8-Day Egypt Tour from Cairo to Luxor by Air with Nile Cruise

After breakfast, meet your private Egyptologist and travel to the Giza Plateau. Explore the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx and the Valley Temple, with time at the panoramic viewpoint for photographs across all three pyramids.

Continue for lunch at a local Egyptian restaurant, followed by a visit to the Grand Egyptian Museum, where the complete treasures of Tutankhamun are displayed together for the first time. Return privately to your hotel; your evening is free.

Overnight in: Cairo – Le Riad de Charme (Diamond) or Hilton Pyramids Golf Hotel / Triumph Luxury Hotel (Golden)
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Visits: Giza Pyramids, Sphinx, Valley Temple, Grand Egyptian Museum
Signature Experience: Private Egyptologist-guided touring at your own pace, with no group to keep up with
Optional Premium Experience: Interior entry to the Great Pyramid can be arranged at additional cost.
Good to Know: Dinner this evening is not included, leaving you free to try Cairo's restaurants. Your guide can recommend and reserve.

Transfer privately to Cairo Airport for your included flight to Luxor, arriving in around an hour. You are met on arrival and taken to your Nile cruise vessel to settle into your cabin — the point where your 8 days Egypt tour moves onto the river.

In the afternoon, join your cruise sightseeing group for the vast Karnak Temple Complex, where the Great Hypostyle Hall's 134 columns still carry traces of their original color, and the ceremonial Luxor Temple, linked to Karnak by the restored Avenue of Sphinxes. Dinner is served on board.

Overnight in: Nile cruise vessel, moored in Luxor – Dwa Nile Cruise (Diamond) or MS Salacia (Golden)
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Visits: Karnak Temple Complex, Luxor Temple, Avenue of Sphinxes
Signature Experience: Cairo in the morning, moored on the Nile at Luxor by evening
Good to Know: Sightseeing from the cruise is a shared group excursion with an accompanying Egyptologist. Your Cairo touring is private; the cruise portion is not. Domestic flight times are confirmed by airline availability and may require an early departure. Baggage allowance is 1 checked bag up to 23 kg (50 lb) plus 1 cabin bag up to 7 kg (15 lb) per guest.

After breakfast on board, cross to the West Bank to descend into the painted burial chambers of the Valley of the Kings, where the New Kingdom pharaohs were laid to rest beneath the Theban hills.

Continue to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, rising in three colonnaded terraces against the cliff face, and pause at the Colossi of Memnon. Return to the vessel for lunch as it casts off for Edfu, with the afternoon free on deck. Dinner is served on board.

Overnight in: Nile cruise vessel, moored in Edfu
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Visits: Valley of the Kings, Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Colossi of Memnon
Signature Experience: An afternoon on the sun deck as the vessel sails south through the Nile Valley
Good to Know: Sightseeing today is a shared group excursion with an accompanying Egyptologist.

Travel by horse-drawn carriage from the mooring to the Temple of Horus at Edfu — the most completely preserved temple in Egypt, its roof, columns and sanctuary still intact after centuries buried in sand.

Back on board, the vessel sails to Kom Ombo and its unusual double temple, shared between the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon-headed Haroeris, with the mummified crocodiles of the adjoining museum nearby. Continue sailing to Aswan, with dinner served on board.

Overnight in: Nile cruise vessel, moored in Aswan
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Visits: Temple of Horus at Edfu, Temple of Kom Ombo
Signature Experience: The horse-drawn carriage ride from the riverbank to Edfu's temple gate
Good to Know: Sightseeing today is a shared group excursion with an accompanying Egyptologist.

After breakfast, visit the Unfinished Obelisk lying in its ancient granite quarry, still attached to the bedrock that cracked beneath it — the clearest surviving evidence of how Egypt's monoliths were cut.

Continue by motorboat to Philae Temple on its island setting, dedicated to Isis and Hathor and rescued stone by stone from the rising waters of the High Dam. Return to the vessel, moored at Aswan, for lunch, an afternoon at leisure and dinner on board.

Overnight in: Nile cruise vessel, moored in Aswan
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Visits: Unfinished Obelisk, Philae Temple
Signature Experience: Approaching Philae by motorboat, the temple rising from its island as you cross
Good to Know: Sightseeing today is a shared group excursion with an accompanying Egyptologist.

Breakfast on board, then disembark and transfer to Aswan Airport for your included flight back to Cairo, arriving in around an hour. You are met and transferred privately to your hotel for your final night, with the rest of the day at leisure.

Guests who want to add Egypt's most remote monument can join the optional Abu Simbel excursion to the Great Temple of Ramses II and the Temple of Queen Nefertari, both relocated in their entirety to save them from Lake Nasser.

Overnight in: Cairo – Le Riad de Charme (Diamond) or Hilton Pyramids Golf Hotel / Triumph Luxury Hotel (Golden)
Meals: Breakfast
Visits: —
Signature Experience: A final Cairo night that protects your international departure day, rather than flying out the moment you disembark
Optional Premium Experience: Abu Simbel group excursion, $130 per person, visiting the Temple of Ramses II and the Temple of Queen Nefertari. Book in advance.
Good to Know: Domestic flight times are confirmed by airline availability and may require an early departure. Baggage allowance is 1 checked bag up to 23 kg (50 lb) plus 1 cabin bag up to 7 kg (15 lb) per guest. Lunch and dinner are not included today

Enjoy breakfast and a relaxed final morning. Depending on your flight time, luggage storage can be arranged at the hotel should you wish to spend a few last hours in the city.

Your private air-conditioned vehicle and representative collect you at the appointed time and transfer you to Cairo International Airport, where you are assisted through check-in and security for your onward flight.

Overnight in: —
Meals: Breakfast
Visits: —
Signature Experience: Private departure transfer with airport check-in assistance
Good to Know: Standard check-out is 12:00. Late check-out is subject to availability and a supplement.