9-Day Classic Egypt Tour
Cairo · Luxor · Aswan
Year-roundStarting From
from $2,090 pp
Six Offices in Egypt · Since 1988 | IATA · ETAA · Class-A Licensed
Private tours, Nile River cruises, and tailor-made itineraries for American travelers – planned and operated by our Egypt-based team across six offices, not resold.
Or speak to our Cairo team – US-friendly hours, Monday to Saturday.
IATA Accredited
#90255546
ETAA Member
#718
Egyptian Tourism
Class-A Licensed
Operating Since
1988
Cairo Ground Support
24/7 WhatsApp
Verified Reviews
World-class antiquity · A fraction of European tour pricing
The transatlantic flight is the only hard part. Once you land in Cairo you get Pyramids in the morning, a Nile River cruise past temples your children read about in school, and Red Sea beaches at the end – for a fully-private trip that costs less than a comparable itinerary through Italy or Greece, with antiquity three thousand years older. The Grand Egyptian Museum opened beside the Pyramids in 2026, displaying the complete Tutankhamun collection for the first time in history.
IATA-accredited (#90255546) · ETAA member #718 · Class-A licensed by the Egyptian Tourism Authority.
Start with your time
The length of your vacation shapes the entire experience. 8 days is the perfect first Egypt trip from the US – long enough for Cairo plus a Nile cruise, short enough to fit a regular vacation. Here's the ladder.
8d
Cairo + Nile Cruise
Best for · First-timers
Pyramids, the Grand Egyptian Museum, and a 4-night cruise from Luxor to Aswan. Our most-booked first vacation.
From $1,790 pp · land only
Browse 8-day trips →10d
Cairo, Nile + Alexandria
Best for · Add the Med
Classic 8-day route, then north to Alexandria – where the pharaohs end and the Mediterranean begins.
From $2,290 pp · land only
Browse 10-day trips →12d
Cairo, Nile + Red Sea
Best for · Sweet spot
Classic trail paired with three nights on the Red Sea – Hurghada or Marsa Alam – to unwind after the temples.
From $2,890 pp · land only
Browse 12-day trips →15d
Egypt In Depth · Red Sea + Alexandria
Best for · The full picture
Cairo, Nile cruise, Red Sea beaches, and Alexandria – the complete antiquity-to-Mediterranean arc.
From $3,890 pp · land only
Browse 15-day trips →Hand-Curated · Most-Booked
Each one is a starting point – swap the cruise tier, add Alexandria or the Red Sea, drop a day in Cairo. Tell us what to change.
Browse All Packages
Cairo · Luxor · Aswan
Year-roundStarting From
from $2,090 pp
Cairo · Nile cruise · Aswan
Year-roundStarting From
from $3,690 pp
Aswan · Kom Ombo · Edfu · Luxor
Weekly departuresStarting From
from $1,490 pp
Cairo · Luxor · Hurghada
Year-roundStarting From
from $2,490 pp
Cairo · Luxor · Aswan · Red Sea
Year-roundStarting From
from $2,290 pp
Cairo · Nile cruise · Hurghada
Year-roundStarting From
from $3,290 pp
Don't see your trip here? We operate 43 multi-day itineraries and customize every one.
Build Something DifferentSample Itinerary
First three days below. The full day-by-day walkthrough – Pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum, fly to Luxor for Karnak and the Valley of the Kings, a 4-night Nile cruise to Aswan, optional Abu Simbel – lives on its own page.
Everything we do
Every product is run from our own six Egypt offices. Either we plan the whole vacation, or you book the one piece you need.
Full Vacation
We plan and run the whole trip, end-to-end. Tailor-made for first-timers and returning travelers alike.
Individual Components
Just one component – book it directly, or hand us the gaps and we'll fill them around what you already have.
For Independent TravelersTravel agent or tour operator? NET rates, ground handling and group programs via our B2B brand.
The Nile
Decide on the kind of cruise first – five-star ship, traditional dahabiya, or Lake Nasser sailing. The specific vessel comes after.
Most-booked
103
vessels
3, 4 or 7 nights · Luxor ↔ Aswan
The floating-hotel format. Pool deck, fixed schedule, every Luxor and Aswan temple covered with a private Egyptologist. Cabin tiers from comfort to ultra-deluxe.
Browse 103 cruise ships
Slow & private
43
sailing yachts
4–8 nights · mostly private charter
Traditional twin-masted sailing yachts – 6 to 12 cabins, no engine while moving, moors at temples the bigger ships skip. Most are whole-boat charter only; individual cabin sales are rare and book out months ahead.
Browse 43 dahabiyas
Nubian temples
1
route, 4 vessels
3 or 4 nights · Aswan ↔ Abu Simbel
South of the Aswan High Dam – sails to the rescued Nubian temple complexes (Wadi El Seboua, Amada, Kasr Ibrim, Abu Simbel). The original way to arrive at Ramesses II.
Browse Lake NasserIncluded on every cruise
Our Egypt team
When you book with Discovery Tours Egypt, you're not routed through a call center. Your itinerary is designed by one of our senior consultants, confirmed with our Cairo operations desk, and handed to a vetted Egyptologist guide on the day. Every member of our team is based in Egypt – across six offices in Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Hurghada, Marsa Alam, and Sharm El Sheikh.
Aggregator platforms resell what they don't operate. We operate what we sell.
Hassany
Group & Custom Trip Coordinator, Cairo
Coordinates group itineraries and custom trips from our Cairo office. Known for meticulous pre-trip briefings and keeping every transfer and guide on schedule.
Speaks English · Arabic
Hesham
Senior Egyptologist Guide, Nile Valley
Leads private guided tours across Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan. Guests say he turns hieroglyphics into conversation – and turns temples into stories you remember.
Speaks English · Arabic
Suhaila
Client Experience Manager
First point of contact from booking to departure. Manages the pre-trip details that make Egypt feel effortless when you land.
Speaks English · Arabic
Mohamed
Private Tour Guide, Nile Valley
Expert guide across the Nile Valley and Cairo. His guests say they left feeling like they'd made a friend – one who happened to know every temple in Egypt.
Speaks English · Arabic
Where We Operate · Six Offices
Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, and the Red Sea coast – wherever your vacation takes you, our staff are already there. Six offices, thirty-six years, one operator with skin in the game.
Every category below is a curated list of currently bookable trips – updated as we open new dates, retire seasonal cruises, and add new excursions.
Special Occasions · By The Date
Christmas on the Nile, the 2027 total eclipse over Luxor, Easter, summer, spring break – different months, different itineraries. Each pillar is honest about what works and what we'd talk you out of.
Honest Answers ·
Answered by our Cairo consultants – not written by an algorithm.
Yes. Egypt's main tourist destinations - Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, the Red Sea coast - are open and operating normally for American visitors. The US State Department's current Egypt advisory is Level 1 (Exercise Normal Precautions) for these areas. Tourist-site security is robust, well-organized, and visible.
With six offices across Egypt - Cairo head office plus Luxor, Aswan, Hurghada, Marsa Alam, and Sharm El Sheikh - our staff are on the ground every day, monitoring conditions in real time. We never run itineraries near the North Sinai border zone or the Libyan frontier - those are the specific areas flagged at higher US advisory levels. The Nile Valley, Cairo, and the Red Sea coast are where we work, and they're as safe and well-run as any Mediterranean destination.
Yes. US passport holders need an Egypt visa. The easiest online route is the Egypt e-Visa at visa2egypt.gov.eg - single entry, $30, takes 3-5 business days. We can also arrange a visa-on-arrival at Cairo or any international arrivals airport in Egypt for $35 - your stamp is ready when you land, no queuing. Your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond your entry date.
We include complete e-Visa guidance with every confirmed booking, including the application link and step-by-step instructions. If you'd rather not deal with the application, our $35 arrival visa service handles it - we have the stamp ready before you reach immigration. If you're flying into Sharm El-Sheikh and staying only in South Sinai, a separate free entry stamp is available on arrival, but it does not cover Cairo or the Nile Valley.
A 10-day private Egypt tour with a 5-night Nile cruise - Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan - typically runs $2,500–$4,500 per person depending on accommodation tier. Budget-minded travelers can do a solid 8-day trip from around $1,990 pp. Luxury and fully private tours with five-star hotels start around $5,000 pp.
Our prices include all ground transportation, private Egyptologist guiding, hotel accommodation, and Nile cruise. International flights are separate - we can arrange these or work with your own bookings. Peak season (October–March) is 15–20% higher than April–June. Group travel reduces per-person cost significantly. We price all four accommodation tiers so you can compare.
October through April is the prime window for American travelers - temperatures in the Nile Valley sit in the 70–85°F range, skies are clear, and the light for photography is exceptional. November through February is peak season and Nile cruises book out fast. March and April offer near-perfect weather with slightly smaller crowds.
Thanksgiving week and spring break are our most popular US travel windows. July and August in Luxor and Aswan reach 105–115°F - manageable with early-morning touring, but not ideal for a first visit. Red Sea beach extensions work year-round, so combining a Cairo and Nile Valley tour with a few days on the water is a great all-weather strategy.
Eight days (7 nights) is the perfect first Egypt vacation from the US - Cairo (3 nights) plus a 4-night Nile cruise covers the Pyramids, the Grand Egyptian Museum, Luxor, and Aswan without feeling rushed. Add Alexandria and you're at 10 days; add Red Sea beaches and you reach 12; combine both for the full 15-day Egypt-to-Mediterranean arc.
12–15 days is the sweet spot we recommend to American clients with flexibility - you fully decompress from the transatlantic flight, add Red Sea downtime after the temples, and finish relaxed rather than exhausted. Every itinerary is modular, so adding days is straightforward. The shortest trip we'd recommend booking is 8 days - anything shorter, and the flights start to outweigh the time on the ground.
Yes - the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) at Giza is fully open as of 2026. It is the largest archaeological museum ever built, displaying the complete Tutankhamun collection - all 5,398 objects from the boy king's tomb - together for the first time in history, alongside more than 100,000 other artifacts spanning 7,000 years. It sits within walking distance of the Pyramids of Giza, so a single morning covers both.
Every Egypt itinerary we build for 2026 includes the GEM as a half-day private guided visit. Plan three to four hours minimum - the Tutankhamun galleries alone take an hour, and the Grand Staircase with Ramesses II's colossus is one of the most photographed museum spaces in the world right now. The old Egyptian Museum at Tahrir Square remains open with a different (still excellent) collection - many of our guests visit both. We pre-book skip-the-line entry; arrival times matter to avoid peak coach traffic.
Or ask us directly – reply within a few hours.
For American travelers
Our Travelers
“Every transfer, every guide, every hotel pickup was on time. You feel like you're in the hands of people who actually live and breathe Egypt – because they do.”
Brooke G.
Private tour · Tampa, FL
“I worked with Discovery Tours to host a group trip to Egypt and it was seamless from beginning to end. Hassany was a great coordinator and helped tailor the trip perfectly.”
Lena S.
Group trip · Boston, MA
“Our guide Mohamed went above and beyond to make our time in Egypt special. We said goodbye to a friend at the end. Totally recommend booking with Discovery.”
Corey C.
Private tour · Austin, TX
Planning resources written by our Cairo team. The questions every American traveler actually asks, answered straight.
Travel Intelligence
What every American traveler asks before Giza: current ticket prices, what's optional, and how to budget.
Travel Intelligence
Side-by-side guide to picking the right Red Sea stop after your Nile cruise.
Travel Intelligence
Context every first-time visitor wants – the river's role in the world's longest civilization.
October through April is peak season – ideal temperatures for the Pyramids and Nile Valley. For 2026, March and November are the sweet spots: good weather without December pricing. May is underrated if you can avoid midday temple visits. We operate year-round in climate-controlled vehicles.
Egypt's tourist regions – Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, and the Red Sea coast – are Level 1 per the US State Department (exercise normal precautions). We have operated since 1988 without a safety incident affecting a client. Every vehicle is tracked, every guide is personally vetted, and our Cairo operations desk monitors conditions daily.
Yes – it's the single best decision a first-time visitor can make. A 3–4 night cruise between Luxor and Aswan covers Karnak, Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo, and Philae without a single long road transfer. Our curated vessels range from deluxe to ultra-luxury dahabiyas.
8–10 nights covers Cairo, a 3-night Nile cruise, and Aswan without rushing. Add the Red Sea (2 nights minimum) or Abu Simbel and plan for 12. Under 7 nights and the transatlantic flight starts to dominate the trip.
US citizens can apply online at visa2egypt.gov.eg ($30, 3–5 business days). We also offer an arrival visa service ($35) – your stamp is ready at immigration, no queue. Your passport must be valid at least 6 months beyond your entry date.
We are Egypt-based – not a US booking agent forwarding your reservation to a local operator. Our consultants live and work in Cairo, our guides are directly employed (not subcontracted), and pricing goes direct to supplier. No middleman markups. Established in Cairo since 1988 – 38 years on the ground.
Trade & B2B
US travel agencies, tour operators, honeymoon specialists, and MICE planners: skip the aggregator. Get direct access to our NET rates, white-label itinerary builds, and six-office ground coordination across Egypt.
Ready to plan
Tell me your dates, your group size, and what kind of Egypt trip you've been imagining – I'll send 2–3 options with honest pricing within a few hours. No algorithm. A person who works in Cairo.
– Suhaila, Client Experience Manager, Cairo
Reach us directly
info@discoverytoursegypt.com
Email our planning desk
Start a planning conversation
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Six offices in Egypt
Cairo · Luxor · Aswan · Hurghada · Marsa Alam · Sharm El Sheikh