Delve into the vast Grand Egyptian Museum with an expert guide, exploring light-filled galleries that spotlight Tutankhamun’s treasure collection and masterworks spanning millennia. Gaze up at colossal pharaonic statues in the soaring atrium near Giza.

Discover the art, beliefs and craftsmanship behind royal burials and temple life through world-class displays. This museum visit is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Glide along Egypt’s lifeblood as you cruise the Nile after dark, savoring a buffet dinner on board with regional salads, grills and desserts. The skyline and bridges unfurl in lights as the boat slips past riverfront districts.

A lively folklore performance—often featuring tanoura whirling or dance—adds rhythm to the evening, with city lights reflected on the water. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Explore Islamic Cairo on a guided visit to the Salah El-Din Citadel, the medieval fortress that crowns the city. Step inside the gleaming Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali and admire Ottoman domes, chandeliers and calligraphy.

From its terraces, enjoy panoramic views over Cairo and trace centuries of dynasties that shaped the metropolis. This cultural excursion is an optional guided tour at additional cost and is bookable on tour.

• 3 Dinner (D)
• 9 Breakfast (B)

• Cairo: Tipping’s a big deal in Egypt – it’s part of the culture and helps support locals (especially those working in tourism). During your trip, you’ll be expected to tip people like hotel staff, local guides, porters, and restaurant crews. To keep it simple (and avoid the awkward maths), your Trip Manager will organise a tipping kitty. They’ll let you know the suggested amount upon arrival in Egypt, and collect it in USD or Egyptian Pounds to cover group service tips along the way. Heads-up: this doesn’t include a tip for your Trip Manager.

• Rome:  Kick back with your Contiki crew and feast on some yummy Italian cuisine – served at a local restaurant working to train and provide jobs for members of the community with disabilities.  
• Rome: Stroll around the Italian capital, ticking off some sights on your bucket list! 
• Rome: Wander through the ruins of the ancient Roman Empire’s political heart, while our Local Guide peels back the layers of history & reconstructs the past. From the assassinations at the Forum to the bloody battles in the Colosseum, learn how the roots of Western culture started here. 
• Athens: A locally guided tour of Athens, including entry to the legendary Acropolis.
• Cairo: The world’s largest archaeological museum complex is no joke. You’ll find 100,000 artifacts here (including King Tut’s ENTIRE treasure collection). You don’t wanna miss this one…
• Cairo: Needs no introduction! Marvel at the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx. #bucketlist

Follow your local team to join a guided orientation walk through Rome’s cobbled heart, weaving past artisan gelaterie and Bernini fountains. Toss a coin into the Trevi Fountain, admire the ancient Pantheon from the piazza and linger in the baroque embrace of Piazza Navona.

Along the way, hear stories that connect emperors, artists and popes, and pick up insider tips for later explorations. This relaxed walk helps you map the historic center and capture golden-hour photos of ornate facades and lively street life.

Join a guided tour of Rome’s most storied arena, the Colosseum, where crowds once roared for bloody gladiatorial games. Stand amid monumental arches and weathered travertine as your guide brings to life emperors, spectators and the engineering genius beneath the amphitheatre.

Continue among the basilicas and temples of the Roman Forum, tracing the Via Sacra past the Curia and Temple of Saturn. Discover how power shifted from Republic to Empire while you visualize triumphal processions and Senate debates in the city’s ancient political core.

Set out with a specialist to join a locally guided tour of Athens, culminating in the fortified hilltop of the Acropolis. Walk through the Propylaea, gaze up at the Parthenon and study the elegant Erechtheion caryatids with panoramic views across the capital.

Hear how the city’s Golden Age under Pericles shaped democracy, drama and philosophy. Marble columns, mythic tales of Athena and Poseidon, and cityscapes over Plaka create a vivid sense of Athens’ enduring spirit.

Leave the mainland behind and cruise the Saronic Gulf to storied Aegina. Step ashore in Aegina Town to stroll the neoclassical harbor, sample pistachios from family stalls and feel island life unfold along café-lined quays.

Time permitting, venture to the hilltop Temple of Aphaia, part of a classical triangle with the Parthenon. Sea air, pine-scented hills and a sea-breeze crossing set an easy rhythm to this island interlude among ancient sanctuaries and blue horizons.

Gather in a neighborhood eatery to sample regional dishes served family-style: creamy tzatziki, baked moussaka, crisp salads, grilled souvlaki and warm bread drizzled with olive oil. Toast the evening with house wine as conversation flows.

This relaxed meal in a family-run taverna spotlights Athenian hospitality, or filoxenia—the tradition of welcoming guests as friends. It’s a flavorsome window into Greek life, shared at convivial tables where stories and laughter linger.

Touch down in Egypt’s capital and gather for a welcome dinner featuring aromatic Egyptian cuisine—think koshari layered with lentils and pasta, grilled meats, tahini salads and just-baked baladi bread. Swap first impressions with your travel companions in a friendly setting.

As dusk cools the streets, the bustling Cairo evenings hum beyond the restaurant doors. Spices, mint and charcoal waft through the air, setting the scene for the ancient wonders to come.

Stand on the Giza Plateau and Marvel at the Great Pyramid of Khufu alongside the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure. Trace the lines of enormous limestone blocks and geometry that has endured for 4,500 years.

Walk to the Great Sphinx to admire its enigmatic profile guarding the desert edge, and pause for photos and reflection as Cairo’s skyline shimmers beyond the sands. Your guide shares pharaohs’ ambitions, funerary rites and feats of Old Kingdom engineering.

Roll up your sleeves for a hands-on pasta class with a local chef. Learn to roll and cut fresh tagliatelle or shape gnocchi, simmer a classic sauce and perfect the silky bite of al dente.

Celebrate with wine as you sit down to your own creation, swapping tips and stories around the table. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Follow a local expert on a guided foodie walk through markets and backstreets, tasting sesame-crusted koulouri, sample street-side souvlaki, rich feta, Greek coffee and sweet loukoumades dripping with honey.

Between bites, hear how seasonal produce and island influences shape the Mediterranean diet and everyday Athenian life. This evening outing is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Contiki

Share a warm first evening in Rome as you meet your Trip Manager and your group over a feast in a traditional Roman trattoria that champions social inclusion. Savor antipasti, handmade pastas and seasonal produce paired with local wine while staff proudly showcase their skills.

Beyond great food, this dinner supports a real community initiative, letting you support a community project from the very start. Expect classics like cacio e pepe, rich ragù and velvety tiramisù served with heartfelt Italian hospitality.