Upper Egypt

Suggested tours during your stay in the Red Sea

The Romance of Egypt

Egypt has always invoked a feeling of the exotic, of mystery and even intrigue. Excitement stirs the night with anticipation of tomorrow’s discoveries. The Nile river seems to pass as does time, slowly witnessing the progress of mankind. Gazing upon the grand Nile for the first time washes most people in emotion. Suddenly, one actually feels history. It is a sensation like no other, a feeling of quiet knowledge.

Egypt's Own Love Boat

Egypt has most always been a land of romance. Queen Cleopatra the seventh, was the only one of many ladies whose charm was made brilliant by the starlit desert nights and the sparkling flow of the Nile. Countless pharaohs built grand temples and tombs for their beloved queens. Ramses II built a temple for his queen at Abu Simbel, while Nefertari’s tomb is as grand, or more than most rulers. And the loving portrait of Tutunkhamun and his queen is literally one of the symbols of Egypt in her antiquity.

The Valley of the Kings

Beginning with the 18th Dynasty and ending with the 20th, the kings abandoned the Memphis area and built their tombs in Most of the tombs were cut into the limestone following a similar pattern: three corridors, an antechamber and a sunken sarcophagus chamber. The Tomb of Tutankhamen was unearthed in 1922. He was only 16 or 17 years old when he died, but what made his tomb stand apart from 61 others was that it had not been robbed of its treasures. It was discovered It took 10 years to remove and document the 1700 treasures, which included a gold effigy of Tutankhamen, a solid gold coffin and two golden chariots.

Hatshepsut Temple

A tree lined avenue of sphinxes led up to the temple, and ramps led from terrace to terrace. The porticoes on the lowest terrace are out of proportion and coloring with the rest of the building. They were restored in 1906 to protect the celebrated reliefs depicting the transport of obelisks to Karnak and the birth of Queen Hatshepsut. Reliefs on the south side of the middle terrace show the queen's expedition by way of the Red Sea to Punt, the land of incense.

Colossi of Memnon

Amenhotep III built a mortuary temple in Thebes that was guarded by 2 gigantic statues. All that remains now are the 23 meter (75 foot) high, 1,000 ton statues of Amenhotep III. Though damaged by nature and ancient tourists, the statues are still impressive.The statues are made from carved blocks of quartzite quarried at Giza or Gebel es-Silsila . Due to an earthquake in 27 BC, these statues became known for a bell like tone that usually occurred in the morning due to rising temperatures and humidity.

Karnak Temples

Although badly ruined, no site in Egypt is more impressive than Karnak. It is the largest temple complex ever built by man, and represents the combined achievement of many generations of ancient builders. The Temples of Karnak is actually three main temples, smaller enclosed temples, and several outer temples located about 3 kilometers north of Luxor, Egypt situated on 100 ha (247 acres) of land.

Luxor Temple

The Temple of Luxor was the center of the most important festival, the festival of Opet which lasted 11 days. Built largely by Amenhotep III and Rameses II, the temple's purpose was as a setting for the rituals of the festival. The festival was to reconcile the human aspect of the ruler with the divine office. This temple was called the Southern Harem based on the fact that it was the house of Goddess Mut.

Dendera Temple

Dendera is a temple complex located about an hour and a half drive north of the city of Luxor through the countryside . Construction of the current temple complex began when the Ptolemys ruled the land in 85 BC, although the area was used as a religious site dating back to the Old and Middle Kingdoms of Egypt. The Temple was dedicated to the goddess, Hathor, and is still in excellent condition today.

The Sound and Light Show at Karnak Temples

starts with a historical introduction covering the birth of the great city of Thebes and erection of the Karnak Temple. The show narrates the glorious achievements of some great Pharaohs as spectators listen to a magnificent and poetic description of the artistic treasures and great legacy which the Karnak temple encloses.

The High Dam

The biggest single change on the Nile in all its history was the building of the Aswan's dam in Egypt. It took ten years to build and was completed in 1970.

The Dam is 114 metres high and 3.6 kilometres long. Upstream, it creates a reservoir of water, called Lake Nasser, which stretches back for 270 kilometres into northern Sudan. Before the reservoir was made, the land was the home of 100,000 farming people who had to be given new houses and land, irrigated from the lake, above the new water level.

Unfinished Obelisk

The Unfinished Obelisk located in the Quarry still lies where a crack was discovered as it was being hewn from the rock , it would have weighed over 2.3 million pounds (1 million kilograms) and would have been the worlds largest piece of stone ever handled .

Philae Temple

Dismantled and reassembled (on Agilika Island about 1,800 feet (550 meters) from its original home on Philae Island) in the wake of the High Dam, the temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis, is in a beautiful setting which has been landscaped to match its original site. It's various shrines and sanctuaries, which include The Vestibule of Nectanebos I, the Temple of the Emperor Hadrian, a Temple of Hathor, Trajan's Kiosk (Pharaohs Bed), a birth house and two pylons celebrate all the deities involved in the Isis and Osiris myth.

The Sound & Light Show of Philae
Philae has an impressive 'Sound and Light' show. As darkness descends the Pylons and buildings on the island are picked out by spotlights of various colors producing a breathtaking effect.

Abu Simbel

is an archaeological site comprising two massive rock temples in southern Egypt on the western bank of Lake Nasser about 290 km southwest of Aswan. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Nubian Monuments".

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. The relocation of the temples was necessary to avoid being submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser, the massive artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan dam on the Nile River. Abu Simbel remains one of Egypt's top tourist attractions.

Hot air balloon in Luxor

Come and enjoy the splendors and ancient historical sights of Egypt as you have never seen them before. Glide majestically over the temples and burial grounds on the Pharaohs with tranquility and peace. See this spectacular landscape from the unique viewpoint which only hot air ballooning can provide.

You will fly as a bird high into the sky you will have a bird's eye view of the magnificent wonders of the West Bank and East bank the surrounding countryside. Sometimes it is even possible to exchange greetings with the people below.

Cairo

Visit the famous Giza Plateau, home of Egypt’s signature attractions to visit the Great Pyramids, ONE of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world and their Guardian Sphinx, the Father of Terror for the ancient pharaohs, the tour includes visit to the valley temple facing the great sphinx .Visit the world-renowned Museum of Egyptian Antiquities which exhibited collections now exceed 120000 masterpieces including the treasures of the child King Tutankhamen. Afterwards enjoy an afternoon of shopping at the Khan El Khalili famous Bazaar and old market in Cairo.