15-Day Egypt Tour and Nile Cruise with Cairo, Luxor and Alexandria

• Be welcomed at the airport and meet the representative who will assist you through immigration and customs formalities.

• After collecting your luggage, your guide will take you in a deluxe vehicle to your hotel in Cairo.

• Eat breakfast at the hotel, followed by a full-day tour with your Egyptologist guide.

• In the morning, go to Saqqara to see the very first pyramid ever built, the Step Pyramid of Djoser. Marvel at the Pyramid Texts inside the Pyramid of Teti.

• Head to the ancient capital of Egypt, Memphis. The Colossus of Ramses II dominates the museum here, so do not forget your camera.

• After lunch at a local restaurant, drive to see the Pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx, the most famous monuments not only of ancient Egypt but of the entire ancient world. These massive stone structures were built around 4,500 years ago on a rocky desert plateau close to the Nile.

• After the visit, go to the Papyrus Institute, where you will see how the ancient Egyptians made this forerunner of today's paper. Have a go at making it yourself and enjoy the opportunity to look at some fantastic examples of papyrus art.

• After this amazing trip through Egypt's pharaonic past, drive back to your hotel for a rest.

• Relish dinner at a local restaurant.

• Enjoy breakfast at the hotel.

• This is followed by another full-day tour, beginning with the forenoon at the Egyptian Museum. Gaze at the wonders of King Tutankhamen, including his golden death mask, stare upon the mummies of some of Egypt's ancient pharaohs (optional), and lose yourself in the many rooms and galleries where thousands of artifacts await your visit.

• After lunch at a local restaurant, go to the Citadel of Saladin, the fortress built between 1176 and 1183 AD to protect Cairo from the Crusaders and later rebuilt by Muhammad Ali Pasha, whose mosque is a must-see. From here, enjoy the lovely Alabaster Mosque and the amazing views of Cairo.

• Then return to your hotel for a rest and have your dinner at a local restaurant.

• After breakfast, check out, and the representative will escort you to the airport for your flight to Luxor.

• Upon arrival, you will be met and assisted by the representative, who will transfer you to your cruise boat, your floating hotel for the next 4 days.

• After lunch on board, the rest of the day is yours to enjoy at leisure.

• Have your breakfast on board.

• Then it is time to visit the magnificent Karnak and Luxor Temples.

• Once your visit to these ancient Theban temples is complete, return to the boat for lunch.

• Then you can watch as it departs Luxor and sails for Esna.

• As the Nile flows gently underneath you, dinner will be served.

• Enjoy an early breakfast while the cruise boat crosses the Esna lock to the city of Esna.

• Once the boat is moored, visit Esna Temple, located in the center of the town and dedicated to the gods Khnum, Neith, and Heka.

• After the visit, return to the boat for lunch while it sails onward to Edfu, home to the best-preserved temple in Egypt, the Temple of Horus.

• After visiting this superb temple, go back to the boat in plenty of time before it departs Edfu.

• Relish dinner as the boat sails majestically towards Kom Ombo.

• Your last day of sailing upstream starts with breakfast, followed by a visit to the Temple of Kom Ombo, dedicated to the gods Horus and Sobek.

• Afterwards, return to the boat for lunch and continue sailing to Aswan.

• Once ashore, drive to see the High Dam, the world's largest rock-filled dam, and the Temple of Philae, which was moved to Agilika Island after the waters of Lake Nasser flooded its original location.

• Then return to the boat for dinner.

• After breakfast, it is time to enjoy a sail by felucca.

  • Optional trip: You may choose to visit Abu Simbel to see these marvellous temples, originally carved out of a rocky mountainside by Ramses II. You can join a convoy to these amazing temples, and it is a great experience.

• After an early breakfast, the boat sets sail downstream for Kom Ombo once again.

• Then the boat heads on to Edfu.

• After lunch, you will cross the locks at Esna once again as the boat heads back to Luxor.

• Enjoy dinner on board along with the Galbia party, a belly dance show, and the Tanora show (Dervish dance).

• Enjoy an early breakfast.

• Then it is time to visit the West Bank of Luxor: the tombs of the New Kingdom pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings, the magnificent temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir El-Bahri, and finally the immense Colossi of Memnon.

• After this visit to the Theban "City of the Dead," return to your boat for lunch, and then enjoy dinner as the Nile laps gently underneath you.

• Have your final breakfast on the boat before checking out and transferring to Luxor airport for your flight to Cairo, which takes about 45 minutes.

• Upon arrival in Cairo, you will be met by the representative, who will transfer you to your hotel for check-in.

• Start your day with breakfast at your hotel, followed by a 2.5-hour drive in an air-conditioned bus to Alexandria, where you will check in to your hotel upon arrival.

• After check-in, begin your first tour in this beautiful city, originally built by Alexander the Great, including a visit to the New Alexandria Library (Bibliotheca Alexandrina), the Alexandria National Museum with recent finds from the sunken part of the city, and the Citadel of Qaitbay, which stands on the site of the ruins of the Alexandria Lighthouse.

• Enjoy lunch, which will be provided in the middle of this exciting tour.

• At the end of the day, return to your hotel for dinner.

• After breakfast, experience a trip to the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, where the early Christians were buried, and to Pompey's Pillar, the biggest memorial column in Egypt, made of red granite and standing about 28 meters high with a base diameter of 2.7 metres.

• Eat lunch at a local restaurant in the middle of this exciting tour.

• Drive back to your hotel in Cairo once again.

• After breakfast, you will be taken in an air-conditioned vehicle to Khan El Khalili Bazaar and on a tour of Cairo's famous churches, including the Hanging Church and the Church of St. George the Martyr, two churches built into the walls of the Fort of Babylon, whose remains could be Cairo's oldest structures. You will also visit the Church of Abu Serga (St. Sergius), where it is said the Holy Family took shelter in a cave, and where the church was erected to commemorate this. This whole area is a world-famous destination for pilgrims. Lunch will be at a local restaurant.

• Start your final day with breakfast at the hotel, followed by check-out.

• Then transfer to the airport for your final departure.

End of program.