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11 days
Ежедневная экскурсия
Unlimited
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This Egypt 11 days itinerary combines four completely different sides of the country into one connected trip: three nights in Cairo covering the pyramids and the Egyptian Museum, one night camping in the White Desert, a three-night Nile cruise between Aswan and Luxor with a private visit to Abu Simbel, and two nights unwinding in Hurghada on the Red Sea. It’s built for travelers who want a genuinely complete first (or second) visit to Egypt — ancient monuments, desert adventure, a Nile cruise, and beach time — without stitching together separate bookings.
You’ll move between Cairo, the Western Desert, Aswan, Luxor, and Hurghada using a mix of private transfers, a 4×4 jeep for the desert, domestic flights, and the cruise boat itself, with a private Egyptologist guide accompanying the sightseeing throughout.
Eleven days is enough time to give each part of Egypt its own proper pace rather than compressing everything into a rushed week. Cairo gets three full days, split naturally between the pyramids, the museum, and Islamic Cairo’s mosques and citadel — not squeezed into a single overwhelming day. The White Desert night breaks up the trip with something completely different: open sky, sand formations, and a Bedouin camp dinner, before flying south to begin the Nile cruise portion.
The cruise itself does a lot of the logistical work for you — three nights unpacked in one cabin while the boat carries you from Aswan through Kom Ombo and Edfu to Luxor, with Abu Simbel included as a dedicated side trip rather than a separate booking. Ending in Hurghada gives the trip a proper close: two days to decompress by the Red Sea after a demanding first week of early starts and long sightseeing days.
A Marsa Alam Tours representative meets you at Cairo International Airport and transfers you to your hotel — the 5-star Hyatt Regency Cairo — by private air-conditioned vehicle. For travelers who'd like to start the trip with something memorable, an optional Cairo by Night tour is available, including a stop at the Mokattam Hills for sweeping sunset views over the city from a local's perspective.
Your Cairo day tour begins at the Giza Pyramids complex, dating back to the 4th Dynasty around 2500 BC. The Great Pyramid, standing 147 meters tall and built from an estimated 2.3 million stone blocks over roughly 20 years, is the only surviving Wonder of the Ancient World. Nearby, the Great Sphinx — the largest monumental statue in the world at 73 meters long — stands beside the Valley Temple, a granite structure once used for the mummification process and the only one of its kind still standing on the Giza plateau.
After lunch at the Pyramids, you'll continue to Saqqara to see the Step Pyramid of Djoser, considered the world's oldest major stone structure, before moving to Memphis, founded by King Menes and Egypt's capital for more than 3,000 years during the Old Kingdom. Highlights here include the statue of Ramses II and the alabaster Sphinx of Memphis. You'll return to the Hyatt Regency Cairo for the night.
After checking out, your guide takes you to the Egyptian Museum, home to a collection spanning 5,000 years of art, including over 250,000 genuine artifacts and a dedicated exhibit on Tutankhamun's treasures, sealed in his tomb for over 3,500 years before their discovery.
After lunch at a local restaurant, you'll visit the Citadel of Salah El-Din, built between 1176 and 1182 and Egypt's seat of government until the 1860s. Inside its walls stands the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, constructed between 1830 and 1848 and known as the Alabaster Mosque for its pale stone walls, modeled on Istanbul's Blue Mosque. The day continues in Coptic Cairo, visiting the Hanging Church, one of Egypt's oldest churches, the Church of Abu Serga, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, before finishing at Khan El Khalili Bazaar, one of the oldest and most famous markets in the Middle East. An optional Sound and Light Show at the Giza Pyramids is available in the evening for travelers who'd like to see the monuments after dark. You'll spend the night in Cairo.
Pickup from your hotel in Cairo or Giza is at 06:00 am, for the roughly 4-hour drive to Bahariya Oasis, 350 km east of Cairo, with two coffee breaks along the way. Along the route, you'll pass the railway used to transport iron ore from Bahariya's mines — the oasis remains Egypt's main source of this resource.
Arriving around 10:00 am, you'll meet your safari guide and set off by 4x4 jeep through the Black Desert, named for the layer of dark volcanic powder covering its terrain. Lunch is served around noon at El Haize Oasis, roughly 37 km from Bawiti, where a natural hot spring and a small water museum explain traditional desert irrigation methods.
The afternoon continues to the Valley of Agabat, a landscape shaped by chalk and limestone formations that developed after this area was once under the sea, with time for sandboarding in Wadi El Agabat before reaching the White Desert National Park by late afternoon. Rock formations here resemble a chicken, a sphinx, camels, and mushrooms. As evening falls, camp is set up and dinner — typically chicken, rice, and vegetables around a small fire — is served under a sky shifting from pink to deep orange. Vegetarian meals are available, and while nights can turn cold quickly, sleeping bags, tents, and mattresses are all provided.
After sunrise and breakfast in the desert around 07:00 am, you'll drive back toward Bahariya, stopping at Crystal Mountain (Gebel al-Izzaz) around 09:00 am — a quartzite hillside nicknamed the "Jewel of the Desert" for how it catches the sunlight.
By 11:00 am, you'll pass through Bahariya and stop at Bir Sigam, considered the best hot spring in the area by temperature, with Bir Madi offered as a cooler alternative during summer months. Around noon, the drive continues back to Cairo, arriving around 16:30 (an optional lunch can be added for $15 per person). From Cairo, you'll fly to Aswan, where a local guide meets you at the airport and transfers you to the Basma Hotel for the night.
You'll embark on your Nile cruise and have lunch on board before the afternoon's sightseeing in Aswan. The visit opens at Philae Temple, built to honor the goddess Isis and considered the last major temple built in the classical Egyptian architectural style, with construction beginning around 690 BC. Next comes the Aswan High Dam, completed in 1968 and officially inaugurated in 1971, whose reservoir formed Lake Nasser, followed by the Unfinished Obelisk in the Northern Quarries — nearly 42 meters long and estimated at 1,168 tonnes, it cracked before completion and would have been the heaviest single stone the ancient Egyptians ever worked.
You'll also enjoy a felucca sail around Elephantine Island, with an optional two-hour Nubian village visit available for $60 per person for travelers who'd like to add it. Dinner is served on board, with an overnight stay in Aswan.
After breakfast on board, you'll take a private trip to Abu Simbel. The two temples here — dedicated to Ramses II and Queen Nefertari — were carved into the mountainside on the west bank of the Nile between 1274 and 1244 BC. The Great Temple, fronted by four colossal statues of Ramses II, was officially dedicated to Ra-Harakhty, Amun-Ra, and Ptah, though built above all to glorify Ramses himself. The smaller temple beside it honors Queen Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. Both temples were dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt on higher ground during a UNESCO relocation project widely regarded as one of the organization's greatest preservation achievements.
At 13:00, the cruise sails toward Kom Ombo. The Temple of Kom Ombo sits about 40 km north of Aswan, dedicated to the deities Sobek and Horus and dating mainly to the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. The boat continues sailing overnight toward Edfu, with a Galabeya party on board and dinner served.
After breakfast on board, you'll visit Edfu Temple, one of Egypt's best-preserved temples, dedicated to the hawk-god Horus. The current Ptolemaic structure was built on the site of a much earlier temple, with construction beginning under Ptolemy III around 246 BC, and its walls depict the mythological conflict between Horus and Seth — a story likely reenacted annually as a religious drama.
The cruise continues sailing to Luxor through the Esna lock, arriving in time to visit Luxor Temple. Built largely under Amenhotep III and completed by Tutankhamun and Ramses II, its first pylon was raised by Ramses II and decorated with scenes from his military campaign at Kadesh. Dinner is served on board.
After breakfast on board, you'll visit Luxor's West Bank, starting with the Valley of the Kings, once called the Great Place of Truth — an isolated valley behind Deir el-Bahri dominated by a natural pyramid-shaped mountain peak, home to the stone sarcophagi of pharaohs who once lay here awaiting immortality. Nearby, the Colossi of Memnon, two 18-meter statues of Amenhotep III, are the only visible remains of what was once the largest complex on Luxor's West Bank.
The tour continues to Hatshepsut Temple, its terraces rising out of the desert plain to merge with the sheer limestone cliffs of the Theban Mountain. You'll spend a final night on board the cruise in Luxor. For early risers the next morning, an optional hot air balloon ride is available for $80 per person, including a light breakfast and tea, offering an aerial view over what's often called the world's largest open-air museum.
Later, you'll visit Karnak Temple, far more than a single structure — a sprawling complex of sanctuaries, kiosks, pylons, and obelisks dedicated to the Theban Triad of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu. After disembarking and breakfast, you'll be transferred to Hurghada, spending the night at the Tropitel Sahl Hasheesh Hotel.
An optional full-day scuba diving trip is available for $50 per person, with pickup from your hotel at 7:30 am. After meeting your dive guide, who provides all necessary equipment, you'll start with an orientation dive before exploring the Red Sea's coral reefs, with instruction available for both beginners and more experienced divers. You'll return to the Tropitel Sahl Hasheesh Hotel for the night.
An optional Dolphin House boat trip is available for $50 per person. After pickup and a roughly 1.5-hour sail, you'll reach an area known for large numbers of wild dolphins swimming freely in their natural habitat — sightings aren't guaranteed, since the dolphins come and go as they choose, but the surrounding waters are also good for snorkeling among coral and reef fish regardless. A small buffet lunch is served on board, with the option to arrange a trial diving lesson in advance. The boat returns to the pier in the late afternoon.
You'll then be transferred to Hurghada Airport for a short flight to Cairo, concluding the 11-day itinerary.
It's an 11-day, 10-night trip covering Cairo, the White Desert, a Nile cruise between Aswan and Luxor with Abu Simbel, and Hurghada.
Yes, a private trip to Abu Simbel is included as part of the Nile cruise portion on day seven.
Three nights, sailing between Aswan and Luxor with stops at Kom Ombo and Edfu.
One night, in the White Desert National Park, with all camping equipment provided.
Yes, a private Egyptologist guide and vehicle accompany the sightseeing throughout Cairo, the desert, and the cruise excursions.
Yes, flights from Cairo to Aswan and from Hurghada back to Cairo are included.
The Giza Pyramids, Memphis, Saqqara, the Egyptian Museum, the Citadel of Salah El-Din, the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, Coptic Cairo, and Khan El Khalili Bazaar.
Philae Temple, the Aswan High Dam, Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo, Edfu Temple, Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple, the Valley of the Kings, and Hatshepsut Temple.
Two nights, with optional diving and boat trip add-ons.
Yes, an optional balloon ride over Luxor is available for $80 per person.
Yes, an optional full-day diving trip is available for $50 per person.
An optional boat excursion to an area known for wild dolphins, with snorkeling opportunities and lunch included, available for $50 per person.
The Nile cruise, desert camping, Hurghada hotel stay, private transfers, entrance fees, flights, your guide, lunch during trips, and all sightseeing tours on board the cruise.
Tipping, any extras not mentioned in the itinerary, and the Egypt entry visa.
Yes, the visa is not included and should be arranged separately before travel.
Yes, it's designed to cover Egypt's major highlights — ancient sites, desert adventure, a Nile cruise, and beach time — in one connected itinerary.
It involves several early starts, desert walking, and a full schedule of sightseeing across the first week, with the Hurghada days offering more relaxed free time.
A passport, sun protection, comfortable shoes, swimwear, and a warm layer for the cold desert camping night.
By domestic flight — Cairo to Aswan at the start of the cruise portion, and Hurghada to Cairo at the end of the trip.
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