Egypt In Depth

Arrive at Cairo International Airport , Meet & assist with the tour coordinator and driver. They will help you to navigate your way through the airport and escort you to your hotel. Overnight at Cairo .

Breakfast, Then you will be met by your Egyptologist tour guide who will provide your full day of touring. The adventure begins west of the Nile River in a town called Giza. It is here you will witness Egypt’s most visited attractions—the Pyramids at Giza and the Great Sphinx. Built for three kings of the Fourth Dynasty, the pyramids were designed to be the tombs of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. In addition to the three main pyramids, you will see the queens’ pyramids and the Great Sphinx. The next stop for today will be the ancient city of Saqqara, an amazing display of how tomb and pyramid-building progressed. Saqqara is a necropolis containing burials from different dynasties. It includes both royal and nonroyal tombs, mastabas, and cemeteries. Back to Hotel & Overnight at the hotel.

At about 7 am, we will start our approx. 3 hrs. drive (each way) for a wonderful over day to Alexandria, a city with many Roman and Greek influences. the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa. This catacomb is a mixture of Greco, Egyptian, and Roman art. It is believed to have been built for one family, but eventually transformed into a community catacomb. Next, we will drive to the Pompey's Pillar. It is hard to imagine that this pillar weighs approximately 285 tons and was carved out of one piece of red granite. It is located on the grounds of the Serapeum of Alexandria and has two sphinx statues near its base. Our tour continues to the Graeco Roman Museum ,The Graeco-Roman Museum of Alexandria is one of Egypt's principal museums, the oldest building in Egypt to be architecturally designed for the purpose of preserving and displaying antiquities. Furthermore, it is the only museum fully dedicated to the antiquities and civilization of Egypt during the Greek and Roman eras. Another important stop in Alexandria is the Great Library. At one time in history, Egypt was known to have one of the largest libraries of the ancient world. It housed many papyrus scrolls and became regarded as the capital of knowledge and learning. As we visit the library, we will not only see many parts of history, but we will see how it has continued to remain a modern place for learning. We will then drive back to Cairo & overnight at Cairo .

Your full day tour starts with the Egyptian Museum guided by your Egyptologist. This museum houses over 120,000 artifacts from Egyptian history. Some of their most famous include the collection of Tutankhamen. Your guide will introduce a lot of the many important pieces as well as allow you some time to wander through the museum to peruse the collections. Once we finish with the museum, we will head to Abu Tarek for lunch. Abu Tarek is a local restaurant that serves wonderful Koshary, the beloved Egyptian dish. It is a special local treat at a very local restaurant. Then a visit to Citadel of Saladin where exist The Alabaster Mosque of Mohamed Ali , Then Khan El Khalili Bazzar & El Moezz Street . Back to Hotel & Overnight at the hotel.

Early flight this morning as we head to Luxor, the site of the famous Thebes and the World’s Largest Outdoor Museum. Luxor holds seventy percent of Egypt’s antiquities. Upon arrival to Luxor, we will begin our day of touring in the East Bank where we will find the Karnak and Luxor temples. Later in the afternoon, you will be picked up by your horse carriage and driver for a little adventure city tour through Luxor. Transfer to the Nile Cruise & overnight on Board the Nile Cruise .

Today we will take the time to visit several sites. One of the sites we will visit is the Valley of the Kings. Which was designed to help hide the burial places of the kings to prevent looting. One of the most famous tombs here is the tomb of Tutankhamen. We will have the opportunity to explore some of the tombs. Next, we move to the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut was the wife to Thutmose II but became pharaoh after he died. This mortuary temple was modeled after Mentuhotep’s but at a much larger scale. We will explore this beautiful temple which is set into the cliffs at Deir el-Bahari. we will return to our cruise ship and prepare for an overnight trip to Edfu via the Esna Lock.

Welcome to the Edfu temple. This temple was designed to honor the divine birth of Horus and the pharaoh. We will take some time to explore this temple before we return to our cruise ship and set sail for the Temple of Kom Ombo, an unusual double temple built for the falcon god Horus and the crocodile god Sobek. Kom Ombo also contains an engraving which is thought to depict the first use of medical and surgical instruments. Once we complete our tour of this fascinating place, we will board the cruise ship and head for Aswan.

After our breakfast on the cruise ship, You have the opportunity to begin approx. 3 hrs. drive to Abu Simbel from Aswan. Abu Simbel is not only an amazing site built for Ramses II and his wife Nefertari, but it also presents the amazing feat of ingenuity. In the 1960s the Egyptian government began construction on Aswan High Dam. Its purpose was to prevent the annual flooding of the Nile River and to bring electricity to all people of Egypt. The trouble with the High Dam was it would permanently flood many of the antiquities. As a result, massive projects were begun to help preserve these sites. Abu Simbel was one of them. Over the course of several years, Abu Simbel was cut apart and reconstructed on a higher plane, so visitors would still be able to stand in awe of ancient Egyptian ingenuity. Today our guide will take us through both the Great Temple of Ramses II and the Small Temple of Nefertari as we see just how incredible the temples are. Back to Nile Cruise & overnight on Board

This morning we say goodbye to all the wonderful people we met on the cruise, and then visit Philae Temple and the High Dam , Our next stop will be to the Aswan airport as we take flight back to Cairo. Arrive Cairo & Transfer to Hotel and overnight at Cairo.

Today will be your departure day from Egypt, we will take you back to Cairo International Airport to catch your flight back , our Airport assistant will help you in all procedures .