Classic Tour of Egypt With a Nile Cruise

After breakfast at your hotel, step back in time to the days of ancient Egypt on a private tour of the Great Pyramids of Giza and Sphinx and the Egyptian Museum. With your private Egyptologist guide leading the way on this private tour, you can determine the amount of time you would like to spend at each of the sites you visit. The Giza Plateau is about 30 minutes from Cairo, where your qualified Egyptologist guide will introduce each of the three pyramids: Cheops, Khafre, and Menakaure. You will have free time to enter the burial chambers of the pyramids (optional, for an additional cost); however, your guide is not permitted to enter with you. You can also go on a camel ride tour (optional, for an additional cost). After visiting the pyramids, you will continue across the plateau for a photo opportunity of the three pyramids rising from the sand with the Cairo skyline in the background. A short drive to the city side of the plateau finds you standing at the feet of the Sphinx, for thousands of years the enigmatic symbol of Egypt. Also in Giza, you may visit the Solar Boat Museum (optional, for an additional cost), home to the remarkably well-preserved funerary boat of Khufu. Following your tour of the Giza Pyramids, you will visit the Egyptian Museum. Housing over 250,000 Egyptian artifacts, the Egyptian Museum attracts millions of visitors a year. The highlight is the priceless treasures of King Tutankhamun. His 6-gold gilded coffins dominate the main hall while his magnificent gold mask is the star attraction. Your Egyptologist guide will introduce you to the most important pieces before allowing you to have free time to explore the museum at leisure. Here you may also visit the “Royal Mummies Room” to learn about the process of mummification in ancient Egypt (optional, for an additional cost). You will have the opportunity to visit a Papyrus Institute to learn about how to make papyrus paper. You will then go back to your hotel. Overnight in Cairo.

After breakfast at your hotel, you will check out from the hotel then you will be transferred to Cairo Airport to catch your flight to Luxor, you will be met and assisted by your Egyptologist guide who will take you to check-in and board your cruise for the next 4 nights. After checking in, you will be accompanied by your Egyptologist guide to visit the Karnak Temples, which is the largest place of worship ever built. Its ancient name “Ipet-it” means “the most sacred of places.” The temple, or, more correctly, the complex of temples, was built over more than 2,000 years by generation after generation of pharaohs. Within the complex, you will find the great “Hypostyle Hall” which is an incredible forest of giant pillars. Thereafter, you will visit the Luxor temple built by Amenhotep III and Ramses II for rituals and festivals and is dedicated to the god Amun. Dinner and overnight on board the Nile cruise.

After breakfast on board the Nile cruise, you will then proceed to the West Bank of the River Nile to visit the two colossal statues (Colossi of Memnon). Following this, you will visit the Valley of the Kings, where the magnificent tombs were discovered. Here you will have a chance to visit the tomb of King Tutankhamun (optional, for an additional cost). Continue the tour to visit the Hatshepsut temple at El Deer El Bahary. This impressive temple is dedicated to Queen Hatshepsut. You will then go back to the cruise ship for lunch. Following afternoon tea on the cruise ship, you will have free time at leisure. Overnight on board the Nile cruise. Optional night activity: Sound and Light Show at the Temple of Karnak

After breakfast on board the Nile cruise, you will visit the well-preserved Ptolemaic Temple dedicated to the Gods Horus at Edfu. You will then sail to Kom Ombo to see the Temple of Sobek, dedicated to the crocodile-headed God of fertility and creator of the world. Following your sightseeing tour, you will have lunch onboard your cruise. You will continue sailing to Aswan. Dinner and overnight on board the Nile cruise.

After breakfast on board, the Nile cruise, enjoy a day of sightseeing in Aswan. There you will be met and assisted by your Egyptologist guide who will take you on an exciting tour of the world-famous High Dam, an engineering miracle built in the 1960s. Thereafter, you will visit the Unfinished Obelisk, the beautiful Temple of Philae, which is devoted to the goddesses Isis and Hathor. After your sightseeing tour, you will sail around Elephantine Island on a local felucca boat (a traditional Egyptian sailboat). In the afternoon, visit a Nubian village and have traditional lunch with a family. Dinner and overnight on board your Nile cruise.

After breakfast on board the Nile cruise, you will disembark from your Nile cruise. You then will go on a private air-conditioned vehicle to visit the impressive Temples of Ramses II in Abu Simbel. The complex is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the “Nubian Monuments,” which runs from Abu Simbel downriver to Philae (near Aswan). The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari, to commemorate his alleged victory at the Battle of Kadesh, and to intimidate his Nubian neighbors. However, the complex was relocated in its entirety in 1968, on an artificial hill made from a domed structure, high above the Aswan High Dam reservoir. The relocation of the temples was necessary to avoid their being submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser, the massive artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. Abu Simbel remains one of the top Aswan tourist attractions. With your qualified Egyptologist as your guide, you will enjoy a personalized visit to the temples of Abu Simbel. With its four rock-hewn pharaohs, your guide will explain the history behind this magnificent site, including how the temples were discovered by accident in 1813. Due to the large number of visitors to Abu Simbel, guides are not permitted inside either of the two temples you will visit. Following your visit to Abu Simbel, you will return to Aswan Airport to return to Cairo. Once you arrive in Cairo, you will be met and assisted at the airport and taken to your hotel for check-in. In the afternoon, you will visit the Christian heritage in Coptic Cairo, including the Hanging Church. This basilica church was named for its location on top of the south gate of the Fortress of Babylon. The church became the center of the Christian Church of Egypt. You will then continue to Khan el Khalili Bazaar where you will enjoy free time to stroll through the maze of streets and try your luck bargaining with the shop owners for a souvenir of your trip to Egypt or have a cup of tea at the famous coffee shop “El Fishawy.” After the conclusion of your tour, you will be back at your hotel for drop-off. Overnight in Cairo.

After breakfast at your hotel, you will check out and transfer to Cairo International Airport for your final departure.