Egypt in 9 Days: Cairo, Aswan, a Felucca Night and Luxor
Overview
This trip costs less than the cruise-based versions because of how you move and where you sleep, not because of what you see. The site list is the same one the expensive itineraries run: Giza, the Grand Egyptian Museum, Philae, Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Karnak, Luxor Temple and the Valley of the Kings. What changes is that you travel south and north by sleeper train rather than by air, and you spend one night on a felucca instead of four on a 5-star ship.
Cairo opens and closes the trip. The first full day covers the Giza Plateau — Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, then the Sphinx at the end of the causeway — and the Grand Egyptian Museum two kilometres east, where the complete Tutankhamun assemblage sits in two purpose-built galleries: 5,398 objects from one tomb, together for the first time since Howard Carter cleared it in 1922. You board the night train south that same evening.
Aswan is where the trip stops resembling a standard itinerary. Philae, dedicated to Isis, is reached by motorboat from the jetty — the temple was dismantled and rebuilt block by block on Agilkia Island when the dams raised the water behind the town. Lunch is in a Nubian village, in a house rather than a restaurant, which is the kind of thing that usually costs extra. Abu Simbel takes the following morning: three hours south by road to the two temples Ramses II cut into the cliff face, themselves sawn apart and lifted sixty-five metres uphill in the 1960s to keep them above the rising lake. You return to Aswan and board a felucca — no engine, no cabins, mattresses on deck and dinner cooked on board. It is the cheapest night of the trip and the one people talk about afterwards.
The drive north to Luxor takes in the two temples the cruises stop at anyway. Kom Ombo is built double, one half for Sobek the crocodile god and a mirrored half for Haroeris, Horus the Elder. Edfu still has its roof and enclosure walls intact, which makes it the most complete pharaonic temple standing in Egypt.
Luxor gets two full days rather than the half-day the river schedules allow. Karnak, enlarged by one pharaoh after another across two thousand years, and Luxor Temple on the corniche take the first. The West Bank takes the second: three tombs in the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's terraced temple at Deir el-Bahari, and the Colossi of Memnon. You take the night train back to Cairo, and the final day covers Coptic Cairo and Khan el-Khalili before dinner in a family home.
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Daily Itinerary
Your representative meets you inside Cairo International Airport, past passport control, holding a sign with your name. They handle the arrival formalities, wait while your luggage comes through and walk you out to a waiting air-conditioned vehicle. The drive into the city runs from 40 minutes to well over an hour depending on traffic. Your guide confirms tomorrow's pickup at check-in. The rest of the day is unscheduled.
Overnight: Cairo
Included visits: None
Meals: None
Important notes: Airport pickup is included whatever time you arrive.
Breakfast at the hotel, then out to Giza. You start at the Great Pyramid of Khufu, work along to Khafre and Menkaure, and stop at the panorama point where all three sit in one frame. The Sphinx comes last. The afternoon goes to the Grand Egyptian Museum, where the full Tutankhamun collection is displayed together. You transfer to Giza railway station in the evening for the sleeper train to Aswan, with dinner served in your cabin.
Overnight: Sleeper train
Included visits: Great Pyramid, Khafre and Menkaure pyramids, Sphinx, Grand Egyptian Museum
Meals: Breakfast, dinner
Optional experiences: Entry inside one of the pyramids; camel or horse ride across the plateau
Important notes: The GEM runs timed entry and needs two hours minimum. Cabins are compact — pack an overnight bag and let the rest travel stowed. Lunch is not included today.
The train reaches Aswan in the morning and your guide meets you on the platform. A motorboat carries you across to Agilkia Island for Philae Temple. Lunch is in a Nubian village on the west bank, in a family home rather than a restaurant, with time to see the painted houses and hear how the community was resettled when Lake Nasser filled. You check into your Aswan hotel in the afternoon with the evening free.
Overnight: Aswan
Included visits: Philae Temple, Nubian village
Meals: Breakfast, lunch
Optional experiences: Felucca sail around Elephantine Island at sunset; the Unfinished Obelisk and the High Dam as an add-on
Important notes: Philae involves a short boat crossing at each end.
A pre-dawn start for the drive south, roughly three hours across the desert. The great temple Ramses II cut for himself and the smaller one for Nefertari were both dismantled and lifted to higher ground in the 1960s ahead of the rising lake, and the joins in the rock are visible if you look. You return to Aswan in the afternoon and board a felucca — a wooden sailing boat with no engine and no cabins. Dinner is cooked on board and you sleep on deck under blankets.
Overnight: Felucca on the Nile
Included visits: Abu Simbel
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Optional experiences: Abu Simbel by short flight instead of road, at a supplement
Important notes: Abu Simbel runs as a shared excursion, not a private one, and it is six hours of driving plus the site. The felucca is basic — mattresses and blankets on deck, a simple shared toilet, no shower, no power. Nights on the water are cold from November through February, so bring a fleece. Pack a small overnight bag; larger luggage travels separately to Luxor.
You disembark after breakfast and drive north, stopping twice. Kom Ombo sits directly above the riverbank, doubled between Sobek and Haroeris with the two halves mirrored across a shared axis. Edfu follows, where the Temple of Horus stands with its roof intact and the Horus and Seth story carved in sequence along the inner walls. You reach Luxor in the late afternoon and check into your hotel.
Overnight: Luxor
Included visits: Temple of Sobek and Haroeris at Kom Ombo, Temple of Horus at Edfu
Meals: Breakfast, lunch
Important notes: Around four hours of driving spread across the day, with the two temple stops breaking it up.
Karnak first, which needs a couple of hours and is best done before the heat builds — the Hypostyle Hall's 134 sandstone columns still carry traces of paint high up where the light does not reach. Luxor Temple follows on the corniche, joined to Karnak by an avenue of sphinxes now cleared along its full length. The afternoon is free.
Overnight: Luxor
Included visits: Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple
Meals: Breakfast, lunch
Optional experiences: Luxor Temple again after dark, when it is lit; the sound and light show at Karnak; a felucca hour on the river
Important notes: Karnak is large and mostly unshaded.
Across the river after breakfast. Three tombs in the Valley of the Kings come first, cut deep into the limestone with their painted ceilings intact. Hatshepsut's mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari follows, terraced into the cliff face, and the two seated Colossi of Memnon are the last stop. You check out, with free time in Luxor before the evening transfer to the railway station for the sleeper train to Cairo. Dinner is served in your cabin.
Overnight: Sleeper train
Included visits: Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hatshepsut, Colossi of Memnon
Meals: Breakfast, 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. Reception will hold your bags after checkout.
Breakfast on board, then disembarkation with your luggage. Karnak comes first, which needs a couple of hours and is best done before the heat builds, then Luxor Temple on the corniche. You drive east across the desert to Hurghada in the afternoon, roughly three and a half hours. Dinner is at your own arrangement in Hurghada.
Overnight: Hurghada
Included visits: Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple
Meals: Breakfast
Optional experiences: Luxor Temple after dark before departure, if your transfer allows
Important notes: A packed lunch can be arranged from the ship — ask reception the night before, since the drive runs through the middle of the day.
Nothing is scheduled. The reef sits close enough to shore across most of Hurghada that a mask and fins will show you plenty, and dive boats leave every morning. Your representative can arrange anything you want on the day.
Overnight: Hurghada
Included visits: None
Meals: Breakfast
Optional experiences: Snorkeling and diving trips; a day sail to Giftun Island; quad or jeep safari into the eastern desert; glass-bottom boat
Important notes: Reef-safe sunscreen is worth bringing. Coral is protected — standing on it carries fines.
A second free day, arranged as you want it. If you took a boat trip yesterday, this is the day to stay put; if you have been on the go for a week, both days on a lounger is a reasonable use of them.
Overnight: Hurghada
Included visits: None
Meals: Breakfast
Optional experiences: As above
Breakfast at your resort, then a transfer to Hurghada Airport for the short flight north, under an hour. Your representative meets you at Cairo Airport and drives you to your hotel. The evening is free.
Overnight: Cairo
Included visits: None
Meals: Breakfast
Optional experiences: A Nile dinner cruise; a half-day of Islamic Cairo and Khan el-Khalili if your flight lands early enough
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 bags 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.
What's Included
- Airport meet-and-greet by our representative on arrival and departure
- Private air-conditioned vehicle for all transfers
- Two nights in Cairo on a bed-and-breakfast basis
- Two nights in a sleeper-train cabin, dinner and breakfast served on board
- One night in Aswan on a bed-and-breakfast basis
- One night aboard a traditional felucca, dinner and breakfast included
- Two nights in Luxor on a bed-and-breakfast basis
- Sightseeing in Cairo, Aswan and Luxor runs privately, just your party and your guide
- Abu Simbel excursion runs on a shared basis
- Licensed English-speaking Egyptologist on all tours
- Entrance tickets to every site named in the itinerary
- Meals as set out day by day below
Not Included
- International Airfare
- Entry visa to Egypt
- Any optional tours
- Personal spendings
- Tipping
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