Egypt & Jordan a la Indiana Jones

13 days in Egypt and Jordan, Including Petra & Wadi Rum

Indiana Jones himself couldn't squeeze more adventure into this journey: Cairo and the Pyramids, a cruise on the Nile, the fabled temples and tombs of Luxor and Thebes, diving in the Red Sea, the mountains of Sinai, Four Wheel drive through Wadi Rum, and a trek to the mysterious ruins of Petra in Jordan. Starts weekly in Cairo . Compare with the Ultra Deluxe Version

DAY 1- CAIRO - ( click here if your prefer to start in Amman Jordan)
Start Weekly on Sunday or Friday
Our Egypt-based staff greets you in bustling Cairo airport and escorts you to your hotel . Complimentary Egyptian visa fee (valid only for American & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival).
At your hotel, complimentary coffee or tea ( please advise your preference), one bottle of water for each guest, and a platter of Egyptian sweets will await you at your room.

DAY 2- Joseph Gift to the Mighty Pharaoh of Egypt : Fayoum Oases - Monday (B)
Private Desert Caravan Desert Safari to Fayoum Oases for the Day
The wilds of the desert begin right on the outskirts of Cairo, and continue for hundreds of miles to the east and west, through sands, rock, mountains, oases, and a surprising variety of scenery and inhabitants.
Join us for a day ranging across the desert like modern nomads. In place of camels, we’ll travel in comfortable, reliable four-by-four Toyota Land Cruisers. Your guide and drivers will meet you at your hotel, and soon you’ll leave bustling Cairo behind as you undertake the drive toward the Oasis of El Fayoum, 150 kilometers to the southwest. Hard as it is to believe, a great inland sea once covered these sands. It was a holy reserve of sacred crocodiles, symbolized by the god Sobek.
We’ll visit the temple of Kom Oshim, drive over ancient lake beds, and alongside the waters of today’s Fayoum Lake to reach the fishermen’s village of Chak Chouk. There we’ll stop for a lunch of fish caught fresh that morning. There will be time to wander the village lanes and discreetly watch the everyday activities of baking flatbread, irrigating crops from the lake’s waters, and bringing in the catch. We’ll also include the craft and pottery museum where the best works of local artisans are on display.
Then it’s into our four-by-fours again, for an off-road adventure! We’ll head alongside and across desert washes, between dunes, and over ancient lake beds for 35 kilometers to the Valley of the Whales. Incredibly, these great mammals once thrived in waters surrounded by sands. We’ll stop and gaze in amazement at their fossilized remains alongside smaller sea creatures that remain in stone. In the evening, you’ll return to your hotel in Cairo.
Private Land transportation in air-conditioned four-wheel-drive Toyota Land Cruiser
Services of a private guide and English-speaking driver . Lunch at a local restaurant including one large bottle of water and tea or coffle for each guest

A complimentary Evening dinner is included at a local home:
Meet the locals, you may wish to bring token gifts to exchange with the host family ( T shirt , small souvenirs of your home town):
This evening we'll venture where few ordinary visitors ever tread . . . right into the homes of some of the people of Cairo l! You'll be invited to a family dinner, and while you enjoy wholesome home-cooked specialties, you'll learn about and appreciate the outlook, aspirations, and way of life of your hosts. Be assured, as curious as you may be about your new friends, they're sure to have questions about your own background. Once the ice is broken, you'll enjoy a lively afternoon , and find that you have more in common than you ever suspected. Of course, you may enjoy a quiet evening with your travel companions, by letting us know your preferences.

DAY 3 - CAIRO - Tuesday (BLD)
Your exploration of the ancient world begins today! First stop is the Egyptian Museum, with its treasures of the ancient pharaohs: mummies, statuary, precious stones and metals. We'll also stop at the Citadel of Saladin and the Alabaster Mosque. Then it's on to Giza and the mysteries of the Pyramids and Sphinx.

In the evening, we settle you into your private wood-panelled sleeping compartment on the train bound along the banks of the Nile. You'll enjoy dinner in the dining car, as the lights of villages reflect in the river.

A sample state room on board your Ultra deluxe Nile Cruise
Sonesta Moon Goddess or the Star Goddess

DAY 4 - ASWAN- Nile Cruise Wednesday (BLD)
After breakfast on board, your train arrives in Aswan, where we settle you into your cabin on your Nile steamer. Complimentary welcome fruit basket.
We'll visit the world famous Nubian Museum, the enormous dams at Aswan, then board a launch on Lake Nasser to visit the Temples of Philae, rescued from rising waters.

DAY 5 - KOM OMBO - Nile Cruise Thursday (BLD)
We cruise northward down the Nile today, at a stately pace, disembarking for a visit to Kom Ombo, the twin temple dedicated to the crocodile river god, Sobek. We'll also see Haroeris, the solar disk.

DAY 6 - EDFU and LUXOR- Nile Cruise Friday (BLD)
Horse-drawn carriages or vans meet us at riverside to take us through Edfu to the Temple of Horus, best-preserved in all of Egypt. Then we'll continue beside the Nile to take in an array of ancient splendors: the Valley of the Kings; the imposing tomb-temple of Queen Hatshepsut ; and, back in Luxor, the Great Temple of Amon at Karnak.

DAY 7 - SHARM EL SHEIKH - RED SEA Saturday (BLD)
Now that you've seen the best of the Egypt of the Pharaohs, our guides escort you to the airport. You'll fly over the Sinai Peninsula and land at historic Sharm El Sheik on the Red Sea. You're at the beach and free to swim, or explore under the waters. Lunch is included at the hotel , if the flight is a late one, snacks will be served at your room at no extra charge.
Complimentary welcome dinner at the hotel.

DAY 8 - SHARM EL SHEIK - Dinner with the Bedouins of Sinai -Sunday (BLD)
Relax! Today is set aside as a strategic mid-journey break. Spend some time in the sun, but don't miss your chance to snorkel or dive under Red Sea waters for an array of coral and glittering tropical fish. Lunch is included at the hotel . Evening Dinner with the Bedouins of Sinai in the Sahara

DAY 9 - MOUNT SINAI Monday (BLD)
Our knowledgeable guides arrange a pre-dawn departure into the still-cool wilderness of Sinai, through which Moses led the Children of Israel to the Promised Land. Our goal is the Monastery of St. Catherine, built of rock at the base of Mount Sinai, at the site of the Burning Bush. We tour the monastery, rich in history, icons and sacred paintings, then return to Sharm El Sheik. Dinner at the hotel

Please advise us early on , if you prefer to do Mount Sinai / St. Catherine's tour by Jeep versus air conditioned sedan / van.

DAY 10 - AQABA, PETRA Tuesday (BLD )
We'll drive to the port of Nuweiba, where we'll board the Red Sea ferry. Across the water in Aqaba, with Israel and Saudi Arabia in sight, our Jordan-based representative waits to greet you. You'll drive north under a towering ridge of mountains, and arrive at your hotel in Petra for the night. Complimentary Jordanian visa fee (valid only for American , Australian , Canadian, Dutch, German & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival). Lunch is included in Sinai or in Aqaba. Complimentary welcome dinner at the hotel in Petra .

DAY 11 - PETRA (BLD)
We'll spend the entire day at Petra, the stunning desert city hewn by the Nabateans from solid cliffs of pink and violet sandstone. Petra was known in the bible as Sela, and rediscovered only in 1812. You'll feel like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark as you penetrate into the city through a narrow sandstone gorge, the Siq, and wander among the Temple of the Winged Lion, tombs, Roman theater, and the imposing Treasury.
Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner are all included today

DAY 12 - WADI RUM DESERT / AMMAN Thursday (BLD)
Visit the Wadi Rum Desert (with a short ride in a 4 Wheel Drive vehicle) and its awesome moonlike landscape, where the film “Lawrence of Arabia” was shot. On to Amman on the Desert Highway. Lunch is served enroute at a local restaurant. Overnight in Amman. Dinner is included at the hotel

DAY 13 - DEPARTURE FOR HOME Friday (B)
Our staff escorts you to the airport of Amman for your flight home. Or, you may choose to add one of our extensions,to Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh, Syria, Greece or Turkey or even stop in Paris or London on the way back

RATES per person in USD

Easter ( two Weeks) , Christmas, New Year's Dec 15- Jan 5: 15 % supplement will apply

Prices include:

• All transfers in Egypt & Jordan.
  
• Private sleeping compartment on Nile-side train.
  
• Red Sea ferry ticket.
  
• Complimentary welcome fruit basket on board the Nile Cruise.
  
• Bottled water ( one per person) delivered daily to your cabin
  
• Bottled water / tea / coffee with every meal on board the Nile Cruise.
  
• Air-conditioned hotel accommodations with tax and service charges
  
• Nile Cruise with all meals & shore excursiones, cabins are always outside with large panoramic windows.
  
• Sightseeing with professional guide and entrance fees as indicated
  
• Meals as indicated, with pre-set menu (B = Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner)
  
• Lonely Planet guidebook to Jordan and Egypt
  
• Jordanian visa and Egyptian visa fee (valid only for American, Australian, NZ, EU & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival).
  
• Jordanian departure tax.

Not included:

• Personal expenses and beverages .

• Gratuities

• Additional meals, drinks and services

• Trip interruption and cancellation insurance

Dining Room Reservations: Meet other passengers :
YOU will not require any, our dining rooms do accommodate all our guests in one seating, one less thing to worry about while you are on the Nile. Enjoy the cosmopolitan atmosphere with several different languages being heard at dinner.

Do we get sea sickness while sailing the Nile ?
This is river sailing, so do not expect any waves , no rough seas ! Your Nile cruises is actually a floating hotel that moves from place to place along the Nile. Actual cruising times are short and pleasant.

Dear Omar,

It was most wonderful trip; we have really rested and are sure this was not the last time. We will be interested in visiting Alexandria in future.

YOUR TEAM IN EGYPT ARE VERY WELL ORGANIZED AND WE WILL RECCOMED THEM AND YOU of course TO ALL OUR FRIENDS.

Thanx a million once again. we will be in touch in the future

Sabina and Piotr

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