Overview
Tour Description
Eight days is the shortest trip we recommend for a first visit to Egypt, and this one is built for comfort. You fly instead of driving long distances, you have a tour manager who meets you at the airport and checks you in, and every sightseeing day in Cairo is private with your own Egyptologist.
You start with the Giza Pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum, fly to Luxor for four nights on a 5-star Nile cruise to Aswan, then return to Cairo with Abu Simbel already done.
What makes this tour different
- A personal tour manager on arrival who reviews your itinerary and pick-up times with you
- Sunrise hot air balloon flight over Luxor’s West Bank, included
- Abu Simbel and a boat trip to a Nubian village, included
- Domestic flights Cairo to Luxor and Aswan to Cairo, so no long drives or overnight trains
- Karnak, Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive in Cairo
Your tour manager meets you at Cairo International Airport, helps with arrival formalities and drives with you to your 5-star hotel in a private deluxe vehicle. At the hotel he helps with check-in, goes through the itinerary with you and confirms pick-up times for each day. A welcome drink is waiting.
Overnight: 5-star hotel, Cairo.
Day 2: Giza Pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum
Your Egyptologist collects you after breakfast for the Giza Plateau: the Great Pyramid of Khufu, built from over two million blocks and once faced in white Tura limestone, the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, the Sphinx and the Valley Temple beside it. Lunch is at a good local restaurant.
In the afternoon you visit the Grand Egyptian Museum, where the entire Tutankhamun collection is displayed together for the first time.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch. Overnight: 5-star hotel, Cairo.
Day 3: Fly to Luxor, Karnak and Luxor Temple
A morning EgyptAir flight takes you to Luxor, where you are met and driven to your 5-star Nile cruise. After lunch on board you visit Karnak, the great temple of Amun, Mut and Khonsu, built and enlarged over some 2,000 years, and then Luxor Temple, a temple dedicated to the renewal of kingship rather than to a single god.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight: Nile cruise, Luxor.
Day 4: Hot air balloon and the West Bank
You are picked up before dawn for a hot air balloon flight of 45 to 80 minutes over the West Bank. Your pilot points out the temples and tombs below as the sun rises. After breakfast your Egyptologist takes you to the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon, the twin statues of Amenhotep III. The ship sails for Edfu after lunch.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight: Nile cruise.
Day 5: Edfu and Kom Ombo
Day 6: Aswan High Dam, Philae and a Nubian village
A full day in Aswan. You see the High Dam, completed in 1971, and take a boat to Philae Temple, the temple of Isis rebuilt on Agilkia Island. Later a felucca or motorboat takes you to a Nubian village on Soheil Island to visit a family home and learn about Nubian life and culture.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight: Nile cruise, Aswan.
Day 7: Abu Simbel and fly to Cairo
An early start for Abu Simbel, the two rock-cut temples of Ramses II and Queen Nefertari on Lake Nasser. You return to Aswan, leave the ship, and fly back to Cairo, where you are met and taken to your hotel.
Meals: Breakfast. Overnight: 5-star hotel, Cairo.
Day 8: Fly home
Breakfast and free time, then a private transfer to Cairo International Airport for your flight home.
Meals: Breakfast.
Included and Excluded
- Meet and assist at all airports
- Domestic flights Cairo to Luxor and Aswan to Cairo
- 3 nights in a 5-star hotel in Cairo with breakfast
- 4 nights on a 5-star Nile cruise, full board
- Private sightseeing in Cairo with an Egyptologist
- All sightseeing on the cruise with an English-speaking Egyptologist
- Hot air balloon flight over Luxor
- Abu Simbel excursion
- Nubian village visit by boat
- Entrance fees to all sites in the itinerary
- All transfers by private air-conditioned vehicle
- Meals as listed in the itinerary
- Bottled water during tours
- Service charges and taxes
- International flights and Egypt entry visa
- Drinks on the cruise and at the hotel
- Optional tours not listed
- Tips for guides, drivers and crew
- Personal expenses
Prices:
What will it cost you?
Prices per person change with the season and how many of you travel. Set yours and see the real number — no email needed.
Note:
All the accommodation in Cairo, Luxor and Aswan hotels and Nile cruises are 5* ultra deluxe accommodations
Tour Attractions
FAQs
How much is the 8-day luxury Egypt tour with a Nile cruise?
From $8,000 per person sharing a double room from May to September, and $12,000 per person from October to April. Single travelers pay $11,000 in summer and $14,000 in winter. Domestic flights, the balloon ride and Abu Simbel are included.
Is 8 days enough for Egypt?
It is enough to see the essentials comfortably: the pyramids, the Grand Egyptian Museum, Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel. Flying between cities is what makes it work. If you can add two or three days, we suggest more time in Cairo or a few days on the Red Sea.
Is the hot air balloon ride safe?
Balloon flights in Luxor are licensed and inspected by Egypt's civil aviation authority, and they only fly in suitable weather. If a flight is cancelled for wind, we rebook it on another morning where possible.
Which Nile cruise ship will we sail on?
We book 5-star deluxe ships that sail between Luxor and Aswan and confirm the ship with you before you pay, based on your dates and availability.
What is included in a luxury tour?
VIP airport service, private guides and vehicles, 5-star hotels, a deluxe cruise or dahabiya, and internal flights.
