10-Day Cairo, Alexandria & Nile Cruise Tour with Abu Simbel

At Cairo International Airport a representative meets you with a sign bearing your name, then a private air-conditioned vehicle carries you to your hotel. After your flight you do not need to haggle with taxis, find local currency for the fare, or work out directions; your driver takes care of the whole trip into the city.

The rest of the day is free. Sleep, unpack, and adjust to Egyptian time, since the following days start after breakfast and keep you busy until evening. If you arrive early and want a gentle first outing, ask your hotel concierge or guide for an idea nearby, but there is no pressure to do anything at all.

Your guide confirms the next morning's pickup time, either at the airport or by a short call in the evening. A tip for the first night: Cairo eats late, and many restaurants are busiest after 9 p.m., so an early dinner at the hotel is often the easiest way to get to bed on time. No meals are included today.

After breakfast you drive to the Giza Plateau, where the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure have risen from the desert for some 4,500 years. Your Egyptologist explains how they were built and what they meant to the kings buried beneath them, and why the Great Pyramid, originally about 146 meters high, held the record as the tallest human-made structure for millennia. Then you walk down to the Great Sphinx, a lion with a king's face carved from one outcrop of limestone.

A short drive brings you to the Grand Egyptian Museum, a vast museum devoted to a single civilization. The Tutankhamun collection is shown together here, and your guide leads you up the Grand Staircase, lined with royal statues, and through the King Tut halls.

After lunch at a local restaurant you spend the late afternoon in Khan el-Khalili, the bazaar that has traded since the 14th century. Wander lanes of spice sellers, goldsmiths, and lantern makers, bargain politely, or sit down for tea. You are back at your hotel by evening.

After an early breakfast you take the desert road north to Alexandria, a drive of about two and a half to three hours, arriving mid-morning. Founded by Alexander the Great, the city was the Ptolemaic capital and home to the famous Library and Lighthouse, and it still looks out to the Mediterranean rather than the Nile.

Your Alexandria guide starts underground at the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, a Roman-era tomb complex where Egyptian, Greek, and Roman styles mix: the jackal god Anubis appears in a Roman soldier's armor, and Greek columns frame Egyptian scenes. Next is Pompey's Pillar, a single red granite column standing above the ruins of the Serapeum temple.

After lunch at a seafood restaurant with sea views, you see the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a modern library inspired by its ancient namesake, with a granite wall carved with letters from scripts around the world (entry to the interior exhibitions is extra). The tour ends at the 15th-century Qaitbay Citadel, built on the site of the ancient Lighthouse. In the early evening you drive back to Cairo, arriving at night.

An early transfer takes you to Cairo Airport for a morning flight to Luxor. Your Luxor guide meets you and goes straight to the East Bank.

Karnak Temple is the largest religious complex of the ancient world, built over many centuries in honor of the god Amun. You enter along an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes and reach the Hypostyle Hall, where 134 massive columns crowd together, carved with hieroglyphs from base to capital. Your guide points out the obelisk of Hatshepsut, still standing near the heart of the temple, and the sacred lake.

Next is Luxor Temple, on the corniche in the center of town, its entrance marked by colossal statues of Ramesses II and a lone obelisk; the other one stands today in Paris.

After lunch at a local restaurant you transfer to the dock and board your Nile cruise ship. Settle into your cabin and spend the afternoon on deck while the ship stays moored in Luxor for the night. Dinner is served on board, and it is your first evening of four on the river.

After breakfast on board you cross to the West Bank, the burial ground of ancient Thebes. In the Valley of the Kings, the pharaohs of the New Kingdom were laid to rest in tombs cut deep into the hillside, with corridors painted in vivid blues, yellows, and reds. Your ticket typically covers three tombs; Tutankhamun's tomb requires a separate ticket that is not included.

Next is the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, a striking series of terraces built into the cliffs for Egypt's most powerful female pharaoh. Its clean lines look almost modern from a distance. A photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two giant seated statues of Amenhotep III that once guarded his mortuary temple, completes the tour.

You return to the ship for lunch as it sets sail south toward Edfu. The afternoon is free on the sun deck, where you can watch farmers, water buffalo, and children waving from the riverbanks as the valley passes by. Dinner is served on board, and you sleep as the ship continues toward Edfu.

After breakfast you go ashore for a short ride by horse-drawn carriage or tuk-tuk (the carriage is not included) to the Temple of Edfu. Dedicated to the falcon god Horus and completed in the Ptolemaic period, it is among the best-preserved temples in Egypt: its massive pylon, roofed halls, and dark inner sanctuary give you a clear sense of how an Egyptian temple was meant to feel. Look for the granite falcon statues at the entrance and the reliefs of Horus battling his enemy Seth.

Back on board, lunch is served as the ship sails on to Kom Ombo. In the afternoon you visit its double temple, shared by Sobek, the crocodile god, and Horus, with mirrored gates, halls, and sanctuaries built side by side. The riverside setting is especially photogenic in the late afternoon light. Next door, the Crocodile Museum displays mummified crocodiles once revered here.

You return to the ship for dinner as it continues south toward Aswan through the night.

You wake up with the ship docked in Aswan, where granite boulders and Nubian villages line a narrower, rockier stretch of the Nile. After breakfast your guide starts at the High Dam, completed in 1970 to control the river's flood. It created Lake Nasser, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world.

A short motorboat ride takes you to the Temple of Philae, dedicated to the goddess Isis. When rising water threatened it, a UNESCO-led campaign moved the entire temple to a nearby island on higher ground, where you see it today. It was among the last places where the old Egyptian religion was practiced.

After lunch you visit the Unfinished Obelisk, still attached to the bedrock in its ancient quarry. A crack forced the carvers to abandon it, and the tool marks around it explain how such monuments were cut.

Time permitting, you may take a short felucca sail around Elephantine Island (the fare is not included) before returning to the ship for dinner. You sleep on board in Aswan, ready for an early start tomorrow.

After an early breakfast you check out of your cabin and leave Aswan for the roughly three-hour journey to Abu Simbel by road convoy; a short flight is an optional extra. The desert drive is long and empty, which makes the first sight of the temples all the more striking.

The Great Temple of Ramesses II is fronted by four seated colossi of the king, each about 20 meters high, carved straight from the mountain. Inside, halls lined with statues of the king as Osiris lead to a sanctuary that the sun reaches twice a year. Next door, the smaller temple honors the goddess Hathor and Queen Nefertari, Ramesses II's great royal wife.

Both temples were cut into blocks and reassembled on higher ground in the 1960s, in a UNESCO engineering rescue that saved them from Lake Nasser after the High Dam was built. After the visit you drive back to Aswan, with lunch on the way or on arrival, and transfer to Aswan Airport for your evening flight to Cairo. A light jacket helps on the cool early morning.

After breakfast the day is yours. You might sleep late, enjoy the pool, revisit a site that deserved more time, or walk a Cairo neighborhood on your own, such as Zamalek on its island in the Nile, known for cafés, bookshops, and galleries.

If you want to keep exploring, your guide or hotel concierge can arrange optional extras, booked and paid separately. Choices include a day trip to Fayoum Oasis, with its lake, waterfalls at Wadi el-Rayan, and desert scenery; a felucca sail on the Nile at sunset; a visit to Coptic Cairo, home to the Hanging Church and the Ben Ezra Synagogue; or the evening sound and light show at the Giza Pyramids.

This is also a good day for the practical tasks: pack, reconfirm your flight, and buy anything you missed at the bazaar. Only breakfast is included today, so lunch and dinner are wherever you choose. Cairo's dining scene runs from street-side stalls serving koshari, the city's favorite dish of rice, lentils, and pasta, to Nile-view restaurants.

After breakfast at the hotel, you have free time depending on your flight schedule. Use it for a final stroll, a last coffee, or a careful repack of anything fragile you bought, from alabaster to glass perfume bottles.

A private driver then takes you to Cairo International Airport for your international flight. Your driver allows for Cairo's unpredictable traffic and check-in time, so you arrive calmly and on schedule. Expect a security check at the terminal entrance as well as at the gate.

Before you go, remember that only modern replicas may leave the country, never genuine antiquities, and keep a few small notes handy for your driver and porters, since gratuities are not included. Breakfast is the last meal included in the trip. From the Mediterranean shore at Alexandria to the desert temples at Abu Simbel, you have now covered Egypt from north to south.