9 nights / 10 days · Arab Republic of Egypt

The Nile and the Red Sea

The full Nile run — Cairo, the sleeper train, three nights cruising to Luxor — then two nights on the Red Sea at Sharm El Sheikh.

Plan this trip See the day-by-day

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Duration: 9 nights / 10 days
Where you stay: Cairo → Aswan → Luxor → Sharm El Sheikh
Style: Multi-city
From: AED 6,604per person

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About this trip

The longest of the five and the one that finishes properly. The first seven days are the sleeper-train itinerary: Cairo and Alexandria, the night train to Aswan, Abu Simbel and three nights sailing down to Luxor. Instead of overnighting at Luxor you fly back to Cairo the same evening, then on to Sharm El Sheikh the following morning.

The two nights at the end are on full board and entirely unstructured, which after a week of four-o'clock convoys and 40-degree afternoons is the point. The Sharm excursions — the desert safari, the glass-bottom boat, the boat out to Ras Mohamed — are quoted separately and run on their own operating days, so they are worth booking before you arrive rather than at the hotel desk.

What you go for

The overnight sleeper train, Cairo to Aswan, dinner and breakfast on board
Three nights sailing Aswan to Luxor, with Kom Ombo, Edfu and Abu Simbel
Two nights full board on the Red Sea at Sharm El Sheikh
Both banks at Luxor in one day, then straight to the airport

The route

Day by day

Times are the operator's planned schedule. They shift with the season, the light and the traffic on the day.

Day 1
Arrival in Cairo
Arrive at Cairo International
Met in the arrivals hall by our representative, who takes the group through immigration and customs formalities.
Transfer by private vehicle to your hotel, and check in.
Day 2
Alexandria and back
0700
Breakfast, then out of the city. Alexandria is 225 kilometres up the Delta, around two and a half hours by road.
Full day
Roman Alexandria
The Catacombs of Kom El-Shoqafa, a Roman cemetery cut three levels down into the rock; the Roman amphitheatre, with marble seating for around 800, its galleries, a surviving section of mosaic floor and a garden ringed by villas and baths; and Pompey's Pillar, a 25-metre granite column raised for the Emperor Diocletian in AD 297.
The Citadel of Qaitbay is seen from the outside. It stands on the site of the Pharos, the lighthouse of ancient Alexandria.
1800
Back in Cairo at about six, and check in at your hotel.
Day 3
Giza, then the night train south
Overnight: Sleeper train to Aswan
Morning
Breakfast and check-out.
0800
The Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx
Raised around 2500 BC as the necropolis of the fourth-dynasty kings, and close enough to the edge of the city that the scale takes a moment to land. The Sphinx — a lion's body under a human head — was set below them to keep watch. The morning also takes in the shop stops the operator builds in: a papyrus institute, a perfume factory and a cotton shop.
National Museum of Egyptian Civilization
The Royal Mummies Hall holds twenty royal mummies in a climate-controlled gallery arranged to explain how mummification worked and who these people were, rather than simply displaying them.
Khan El Khalili
The market on El Moez Street, laid out under the Mamluks in the fourteenth century and still the place to buy anything in Cairo.
Free time on your own account until the transfer to Cairo station.
2000
The sleeper train
Departs Cairo at 20:00 and reaches Aswan at 08:15 the next morning. Dinner and breakfast are served on board.
Day 4
Aswan, and aboard the cruise
Overnight: Nile cruise, moored at Aswan
0815
Into Aswan station, where our representative meets the train.
Philae, the High Dam and the Unfinished Obelisk
Philae was built for the worship of Isis and Hathor and moved stone by stone to its present island when the dam flooded the old one. The High Dam, completed in 1960 under Nasser, holds back the flood and generates the country's power. The Unfinished Obelisk still lies in its red granite quarry, cracked before it could be raised for Amun-Ra.
Transfer to the cruise and check in. Departures run every Friday, Monday or Wednesday.
Day 5
Abu Simbel, then sailing to Kom Ombo
Overnight: Nile cruise, moored at Edfu
0400
Abu Simbel
Breakfast boxed, and away at the fixed convoy time. Ramses II cut both temples straight into the rock face; sand buried them until the nineteenth century, and the whole site was lifted above the rising lake in the 1960s.
1300
Sail to Kom Ombo
Begun under the Ptolemies and finished by the Romans, and unusual for being built twice over on one plan — one half for Sobek, the local crocodile god, the other for Haroeris the falcon.
Sail on to Edfu and moor for the night.
Day 6
Edfu, then sailing to Luxor
Overnight: Nile cruise, moored at Luxor
Edfu Temple
Reached by bus from the mooring. A Graeco-Roman temple in sandstone, begun in the third century BC for the worship of Horus and among the best preserved in the country.
Sail on to Luxor.
Day 7
Luxor in a day, then back to Cairo
Overnight: Cairo
Morning
Breakfast, then check out of the cruise.
Morning
Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut and the Colossi
Three royal tombs in the valley the New Kingdom pharaohs chose for their burials. Then Hatshepsut's terraced mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari, where the queen is shown wearing the pharaoh's beard, and the Colossi of Memnon — two seated figures raised around 1350 BC and all that is left standing of the funerary temple of Amenhotep III.
Afternoon
Karnak and Luxor Temples
Karnak was added to by pharaoh after pharaoh over some two thousand years, which is why it reads less as one building than as a record of everyone who wanted to be remembered there. Luxor Temple sits at the other end of the avenue of sphinxes, in the middle of the modern town.
Evening
Transfer to Luxor airport for the flight to Cairo. Met on arrival and taken to your hotel.
Day 8
Cairo to Sharm El Sheikh
Overnight: Sharm El Sheikh
Morning
Breakfast and check-out, then transfer to Cairo airport for the flight to Sharm El Sheikh.
Met at Sharm airport and transferred to your hotel to check in.
Day 9
Sharm El Sheikh
Overnight: Sharm El Sheikh
Full day
At leisure for the sun, the sand and the water. The desert safari, the glass-bottom boat and the boat trip to Ras Mohamed all run from here on their own operating days, and are priced separately.
Day 10
Departure via Cairo
Morning
Breakfast and check-out, then transfer to Sharm airport for the flight to Cairo and the connection to your international departure.

Where you stay

Hotel options

Pick a line and the whole trip is costed against it, so you can see what the difference actually buys.

5★
- Movenpick Media City, Cairo
- Nile cruise, deluxe
- Jaz Mirabel Park, Sharm El Sheikh
AED 6,604per person

Per person, twin share. Land only — international flights are not included. Rates move with the season, the number of you travelling and the hotel line you choose, so we confirm the final figure against your dates before anything is booked.

The detail

What is included

Included

Meet and greet at the airport, with assistance through immigration and customs formalities.
Sightseeing as set out in the day-by-day above, entrance fees included.
Qualified English-speaking guide on every touring day.
Transport by private air-conditioned vehicle. Sightseeing in Cairo is on a private basis.
Three nights in Cairo, bed and breakfast, standard room.
One night on the Cairo to Aswan sleeper train, half board.
Three nights aboard the Nile cruise, full board, standard cabin.
Two nights in Sharm El Sheikh, full board, standard room.
All transfers in Cairo, Aswan, Luxor and Sharm El Sheikh, airport, station, hotel and cruise both ways.
Excursions from the Nile cruise are on a joining basis.

Not included

International flights.
Meals other than the board basis listed above.
Beverages, drinks and mineral water with meals.
Inside entrance to the pyramids — USD 40 per person for the Great Pyramid, USD 15 for the second or third.
Grand Egyptian Museum supplement — USD 30 per person, in place of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.
Peak-period supplement of USD 25 per person per night over Christmas and New Year (22 December 2026 – 5 January 2027) and Easter (24 March – 4 April 2027).
Optional tours.
Expenses of a personal nature.
Egypt entry visa — USD 33 per person.
Domestic flights Luxor to Cairo and Cairo to Sharm El Sheikh.
Abu Simbel Sun Festival supplement — USD 25 per person on 22 October 2026 and 22 February 2027.
Hot air balloon over Luxor — USD 115 per person.
Sharm excursions on a joining basis — desert safari USD 70, glass-bottom boat USD 35, boat trip to Ras Mohamed USD 120, all per person.
Tips, budgeted by the operator at USD 7 per person per day across ten days.

Meal upgrades

Festive gala dinner: A gala dinner falls in the Christmas, New Year and Easter periods. The operator has not yet advised its price, and we confirm the figure with your quote.

Entry rules, tourism taxes and health requirements change without notice and depend on your passport. Everything above is confirmed by our operations desk before your booking is finalised.

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