In this section you will find a short description of the daily possibilities. The tour leader will offer a program on almost every day but the program is informal and by no means obligatory leaving lots of room for your own initiative. Your guides will organize and accompany some activities and will also make suggestions so that you are free to dine or explore on your own.
Day 1 Flight USA - Cairo
Day 2 Arrival Cairo
Day 3 Cairo
Day 4 Excursion to Giza, Saqqara and Memphis
The metropolis of Cairo is best explored on foot. This is by far the best way to experience the city and meet its friendly inhabitants. To get an idea of the size of Egypt’s capital, walk to the Cairo tower, where an elevator takes you to the top floor for a magnificent view from where, weather permitting, you may catch your first glimpse of the impressive pyramids of Giza. On the way back to the hotel immerse yourself in Egyptian artifacts at the Egyptian museum. An official guided tour lasts two hours, although one could easily spend this in the Tutankhamen’s gallery alone. After all your museum meandering, you might like to indulge your taste buds in a sample of the Egyptian diet, koshery from one of the many vendors lining the city’s street.
On your second day in Egypt you can join the excursion to Memphis, Saqqara and Giza to marvel at the oldest and only remaining wonder of the world, the pyramids. Our bus departs early in the morning for the former capital of Egypt, Memphis, which is situated just 16 miles south of Cairo. We then venture on to the Necropolis of Saqqara, the site of the Djoser pyramid and graves of other ancient nobles. We will eat lunch on route to Giza, where upon arrival we will explore the Great Pyramid of Cheops, and the pyramid of Chepren and Mycerinus. You can step inside to marvel at the architectural magnificence of these structures, or view their wonder from the desert on top of a camel.
Late in the afternoon we will return to the hotel. From here you may like to wander into Coptic Cairo the oldest part of the city. You can visit the Coptic museum, several old churches and a synagogue. Here you can take the subway to Khan el Khalili, Cairo’s buzzing bazaar, where you can find gold and silver, spices, cloth, traditional mahogany and mother-of-pearl furniture, even belly-dancing costumes! Barter to your hearts content, then enjoy a cup of coffee or smoke sheesha with the locals in Cairo’s oldest coffee shop – “Fishawy”. On Wednesday and Saturday evenings you may even catch a free show featuring the spectacular whirling dervish dancers. Be sure to arrive very early to get a seat. After all that bargaining, the square facing the Hussein mosque offers a wide variety of places to eat. Wander back to the hotel or, as you may have a lot to carry, hop in a taxi.
Day 5 Cairo - Aswan by air-conditioned day train
Day 6 Aswan
Day 7 Aswan – Abu Simbel (Optional Excursion)
Day 8 Aswan
Several days in Aswan allow us to get to know this city and its friendly atmosphere. Using Aswan as a base, we will make several excursions to interesting sites. A great way to get “the lay of the land” is to take a horse and carriage ride (caleche) through the city early on. This will give you an idea of neighborhoods you might want to visit during your stay here (ask the concierge at the hotel about the going rate before negotiating with the driver!).
On the first day we will have a look at the High Dam, which created the Nasser Lake, six miles south of Aswan. On the way back we will embark for a boat ride to the temples of Philae. At these Ptolemaic temples there is plenty of time to walk around. On our way back to Aswan we will stop at a quarry, where an unfinished obelisk will show you how massive blocks of granite were handled and worked in ancient Egypt.
One hundred and eighty six miles south of Aswan is Abu Simbel, where the mammoth rock temples of Ramses II and his wife Nefertari. This giant structure was moved by UNESCO to avoid being submerged under the Nasser Lake. The trip through the desert is long; the easier alternative is to fly. The exterior of these temples is awesome and the interior art is exquisite. The tour leader can organize an optional excursion for the group to view this magnificent monument. The bus or plane will leave very early to give us enough time to study these immense temples. In the afternoon there will probably be enough time to walk around at the market place in the center of the city or spend some time at the swimming pool. The optional tour to Abu Simbel will cost about $65 per person. In the event the road to Abu Simbel is closed for repair or for safety reasons, the monument can only be reached by plane and the cost is $125 per person for air and entry fee.
In Aswan itself there is plenty to see. By felucca we will visit small islands in the Nile and Elephantine Island, which houses a small museum with its “Nilometer”. A trip to Kitchener Island is a refreshing diversion: a splendid botanical garden where colors and exotic scents abound. The garden contains rare flowers and plants from Africa and Asia including bougainvillea, poinsettias, hibiscus, clematis, mangoes and sycamores. On the other bank of the Nile on a hill is the mausoleum of Aga Khan and short walk or camel ride will take you to the Simeon cemetery. Numerous Nubian villages are spread out on this side of the Nile. During this excursion we usually visit a village and probably have lunch at the house of the felucca captain. On the way from Aswan to the place were we will board the felucca, we make stops at Kom Ombo and Edfu to admire the massive temples.
Day 9 Aswan - Esna (bus) - Esna - Kom Ombo - Edfu – Arrival Luxor
We will travel by bus from Aswan to Luxor. Along the way we will visit the temples of Kom Ombo and Edfu. We arrive in Luxor in the mid-afternoon so you have the rest of the day to explore on your own. A caleche ride is a great way to acquaint yourself with the area.
Day 10 Luxor
Day 11 Luxor
Day 12 Luxor
The great Luxor temple is situated in the center of this busy little town, and is located two minutes by foot from our hotel. From the impressive entrance gate of the temple, the alley of sphinxes leads to the Karnak temple, a few miles north of Luxor. Luxor is great place to hire a caleche (a horse driven carriage) to see the sights. Or for as little as three pounds a day you can rent a bike, which is a charming way to explore the Karnak Temple and its surroundings.
A trip in the countryside near Luxor is highly recommended. You might choose to go to the weekly camel market, it is also very easy to reach the West Bank of the Nile by bike and visit the famous temples and graves. A Djoser excursion to the Valley of the Kings is a fixed item on the itinerary during our stay in Luxor. If the relatively strenuous bike ride to the Valley of the Kings does not appeal to you, it is easy to hire a taxi or take a bus to visit the graves of Tutankhamen and other great pharaohs. On the way back you will pass the temple of Hatshepsut and Medinet Habu. You have enough time on one of the three days in Luxor to have a look in the Valley of the Queens or at the laborers village of Deir el-Medina or visit a local market.
Day 13 Luxor - Cairo (flight)
Day 14 Cairo
Day 15 Cairo - Arrival USA
After your stay in Luxor you will return to Cairo, by domestic flight. Here we will spend another two nights with plenty of time to visit Coptic Cairo, go on a optional day trip to Alexandria or get your final shopping in before Northwest KLM takes us back home.
Day 13 Luxor - Hurghada (Bus)
Day 14 Hurghada (boat) Sharm el Sheikh - St. Catherine
Day 15 St. Catherine - Dahab
On the 20-day program it takes us a morning to travel by bus from Luxor to Hurghada, our drive takes us straight through the desert. The sea-side resort town Hurghada is located on the Red Sea and has white sand beaches and coral. The local representative will inform you about a day trip where you are taken by boat to the coral reefs. The cost for lunch and snorkeling is about $10 per person for this optional excursion. Here you can enjoy the sun, just be lazy and hang on the beach or of course go snorkeling. Make sure you wear a T-shirt because you burn very easily with all your attention focused on the colorful underwater world.
Our trip continues from Hurghada to St. Catherine cloister in the Sinai desert and the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba. To reach the Sinai we cross the Red Sea with a fast modern boat to Sharm el Shiekh. The trip takes about 90 minutes. In case of bad weather conditions and the boat is taken out of service, we are forced to do the trip by bus through the Sinai. From Sharm el Sheikh we continue our trip to St. Catherine. Here you can view the famous cloister complex of the Greek Orthodox order. The cloister is situated like a walled-in fort nestled in between steep hill slopes. We get up very early in the morning following Moses’ example and climb the mountain Sinai you are awarded with a magnificent view once the sun rises. Make sure you wear good walking shoes with a good grip (sneakers are slippery) and warm clothes in the winter months in the surroundings of St. Catherine since it can get pretty cold early in the morning. Part of the climb is done in the dark on steep steps. This climb might be overly strenuous for some travelers, but of course you will have the choice to go on this excursion or not.
Day 16 Dahab
Day 17 Dahab
Day 18 Dahab - Cairo
Day 19 Cairo
Day 20 Cairo - Arrival USA
After our climb of the Mount Sinai we travel later that day on to Dahab, here we spend two nights at our hotel located right on the beach. During the day there are plenty of possibilities to enjoy this magnificent bay with the sun, the sea and the beach or visit some small towns further up the road. This is also a great place to snorkel. You can choose an optional excursion with a terrain vehicle to the colored canyon in the mountains of the Sinai or go on a camel trip in the desert. The next morning we travel by bus back to Cairo where you will spend two more nights and have plenty of time left do some final sight seeing or shopping before you return to the USA.
