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Sheer romance, sheer adventure! This itinerary includes a tour of Egypt's top sights, a free day for shopping in Cairo's bazaars, a sleeper-train ride up the Nile, a 5-day cruise to the temples along the Nile, and two nights in Paris--all in 11 days, at unbeatable rates. (Extend your stay with extra nights in Paris, Cairo, Luxor, or in the Red Sea resorts of Hurgada or Sharm El Sheikh--ask us how.) Compare with Paris & Jerusalem , or Extend to Jordan & Petra ?  Click here for the Alexandria Edition

DAY 1 - Monday - PARIS ( Start in Paris or Cairo )
Arrival in Paris! our staff will meet you at the airport and escort you to your hotel, centrally located near the Champs-Elysées. Drop your luggage, grab your Lonely Planet guidebook (we'll give you a copy of the Paris guide at no extra charge), and head out into the City of Light. The rest of the day is yours to enjoy as you please: strolling the boulevards, watching boats on the Seine, shopping in the markets and boutiques, or people-watching in a cozy cafe.

Day 2- Tuesday- Paris (cB)
Enjoy full day at leisure. The City is yours with our complimentary guide book at hand.

Evening Tour of Paris : CityRama Tour : The Magic of Paris at night: Magical and magnificent by night , a drive through Paris with its beautiful illuminated buildings should not be missed by any visitor to Paris. Every evening at 7 PM (Except on Dec 31) , also every evening at 10 PM , except on Jun 21 and July 14 . Duration 1:30 Hour. Transfer is included from hotel to Cityrama terminal , but return on your own to the hotel after the tour, or add $ 20 (total for the transfer at the end after the tour). Tour ends at the Opera Pyramids Square.

DAY 3 - Wednesday - PARIS (cB)
Come with us on a half-day panoramic motorcoach tour of the city. We'll stop by the Place de l'Opera, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Elysées, Arch de Triomphe, Trocadero, Eiffel Tower (tickets to the first level), Le Bastille and Notre Dame. Then we'll take a short cruise on the Seine before we let you go to find your own favorite Parisian haunts, led there by your Lonely Planet guidebook.

Day 4 - Thursday - PARIS TO CAIRO (cB)
After breakfast, we escort you to the airport to catch your nonstop EgyptAir flight to Cairo. During the flight, study your Lonely Planet guidebook to Egypt, which we present to you with our compliments. Upon landing in Cairo, our staff meets you, assists with entry formalities, and whisks you downtown to your hotel. The rest of the day is yours to get a glimpse of this great, timeless city on the Nile, the "Paris of Africa."Complimentary visa issued upon arrival at Cairo Airport, valid only for American, Western European , Australian , NZ & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for 6 month at least at time of arrival.

Visa will be issued upon arrival.
As you exit the gate, you will pass through a door or two , down some stairs , then walk for 2-5 minutes , until you pass the duty free shops, at the end of a wide corridor , you will see the security officers. There you will be met by a local representative, who will be holding a sign with the name you prefer to use for the sign .
Our local representative will then take your passport to obtain a stamp from the cashier / bank window and escort you to speak with the passport officer. He will escort you through another last check on your passport as you exit the passport control, into customs area, he will assist you in collecting your luggage and clearing customs . After exiting the terminal, our local representative will escort you (private vehicle) to the hotel

DAY 5 - Friday CAIRO (BLD)
Today we show you the greatness of Cairo on a full-day tour: the Egyptian Museum, Pyramids of Giza, the Great Sphinx, the Citadel of Saladin, and Muhammed Ali's splendid Alabaster Mosque. In the evening we escort you to Cairo's railroad station to board your first-class sleeping car for the trip up the Nile, with dinner served onboard as you ride beneath the cloudless Egyptian sky.

DAY 6 - Saturday LUXOR & NILE CRUISE (BLD)
Your train arrives in Luxor and we take you to your deluxe Nile cruise vessel . After dropping our bags and freshening up, we set out to see the best first: the gigantic, awesome Great Temple of Karnak and the smaller but still mammoth Temple of Luxor. After lunch on our cruiser, we cross the Nile to tour the incomparable monuments of ancient Thebes: the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in the Valley of the Queens, and the Colossi of Memnon. In the evening, relax on deck as our luxury riverboat casts off and gently cruises upstream to the Esna locks.

DAY 7 - Sunday EDFU & KOM OMBO (BLD)
Our first stop today is Edfu, home of the best-preserved temple on the Nile. We board horse drawn carriages for the short clip-clop ride through the town to the majestic Temple of Horus. After our visit, we return to our vessel for the leisurely cruise to Kom Ombo, where we dock for the night.

DAY 8 - Monday KOM OMBO & ASWAN (BLD)
We tour the fascinating twin temples of Kom Ombo, one of which is dedicated to Sobek, the sacred Nile crocodile (complete with mummified crocs!) We continue upriver to Aswan, where we board a felucca (traditional Nile sailboat) for a cruise among the rocky islands in the shadow of the huge Aswan High Dam. Later we visit the Temple of Philae, raised from the flooding lakebed and moved to a high island when the dam was under construction.

DAY 9 - Tuesday ASWAN & CAIRO (B) This morning, catch your breath, take it easy, wander in Aswan's tidy bazaar and shop for souvenirs. If you wish, come with us on our optional excursion by air to Abu Simbel to see the beautiful Temple of Ramses (see below). In the afternoon we return by air to Cairo, and to our hotel.

DAY 10 - Wednesday CAIRO (B)
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

A special treat in tonight as we have you join an Egyptian family for a Complimentary 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 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.

DAY 11 - Thursday (B)
Breakfast is served at your hotel,our local rep escort you back to the airport .
Extend to Jordan & Petra ? Bon Voyage.

Rates per person in USD $ from PARIS

	Deluxe	First Class
Sharing in Triple Occupancy	US$ 4182.00	US$ 3780.00
In Double Occupancy	US$ 4215.00	US$ 3830.00
In Single Occupancy	US$ 5425.00	US$ 4720.00

DEPARTURE DATES AND NOTES
This tour starts every Monday, in Paris. If you need assistance with air fare from USA , please do let's know, we'll be glad to help with very special deals on Air France or American & United .

For Christmas, New Year's & Easter week, Please add %20 supplement.

Your hotel nights in Paris are at :

For Deluxe - 4 stars :
Hotel New Roblin Le Warwick - Champs Elysees, Meridien Montparnasse, Meridien Etoile, Sofitel Grand Arche -La Defense or similar.

For First Class - 3 stars :
A simple, clean, comfortable, centrally-located 3-star hotel, such as the Primotel Empire, Fertel Etoile or Tilsitt. If Paris hotels are heavily booked for a major exposition or trade show during your visit, we may be required to add full fare 3 or 4 -star hotel rates to the tour rates; contact us for exact dates and details.

Your tour includes:

• Round-trip airfare between Paris and Cairo, and domestic air within Egypt

• All transfers within Egypt, as well as the transfer in Paris
  
• Sleeper train ticket within Egypt, private compartment on board. The train is modest , not the Orient Express. Private compartment, upper & lower berth. Tow toilets are available in each car, one at each end of the car.

• Guided sightseeing according to the itinerary, including all entrance fees

• Meals as indicated in the itinerary: cB = continental breakfast, B = full breakfast; L = set-menu lunch; D = set-menu dinner

• One-way first-class sleeper train ticket from Cairo to Luxor

• Five-day deluxe Nile cruise including all meals and shore excursions as described in the itinerary.
• Complimentary welcome drink upon arrival on board the Nile Cruise.
  
• Complimentary welcome fruit basket on board the Nile Cruise.
  
• Large bottle of water ( per person ) delivered to you cabin daily while you are on board the Nile Cruise.
  
• Tea or coffee and bottled water with each / every meal while you are on board the Nile Cruise.

• Hotel accommodation as indicated, including all taxes and service charges

• Complimentary Lonely Planet guidebooks to Paris and Egypt
  
• Complimentary visa issued upon arrival at Cairo Airport, valid only for American,Canadian, Australian, NZ , EU , Korean , Singaporean & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for 6 month at least at time of arrival.

What's not included:

• Insurance of any kind.
• Round-trip airfare between USA& Paris.
• Tips.

Click here for more info on these luxurious cruises:( Supplement : 15 % to be added to the
Deluxe rate : The Ultra deluxe Queen TiYi , M/Senator yacht all suites (17) all with private balconies , Radamis ( Swiss Management) , Moon Goddess all suites with private balconies

Moon Goddess ( all state   rooms do offer private balconies)

The all suites M/S Amarco

The Ultra Deluxe all suites M/S Amarco

For PRIVATE GUIDE/CAR/DRIVER :
For the full duration of the Nile Cruise & shore excursions: please add $ 250 per person .This supplement doesn't apply when you have at least 6 guests in your party, as you'll have always your own private car/driver/guide.

DINING NOTES
The set-menu meals included in your tour are indicated in the itinerary: B = Breakfast, (or cB, Continental Breakfast), L = Lunch, D = Dinner. On our luxury Nile cruise vessels, our spacious dining rooms accommodate all passengers at one seating, so there is no need to worry about making reservations , one less thing to worry about while you are on the Nile. Enjoy the cosmopolitan atmosphere with several different languages being heard at dinner. Smart Casual dress is suggested for dinner . No tie / Formal dress requirement