13 Days Culture Trip to Egypt

After breakfast your Egyptologist takes you to the Giza Plateau. You walk around the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, stand in front of the Sphinx and see the granite-lined Valley Temple of Khafre, thought to have been used in the king's funeral rites. Lunch is at a restaurant with a view of the pyramids. In the afternoon you visit the Grand Egyptian Museum beside the plateau, where Tutankhamun's treasures are shown together and the colossal statue of Ramesses II stands in the Grand Hall.

• Great Pyramid of Giza — The last standing wonder of the ancient world, with the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure beside it.
• Great Sphinx of Giza — The lion-bodied guardian of the plateau, with the Valley Temple of Khafre below it.
• The Grand Egyptian Museum — Tutankhamun's treasures shown together, and the Grand Staircase lined with royal statues.

The longest day of the trip: you drive about three hours north to Alexandria on the Mediterranean. Your guide starts underground at the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, where Egyptian gods wear Roman armour, then shows you Pompey's Pillar on its hill. After a seafood lunch by the harbour you visit the Qaitbay Citadel on the site of the ancient Lighthouse and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, then drive back to Cairo for the evening.

• Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa — A three-level Roman burial complex mixing Egyptian, Greek and Roman art.
• Pompey's Pillar — A granite column of AD 297 on the hill of the old Serapeum.
• Qaitbay Citadel — The 15th-century sea fort built on the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
• Bibliotheca Alexandrina — The modern library that recalls the great library of the ancient city.

After breakfast you fly from Cairo to Luxor; we book a mid-morning flight where possible after the long day in Alexandria, and the times are confirmed with your booking. Your guide meets you at Luxor airport and you board your 5-star Nile cruise for lunch. In the afternoon you explore Karnak, the largest temple complex in Egypt, walking through the Great Hypostyle Hall with its 134 columns, then return to the ship for dinner.

• Karnak Temple — The great temple of Amun, built and enlarged over two thousand years.

An early start on the West Bank, before the heat. You go down into decorated royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, see the terraced Temple of Hatshepsut beneath the cliffs of Deir el-Bahari and stop at the Colossi of Memnon. Back on board for lunch, the ship sails south, passes through the Esna lock in the evening and reaches Edfu overnight.

• Valley of the Kings — Rock-cut tombs of the New Kingdom pharaohs; the standard ticket opens three of them.
• Temple of Hatshepsut — The terraced mortuary temple of Egypt's best-known female pharaoh.
• Colossi of Memnon — Two giant seated statues of Amenhotep III on the plain of Thebes.

In the early morning a horse-drawn carriage takes you from the ship to the Temple of Horus at Edfu, the best-preserved temple in Egypt, with its pylon, courtyards and dark inner sanctuary still roofed. Back on board, the ship sails on to Aswan, passing Kom Ombo, which you visit on the way back. The afternoon is free on deck.

• Edfu Temple — The Ptolemaic temple of Horus, reached by horse-drawn carriage from the river.

After breakfast your guide takes you to the Aswan High Dam and the view over Lake Nasser, then to the granite quarries where the Unfinished Obelisk still lies where it cracked. A motorboat crosses to Philae Temple, the island sanctuary of Isis that was moved stone by stone to Agilkia Island to save it from the rising water. The afternoon is free on board.

• Aswan High Dam — Built between 1960 and 1970, it created Lake Nasser and ended the yearly Nile flood.
• Unfinished Obelisk — A giant obelisk abandoned in its quarry, showing how the ancients cut granite.
• Philae Temple — The temple of Isis on Agilkia Island, reached by motorboat.

A very early start: you leave Aswan before dawn with a breakfast box for the drive south, about three hours each way through the desert. At Abu Simbel you stand before the four seated statues of Ramesses II on the Great Temple and visit the Temple of Nefertari beside it; both were lifted above Lake Nasser in the 1960s. You are back on the ship in Aswan for a late lunch, with the rest of the day to rest.

• Abu Simbel Temples — The rock-cut temples of Ramesses II and Nefertari near the Sudanese border.

The morning is yours: stay by the pool, walk along the Corniche or take a felucca around the islands with a Nubian village visit, paid separately. After an early lunch the ship sails north and reaches Kom Ombo in the afternoon, where your guide shows you the double temple of Sobek the crocodile god and Horus the Elder. The ship then continues to Edfu for the night; Edfu is not visited again.

• Kom Ombo Temple — A temple with two of everything: twin entrances, halls and sanctuaries for two gods.

A day on the river as the ship sails north and passes through the lock at Esna, reaching Luxor in the afternoon. In the evening your guide takes you to Luxor Temple, joined to Karnak by the Avenue of Sphinxes and at its best when it is lit up after dark, before the farewell dinner on board.

• Luxor Temple — The temple of the royal ka in the heart of the city, visited after dark.

A sunrise hot air balloon flight over the West Bank can be added at extra cost; it needs an afternoon flight to Cairo and depends on the weather. After your last breakfast on board you leave the ship and your guide takes you to Luxor airport for the flight back to Cairo, where our driver meets you and takes you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free.

Your final sightseeing day starts at Saqqara with the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the first pyramid ever built and one of the earliest large stone buildings in the world, and a short stop at Memphis for the fallen colossus of Ramesses II. After lunch you drive to the Citadel of Salah El Din and the alabaster Mohamed Ali Mosque, then walk down Al-Muizz Street, lined with medieval mosques and madrasas, to the Khan el-Khalili bazaar.

• Step Pyramid of Djoser — The first pyramid ever built, at the heart of the Saqqara necropolis.
• Memphis — A short stop at the open-air site of the old capital and its colossus of Ramesses II.
• Salah El Din Citadel — The medieval fortress above Cairo, with the Mohamed Ali Mosque on its summit.
• Al-Muizz Street and Khan el-Khalili Bazaar — The main street of medieval Cairo, ending in the old market for spices, lanterns and silver.

After breakfast and check-out, our driver takes you to Cairo International Airport and our representative helps you through check-in for your flight home.