Nile Package: Cruise and Land

Day 1 Arrive Cairo

Arrival at Cairo International airport and meet your Tour Coordinator who will escort you to your Cairo hotel an air-conditioned vehicle. Overnight in Cairo.

Day 2 Great Pyramids of Giza / Sphinx / Sakkara / Memphis

Enjoy a breakfast buffet at your hotel before meeting your Egypt Tour Operator for the day. Enjoy the legendary sights of the following excursions:

Pyramids: Your Egyptologist will escort you on an unforgettable tour of the Great Pyramids of Giza. The only present-day survivors of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, they are among the world’s greatest tourist attractions and never lose their ability to inspire and overwhelm visitors. Your tour today includes an opportunity to enter inside one of these fabulous monuments and explore the mysteries of its ancient past for yourself.

Sphinx: Enter the temple of the mysterious Sphinx, an ancient figure shrouded in legend and mystery. Your Egyptologist will enthrall you with the tales told of this fascinating figure.

Sakkara: Experience Egypt’s long and rich history in our exciting double tour to the city of Memphis and the necropolis of Sakkara. At vast Sakkara, you will see the famous Step Pyramid of King Zoser, the first freestanding stone structure in the world. Our Egyptologist will guide you to some tombs belonging to the nobles of the past. They show the beauty and excellence of Ancient Egyptian art on their walls and give an insight in the daily life of Ancient Egypt.

Memphis: At the site of Memphis, you will see the ancient capital that once stood as a flourishing metropolis during the time of the Pharaohs. The place is thickly surrounded by lush palm groves and bushes, isolating the site of the old city from modern civilization. Return to your hotel that evening after a day full of adventure.

Day 3 Luxor / Embark on Sun Boat IV / Valley of the Kings & Queens

Enjoy a buffet breakfast at your hotel prior to checkout. Transfer to the Cairo Domestic airport where you will board your short flight to Luxor.

Prior to embarking the Sun Boat IV for your Egyptian river cruise, visit the Temple of Karnak, built over more than a thousand years by generations of Pharaohs. The great “Hypostyle Hall” is an incredible forest of giant pillars, covering an area larger than the whole of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Continue on to your 5-star deluxe Nile cruise boat, the “Sun Boat IV”, moored in a private dock in Aswan. On board, you will be welcomed by the reception staff, who will offer you chilled fruit juice while assisting with your check-in. Enjoy lunch served on board.

This afternoon visit the West Bank of Luxor to explore the Valley of the Kings, a vast City of the Dead where magnificent tombs were carved into the desert rocks, decorated richly, and filled with treasures for the afterlife by generations of Pharaohs. You will also have the chance to visit at least one tomb in the Valley of the Queens.

Continue to Hatshepsut Temple - Rising out of the desert plain in a series of terraces, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Ancient Egypt’s only female Pharaoh) merges with the sheer limestone cliffs that surround it, as if nature herself had built this extraordinary monument. On the way back to the river Nile, your road passes by the famed Colossi of Memnon, known in Ancient Greek times for their haunting voices at dawn.

Enjoy a cocktail reception this evening and be greeted by the Boat Manager who will introduce you to the boat staff and review on-board facilities and your cruise program for the next few days. Complimentary cocktail and a selection of canapés will be served prior to your gourmet dinner on board.

Day 4 Qena / Denderah

Awake to your breakfast buffet on board while you cruise northwards to Qena, a particularly alluring part of Upper Egypt's landscape.

Visit the Ptolemaic Temple of Goddess Hathor in Denderah. This wonderfully preserved temple complex is a rare sight to behold, complete with a massive stone roof, dark chambers, underground passages and towering columns inscribed with hieroglyphs. The main Temple of Hathor is almost intact. Hathor was the goddess or pleasure and of love, usually represented as a cow, or a woman with a cow’s head. She was the beneficent deity of maternal and family love, of beauty and light; the Greeks associated her with Aphrodite. Return to your boat for lunch during sailing back to Luxor.

This afternoon, your Egyptologist will guide you on a tour of the East Bank of Luxor, to the strikingly graceful Temple of Luxor dedicated to the God Amun. Return to your ship for the gourmet dinner followed by a belly dancer, accompanied by a whirling dervish show.

Day 5 Edfu Temple / Kom Ombo Temple

Linger over your breakfast buffet while your ship cruises the scenic Nile to Edfu. Upon arrival, explore the largest and most completely preserved Pharaonic – albeit Greek-built – temple in Egypt, the extraordinary Temple of Horus at Edfu.

Return to your ship for Afternoon tea and enjoy the passing scenery while cruising to Kom Ombo. Take part in a Egyptian cooking lesson presented on board this afternoon.

Later this afternoon visit the Temple of Kom Ombo, dedicated to the crocodile-god Sobek. The temple stands at a bend in the Nile where in ancient times sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the riverbank.

Tonight’s dinner on board will be an “Egyptian Night” costume party for all guests, with a chance to dress up in traditional Egyptian “galabeyya”. Dinner will be a lavish buffet of Egyptian specialties, followed by oriental music and dancing for everyone.

Day 6 Philae Temple / Felucca Ride

Sail to Aswan this morning over breakfast. Take a short motorboat ride to visit the romantic and majestic Philae Temple on the Island of Agilka.

Next proceed to the Granite Quarries, which supplied the ancient Egyptians with most of the hard stone used in pyramids and temples, and still hold a huge unfinished obelisk.

In the afternoon proceed (weather permitting) by taking a ride on a felucca, a typical Egyptian sail boat, around Elephantine Island, Lord Kitchener’s Botanical Gardens, and the Agha Khan Mausoleum (life jackets will be provided).

Enjoy your afternoon tea served in the lounge with a trio of authentic Egyptian musicians. Tonight’s farewell dinner will be a gala dinner (jacket required), with white-gloved waiters serving gourmet cuisine.

Day 7 Disembark / Cairo

Buffet breakfast on board, and check out. Your Tour Coordinator will escort you to Aswan airport for your brief return flight to Cairo. Arrive at the Cairo domestic airport & transfer to your hotel, check in and overnight in Cairo.

Day 8 Egyptian Museum of Antiquities / Khan El-Khalili Bazaar

After a buffet breakfast at your hotel your Egyptologist will escort you on a fascinating tour of 7,000 years of Egyptian history with a visit to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. The Museum houses the world’s greatest collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts, including 12 rooms filled with golden treasures from the world-famous tomb of the boy-king Tutenkhamun.

Take a fascinating tour of Islamic Cairo, including the beautiful and graceful Mohamed Ali Mosque and the ancient Citadel, a spectacular medieval fortress perched on a hill above the city. Originally built by Salah El-Din in 1176 to fortify the city against the Crusaders, the Citadel was modified and enlarged over the centuries by subsequent rulers and today is a complex of three mosques and four museums.

Proceed to the fascinating Khan El-Khalili Bazaar – reputed to be the largest bazaar in the Middle East. Originally founded as a watering stop for caravanserai in the 14th century, the bazaar has now grown to vast proportions. As you wander through the labyrinth of narrow streets you will find workshops and stalls selling all manner of things from woodwork, glassware and leather goods to perfumes, fabrics and Pharaonic curiosities. Remember to bargain hard! Return to your hotel and enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.

Day 9 Cairo / Return Home

Have a buffet breakfast at hotel before checking out and transfer to Cairo International airport for your departure flight back home. BON VOYAGE!