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Egypt
5 days · Short break
Cairo and Luxor in five days
Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, then a flight south for one night in Luxor covering both banks, and a flight back. Five days, two cities, both domestic flights in the price and every day guided privately.
from US$1,480 / per person
- Length
- 5 days
- Pace
- Easy
- Type
- Short break
- Style
- Private
- Where
- Cairo
- From
- from US$1,480 pp
About this trip
What this 5 day Egypt itinerary is like
Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, then a flight south for one night in Luxor covering both banks, and a flight back. Five days, two cities, both domestic flights in the price and every day guided privately.
This is a short break route through Cairo · Luxor, run privately unless you pick a group departure. Your guide is a licensed Egyptologist who lives on the route rather than flying in with the group.
Nothing here is fixed. Days can be added, dropped or reordered, and we will tell you honestly which optional sites are worth the extra ticket.
Accommodation and price
Three ways to travel this route
The route is the same in all three. What changes is where you sleep, and on a Nile trip that is most of the difference in price: the boat is the hotel for half the journey. Prices are per person, land only, and exclude international flights.
Standard
US$1,480
per person, land only
- Cairo
- Flamenco Hotel or similar
- 3 nights, breakfast
- Luxor
- Iberotel Luxor or similar
- 1 night, breakfast
Comfort
US$1,710
per person, land only
- Cairo
- Steigenberger Hotel El Tahrir or similar
- 3 nights, breakfast
- Luxor
- Sonesta St. George Hotel or similar
- 1 night, breakfast
Luxury
US$1,905
per person, land only
- Cairo
- Four Seasons First Residence or similar
- 3 nights, breakfast
- Luxor
- Steigenberger Nile Palace or similar
- 1 night, breakfast
Hotels and boats are the ones our partner books on this route and are named so you know what you are buying. A specific boat can be swapped for an equivalent in the same category when it is dry-docked or full, which is why each one says or similar. You are told which boat you are on before you pay.
Your trip
Day by day
Open any day for the full description. Every day can be changed before anything is booked.
Day 1Arrive in Cairo
Met at Cairo International Airport by your tour leader, who takes you to the hotel, sees you through check-in and goes through the itinerary with you to fix pick-up times for each day. Nothing else is scheduled.Read the full day →
Met at Cairo International Airport by your tour leader, who takes you to the hotel, sees you through check-in and goes through the itinerary with you to fix pick-up times for each day. Nothing else is scheduled.
- Day 2
Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum
The Pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza, with a short camel ride included, then lunch in a local restaurant. The afternoon is the Grand Egyptian Museum: the Tutankhamun treasures are the reason to go, and the building holds enough bazaars and gift shops to lose another hour in.Read the full day →
The Pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza, with a short camel ride included, then lunch in a local restaurant. The afternoon is the Grand Egyptian Museum: the Tutankhamun treasures are the reason to go, and the building holds enough bazaars and gift shops to lose another hour in.
Day 3Fly to Luxor and the West Bank
Collected from your Cairo hotel for the flight south, which is in the price. Met at Luxor airport and taken straight to the West Bank: the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple and the Colossi of Memnon, with lunch at a local restaurant. Then to your Luxor hotel for the night.Read the full day →
Collected from your Cairo hotel for the flight south, which is in the price. Met at Luxor airport and taken straight to the West Bank: the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple and the Colossi of Memnon, with lunch at a local restaurant. Then to your Luxor hotel for the night.
Day 4Karnak and Luxor temples, then back to Cairo
The East Bank after breakfast — Karnak and Luxor temples — and lunch at a local restaurant. A hot air balloon flight is offered as an option on this morning, at extra cost. Afterwards the flight back to Cairo, also in the price, and a last night there.Read the full day →
The East Bank after breakfast — Karnak and Luxor temples — and lunch at a local restaurant. A hot air balloon flight is offered as an option on this morning, at extra cost. Afterwards the flight back to Cairo, also in the price, and a last night there.
- Day 5
Departure
Breakfast, then the transfer to Cairo International Airport for your flight home.Read the full day →
Breakfast, then the transfer to Cairo International Airport for your flight home.
Want this written up for your dates — travel times, what each day asks of you and where you would sleep? Ask us for the full 5-day plan. We send it before you commit to anything.
Included
What the price covers
- ✓Meet and greet by a representative at the airports
- ✓Guest relations assistance throughout your stay
- ✓All transfers by private air-conditioned vehicle
- ✓Domestic flights Cairo to Luxor and Luxor to Cairo
- ✓Four nights at the hotels of the plan you choose
- ✓All sightseeing in Cairo and Luxor listed in the itinerary, run as private tours
- ✓English-speaking guide on your touring days
- ✓Bottled water in the vehicle
- ✓Meals as listed on each day
- ✓Portage when needed
- ✓All service charges and taxes
Not included
What to budget separately
- —International flights
- —Egypt entry visa
- —Extra meals and beverages
- —Optional tours
- —Tipping
- —Additional entry tickets, such as going inside one of the pyramids or Tutankhamun's tomb
Good to know
Questions about this trip
Are the tours private or a group?+
Private. All the sightseeing in Cairo and Luxor listed in this itinerary is run as a private tour, with your own English-speaking guide and an air-conditioned vehicle. You are not sharing the day with strangers.
Are flights included?+
The domestic ones are: Cairo to Luxor on day three and Luxor to Cairo on day four are both in the price. International flights to and from Egypt are excluded and you book those yourself. You are met at each airport, including Luxor.
Is one night in Luxor enough?+
It is enough for the two things this itinerary covers — the West Bank on the afternoon you land, the East Bank the next morning — and it is a hard, full day and a half. It leaves no room for Dendera, Abydos or a slow second look at Karnak. If those matter, this is the wrong length of trip.
Which meals are included?+
Breakfast at the hotel every morning, and lunch at a local restaurant on days two, three and four. Dinners are not included at all, in either city. Drinks beyond the bottled water in the vehicle are extra.
What is not included?+
International flights, your Egypt entry visa, extra meals and beverages, optional tours, tipping, and additional entry tickets. That last one is worth budgeting for: going inside one of the pyramids and Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings are both separate tickets bought at the site.
How much walking is there?+
Day three is the demanding one. The Valley of the Kings means walking between tomb entrances and down into them, in the open, after a flight that morning. Giza is a large site on sand and Karnak is a long walk. Nothing is technically difficult, and the vehicle waits at every stop, but the pace is brisk for five days.
How much should I budget for tipping?+
Tipping is excluded from the price and it is expected rather than optional. Allow US$10–15 per person per day for your guide and about US$5 per person per day for the driver, handed over separately. Carry small notes, because nobody has change.
Official sources
Entry rules, opening hours, security advice and exchange rates all move. Check them at the source, not here.
- Egypt e-visa portal ↗The official government application site. Fees and eligibility change here first.
- UK FCDO travel advice for Egypt ↗It updates continuously, and most UK travel insurance follows it.
- Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities ↗The ministry lists which tombs and temples currently open.
What this trip looks like
Before you travel
What you can hold us to
No middlemen taking a cut
You are quoted by the local company that runs the trip. No booking fee and no surcharge at the airport.
A licensed Egyptologist, every site
Not a tour escort with a flag. Our partner uses guides who have spent twenty years on the same temples.
We say when something is not worth it
Some tickets are. Some are a queue in the heat. We will tell you which before you pay for them.
Private unless it says group
Your guide, your driver, your pace. Group departures are labelled clearly on the card and the page.
Someone answers the phone
Our partner is in Egypt, in Egyptian hours, and you are put in touch with them directly rather than through a chain.
Change it before you commit
Every itinerary is a starting point. Add days, drop sites, reorder — nothing is fixed until you say so.
Pace
How hard is easy?
Short walks on level ground, a few flights of temple steps, and air-conditioned transport between sites. Suitable for most ages.
Plan this trip
Tell us your dates and we will price it
A real itinerary with prices, usually within 24 hours. Nothing is booked and nothing is charged until you say yes.
from US$1,480 / per person
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5 days · Short break
from US$1,480 · per person