10-Day Full Egypt: Pyramids to Nile Cruise Classic

Cairo, Luxor and Aswan by land, air and Nile cruise — the full classic circuit, start to finish.

The 10-day Full Egypt tour is Dune Raider Adventure's classic first-timer itinerary: Giza's pyramids and the Egyptian Museum, Saqqara's Step Pyramid, a Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan through Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, and Abu Simbel, with an Egyptologist guide throughout and a free day to choose Alexandria or Islamic and Coptic Cairo.

DAY 1 — Arrival in Cairo

You land, clear customs, and step out into Cairo traffic - a city of about 20 million people running on its own logic of horns and gaps in the lanes. Your driver meets you at arrivals and takes you to your hotel, where you can shower off the flight before a welcome dinner with the rest of the group. No sightseeing today; it's a night to reset your clock before an early start tomorrow.

DAY 2 — Giza, the Egyptian Museum, Khan El Khalili

The Giza plateau in the morning, before the heat sets in. The Great Pyramid, the two smaller pyramids beside it, and the Sphinx facing east toward the sunrise - the last of the ancient world's Seven Wonders still standing. You'll have time to go inside one of the pyramids if you choose (extra ticket, arranged on-site), and to ride a camel along the ridge for the classic photo with all three pyramids in frame.

In the afternoon, the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square (or the Grand Egyptian Museum near Giza, depending on opening schedules at time of travel) - Tutankhamun's gold mask and burial treasures, the royal mummy room, room after room of statues that used to just be museum clutter until you realize how old they are.

Evening in Khan El Khalili, Cairo's centuries-old bazaar - narrow lanes of spice stalls, lantern shops, and tea houses, good for a last coffee at El Fishawy before heading back to the hotel.

DAY 3 — Saqqara, Memphis, and on to Luxor

Saqqara's Step Pyramid predates Giza by roughly a century - six stacked stone layers built for the pharaoh Djoser, generally credited as the first large-scale cut-stone building anywhere. It sits in a wider necropolis of smaller tombs, some with wall carvings still sharp enough to read the scenes.

Nearby, Memphis was the old capital of Egypt for most of the Old Kingdom; not much of the city remains above ground, but the open-air museum there holds a fallen colossus of Ramses II and an alabaster sphinx worth the short stop.

Afternoon flight (or overnight train, depending on the group's schedule) south to Luxor. You land into a smaller, slower city built around the temples - check in, then the evening is yours to walk along the Corniche or just rest before an early Day 4.

DAY 4 — Luxor East Bank: Karnak and Luxor Temple

For guests who want it, an optional dawn hot-air balloon over the West Bank goes up before sunrise - worth the early alarm for the view over the Nile and the Valley of the Kings from above (booked and paid locally, weather permitting).

Karnak Temple is the big one: roughly 200 acres, built up over some 2,000 years by more than 30 pharaohs, with a hypostyle hall of 134 columns so large it changes the light and sound around you.

Luxor Temple sits closer to the river, smaller and more contained, and lit up after dark in a way that makes the evening visit worth planning for if timing allows. An avenue of sphinxes once connected the two temples directly - parts of it have been excavated and are visible along the route.

DAY 5 — Luxor West Bank, then boarding the Nile cruise

Morning across the river to the West Bank, where the pharaohs stopped building visible pyramids and started cutting tombs directly into the hillside instead - partly for security, partly because the terrain suits it. The Valley of the Kings holds over 60 tombs, including Tutankhamun's (a separate ticket, and one of the few where the mummy itself is still on display).

Hatshepsut's mortuary temple is built directly into the cliff face in three long terraces, one of the more unusual pieces of ancient architecture anywhere in Egypt. A short stop at the Colossi of Memnon - two seated statues, all that's left standing of a much larger temple - rounds out the morning.

In the afternoon you board your Nile cruise ship and set sail south, past riverside villages and fields of sugarcane, toward Esna and Edfu.

DAY 6 — Edfu, Kom Ombo, and sailing into Aswan

Edfu's Temple of Horus is the best-preserved large temple in Egypt, mostly because it was buried under sand and silt for centuries before excavation, which kept the roof and the wall carvings intact. You'll get there by horse-drawn carriage from the dock - a slightly touristy ritual, but a fun one.

The ship continues to Kom Ombo, a temple built as a mirror-image double: one half dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, the other to the falcon god Horus, each with its own set of halls and sanctuaries side by side. The riverside setting here is one of the best on the whole cruise, especially near sunset.

Overnight sailing brings you into Aswan, Egypt's southernmost major city and historically the gateway to Nubia and the routes south into Africa.

DAY 7 — Aswan: the High Dam, Philae, and a felucca ride

The Aswan High Dam, completed in 1970, is what created Lake Nasser and ended the Nile's annual flood cycle for good - a quick stop, mostly for the view across the reservoir and a sense of the scale of the engineering.

The Unfinished Obelisk still sits in its original granite quarry, abandoned mid-carving after a crack appeared - it would have been the largest obelisk ever raised in Egypt had it been completed, and you can see the tool marks on the stone.

Philae Temple, dedicated to Isis, was relocated stone by stone to Agilkia Island in the 1970s to save it from the rising lake - reached by a short boat ride. Late afternoon is a felucca sail around Elephantine Island and a stop at a Nubian village, with its brightly painted houses and a different pace of life than anywhere else on the trip.

DAY 8 — Abu Simbel, then back to Cairo

An early departure (by road convoy or short flight, depending on the season and group) to Abu Simbel, near the Sudanese border. Ramses II built two temples here, the Great Temple fronted by four seated colossi of himself, over 20 meters tall, and a smaller temple dedicated to his wife Nefertari.

Both temples were cut from the cliff face directly, then relocated in the 1960s - the whole site was moved uphill in pieces to keep it above the new Lake Nasser waterline, one of the largest rescue operations in archaeological history.

After the visit, return to Aswan and catch a flight to Cairo. Evening at the hotel, back where the trip started ten days ago.

DAY 9 — Free day: Alexandria, or Islamic & Coptic Cairo

Option A - Alexandria (full-day trip, roughly 2.5 hours each way by road): the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a modern library built as a tribute to the ancient one, and the Qaitbay Citadel, a 15th-century fort built on the site of the vanished Pharos lighthouse, right on the Mediterranean waterfront. A different coastline and a different pace than anywhere else on this trip.

Option B - Islamic Cairo and Coptic Cairo, staying closer to base: the Citadel of Saladin with its Ottoman-era mosque and views over the city, the medieval gates and mosques of Islamic Cairo, and the old churches and synagogue of Coptic Cairo, one of the oldest continuously inhabited Christian quarters anywhere.

This day is kept flexible - tell your guide which option you'd rather do, or use it simply to rest and pack before departure.

DAY 10 — Departure

A last Egyptian breakfast, then transfer to Cairo International Airport in time for your flight home. Depending on departure time, there may be a couple of free hours for last-minute shopping near the hotel - ask your guide what's close by.

Ten days, three cities, one river. Thank you for traveling with Dune Raider.

Price Includes

• All accommodation as listed (hotels & Nile cruise cabin)
• All transfers by private, air-conditioned vehicle
• Daily breakfast; full board while on the Nile cruise
• Entrance fees to all sites listed in the itinerary
• English-speaking Egyptologist guide throughout
• Felucca ride in Aswan

Does Not Include

• Domestic flights or transfers, Cairo-Luxor and Aswan-Cairo
• International flights to/from Egypt
• Egypt entry visa fees
• Optional activities (hot-air balloon, entry to Tutankhamun's tomb, etc.)
• Travel insurance
• Tipping / gratuities for guides, drivers, and cruise staff
• Personal expenses and drinks not specified as included

Price

$2,500 USD / €2,140 EUR / 127,182 EGP per person. Indicative rate at today's exchange rate — contact us to confirm current pricing for your group and season.