Indulge in both Cairo’s glory and the magical Nile, spanning the country from the archaeological necropolis Sakkara by the Great Pyramids of Giza to sailing the Nile by felucca docking at the botanical garden in Aswan.
You’ll enjoy every crevasse of Ancient Egypt’s most well-preserved temples, including the Tempe of Horus in Edfu.
Our meet and assist teams will be waiting to guide the group. From there, they’ll be transferred to their hotel, where they will enjoy an overnight stay.
We’ll start this morning with breakfast at the hotel and load up for a full day of Cairo’s glorious must-see landmarks.
First stop, the Pyramids of Giza, the tallest of which rise a whopping 480.6 feet from their base on the Giza Plateau. Named after the kings they were built for, Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaure took 20 years to be built with a workforce of 100,000 skilled laborers.
We will have a pit-stop at one of our iconic local restaurants for some oriental BBQ and mezzes.
Next is Sakkara, another notable necropolis for its archaeological significance. 16 kings had their pyramids built on this expanse of desert. Here we’ll see the Step Tomb and enjoy the pristine sandy landscape.
To start this day, we’ll head to Downtown Cairo to marvel at the Egyptian Museum, where thousands of artifacts from ancient Egypt are on display. There 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.
We’ll delve into a midday break for lunch at a local seafood restaurant.
To follow, we’ll make our way to the Cairo Citadel of Saladin, a medieval Islamic era fortification in Cairo built by Saladin and further developed by subsequent Egyptian rulers. original construction began in 1176 and it is believed, based on the remaining structure, that some of it may never have been completed.
On this morning, we’ll start your day with breakfast at the hotel, checkout, and then be transferred to Cairo International Airport to make our way to Aswan by night.
Upon arrival, we will check into your 5-star hotel, where the group can kick back and relax before the next scheduled activity.
We will begin our adventure with an approximately 4-hour visit to Philae Temple, dedicated to the Goddess Isis, 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.
Rise in beautiful Aswan and enjoy breakfast on land.
Guest will be given the chance to take the rest of this day as a leisure day around Aswan at their own desire, or engage in more history with one of our optional excursions.
Later on in the afternoon, we’ll head to your 5-star cruise, where we’ll settle for the next 3 nights on an Aswan/Luxor cruise. Relax aboard the cruise ship for an early night before navigating the following morning to Kom Ombo.
An approximately 2-hour visit will complete our 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 by the falcon deity Horus.
We will enjoy lunch aboard and sit back while we make our way to Edfu.
Upon arrival and over the course of about 3 hours, we 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.
To follow, the group will dine aboard and rest over night while we make our way to Luxor, passing through Esna Lock.
(Approx) 4-hour visit.
On this day, you’ll visit Hatshepsut Temple. This mortuary temple 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 recognized 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. In about 2 hours, we’ll span Karnak Temple, which is nestled amongst a complex of archaeological and religious sites and named after the nearby village of El-Karnak. Known as Ipet-isu, “the most select of places,” it is the largest standing religious structure and was built over 2000 years. When the Theban kings came into prominence at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, the temple began construction as a dedication to the triad of Amon, Mut, and Khonsu.
This morning, we’ll enjoy our last tranquil breakfast before disembarking. After which, we’ll be transferred to Luxor Airport and arrive in Cairo for our final departure.
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