By type of trip
Nile Cruises Luxor to Aswan: Routes, Boats and Prices
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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
15 days · Classic Egypt
Fifteen days of the ancient sites without a beach stop: Cairo, two days of Luxor on land, four nights sailing to Aswan, a Nubian village, then back to Cairo for Alexandria, Saqqara and Dahshur.
About this trip
Fifteen days of the ancient sites without a beach stop: Cairo, two days of Luxor on land, four nights sailing to Aswan, a Nubian village, then back to Cairo for Alexandria, Saqqara and Dahshur.
This is a classic egypt route through Cairo · Luxor · Aswan · Alexandria, 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 1Your tour leader meets you at Cairo International, takes you to the hotel, sees you through check-in and goes through the itinerary to fix pick-up times for each day.
Day 2The Pyramids and the Sphinx, with a short camel ride included, then lunch at a local restaurant. The afternoon is the Grand Egyptian Museum and the Tutankhamun collection.
Day 3The Egyptian Museum, lunch in Cairo, then the Saladin Citadel with the Mohamed Ali alabaster mosque inside it, and Coptic Cairo for the Hanging Church and the Ben Ezra Synagogue.
Day 4Transfer to Cairo airport for the flight to Luxor, which is included. Met on arrival and taken to the Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu and the Ramesseum, with lunch at a local restaurant. Overnight at a Luxor hotel.
Day 5A full day out to the two temples most Nile itineraries never reach, with lunch at a local restaurant. Back to the same Luxor hotel for the night.
Day 6Collected after breakfast and taken aboard, then the East Bank: Karnak and Luxor temples. Lunch, dinner and the night on board. A hot air balloon is offered as an optional tour.
Day 7Breakfast on board, then the Valley of the Kings, the temple of Queen Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon. Lunch, dinner and the night on board.
Day 8Sail to Edfu for the Temple of Horus, then on to Kom Ombo, lunch aboard, and the temple shared between Sobek and Haeroris. Dinner and the night on board.
Day 9Sail to Aswan, breakfast on board, then the granite quarries and the Temple of Philae before returning to the boat. Lunch, dinner and the last night on the river.
Day 10Breakfast aboard, then off the boat and across to an Aswan hotel. The rest of the day is unscheduled. Abu Simbel is offered as an optional tour.
Day 11Kalabsha Temple in the morning, then out by motorboat to a Nubian village for lunch with a Nubian family. Afterwards the transfer to Aswan airport for the included flight to Cairo, where you are met and taken to your hotel.
Day 12The National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation, including the mummies hall, lunch at a local restaurant, then the Khan el-Khalili bazaar.
Day 13Breakfast in Cairo, then the drive north for Pompey's Pillar, the library, the Qaitbay citadel and the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, with lunch at a fish restaurant. Back to the Cairo hotel in the evening.
Day 14The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, then the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. The day is spent in the rural area around Dahshur, with lunch at a local family's home. Back to Cairo for the last night.
Day 15Breakfast, then the 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 15-day plan. We send it before you commit to anything.
Included
Not included
Good to know
The Cairo touring is private, with your own guide and vehicle. The sightseeing during the four cruise nights is not: Karnak, the West Bank, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae are run as excursions for the whole boat, so you see them with the rest of the cruise group.
Yes, two: Cairo to Luxor on day four and Aswan to Cairo on day eleven. International flights into and out of Egypt are not included, and neither is the entry visa.
Because the extra days go into sites rather than a beach. Dendera and Abydos, Kalabsha and a Nubian village, Alexandria, Saqqara and Dahshur are all in here, and none of them fit an eight day trip. If you want a week of ancient Egypt and then somewhere to stop moving, the Hurghada itineraries are the ones to look at instead.
A lot, spread over a fortnight. Giza, the West Bank, Karnak, Dendera, Abydos, Alexandria and Dahshur are each a few hours on uneven ground, usually in heat. Nothing is technical and the vehicle is always close, but there is no rest day built into the fifteen: day ten at Aswan is the only afternoon with nothing in it.
Four, days six to nine, boarding at Luxor and leaving at Aswan on the morning of day ten. The other ten nights are hotels: seven in Cairo, two in Luxor and one in Aswan. Both the hotels and the boat change with the plan you pick.
International flights, the Egypt entry visa, extra meals and drinks, optional tours such as the Luxor balloon on day six or Abu Simbel from Aswan, tipping, and additional entry tickets at the sites. Going inside one of the Pyramids or into Tutankhamun's tomb is charged separately at the gate.
Tipping is excluded from the price and is expected. Budget roughly US$10 to 15 per person per day for your guide, about US$5 a day for the driver, and US$5 to 10 per person per night into the communal crew box on the cruise. Over fifteen days that adds up, so draw the cash in Cairo rather than hunting an ATM on the river.
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$3,985 / per person
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