• 11 Breakfast (B)
• 7 Lunch (L)
• 7 Dinner (D)
• 1 Afternoon Tea (AT)

• “Koshari is our national dish, and it never disappoints. Believed to have originated in the 19th century, this vegetarian street food staple is made of rice, pasta, lentils, and chickpeas, topped with delicious fried onions and a spicy tomato-based garlic sauce.”
• “I love to share our Ancient Egyptian civilization and history with our guests and to explain all the details and stories related to Egyptian mythology so our guests can enjoy a very special guided vacation.”
• “The Abu Simbel Temples are utterly unique in scale, architecture, art and history. From one of the most prominent eras of Ancient Egyptian history, these magnificent structures emphasise how persistent and clever ancient Egyptian architects were to carve a mountain to make such incredible tributes for Egyptian deities.”

• Top-rated dining, from farm-to-table to local restaurants
• 4 & 5-star hotel and overnight cruise stays
• Business class coach with extended leg room, cruise travel and select flights

• Luxor: Get to know your fellow travellers over a delightful drink followed by dinner.
• Kom Ombo: Learn about traditional Egyptian attire and immerse yourself in local culture at an Egyptian dinner and galabeya party.
• Aswan: Follow in the footsteps of Sir Winston Churchill and Agatha Christie as you enjoy high tea at Aswan’s famous Old Cataract Hotel, as the sun begins to set.

• Aswan: Satisfy your curiosity and your taste buds over an Egyptian cooking demonstration with your talented onboard chef.
• Aswan: Ever wondered what it is like to be in the driver’s seat? Enjoy a tour of the Captain’s quarters and learn about how he sails through the Nile and how knowledge has been passed down through generations.

• Luxor: Enjoy listening to stories of village life from local residents, when you visit a family home for a tasting of authentic Egyptian sun bread.

Cruise the world’s most storied river, watching palm groves, mud-brick hamlets and fishing skiffs slide by as you cruise the Nile. Feel the pace of river life and photograph golden light settling over green floodplains and ochre desert.

Experience the engineering theatre of the Esna Lock as gates close and water lifts your ship upward. It’s a moment to pause for photos and reflection on the river that cradled ancient civilisation and still nourishes Egypt today.

Travel by motorboat across shining water to Agilkia Island and the Temple of Isis, a sanctuary painstakingly moved stone by stone to save it from Lake Nasser’s rising waters. Glide ashore to explore sacred precincts saved from the flood.

Columns etched with ritual scenes, kiosks and gateways chart devotion to Isis from Ptolemaic to Roman times. Your Egyptologist unpacks myths of love and rebirth that gave this island a magnetic spiritual aura for millennia.

Return after dusk for the Sound & Light Show at Philae, where the temple facade becomes a canvas of light. Narration and music bring to life the myth of Isis and Osiris, casting shifting color across pylons and colonnades.

Seated in a Roman-style theatre, follow stories of priests, pilgrims and the Nile’s sacred flood. The interplay of illumination and shadow turns ancient reliefs into a living chronicle beneath the night sky.

Survey modern engineering at the Aswan High Dam, a monumental project taming the Nile and creating vast Lake Nasser. Continue to the ancient Granite Quarries to examine the colossal Unfinished Obelisk, still attached to its bedrock.

Touch the chisel marks that halted when flaws appeared, revealing how artisans hewed monoliths for temples and obelisks that once dazzled at Karnak and Luxor. The site bridges 20th-century ambition and pharaonic craftsmanship.

Join a local sailor to sail a traditional felucca, its taut lateen catching the breeze as you skim past granite outcrops and palm-lined banks. Learn to read the wind, handle simple rigging and feel the boat answer the river’s subtle currents.

Creaking timber, ripples against the hull and the silhouette of sails at sunset capture timeless Nile rhythms. It’s a tranquil counterpoint to temple grandeur—river life at eye level.

Meet the artisans of a local women-owned cooperative whose mission is to support village women with skills training and income. During this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER Experience, see materials like palm and bamboo transformed into refined handicrafts with practiced hands.

Your visit directly supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality. Conversations over tea reveal how creativity, community and fair income are changing family futures and reducing waste through upcycling.

Savour high tea on the Nile-side terrace of Aswan’s storied Old Cataract Hotel, a retreat once favoured by Agatha Christie and Sir Winston Churchill. Delicate pastries and aromatic tea accompany views of feluccas gliding past granite islets.

As golden light softens the river, architecture and atmosphere evoke colonial-era elegance blended with Nubian landscapes. It’s a graceful pause that frames Aswan’s timeless scenery in style.

Visit Kom Ombo, uniquely designed as Egypt’s only double temple. Trace twin entrances and mirror-image halls leading to sanctuaries for Sobek and Horus the Elder, reflecting balance between protective and fearsome divine powers.

Reliefs of surgical instruments, Nile creatures and royal offerings reveal everyday and sacred life along the river. Sandstone warmed by the sun sets a dramatic stage above the water’s edge.

Enter Luxor Temple after dusk when floodlights sculpt pylons, statues and colonnades in gold and shadow. Walk the Great Colonnade, its towering shafts carved with scenes of the Opet Festival linking Luxor with Karnak.

Beneath the gaze of the colossal statues of Ramesses II, your Egyptologist deciphers reliefs celebrating renewal and divine kingship. The night setting heightens texture and drama in this heart of ancient Thebes.

Explore the Valley of the Kings with your Egyptologist, descending into painted chambers where stars dot ceilings and deities guide pharaohs to the afterlife. Each tomb’s colours and hieroglyphs retain an intimate, otherworldly hush.

Nearby, ascend the cliff-side terraces of the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. Colonnades and reliefs honour the queen who ruled as pharaoh, fusing bold architecture with the stark beauty of desert cliffs.

Pause before the Colossi of Memnon, two 18-metre statues of Amenhotep III that once flanked a grand mortuary temple. Their weathered faces and massive quartzite blocks command the western plain.

Hear tales of the “singing” statue noted by Roman visitors and learn how shifting floodplains changed this landscape. It’s a moment to pause for photos and reflection at the threshold of ancient Thebes.

Visit Memphis, ancient Egypt’s first capital, to view the colossal statue of Ramses II and the serene Great Alabaster Sphinx. Continue to Saqqara to stand before the revolutionary Step Pyramid of Djoser.

Your Egyptologist explains how architect Imhotep transformed mastaba tombs into the earliest pyramid, launching a golden age of monumental building. Sand, acacia and stone set a classic Old Kingdom scene.

Uncover Cairo’s skyline from Saladin’s Citadel, a medieval fortress that surveys minarets and rooftops to the horizon. Step inside the Great Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali to admire its soaring dome and gleaming marble courtyards.

Stained glass and Ottoman chandeliers bathe the interior in soft colour as your Egyptologist outlines Cairo’s Mamluk, Ottoman and modern chapters. The hilltop vantage frames a metropolis layered with faith and history.

Explore the Grand Egyptian Museum, home to the complete assemblage from Tutankhamun’s tomb displayed together for the first time. Stand before Tutankhamun’s treasures, the reconstructed solar barque and the 11-metre statue of Ramses II.

Spanning Predynastic to Greco-Roman eras, galleries reveal goldwork, ritual furniture and everyday artefacts crafted for life and eternity. Expert commentary connects objects to the rituals and beliefs of Nile civilisation.

Encounter the Pyramids of Giza rising from the desert rim and meet the enigmatic Great Sphinx. With your Egyptologist, venture inside a pyramid to view the inner chambers where pharaohs prepared for eternity at the last surviving ancient Wonder.

Exterior masonry, boat pits and causeways reveal the complex world of the pyramid builders. Panoramic viewpoints provide striking photo opportunities across the plateau’s monumental silhouettes.

Learn the ancient craft at a Papyrus Institute, where specialists demonstrate how reeds become resilient writing material. Watch fibers pressed, dried and polished into sheets—an ancient craft that carried hymns, histories and everyday accounts.

See hieroglyphic painting techniques and decorative motifs that echoed through temples and tombs. This hands-on explanation links modern Cairo to the intellectual life of the pharaohs, from reed to scroll.

Celebrate Nile life at an Egyptian dinner on board, donning a traditional galabeya before joining rhythmic drumming and dancing. Fragrant dishes and laughter set a convivial mood as the river slips by in the dark.

This light-hearted evening blends costume, music and regional flavours, offering a warm glimpse of hospitality and riverboat camaraderie during your cruise.

Visit a family home on Luxor’s west bank to share conversation and taste authentic sun bread fresh from the tabun. Stories of farming, festivals and daily routines reveal living traditions shaped by the river’s rhythm.

Over tea and simple bites, exchange questions and insights that bring modern Egyptian life into focus—an intimate cultural encounter beyond temple walls.

Choose between two curated experiences in Aswan. Join an Egyptian cooking demonstration with the ship’s chef, tasting fragrant dishes as spices bloom in the pan, or opt for a Captain’s bridge visit to learn how Nile navigation skills pass through generations.

Both choices deepen your connection to river culture—culinary heritage on one hand, seamanship and tea with the Captain on the other.

Settle on deck for tranquil views as date palms, riverbirds and ochre banks drift past during the scenic reach from Aswan toward Kom Ombo. This is Nile time at its purest—an invitation to soak in the lakeside atmosphere and frame misty mountain passes of distant desert ridges.

Camera in hand, capture villages, irrigation wheels and fishermen working broad shallows. The river offers a continuous gallery of Egyptian life.

Opt to visit Abu Simbel, where four colossal statues of Ramesses II gaze over Lake Nasser. Enter the Great Temple to follow columns of Osirid figures toward the sanctuary, then admire the nearby temple of Hathor dedicated to Queen Nefertari.

Relocated block by block during the dam era, these masterpieces showcase New Kingdom artistry and royal power on a monumental scale. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Insight Vacations

Explore the vast sanctuaries of Karnak Temple Complex, approaching along the Avenue of ram-headed sphinxes to reach the legendary Hypostyle Hall. Stand beneath a true forest of columns, their capitals blooming like papyrus as shafts of sunlight catch carved hieroglyphs and royal cartouches.

Hear how pharaohs from the Middle and New Kingdoms expanded this sacred precinct to Amun-Ra, and trace scenes of ritual on stone surfaces smoothed by time. Frescoes, obelisks and pylons reveal the ambition and theology that powered ancient Thebes.

Visit the refined Luxor Museum, a jewel box of New Kingdom masterworks curated with space and light. Admire finely carved statuary, vivid reliefs and delicate funerary objects whose craftsmanship glows under gallery spotlights.

Your Egyptologist highlights royal portraits, temple pieces and battle scenes, revealing how form and symbolism conveyed divine kingship. Quiet rooms and thoughtful displays allow time to study graceful lines, polished diorite and inscriptions that connect you to artisans working three millennia ago.

Discover the Temple of Hathor at Dendera, dedicated to the goddess of love, music and joy. Gaze up at the deep-blue astronomical ceiling, where constellations and winged deities drift above hieroglyphic bands.

Outside, pause before the rare relief of Cleopatra and Caesarion, their profiles still crisp after two millennia. Painted capitals, shadowed hypostyles and rooftop chapels evoke ritual life in a temple complex that once hosted festivals echoing with sistrums and song.