces each day.
The two cruise-only trips are sold as group trips. The five-day cruise from Luxor to Aswan starts at US$1,095 per person. The four-day cruise from Aswan to Luxor starts at US$840. Domestic flights are extra on both, so you book your own way to the boat.
Cairo, Luxor and a Nile Cruise, eight days, mixes the two. Cairo is private, the boat sightseeing is shared, and it starts at US$2,135 per person.
On every tour, the operator's representatives meet you at the airport. Guest relations support runs for your whole stay, which helps when there is nobody else to sort a problem out.
One rule covers most days. Wear loose clothes in light colours, with shoulders and knees covered. It matters more when you are alone, because how you dress changes how strangers read you.
Resorts on the Red Sea are more relaxed. In Cairo, Luxor and Aswan, stick to the rule, and carry a scarf for mosques. Our guide on what to wear in Egypt has the detail, including what works at each kind of site.
Pick your base with care. Downtown Cairo is the busiest base for a first solo trip, because it puts you in the loudest streets every day. A quieter district suits most people better.
Get a local SIM card or eSIM on arrival. Ride-hailing apps and maps make getting around alone much easier.
Learn a few words. A firm la shukran, which means no thank you, works well with sellers. Then keep walking.
Carry small notes for tips and toilets, and keep large notes out of sight. Opening a full wallet in a busy market draws attention.
Read the current US State Department or UK FCDO travel advice for Egypt before you book, and again before you fly. We do not summarise it, because it changes. For practical tips, see our guides on Egypt for women and on common scams.
Yes. Prices assume two people sharing a room, and the operator does not publish a solo price. Ask for it when you send your request, as a separate line in your quote.
Yes. The Cairo Short Break is fully private, from US$935 per person sharing. It costs more for one, because you carry the guide and car alone.
A trip that mixes a private guide in Cairo with a shared Nile cruise. You get help in the busiest city and company on the river. The eight-day Cairo, Luxor and Nile Cruise trip does both, from US$2,135 per person.
Yes. The temple visits from the boat are shared with a group of around 15 people, and meals are on board. You see the same group every day.
Plenty of women travel alone and enjoy it, but expect a lot of attention in the cities. Our page on whether Egypt is safe for women covers it region by region.
Loose clothes in light colours, with shoulders and knees covered. Carry a scarf for mosques. Red Sea resorts are more relaxed.
Dahab and Aswan are calmer than Cairo and Luxor. Dahab has a big community of long-stay divers, so meeting people is easy.
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.
5 days · Short break
Five days in Cairo and nowhere else: Giza, the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Egyptian Museum, the Citadel, Coptic Cairo and Khan el-Khalili. Four nights in one hotel, and every sightseeing day run privately.
from US$935 / per person
5 days · Nile cruise
Four nights sailing south from Luxor to Aswan: Karnak and Luxor temples on the first afternoon, the Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae. Full board throughout, with sightseeing in a shared group of about fifteen.
from US$1,095 / per person
8 days · Classic Egypt
The route most people take first, at the length it was built for: Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, then a flight to Luxor and four nights sailing down to Aswan.
from US$2,135 / per person
