Compare with the 12 day edition , the 14 Day with Alexandria or 12 day edition with Athens Extension , or add London . CRUISE THE NILE in the comfort of your own sailing Felucca cruise

Day 1 - CAIRO - Daily arrival - Choose your own date- Year Round
Our representative greets you at the airport, helps with formalities, and whisks you to your hotel.Visa may be secured upon arrival for a limited number of nationalities such as American , Australian, NZ , Canadian, EU , Singaporean, and Japanese Citizens , if in doubt about your eligibility , please contact the Egyptian Consulate nearest you . After exiting the terminal, our local representative will escort you to the hotel

DAY 2- CAIRO (BLD)
On your first full day in Egypt we show you the Egyptian Museum, including the Mummy Room and the fabulous treasures Tutankhamon,lunch is included at a charming local restaurant. The afternoon is for a guided walking tour of the old 12-century Khan El Khalili Bazaar district, the Citadel of Saladin,and the Mohammed Ali Mosque, made of alabaster, El Rifai Mosque and Beit El Kritlia old Mamluk old Egyptian Arabian style house . Evening Dinner , with folk and belly dance show

DAY 3 - CAIRO- GIZA PYRAMIDS - MEMPHIS - SAKKARA - HOME HOSTED DINNER (BL)
We drive to the edge of the Sahara and Giza : Tour the Pyramids of Giza . Those who are fit and adventurous enough may wish to penetrate into the heart of the Great Pyramid, to the King's Chamber your ticket is included with our compliments (or the interior of Kephren Pyramid). Taking a camel ride (Included) is entirely your own choice! the Sphinx, and the mighty Pharaoh : Cheops own private sailing boat : The Solar Boat Museum.

Lunch is included at the Mena House . The afternoon is for Memphis and Sakkara, including the Step Pyramid of Zoser & Nobles tombs/Mastabas.

Complimentary Dinner is included at a local home:
Meet the locals: 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 evening, 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. You may wish to bring token gifts to exchange with the host family ( T shirt , small souvenirs of your home town)

DAY 4 - ASWAN - Kalabsha & CAMEL CARAVAN (B)
We fly to Aswan and on to your hotel. Settle in for a brief rest before we head out for a tour of Kalabsha Temple dedicated to the ancient god Mandulis, and the goddess Isis . Built during the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus , the small rock-cut temple of Beit El Wali, built by Ramses the Great , and the small yet charming Kiosk of Qertassi, as well as the Nubia Museum

In the afternoon we transfer to a graceful felucca, the traditional Nile sailboat, for a cruise amidst the rocky islands beneath the Aswan High Dam. For those interested , join us on a mini-camel caravan ride to a nearby Nubian village for tea with the locals. In the evening, we take a short ride by motor launch to the Temples of Philae, on an island in the Nile, for a sound-and-light show which explains the Nile's endless history.

DAY 5 -ABU SIMBEL / Check-In Nile Cruise (BLD)
Breakfast at the hotel . Then head to the airport for your flight over Lake Nasser, off to Abu Simbel where your Private air conditioned vehicle / private guide, and private chauffeur await you at the airport.
In Abu Simbel we will tour : the larger temple, colossal figures of Ramses are seated with the gods and attended by his queen and daughters.
The smaller temple is dedicated to Queen Nefertari, who appears as Hathor, the goddess of love, joy and fertility, symbolized by the benevolent cow. We explore these fine temple, admiring their ancient aura and artistry, after which retire to a comfortable hotel for refreshments, then fly back to Aswan and your Nile cruise in time for lunch on board your Nile cruiser .
A welcome fruit basket & Egyptian pastries in your cabin.

Jacquie Kennedy & Abu Simbel:
All Americans alive during the 1960s remember President John F Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Most Americans from that time also remember Abu Simbel, the dramatic, ancient Pharaonic temple threatened by the rising waters blocked by the new Aswan High Dam .It's worth remembering that it was Jacquie Kennedy who provided crucial support for the mammoth rescue project. Without her help, Abu Simbel might have been lost. Read More

DAY 6 - ASWAN & KOM OMBO- On Board your Nile Cruise - Private Egyptologist - Private air-conditioned vehicle for all your cruise shore excursions (BLD)
Today we inspect the Aswan High Dam and the older Victorian-era dam below it, then visit an ancient red granite quarry. An unfinished obelisk here, in excellent condition, testifies to the workmanship of ancient Egypt's artisans. Boarding a motor launch, we return to the Philae temples to inspect in daylight the impressive structures which served as the backdrop to last night's sound-and-light drama. Back on our Nile cruiser, we cast off and cruise downstream to Kom Ombo to visit its twin temples dedicated to Sobek, the Nile crocodile god, and Haroeris, the solar disc.

DAY 7 - EDFU - ESNA- On Board your Nile Cruise - Private Egyptologist - Private air-conditioned vehicle for all your cruise shore excursions (BLD)
Our riverboat ties up at Edfu, and we climb aboard horse-drawn carriages for a short clip-clop ride through the town to the Temple of Horus, Egypt's best-preserved. After our visit, we re-embark and cruise to Esna, where we pass through the Nile locks. By evening, we reach Luxor.

DAY 8 - LUXOR- On Board your Nile Cruise (BLD)
Today we tour some of Egypt's greatest wonders: the tombs of the pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes, and, in the nearby Valley of the Queens, the great funerary temple of Queen Hatshepsut.

Deir El Medinah, the first known "Workers Village" these were the true creative heroes who built the temples & tombs for the mighty Pharaohs of the Nile Kingdom.

Deir El Medinah is on Luxor's west bank you get a totally different perspective on ancient Egyptian life, at the ancient workers' settlement of Deir el-Medinah. While most of the imposing stone monuments and sites of Egypt honor the lives and after-lives of royalty, Deir el-Medinah gives us unique and surprising insights into the ordinary citizens who constructed and decorated the tombs.

Here we'll see the excavated homes shared by laborers with their domestic animals. These quarters were surprisingly large, with three good-sized rooms, courtyard, kitchen, and even storage cellars. While ancient Egypt might not have been a workers' paradise, we'll see that artisans and builders were highly regarded in their community. We are proud to be the only operator to offer regular visits to this singular ancient settlement in its tour and cruise programs.

We also stop at the Colossi of Memnon, mammoth seated statues now standing alone in a farmer's field. In the evening, we attend the sound-and-light show at the gigantic Great Temple of Amon at Karnak.

DAY 9 - LUXOR - CAIRO (B)
We return to the Great Temple of Amon at Karnak to inspect it in the daylight, then move on to the smaller but still huge Temple of Luxor. Followed by Luxor Museum . Our touring done, we return by air to Cairo. Private Egyptologist - Private air-conditioned vehicle for all your cruise shore excursions .
In Cairo , our local rep. will assist with your transfer to the J. W. Marriott or the Hyatt for the Deluxe category and the Shepheard's for the First Class Hotel Category

DAY 10 - On Desert Safari for the Day - Fayoum Oases - And you thought the Pyramids were old (BL)
We leave Cairo by sunrise ( private air conditioned car/driver/guide): Full day Fayoum Oases including:
Hawara Pyramid, El Lahoun Pyramid, Ruins of Karanis, drive by Lake Qarun, lunch is included at a local restaurant.

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 ( In Arabic : Wadi-El-Hitan) . Incredibly, these great mammals once thrived - almost forty million years ago- in waters surrounded by sands. We’ll stop and gaze in amazement at their fossilized remains alongside smaller sea creatures that remain in stone.
This valley was discovered in 1936 , by the German geologist George Schweinfurth in the northwestern corner of Wadi El-Rayan.

The valley provides evidence of one of the major changes in this mammal evolution has been declared by the UNESCO to be a World Heritage Site. It is believed that these land based whales once had feet that may have helped them somewhat while ashore . A team from the University of Michigan discovered in the late 80's that these Zeuglodon whales did have rudimentary feet , this was a startling discovery , suggesting that whales of Wadi -El-Hitan had recently started living in water as well , these whales were not related to any of the whales we have today , rather a more slender body and may grow up to 75 feet long. Several skeletons of whales are exposed in the sand. George Schweinfurth named this extinct specie the Zeuglodon Isis Whales .

In the evening, you’ll return to your hotel in Cairo. Land transportation in air-conditioned four-wheel-drive Toyota Land Cruiser with the services of driver and English-speaking driver. Lunch is included

DAY 11 - CAIRO- The Egyptian Riviera (B)
We fly over the Delta , the Suez Canal and land in Sharm El Sheikh .... AAAAAH finally a day to relax on the beach. Grand Hyatt or the Four Seasons ( standard room ) for deluxe . Hilton, Sheraton , Sonesta etc for First class.

DAY 12 - CAIRO- The Egyptian Riviera – Sharm El Sheikh (B)
Breakfast is always included at the hotel . Full day at leisure, optional day tours are available upon request . After your siesta enjoy a half hour camel or horse ride , if you wish to extend it , please let your guide know , you have up to 90 minutes total with our compliments.

DAY 13– SHARM El Sheikh / CAIRO/ AMMAN (B)
Our representative escorts you to the airport for your Cairo flight , at Cairo Airport , our local rep. will be waiting to assist with your transfer to the International terminal and your Amman flight . Air fare is included in our rate be it the domestic flights within Egypt or Cairo Amman in economy class, tax included . Complimentary Fruit basket awaits you in your room.
In Amman : Our local rep will meet you upon arrival and help with the transfer to your hotel in Amman .Complimentary visa is issued upon arrival for American , Australian, NZ, Canadian, EU , Singaporean & Japanese passport holders. Passport must be valid at least for 6 month beyond the date of your arrival.

DAY 14 - MADABA PETRA (BL)
We drive south ( private air-conditioned vehicle, private chauffeur) along the King's Highway, an ancient caravan route, to Madaba to visit the church containing the oldest known map of the Holy Land. Continuing to Mount Nebo, we enjoy the panoramic view of the Promised Land the way Moses saw it for the first time. Further on, at Kerak, we tour the ruins of its romantic Crusaders' castle of Renaud de Chatillon, one of a line which stretched from Aqaba to Turkey. Lunch is included enroute. Finally, we arrive to PETRA .

DAY 15 - PETRA (B)
Today the fabulous Nabatean City of Petra awaits us. Made famous in the Indiana Jones movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark," its ancient temples, tombs and striking Khazneh (Treasury) were hewn right from the pink and violet sandstone. We spend a full day here, and another night. ( Private local guide , private air-conditioned vehicle, private chauffeur)

DAY 16 - WADI RUM - Dead Sea (BL)
We board four-wheel-drive vehicles for an expedition to Wadi Rum, the "Valley of the Moon" where T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") organized Arab resistance to Ottoman rule during World War I. After lunch at a local charming restaurant, We drive north to one of the Dead Sea resort hotels .

DAY 17 - Departure : AMMAN (B)
Our local rep. escorts you to Queen Alia Airport . Jordanian departure tax is included in our rate.

For guests going on to Syria with us. You will continue on to The Syrian border, visit Bosra before continuing to Damascus. Or if you are touring Syria on your own, we'll be glad to arrange for the transfer to Bosra in Syria ( Supplement $165 per person, minimum 2 guests, private car/driver to Bosra), Do you Speak THE LANGUAGE OF THE JESUS IN THE LAND OF THE BOOK ? Visit Maaloula in Syria . Extend to Dubai & the United Arab Emirates

Rates per person in US $

For Easter, Christmas and New Year's Weeks, a 20 % holiday surcharge will apply.

• Cairo: Hyatt . Meridien Pyramids. Conrad
  
• Nile Cruise :
  M/S Mojito, M/S Monte Carlo, M/S Monaco, M/S Adonis, M/S Isadora Nile Cruise , M/S Amarco
  
• Amman : Sheraton Al-Nabil. Hyatt or similar
  
• Petra : Movenpick - Marriott

• All airfares within Egypt, with taxes in economy class, but upgraded to business class with the deluxe rate .
  
• All the tips to drivers, guides, porters crew on board your cruise etc.

• Airfare Egypt / Jordan one way in economy class

• All transfers in Egypt & Jordan on a private basis .
  
  
• Jordanian departure tax.
  
  
• Complimentary visas are issued upon arrival for EU , Australian, NZ, Canadian, American, Singaporean & Japanese passport holders. Passport must be valid at least for 6 month beyond the date of your arrival.

• Hotel accommodations, including tax and service charges.

• Nile cruise; the sequence of sights visited between Aswan and Luxor is subject to change according to vessel requirements, and the cruise may begin in either Aswan or Luxor.

• Meals as indicated in the tour itinerary: B = continental breakfast; L = set-menu lunch; D = set-menu dinner.
  
• Bottled water ( one per person ) delivered to your cabin daily while on board the cruise.
  
• Tea or coffee as well as bottled water with every meal while on board the cruise.

• Guided sightseeing by private air-conditioned motor coach or car as per itinerary, including all entrance fees.

• Complimentary Lonely Planet travel guidebook to Egypt

DRESS CODE and What To Wear : All of our Nile cruise vessels are fully air conditioned. Onboard dress is casual except at dinner, read more, please click here .


What to Pack: Most of the year look forward to warm, even hot weather in Cairo , Luxor & Aswan, morning & evenings are cooler. During Winter ... read more .. Clothing on Board the Nile Cruise :
Lightweight comfortable ... read more

More Choices:

• Compare with the 9 Day Version , or add a resort stay in Sharm El Sheikh

• The 11 day edition with Memphis and Sakkara

• The 12 day with Athens

• Add Petra , or Petra and Syria

• Add Sharm el Sheikh on the Red Sea ,

• Add Alexandria . 

• Add Israel and Palestine

• Compare with the 12 Day private Touring

• Form London to Luxor Tour : The King Tut's connection

• Private Touring with a stay in the Egyptian Riviera on the Red Sea .
  
• The Great Arabian Adventure : A 20- Day True Near East Fantasy Tour of : Egypt , Jordan and Syria. Weekly Departure from the USA - Year Round
  
• Add Siwa Oases , the Search for Alexander the Great Toms continues .