12-Day Egypt Tour with Nile Cruise and Abu Simbel

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Day 01

Arrival in Cairo

• Welcome to Cairo! Take your first breath of the Egyptian air as our representative meets you at the airport and transfers you to your hotel.
• Take an exploratory walk around the neighbourhood or settle in at the hotel, whatever suits you best, but do not miss the 6 pm meeting with your tour leader.

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Day 02

Giza Pyramids and Khan al-Khalili

• After breakfast, take a 30-minute drive to Egypt's grandest and most popular landmark - the Pyramids of Giza - which skirt the boundaries of the city, preserving, as it were, a passage and distance between the contemporary and the ancient.
• Observe the grandeur of these colossal structures from both up close and afar to truly understand their technical finesse, then proceed just a stone's throw away to try and solve the riddle, myth, and history of the 4500-year-old statue of the Sphinx.
• Break away from these distant wonders and, as the sun climbs into the afternoon, wander through the slender alleys of Khan al-Khalili Bazaar.
• Take in the shops and the mind-boggling antiques, gold, silver, perfumes, and textiles that spill onto the roads, punctuated by the occasional cacophony of metal workers hammering their products into shape.
• Later in the evening, share a slice of what it is to travel like a local as you board an overnight train to Aswan.

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Day 03

Philae Temple and Nubian Village

• Grab your bags, alight at Aswan's train station, and head straight for the Temple of Isis, alternatively called Philae Temple. Accessed by boat, the temple lies on the island of Agilka, where it was relocated from its original island of Philae and reconstructed piece by piece in the 1960s.
• Listen to the story of this relocation as you pass through the hieroglyphs, columns, carvings, and minute details that echo the influence of different eras.
• After visiting this remarkable temple, take a breather at your hotel - eat, nap, or read; take your pick - but tie your shoelaces again in the afternoon as you prepare to walk through the rainbow-hued Nubian village that will have you reaching for your camera in earnest.
• While the vibrant splash of colours that marks the village is its immediate attraction, spare some time here to interact with its friendly inhabitants, bargain with a vendor for spices, or even cast an eye over the rather unusual sight of domesticated alligators.

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Day 04

Abu Simbel and Nile Sailing

• Catch a 45-minute flight out of Aswan today to explore the magnificent Abu Simbel Temples. As much as the backstory of these temples bears a verisimilitude to the Isis Temple, both in history and relocation, the colossal edifice with its four guards looking out across the Nile is only a curtain-raiser.
• Make your way through the Inner Temple, the Vestibule, and the House of Gods - each adorned with hieroglyphs, mural reliefs, and decorative friezes that speak of war campaigns and religious practices.
• Once you have explored every corner of this unique temple, fly back to Aswan, watch the wind catch the sail aboard your felucca, and float languidly on the iconic River Nile.
• Round off your day by stepping onto your dahabiya, a shallow-bottomed barge-like boat, where lunch awaits, as does a relaxing trip along the Nile for the next two days.

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Day 05

Kom Ombo Temple by Dahabiya

• Watch the first hint of light spread across your piece of the world and brighten the day in harmony with the waking Nile. If early rising is not your thing, let the gentle rocking of the river absorb you into a lazy morning.
• Sail along the river for the better part of three hours, then drop anchor at Izbat Al Bayyarah to visit Kom Ombo Temple, built during the Ptolemaic era. Work your way through the temple complex, gazing at the exquisite friezes and reliefs detailing, among others, the principal gods Ombos, Haroeris, and Sobek, as well as scenes depicting Haroeris presenting the Ptolemaic-era pharaoh with the sword of victory.
• Continue sailing down the river after this visit until you dock approximately five hours later at Edfu.

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Day 06

Temple of Horus and Sailing to Luxor

• After breakfast, disembark and stretch your legs, but only for a moment, as a horse-drawn carriage awaits to deliver you in style to the Temple of Horus, where, according to myth, the falcon-headed god fought the god of the underworld. Completed in 212 BC, walk through this grand piece of architecture, gigantic in both scale and vision, until it is finally time to make your way back to the river - Luxor beckons next. It is effectively the last night that you will be sleeping on the Nile, so make the best of the experience tonight.
• Let the river carry you further through its riverine landscape fringed with date palm trees, past cattle lifting their heads curiously and local inhabitants flashing a smile as you sail by.

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Day 07

Karnak Temple and Sound and Light Show

• It is time to cast a parting glance at your floating accommodation this morning and head for land. Go directly to Karnak Temple, reputedly Luxor's top attraction - and that is saying a lot in a place where the wealth of ancient structures and monuments is innumerable.
• Pass through the temple confines littered with kiosks, pylons, columns, and giant statues that extend across approximately 2 sq. kilometres, but take time at the famous Temple of Amun, the heart of Theban religious life, to let it impress itself upon you. Decipher the code of the pharaohs as each tried to outdo their predecessors by adding both aesthetic and engineering flair to the complex.
• Leave the temple complex when you are done and head for the hotel, but return in the evening to unravel more of its mysteries at the Sound and Light Show.

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Day 08

Valley of the Kings

• Take an excursion this morning to the legendary Valley of the Kings, hidden beneath the folds of Luxor's west bank escarpments, which themselves act as sentinels to the final resting place of Thebes' kings.
• Walk through corridors decorated with vibrant paintings and murals. Lose yourself in the inscriptions and reliefs, which echo the belief systems and burial rites of these ancient kings, as you enter the subsidiary chambers and then finally make your way to the main chamber that houses the sarcophagus. Sixty-three tombs rest within the valley's womb, so you will have to take your pick among the most famous - the obvious one being the Tomb of Tutankhamun, where some of the greatest findings were discovered.
• An alternate but magnificent way to experience the west bank is to take a hot air balloon ride. Enquire with your tour leader to work out the details and see how best to fit them into your schedule.

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Day 09

Cairo and Onward to Alexandria

• Complete a full circle this morning by taking a flight out to Cairo.
• Make a stop at the immensely edifying Egyptian Museum with its assemblage of artefacts and try to make sense of it all, now that you have covered a fair portion of the Pharaonic world on your tour.
• Pause, reflect, and piece together the chronological puzzle here as you pore over the exhibits before driving approximately three hours eastward to the historic city of Alexandria, your stop for the night.

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Day 10

Alexandria Catacombs and Return to Cairo

• After breakfast, load your luggage into your vehicle and head deeper underground into the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, a necropolis housing tombs as well as a banquet chamber built to pay respect to the dead. Found purely by chance - an amusing story that stands in complete contrast to the sombre perception of the place - explore these chambers and discover the subtle workings of time's hand as Pharaonic carvings in the walls, columns, and vestibules share space with Roman and Greek ones.
• Emerge from this mysterious pit and breathe in the light of day as you make your way next to Pompey's Pillar, a Corinthian column built in 297 AD to commemorate the victory of the Roman Emperor Diocletian over a revolt in Alexandria. Following the visit here, leave the splendours of this city behind and drive back to Cairo.

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Day 11

Saqqara Necropolis

• Piece together Egypt's pyramidal puzzle as you travel to Saqqara's necropolis and witness how it all began by stopping first at the Museum of Imhotep, the ancient architect credited with conceiving the idea of Egypt's first stone structure.
• Pore through the best of Saqqara's exhibits at the museum, including the oldest complete mummy, and then head out to survey the most striking landmark - the Step Pyramid, believed to be the prototype of all other pyramids. Let the tombs of the pharaohs draw you into their recesses of vast chambers and passages, and get a glimpse of life as it was in the Old Kingdom, communicated through the mural reliefs carved on the Mastaba of Ti.
• Wander around some of the other popular sites at the necropolis and, when you are done, head back to join your travel companions for an optional final dinner to close your tour on a high.

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Day 12

Departure from Cairo

• It is now time to bid farewell to your group leader and new friends, but not without a backpack full of memories. Departure transfers are included on the day.