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
12 days · Classic Egypt
The standard Cairo-and-cruise route with two extra nights in a Luxor hotel before boarding, which is what buys you the Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu, the Ramesseum, and a day out to Dendera and Abydos.
About this trip
The standard Cairo-and-cruise route with two extra nights in a Luxor hotel before boarding, which is what buys you the Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu, the Ramesseum, and a day out to Dendera and Abydos.
This is a classic egypt route through Cairo · Luxor · Aswan, 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.
Your trip
Open any day for the full description. Every day can be changed before anything is booked.
Day 1Met at Cairo airport by your tour leader, taken to the hotel and checked in. They go through the itinerary with you and fix the pick-up time for each day. Overnight in Cairo.
Day 2The Pyramids and the Sphinx in the morning, lunch at a local restaurant, then the Grand Egyptian Museum for the Tutankhamun treasures. A short camel ride is included. Breakfast and lunch.
Day 3The Egyptian Museum first, lunch in town, then the Saladin Citadel with the Mohamed Ali alabaster mosque inside it. Coptic Cairo after that: the Hanging Church and the Ben Ezra Synagogue. Breakfast and lunch.
Day 4Collected from the hotel and flown south — the flight is in the price. Met at Luxor and straight out to the Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu and the Ramesseum, with lunch at a local restaurant. Then to your Luxor hotel, not the boat. Breakfast and lunch.
Day 5A full day north of Luxor by road to two temples the standard cruise programme never reaches: Dendera, with its painted ceiling, and Abydos. Lunch at a local restaurant, then back to the Luxor hotel. Breakfast and lunch.
Day 6Off to the boat after breakfast, then the East Bank: Karnak and Luxor temples. A hot air balloon over the West Bank is offered as an optional extra. Lunch, dinner and the night on board.
Day 7Valley of the Kings, the temple of Queen Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon, then back to the boat. Full board on board.
Day 8Sail to Edfu for the temple of Horus, then on to Kom Ombo — lunch on board first, then the temple the two gods Sobek and Haroeris share. Full board on board.
Day 9Sail to Aswan, breakfast aboard, then the granite quarries and the temple of Philae on its island before returning to the boat. Full board on board.
Day 10Breakfast aboard, then off the boat and out to Aswan airport for the flight to Cairo. Met on arrival and taken to your hotel. Abu Simbel is offered as an optional extra on this day, at your own cost. Breakfast only.
Day 11The National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation, including the Royal Mummies hall, then lunch and the Khan el-Khalili bazaar. Breakfast and lunch.
Day 12Breakfast, then a transfer to Cairo International 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 12-day plan. We send it before you commit to anything.
Included
Not included
Good to know
Four sites the standard cruise itinerary leaves out. Day 4 is the Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu and the Ramesseum; day 5 is Dendera and Abydos. You sleep in a Luxor hotel for both, and only board the boat on day 6. If you have already done Egypt once, this is the difference worth paying for.
It is the longest day of the trip — a drive north out of Luxor and back, with lunch at a local restaurant in between. The operator does not publish a driving time, so treat it as a full day out rather than a morning excursion. Abydos in particular is a long way for one temple, and worth it.
The Cairo touring and part of the Luxor touring are private — your party, your guide, your vehicle. Once you are on the boat, the sightseeing is shared with the rest of the cruise group. That is how the operator sells it, and it is the one part of the trip you do not have to yourselves.
Yes. Cairo to Luxor on day 4 and Aswan to Cairo on day 10 are both in the price. International flights into and out of Egypt are not, and neither is the entry visa.
It depends on the plan. Standard is the MS Radamis II, Comfort the Movenpick Royal Lily, Luxury the Sonesta St. George. The operator notes that changes may occur, so a boat can be swapped for a comparable one — confirm yours at the time of booking.
International flights, the Egypt entry visa, tipping, drinks and any extra meals, optional tours such as Abu Simbel and the Luxor balloon, and additional entry tickets. Going inside one of the pyramids or into the tomb of Tutankhamun is a separate ticket bought on the day.
Tipping is excluded from the price and is expected. Reckon on US$10–15 per person per day for the guide, about US$5 a day for the driver, and US$5–10 per person per night into the crew box on the boat. On a twelve day trip that adds up, so plan for it in small notes.
Entry rules, opening hours, security advice and exchange rates all move. Check them at the source, not here.
Before you travel
You are quoted by the local company that runs the trip. No booking fee and no surcharge at the airport.
Not a tour escort with a flag. Our partner uses guides who have spent twenty years on the same temples.
Some tickets are. Some are a queue in the heat. We will tell you which before you pay for them.
Your guide, your driver, your pace. Group departures are labelled clearly on the card and the page.
Our partner is in Egypt, in Egyptian hours, and you are put in touch with them directly rather than through a chain.
Every itinerary is a starting point. Add days, drop sites, reorder — nothing is fixed until you say so.
Plan this trip
A real itinerary with prices, usually within 24 hours. Nothing is booked and nothing is charged until you say yes.
from US$3,160 / per person
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