An Urban-Suburban Voyage

Upon arrival at Cairo airport, your meet & assist G-Nomads team will be waiting for you. From there, you’ll be transferred to your hotel, where you’ll enjoy the first overnight stay of your voyage.

You’ll start this morning with breakfast at the hotel to fuel up for the day ahead.

You’ll arrive at the Giza Plateau, where the Great Pyramids of Giza are spread across the sprawling desert. These profound structures were built as tombs, the final resting places for the civilization’s great pharaohs and kings. Here you can trace the steps of Napoleon and enter Khufu, where his sarcophagus lies deep inside the King’s Chamber.

A pit-stop at an iconic local restaurant for some oriental BBQ and mezzes.

Next is Sakkara, another notable necropolis, known for its archaeological significance. 16 kings had their pyramids built on this expanse of desert. Here you’ll see the Step Tomb and enjoy the pristine sandy landscape.

To start this day, you’ll head to Downtown Cairo to marvel at the Egyptian Museum, where thousands of artifacts from ancient Egypt are on display. Here you’ll have access to a hall of royal mummies, where eleven of the most prominent kings and queens of ancient Egypt are laid to rest.

A midday break for lunch at an oriental Egyptian restaurant for a deeper cultural dive. To follow, you’ll make your way to the Cairo Citadel of Saladin, a medieval Islamic-era fortification in Cairo built by Saladin and further developed by subsequent Egyptian rulers. The original construction began in 1176, and it is believed, based on the remaining structure, that some of it may never have been completed.

This morning, you’ll have breakfast at the hotel before going to Alexandria for a full day in the coastal city.

The first stop will be the Library of Alexandria, home to an extensive library of classical antiquity. The ancient library of Alexandria was founded by Demetrius of Phaleon, an Athenian politician who fell from power and fled to Egypt.

Next, you’ll see the catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, meaning Mounds of Shards, one of the most important Greco-Roman necropolises in Egypt.

Midday break for lunch at a seafood restaurant, an Alexandrian delicacy.

To end the day, you’ll visit Qaitbay Citadel, a picturesque 14th century fortress that today operates as a maritime museum.

Transfer by bus for an overnight stay in Cairo.

Rise this morning for a hotel breakfast before checkout and the second leg of the voyage. From here, you’ll be transferred from the hotel to your flight to Luxor. Upon arrival, embarkation will take place on your 5-star cruise ship for the start of your 4-night trip down the Nile.

Once settled, you’ll enjoy your first lunch aboard.

Your first Luxor sighting will be Karnak Temple. It is a complex that houses a series of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings from the Ptolemic Era. Amongst its towering columns and pillars, you’ll find an impressive obelisk standing 97-feet tall and weighing 323-tons.

Dine aboard the cruise ship before an overnight stay in Luxor.

Indulge in a filling breakfast aboard before heading out for the first sighting of the day.
Continue on to an approximately 3-hour visit to Luxor Temple, built in dedication to the principal Thebes of Amon and ironically located in the middle of modern Luxor City. In ancient times, the breathtaking avenue of sphinxes ran an entire 3 kilometers to connect Luxor Temple to Karnak Temple.

You’ll enjoy a midday recovery lunch before your next adventure.

The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut was built beneath a cliffside and has remarkably been left unscathed since its inception in 1479-1458 BCE. The temple was built for Queen Hatshepsut, the second historically-confirmed female ruler of Egypt. Her temple is a profound example of architectural symmetry and is one of the most impressive of the ancient Egyptian civilization.

A return to the cruise ship to dine and make way to Edfu, where you’ll dock for an overnight stay.

After breakfast, you’ll visit the temple of Horus in Edfu.

Over the course of roughly 3 hours, you will experience the best-preserved cult temple in Egypt. The Temple of Horus, built for the avenging son of Isis and Osiris, is one of the most atmospheric ancient structures for its maintained colors.

Back on the cruise ship, you’ll head down the Nile to Kom Ombo.

An approximately 2-hour visit will complete your tour of Kom Ombo. Kom Ombo literally translates to “hill of gold” and is the Ancient Egyptian world’s unusual double temple, meaning that it is shared by two gods. The southern half is the worship house of the crocodile deity Sobek, patron of fertility, while the northern part of the temple was blessed to the falcon deity Horus.

Back to the cruise to start your navigation to Aswan, where you’ll dock overnight.

You’ll start your day with breakfast before your visit to Philae Temple. (Approx. 4-hour duration).

Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis, is the first stop on the Aswan itinerary. Located on the island of Agilka, this temple was not always there. After the high dam was built in the 1960s, the original temple site was at risk of destruction by water levels, so it was moved there.

Enjoy lunch before your next stop, which, over the course of around 1.5 hours, you’ll get to sail to the Agha Khan Museum and the lush Botanical Garden.

Back to the cruise ship for another dinner aboard and an overnight stay in Aswan.

Take the morning off for your own relaxation and rejuvenation time, or opt to delve deeper into history, with an optional excursion. At the end of your day, you’ll disembark the boat to continue on to a 5-star hotel in Aswan for an overnight stay on land.

Fuel up this morning with breakfast at your hotel before proceeding to checkout. Once transferred to Aswan Airport, your voyage will come to a final end at Cairo International Airport.