Egypt & Jordan Overland: 15-Day Ancient Wonders

This morning you meet the Giza Pyramids Complex face to face on a private guided tour led by your personal Egyptologist. The Great Pyramid of Khufu rises before you, the last surviving wonder of the ancient world, its flank stacked from more than two million limestone blocks. You circle all three pyramids, pause at a panoramic viewpoint for unforgettable photographs, and stand beneath the enigmatic gaze of the Great Sphinx, guardian of the plateau for forty-five centuries. Nearby, the granite-pillared Valley Temple shows off the craftsmanship of Old Kingdom builders up close. After lunch you continue to the Grand Egyptian Museum, dazzling new home of Tutankhamun's complete treasure collection and thousands of artefacts spanning Egypt's long history. Your guide brings each hall to life with stories of gods, kings and daily life along the Nile before you return to your Cairo hotel for the evening.

• Giza Pyramids Complex
• The Great Pyramid — The Pyramid of Khufu, the last surviving wonder of the ancient world.
• The Great Sphinx
• The Valley Temple
• The Grand Egyptian Museum — Home to the complete Tutankhamun collection and thousands of artefacts.

Today you trade the desert plateau for the Mediterranean coast on a private guided day tour to Alexandria, the city Alexander the Great founded in 331 BC. You descend into the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, a haunting three-level necropolis where Egyptian and Greco-Roman art merge within the same carved tombs. Above ground you stand beneath Pompey's Pillar, a towering red-granite column that has watched over the city for seventeen centuries, then follow the seafront to the Qaitbay Citadel, a fifteenth-century fortress raised on the ruins of the legendary Lighthouse of Alexandria. After a leisurely seafood lunch you visit the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the striking modern library that revives the spirit of the ancient world's greatest centre of learning. As the afternoon light softens over the harbour, your private vehicle returns you to Cairo for the night, the salt air still fresh on your skin.

• The Catacombs — The Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, a three-level Greco-Roman necropolis.
• Pompey's Pillar
• Qaitbay Citadel — A fifteenth-century fortress on the site of the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria.
• Alexandria Library — The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, reviving the legacy of the ancient library.

Egypt's capital reveals its layered soul today. You begin at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, a treasure house of more than 120,000 antiquities where your Egyptologist guides you past royal mummies, gilded coffins and everyday relics of pharaonic life. From there you step into Coptic Cairo to visit the Hanging Church, a serene basilica suspended above a Roman gate and one of Egypt's oldest Christian sanctuaries. The afternoon belongs to the medieval city: you wander the lantern-lit lanes of the Khan El Khalili bazaar, bargaining for spices, silver and hand-blown glass, then stroll historic Al Muizz Street, an open-air museum of Islamic architecture lined with mosques, madrasas and merchant houses. Between the sights you pause for a relaxed lunch of Egyptian classics. Tonight you rest in Cairo, your senses full of the city's colour, before flying south in the morning.

• The Egyptian Museum — More than 120,000 antiquities in the historic Tahrir Square building.
• The Hanging Church — One of Egypt's oldest Coptic churches, suspended above a Roman gate.
• Khan El Khalili Bazaar
• Al Muizz Street — A living open-air museum of medieval Islamic architecture.

After an early breakfast you fly south to Aswan and travel on to one of Egypt's most breathtaking sights, the temples of Abu Simbel. Carved into a sandstone cliff more than three thousand years ago on the orders of Ramses II, the Great Temple is fronted by four colossal seated statues of the pharaoh, each over twenty metres tall. Beside it stands the smaller temple Ramses dedicated to his beloved queen Nefertari. Your private guide recounts how, in the 1960s, this entire monument was cut into blocks and lifted to higher ground to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser — one of history's greatest feats of engineering rescue. You explore the vast pillared halls and inner sanctuary, then return to Aswan, where the Nile widens between golden dunes. Overnight in your Aswan hotel beside the timeless river.

• Abu Simbel Temples — The rock-cut temples of Ramses II and Queen Nefertari, relocated to escape Lake Nasser.

Aswan unfolds gently today. You begin at the Aswan High Dam, the mighty 1960s barrage that tamed the Nile's annual flood, created the vast Lake Nasser and reshaped modern Egypt. Nearby you visit the Unfinished Obelisk, still lying in its ancient granite quarry — had it been completed it would have been the largest obelisk ever raised, and the cracks that halted the work reveal exactly how the pharaohs' stonemasons laboured. After lunch a short motorboat ride carries you across the water to the enchanting Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis and set on its own island fringed with palms. Your Egyptologist unravels the temple's carved myths of love, death and rebirth as the reflections shimmer around you. You return to Aswan for a restful evening, the Nile glowing amber at sunset beyond your hotel window.

• Aswan The High Dam — The great dam that created Lake Nasser and controls the Nile's flow.
• The Unfinished Obelisk — An abandoned colossal obelisk that reveals ancient quarrying techniques.
• Philae Temple — The island temple of the goddess Isis, reached by motorboat.

Today your overland journey follows the Nile north from Aswan toward Luxor, pausing at two remarkable riverside temples along the way. First you reach Kom Ombo, an unusual double temple dedicated jointly to Sobek, the crocodile god, and Horus the Elder; your guide points out the ancient surgical instruments carved into its walls and the mummified crocodiles in the adjoining museum. Continuing north you arrive at Edfu, home to the temple of Horus — the most complete and best-preserved temple in all of Egypt, its towering pylon and falcon statues almost exactly as their builders left them two thousand years ago. Between the temples you enjoy a relaxed lunch. As the fertile valley rolls past your window, you reach Luxor by late afternoon, the ancient city of Thebes, and check into your hotel for the night.

• Kom Ombo Temple — A rare double temple honouring the gods Sobek and Horus the Elder.
• Edfu temple — The temple of Horus, the best-preserved of all Egypt's temples.

Luxor has been called the world's greatest open-air museum, and this morning you discover its East Bank on a private guided tour. You start at the colossal Karnak Temple, a sprawling complex built and enlarged over two thousand years; nothing prepares you for the Great Hypostyle Hall, where 134 giant sandstone columns soar overhead like a petrified forest. Your Egyptologist decodes the hieroglyphs, obelisks and sacred lake dedicated to the god Amun-Ra. After lunch you visit Luxor Temple, gracefully set in the heart of the modern town and once linked to Karnak by an avenue of sphinxes. It is even more magical in the golden light of late afternoon, when the towering statues of Ramses II and the honey-coloured columns seem to glow from within. You return to your Luxor hotel with the grandeur of ancient Thebes still echoing around you.

• Karnak Temple — A vast complex crowned by the Great Hypostyle Hall of 134 columns.
• Luxor Temple — An elegant riverside temple in the heart of modern Luxor.

This morning you cross to Luxor's West Bank, the realm of the dead, where the pharaohs built their eternal resting places. In the Valley of the Kings you descend into several beautifully painted royal tombs cut deep into the limestone hills — burial chambers whose ceilings still blaze with colour, among them the tomb of the boy-king Tutankhamun. Next you stand before the Temple of Hatshepsut, the elegant terraced monument of Egypt's most powerful female pharaoh, rising in dramatic tiers against a sheer cliff at Deir el-Bahari. On the way back you pause at the Colossi of Memnon, two weathered seated statues of Amenhotep III that have guarded the plain for thirty-four centuries. Your private guide brings each site vividly to life. After a full morning among the wonders of ancient Thebes, you return across the Nile to Luxor for the night.

• Valley of the Kings — The rock-cut royal necropolis, including the tomb of Tutankhamun.
• Hatshepsut Temple — The terraced mortuary temple of Egypt's great female pharaoh at Deir el-Bahari.
• Colossi of Memnon — Two towering statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III.

After breakfast you leave the Nile Valley behind and travel east across the desert to Hurghada, Egypt's most popular resort on the sparkling Red Sea coast. This afternoon is pure relaxation and adventure: you board a comfortable boat and cruise out over water so clear it seems lit from below. Anchoring above vivid coral gardens near Giftun Island, you slip on a mask and snorkel among shoals of butterflyfish, parrotfish and other jewel-bright reef life — the Red Sea ranks among the finest snorkelling destinations on earth. A freshly prepared lunch is served on board between swims, and there is plenty of time to sunbathe on deck or laze on a soft sandy beach. As the boat glides back to shore in the late afternoon, you check into your Hurghada hotel and unwind by the sea for the evening.

• Giftun Island — A protected Red Sea island fringed by vibrant coral reefs.
• Red Sea Snorkelling — Snorkelling among butterflyfish, parrotfish and colourful coral gardens.

A very different landscape awaits today. After a leisurely breakfast you set out on an exhilarating desert safari into the wild Eastern Desert that rolls back from the Red Sea coast. Riding by four-wheel-drive jeep — or quad bike and camel if you wish — you bounce across golden dunes and rocky plains beneath an immense sky, far from any crowd. You pause at a traditional Bedouin village to sip sweet tea, learn how desert families have lived here for generations, and watch the colours of the sand shift with the moving sun. As dusk approaches, the desert delivers one of its greatest gifts: a blazing sunset over the mountains, followed by a barbecue dinner under a canopy of stars. Later you return to your Hurghada hotel, having tasted both the sea and the silence of the Egyptian desert in a single unforgettable day.

• Eastern Desert Safari — A jeep, quad-bike and camel adventure with a Bedouin village visit and barbecue dinner.

Today you bid farewell to Egypt and cross into the kingdom of Jordan. After breakfast you are transferred to the airport for your flight to Amman, the friendly, hill-draped capital that blends ancient citadels with buzzing modern cafés. On arrival your Travel Joy representative greets you, assists with the entry formalities and accompanies you to your Amman hotel by private vehicle. The rest of the day is yours to relax and adjust to your new surroundings. You might stroll the lively downtown souks, sample sizzling street food such as falafel and warm knafeh, or simply rest ahead of the discoveries to come. Over the next three days you will trace Jordan's biblical hills, float on the Dead Sea and stand before the rose-red wonder of Petra. For tonight, settle in and enjoy the warm hospitality for which Jordan is loved. Overnight in Amman.

• Amman — Private airport greeting and transfer to your hotel in Jordan's capital.

This morning you drive south-west from Amman to the ancient town of Madaba, famed as the City of Mosaics. Inside St. George's Church you gaze down at an extraordinary sixth-century mosaic map of the Holy Land, the oldest surviving cartographic depiction of Jerusalem and the region. A short drive brings you to Mount Nebo, the windswept summit where, according to tradition, Moses looked out over the Promised Land he would never enter; on a clear day the view stretches across the Jordan Valley to the distant hills of the West Bank. In the afternoon you descend to the shores of the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the face of the earth. Here you wade into the mineral-rich water and float effortlessly on its surface — a famously surreal sensation — before smoothing on the black mud said to nourish the skin. You return to your hotel for the night.

• St. George's Church — Home to the famous sixth-century mosaic map of the Holy Land.
• Mount Nebo — The hilltop where Moses is said to have viewed the Promised Land.
• The Dead Sea — The lowest point on earth, where you float effortlessly in mineral-rich water.

Today you reach the highlight of Jordan — the lost city of Petra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. You enter on foot through the Siq, a narrow, winding gorge whose towering walls suddenly part to reveal Al Khazneh, the Treasury, its rose-coloured façade carved directly into the cliff by Nabatean hands over two thousand years ago. With your guide you explore deeper into the valley, past the elaborate Royal Tombs, the great Roman-style Theatre hewn from solid rock, and the standing temple of Qasr al-Bint. Every turn uncovers another wonder of this ingenious caravan city. In the late afternoon you journey on to the desert wilderness of Wadi Rum, arriving in time for a warm dinner and a night beneath a spectacular blanket of stars at a traditional Bedouin camp. Overnight in the desert of Wadi Rum.

• Petra — The Nabatean rock-cut city and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
• Al Khazneh Temple — The Treasury, Petra's iconic façade carved into the cliff.
• Royal Tombs Of Petra
• Theatre Of Petra — A grand theatre carved from the living rock.
• Qasr al-Bint — One of the few free-standing temples in Petra.
• Wadi Rum — The vast red desert where you overnight at a Bedouin camp.

Your final morning is spent among the towering sandstone massifs of Wadi Rum, the Valley of the Moon, on a classic four-wheel-drive tour across its russet sands. You visit a small Nabatean Temple that recalls the ancient traders who once crossed this desert, pause at Lawrence's Spring — named for T. E. Lawrence, who wrote of these landscapes during the Arab Revolt — and enter the narrow cleft of Khazali Canyon, its rock faces etched with centuries-old inscriptions and petroglyphs. As the desert works its quiet magic one last time, you savour the vast silence and sweeping views that have enchanted travellers and filmmakers alike. In time you are transferred toward the airport for your onward flight, carrying home fifteen days of memories spanning pharaohs and Nabateans, the Nile and the Dead Sea, the Pyramids and Petra. Your Egypt and Jordan overland adventure comes to a close.

• Nabatean Temple — An ancient temple recalling the desert's Nabatean traders.
• Lawrence Spring — A hillside spring named for T. E. Lawrence of Arabia.
• Khazali Canyon — A narrow canyon carved with ancient inscriptions and petroglyphs.