• 11 Breakfast (B)
• 7 Lunch (L)
• 7 Dinner (D)

• Giza: Enjoy a day gazing at the Great Pyramids of Giza and its treasures – the Step Pyramid of Saqqara and the Colossus of Rames II.
• Karnak: Stand amid a vast forest of columns in the largest temple complex known to man as your Egyptologist explains the significance behind it. Walk the avenue of ram-headed sphinxes, see the statue of Rameses II and the Hypostyle Hall.
• Luxor: Spend the day discovering the wonders of the Luxor Museum.
• Dendera: At the Temple of Hathor, see a rare depiction of Cleopatra and Caesarian.
• Aswan: Admire the picturesque setting of Aswan and its iconic sites as you embark on a sightseeing tour of the city. Learn about the beautiful Temple of Isis and the contentious construction of the Aswan Dam.  
• Kitchener’s Island: Sail around Kitchener’s Island and its Botanical Gardens in a traditional felucca. 
• Take a short boat ride to Philae Island, located between the old and new Aswan Dams, where you’ll have a short tour. Then, be seated in a Roman-style theatre for a retelling of the perennial Nile flood and the stories of the goddesses Isis and Hathor, to whom the temple was originally dedicated.
• Kom Ombo: Discover the temple of Kom Ombo and discover the wonders of the duo gods Horus the Elder and Sobek.
• Valley of the Kings: Discover the ancient history behind the final resting place of Egypt’s Pharaohs and Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple at the Valley of the Kings.
• Cairo: Spend your day enjoying the sights of the Hanging Church of St. Mary or embark on a journey to see the ancient Citadel and the Alabaster Mosque. 
• Cairo: See Tutankhamun’s treasures on full display at the Grand Egyptian Museum — from gilded beds and chariots to his iconic golden mask. Join an Egyptologist to explore over 100,000 ancient artefacts, including colossal statues, ornate coffins and the world’s oldest prosthetic. 

• Selected hotel dinners plus a locally hosted meal
• 4-star hotel and overnight cruise stays
• Deluxe coach and cruise travel, and select flights

Explore the riverside Temple of Kom Ombo, remarkable for its paired, near-symmetrical design. Your Egyptologist explains its dedications to Sobek and Horus the Elder as you examine the courtyards, columns and carved reliefs.

Sobek’s association with crocodiles gives the temple a particular connection to the Nile, while Horus the Elder is represented as a falcon deity. The mirrored plan makes the two divine traditions unusually clear in the building itself.

Explore the Grand Egyptian Museum with an Egyptologist near the Giza plateau. Examine ancient sculpture, coffins, jewellery and objects associated with Tutankhamun as your guide connects individual treasures to the people and beliefs of their time.

The museum brings material from across Egypt’s ancient history into a purpose-built setting. Its displays offer the chance to study fine craftsmanship at close range and to place the monumental temples and tombs of the journey in a richer human context.

Trafalgar

Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers over a welcome drink in Cairo. It is a hosted introduction to the people who will share your journey and an opportunity to hear more about the discoveries ahead.

Outside, Egypt’s capital hums with street life against a backdrop of millennia-old history. The gathering offers a relaxed first connection with the group, rather than a formal sightseeing excursion.

Explore two sites from Egypt’s Old Kingdom with your Egyptologist. At ancient Memphis, see the Colossus of Ramses II and the Alabaster Sphinx; at Saqqara, visit the Step Pyramid of Djoser, whose stacked form marks a pivotal development in monumental stone building.

Memphis was once an important royal and religious centre, while Saqqara served as its vast burial ground. Together, their statues and tomb architecture reveal how rulers expressed power and ideas about the afterlife.

Stand before the Great Pyramids of Giza and view the Great Sphinx on the desert plateau outside Cairo. Your Egyptologist brings context to these royal monuments, built for Old Kingdom pharaohs, as you take in their scale and the precision of their stonework.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the sole surviving wonder of the ancient world. The Sphinx, with a lion’s body and human head, remains one of Egypt’s most recognisable images of royal authority.

See the Sound and Light Show at Giza, where illumination and narration present stories of ancient Egypt against the silhouettes of the pyramids and Sphinx. The evening setting offers a strikingly different view of monuments first encountered in daylight.

Projected light draws attention to the plateau’s monumental forms while the narration evokes the pharaohs who built here. It is a theatrical interpretation of the site, combining its historic setting with an open-air performance.

Explore Karnak with an Egyptologist in Luxor, walking past ram-headed sphinxes and into the Great Hypostyle Hall’s forest of columns. Statues, gateways and vast courtyards show how successive pharaohs enlarged this ceremonial complex over centuries.

Dedicated chiefly to the god Amun, Karnak was one of ancient Egypt’s most important religious centres. Its towering columns and carved reliefs make the scale of royal devotion tangible as you move through the temple precinct.

Visit Luxor Temple and explore the Luxor Museum’s archaeological collection with the insight of an Egyptologist. At the temple, see monumental architecture associated with pharaohs including Amenhotep III and Ramses II; in the museum, examine carefully displayed objects from the ancient Theban region.

Luxor Temple stood at the heart of religious ceremonies in ancient Thebes. The museum brings a more intimate perspective, with sculpture and finds that illuminate the artistry and beliefs behind the city’s grand monuments.

Spend seven nights cruising the Nile between the temples and towns of Upper Egypt. From the sundeck, watch cultivated riverbanks give way to arid hills, observe life along the water and experience the vessel passing through Esna Lock.

The Nile has long connected Egypt’s communities, carried goods and sustained agriculture. Travelling by river offers a view of that enduring relationship, with the changing landscape as much a part of the experience as the ancient sites ashore.

Visit the Temple of Hathor at Dendera and explore its richly decorated halls and shrines. Look for astronomical imagery, the replica Dendera zodiac and a rare relief depicting Cleopatra VII with her son Caesarion.

Dedicated to the goddess associated with love, music and joy, the temple is celebrated for its exceptionally preserved reliefs. Its carved ceilings and sand-coloured columns offer a close look at religious art from Egypt’s later ancient periods.

Take a boat to Philae’s island temple complex near Aswan and discover the Temple of Isis. Walk among its gateways, columns and reliefs while learning how worship of Isis endured into the later centuries of ancient Egyptian religion.

The monuments were relocated to Agilkia Island during the UNESCO-led campaign to protect Nubian heritage from rising waters associated with the Aswan High Dam. Their waterside setting preserves much of the atmosphere of the original island sanctuary.

See the Aswan High Dam and the Unfinished Obelisk, two landmarks that reveal different eras of Egyptian engineering. Learn how the dam changed the Nile’s seasonal flooding, while the immense obelisk remains in the ancient granite quarry where work on it stopped.

The quarry offers a rare glimpse of stoneworking methods, including the scale of a monument before it could be raised. The dam, by contrast, speaks to modern ambitions to manage water and generate power.

Meet members of a women-owned cooperative in Aswan and learn how they turn discarded and natural materials, including bamboo and palm, into handicrafts. The visit focuses on the makers’ skills and the stories behind their work.

The cooperative offers a supportive community for more than 300 women and helps members develop sources of income. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® experience directly supports the goal of gender equality through an encounter rooted in local enterprise.

Sail in a traditional felucca on the Nile around Kitchener’s Island and its Botanical Gardens. From the water, take in the island’s greenery, the river’s gentle movement and views of Aswan’s shores.

Feluccas have long been part of everyday travel on the Nile, their distinctive sails harnessing the breeze. This unhurried outing pairs a traditional way of moving through the landscape with a waterside view of one of Aswan’s best-known gardens.

Discover Luxor’s west bank with visits to the Valley of the Kings and Queen Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple, and see the Colossi of Memnon. Learn how New Kingdom rulers chose hidden rock-cut tombs while still building imposing monuments for remembrance and worship.

Hatshepsut’s terraced temple rises against the cliffs at Deir el-Bahri. Nearby, the two colossal seated statues once guarded a much larger temple, offering a sense of the ceremonial landscape that surrounded ancient Thebes.

Meet the El Boerey family in a Luxor village on the banks of the Nile. Hear your hosts’ stories of family life while sharing mint tea and freshly baked local bread with honey.

This hosted Be My Guest encounter offers a perspective beyond Egypt’s monumental sites. Conversation and familiar local flavours provide a personal introduction to everyday life in a riverside community, with time to appreciate the hospitality of your hosts.

Visit the Hanging Church of St. Mary on a sightseeing tour of Cairo. Step into one of the city’s best-known Coptic Christian landmarks and discover a different strand of Egypt’s long religious history.

The church takes its familiar name from its position above a gatehouse of the Roman-era Babylon Fortress. Its setting in Old Cairo places Christian heritage within a neighbourhood shaped by many centuries of faith, architecture and community life.

View the Cairo Citadel and visit the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, widely known as the Alabaster Mosque. Explore the mosque’s grand interior and take in the commanding setting of this historic hilltop stronghold.

Founded in the medieval period, the Citadel served as a centre of government for centuries. The 19th-century mosque adds its distinctive domes and minarets to Cairo’s skyline, making this visit a window into the city’s Islamic and more recent history.

Choose an excursion to Abu Simbel’s rock-cut temples in southern Egypt. Stand before the four colossal seated figures at the entrance to Ramses II’s Great Temple and examine reliefs celebrating royal power and devotion to the gods.

The temples were moved to higher ground in the 1960s to protect them from the waters of Lake Nasser. Their monumental facades and remarkable rescue make this an especially compelling addition to a journey through ancient Egypt. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Cruise the Nile through Cairo over dinner, watching the city’s illuminated riverfront from the water. The onboard evening includes live entertainment, with a traditional belly dancing performance.

The river remains a defining feature of the capital, even amid its busy streets and modern skyline. This experience combines a different view of Cairo with a hosted meal and performance. It is optional, at additional cost and bookable on tour.