Classic Egypt in 8 Days: Cairo and the Nile by Air

Breakfast at the hotel, then out to Giza with your guide. You begin at the Great Pyramid of Khufu and work along to Khafre and Menkaure — on foot, or by camel if you would rather — then the Valley Temple, built of granite and alabaster, and the Sphinx at the end of Khafre's causeway. Lunch is at a local restaurant nearby. The afternoon goes to the Grand Egyptian Museum two kilometres east: the Grand Hall with its Ramses II colossus, the Grand Staircase, the main galleries, and the two Tutankhamun rooms holding all 5,398 objects from the tomb.

Overnight: Cairo
Included visits: Great Pyramid, Khafre and Menkaure pyramids, Valley Temple, Sphinx, Grand Egyptian Museum
Meals: Breakfast, lunch
Optional experiences: Entry inside one of the pyramids; camel or horse ride across the plateau; Saqqara and Memphis as a half-day extension; Khan el-Khalili added to the end of the day
Important notes: The GEM runs on timed entry and needs two hours minimum. There is almost no shade at Giza — hat and water.

You check out after breakfast and transfer to Cairo Airport for the flight south, about an hour. Your tour manager meets you at Luxor Airport and drives you to the mooring, where you board and have lunch. The afternoon covers the East Bank: Karnak first, a complex successive pharaohs enlarged across two thousand years, where the Hypostyle Hall's 134 sandstone columns still hold traces of paint high up where the light cannot reach; then Luxor Temple on the corniche. Dinner is on board.

Overnight: On board in Luxor
Included visits: Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Optional experiences: Luxor Temple again after dark, when it is lit; the sound and light show at Karnak
Important notes: Domestic baggage allowance is lower than international — check before you pack. Karnak is large and mostly unshaded.

Breakfast on board, then across the river. Three tombs in the Valley of the Kings come first, cut deep into the limestone with painted ceilings that have survived three thousand years underground. Hatshepsut's mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari follows, terraced directly into the cliff face and built in the fifteenth century BC. The two seated Colossi of Memnon are the last stop. The ship casts off for Edfu in the afternoon, with tea on deck, the spa and the jacuzzi open, and dinner on board.

Overnight: On board
Included visits: Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hatshepsut, Colossi of Memnon
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Optional experiences: Dawn hot-air balloon over the West Bank, before the tour begins; the tombs of Tutankhamun and Seti I, ticketed separately
Important notes: Uneven ground and warm, still air inside the tombs — closed shoes are worth wearing.

Breakfast on board as the ship reaches Edfu. A horse-drawn carriage takes you into town through the farmland — banana plantations, date palms, farmers and fishermen working the same ground they always have — for the Temple of Horus, a Ptolemaic building whose roof and enclosure walls are both intact, making it the most complete pharaonic temple standing anywhere in Egypt. You sail on to Kom Ombo after lunch. That temple stands directly above the riverbank and is built double: twin entrances, twin hypostyle halls and twin sanctuaries, one side for Sobek the crocodile god, the other for Haroeris, Horus the Elder. Sailing continues towards Aswan, with dinner on board.

Overnight: On board
Included visits: Temple of Horus at Edfu, Temple of Sobek and Haroeris at Kom Ombo
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Important notes: Small notes are useful for the carriage drivers at Edfu.

Breakfast on board as you reach Aswan. The Unfinished Obelisk comes first, still lying on its side in the granite quarry where a flaw opened along its length; had it been raised it would have been the largest ever cut. A motorboat then carries you across to Agilkia Island for Philae Temple, dedicated to Isis and dismantled and rebuilt here block by block when the dams raised the water. Lunch and dinner are on board, with the afternoon free.

Overnight: On board in Aswan
Included visits: Unfinished Obelisk, Philae Temple
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Optional experiences: Felucca sail around Elephantine Island at sunset; the Nubian villages by motorboat; the High Dam
Important notes: Philae involves a short boat crossing at each end.

Breakfast on board, then disembarkation with your luggage. If you have booked Abu Simbel, it runs as a pre-dawn departure by road — three hours south to the two temples Ramses II cut into the cliff, both sawn apart and lifted sixty-five metres uphill in the 1960s ahead of the rising lake — and has to be arranged before your last night. Otherwise you transfer to Aswan Airport for the flight north, about an hour and a half. A representative meets you in Cairo and drives you to your hotel for the final night.

Overnight: Cairo
Included visits: None
Meals: Breakfast
Optional experiences: Abu Simbel by road or short flight; a Nile dinner cruise in Cairo
Important notes: Abu Simbel on the departure day only works if your Cairo flight is in the late afternoon or evening — check with us before booking both. Lunch and dinner are not included today.

Breakfast at your hotel, then free time until your transfer. Late checkout can usually be arranged for a fee if you fly in the evening, and reception will hold your luggage if you would rather check out and spend the last hours in the city. Your driver collects you with enough margin for Cairo traffic and airport queues.

Included visits: None
Meals: Breakfast
Important notes: Allow three hours before an international departure.