16-Day Egypt Tour: Cairo, Upper Egypt & White Desert

Your driver meets you in the arrivals hall at Cairo Airport and takes you to your hotel. Rest after your flight. In the evening you are collected for a Nile dinner cruise: about two hours on the river with a buffet and a live show, and the lights of Cairo along the banks.

A full day with your Egyptologist, with the Giza visit taking 4 to 6 hours. Start on the plateau with the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure and the Great Sphinx. After lunch you go on to the Grand Egyptian Museum for the Tutankhamun collection and the great statues of the Old and New Kingdoms. Your guide, the entrance fees and the vehicle are all included.

Two visits today. You see the Citadel of Saladin, the hilltop fortress that ruled Cairo for centuries, and then the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, about four hours with the main exhibition hall and the Royal Mummies Hall. A set lunch is served near the museum. Your Egyptologist guide, the entrance fees and the private vehicle are included.

A day south of Cairo among the earliest pyramids. At Saqqara you see the Step Pyramid, built for King Djoser. Memphis was Egypt's first capital, and its open-air museum holds a colossal statue of Ramses II. At Dahshur you see the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid. Your guide, the entrance fees and the vehicle are included. Lunch is not part of the day, so your guide can suggest a stop.

You transfer to Cairo Airport for the flight to Aswan, with sightseeing arranged around the airline's schedule. A driver takes you to Aswan, where your guide shows you the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk and, by boat, Philae Temple on its island. You also visit a Nubian village. Guide, entrance fees and transport are included. You spend three nights in Aswan.

A full day by road to Abu Simbel, so the start is early. Ramses II cut the Great Temple and the smaller temple of Nefertari into the cliff, and in the 1960s both were moved to higher ground when Lake Nasser rose. Entrance fees, an English-speaking guide and the transport are included. You return to your Aswan hotel in the evening. Lunch is not part of this day, so your guide can suggest a stop.

A slower day on the river. A private motorboat takes you to Elephantine Island, with its ruins and Nubian houses, and to the Aswan Botanical Garden on Kitchener's Island. The rest of the day is free, to walk the corniche or rest before the drive to Luxor tomorrow.

You drive north from Aswan to Luxor and stop on the way. Kom Ombo is the double temple of the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon god Horus, standing on the riverbank. The Temple of Horus at Edfu is one of the best-preserved temples in Egypt. Your guide, the entrance fees and the vehicle are included. You then arrive in Luxor for four nights.

With your Egyptologist you visit Karnak, the largest temple complex in Egypt, with its forest of columns, and Luxor Temple near the river. You then see the Luxor Museum and the Mummification Museum. Guide, entrance fees and transport between sites are included.

Cross to the West Bank, where the pharaohs built their tombs. You visit the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari, the Colossi of Memnon, Medinet Habu and the Valley of the Queens. It is a full day, and much of it is outdoors with little shade. Your guide, the entrance fees and the vehicle are included.

A full day trip north of Luxor. Dendera is the temple of Hathor, with a famous ceiling of the zodiac, and Abydos is the temple of Seti I and a sacred site of Osiris. You travel by air-conditioned vehicle with your Egyptologist, and entrance fees and lunch at a local restaurant are included, with a bottle of water each.

You transfer to Luxor Airport for the flight to Cairo. Flight times follow the airline's schedule, so the day is arranged around it. In Cairo you spend about eight hours with your Egyptologist: the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, Coptic Cairo, Islamic Cairo and the Khan el-Khalili bazaar, with lunch at a local restaurant. Entrance fees to the listed sites are included.

The two-day White Desert trip begins. A private vehicle drives you from Cairo to Bahariya Oasis, where a local desert driver-guide takes over with a 4x4. You cross the Black Desert, stop at Crystal Mountain and reach the White Desert for sunset among its chalk rock shapes. Lunch and dinner are served today.

You sleep in a simple camp: a tent, a mattress, a sleeping bag and blankets, with shared facilities. We confirm the camp arrangements and the final price for the desert part with you before you pay.

Watch the sun rise over the White Desert, then have breakfast at the camp. The 4x4 and your private vehicle take you back to Cairo, where you reach your hotel. The afternoon is free to rest, shop or wash off the desert dust.

A day trip of about ten hours to the Fayoum, a green oasis southwest of Cairo. You see Lake Qarun, the lakes and waterfalls of Wadi El Rayan and the old waterwheels of Fayoum city. A private English-speaking guide and a private vehicle are included, as is lunch at a local restaurant. It is a quiet last full day before you go home.