11-Day Nile Odyssey: Cairo and a 7-Night Nile Cruise from Luxor

Our representative meets you at Cairo International Airport and drives you to your 5-star hotel. The rest of the day is yours, with no sightseeing scheduled, so you can rest properly after the long flight.

If you land early and still have energy, you can add an optional evening outing. Popular choices are a dinner cruise on the Nile, a guided Cairo by night tour, or a short walk near your hotel. Ask our team when you book, or tell your representative on arrival, and we will arrange it for you.

If you arrive late, keep it simple: check in, eat something light and sleep. Tomorrow is a free day, so there is no early start. A local SIM card or an eSIM set up before you travel makes it easy to stay in touch with our team throughout the trip. No meals are included today.

After breakfast at the hotel the day is open. You can rest, explore Cairo at your own pace, or book one of two full-day excursions with a guide.

The first option is Alexandria, Egypt's city on the Mediterranean, about three hours north by road. A typical day covers the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, a Roman-era burial complex carved into the bedrock, the Roman Amphitheater, and Qaitbay Citadel, a 15th-century fort on the harbor.

The second option stays closer to Cairo and tells the early story of the pyramids. At Saqqara you see the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest of Egypt's large stone pyramids. Memphis, the first capital of a united Egypt, has a giant statue of Ramesses II in its open-air museum. At Dahshur you see the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid, the experiments that led to the smooth-sided pyramids at Giza. Seeing them the day before Giza makes the next day easier to follow. Both excursions are optional and paid separately. Breakfast is included.

Your Egyptologist guide collects you after breakfast for the Giza Plateau. You stand at the base of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, then see the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, built by Khufu's son and grandson about 4,500 years ago. Your guide explains how they were built and why, and points out the details that photos miss.

Below the pyramids sits the Great Sphinx, a lion with a king's head carved from the natural limestone ridge. Its viewing terrace is the best spot for a photo with the pyramids behind it.

After lunch you continue to the Grand Egyptian Museum, a short drive from Giza. Your guide takes you through the main galleries, from the grand staircase lined with royal statues to the halls of Tutankhamun's burial treasure. Allow a few hours here. You return to your hotel in the late afternoon. Pack tonight, because tomorrow starts with a morning flight to Luxor. Breakfast and lunch are included.

After breakfast you transfer to Cairo Airport for the morning domestic flight to Luxor, which takes about an hour. Your Egyptologist guide meets you on arrival and starts with the East Bank.

Karnak Temple was the main home of the god Amun and grew over about 2,000 years as pharaoh after pharaoh added to it. Walk through the Hypostyle Hall with its forest of giant columns, and see the obelisks and the sacred lake. Then continue to Luxor Temple, in the center of the modern city beside the Nile. It was the setting for the yearly Opet festival, when the statue of Amun was carried here from Karnak.

After the tour you board your 5-star Nile cruise ship. This is your home for the next seven nights, with all meals on board. Tonight the ship stays moored in Luxor. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included.

After breakfast on board you cross to the West Bank, where the pharaohs of the New Kingdom were buried. In the Valley of the Kings, royal tombs are cut deep into the hillside, their corridors covered in painted texts meant to guide the king through the underworld. Your guide helps you choose the best tombs open that day.

Next is the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. It rises in three wide terraces against the cliffs and was built for one of the few women who ruled Egypt as pharaoh. On the way back you stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two huge seated statues that once stood at the gate of a royal mortuary temple.

Back on the ship, lunch is served as you start sailing south. Spend the afternoon on the sun deck watching villages, palm groves and fields pass by. The ship moors at Edfu for the night.

After breakfast you visit Edfu Temple, dedicated to the falcon god Horus. Built under the Ptolemies and finished in the first century BC, it is one of the best-preserved temples in Egypt, with its pylon, roofed halls and inner sanctuary still standing. Your guide reads the wall carvings with you, including the story of Horus and his battle with Seth.

The ship then sails on to Kom Ombo. This is a double temple, with two matching halls and sanctuaries side by side. One half is for Sobek, the crocodile god, and the other for Horus the Elder. The temple stands right on the riverbank, so you see it from the deck before you step ashore.

In the evening the ship continues to Aswan, where it moors for the next three nights. Dinner is on board.

Today is free, with the ship moored in Aswan and all meals on board. Most travelers use it for the optional excursion to Abu Simbel, about three hours south of Aswan by road, close to Lake Nasser.

At Abu Simbel, Ramesses II had two temples cut into a sandstone cliff. Four seated statues of the king, each about 20 meters tall, guard the entrance to the Great Temple. The smaller temple beside it honors his wife Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. In the 1960s both temples were cut into blocks and rebuilt on higher ground to save them from the rising lake. Departures are early, so you visit before the midday heat. Ask our team to book it in advance.

If you prefer a quieter day, visit the Nubian Museum, which covers the history of the region flooded by Lake Nasser, or simply relax on the sun deck and walk along the Aswan corniche.

After breakfast your guide takes you to Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis. When the old Aswan Dam flooded its original island, the temple was moved stone by stone to nearby Agilkia Island, so you reach it by a short motorboat ride. Walk through its colonnades and courts, and look for the carvings of Isis and her son Horus.

The afternoon is free. You can add an optional visit to a Nubian village. The trip goes by motorboat along the Nile, then you walk through a village of brightly painted houses and share tea with a local family. It is a relaxed way to learn about Nubian culture and see the river around Aswan at its best.

If you skip the village, the ship makes a comfortable base for an afternoon of rest. All meals are on board, and the ship stays moored in Aswan tonight.

Today the ship turns north and sails back down the Nile toward Edfu, with no sightseeing scheduled. This is the main difference between a seven-night cruise and the shorter three- and four-night options: you get real time on the river, not just the transfer between temples.

Spend the day on the sun deck and watch the riverbanks change, from desert edges to farms, palm groves and small villages. Read, rest, or sort through your photos from Luxor and Aswan. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served on board, so there is nothing to plan.

If you want to use the time well, this is a good day to ask the crew or your guide about tomorrow's sailing times, and to plan your final day in Luxor and onward travel.

Your last full day on the ship is another easy one as you continue north toward Luxor. Enjoy the slower pace before the trip ends. It is a good moment to look back over the route you have covered: Karnak and Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae.

The Nile between Edfu and Luxor passes farmland and small towns, and in the late afternoon the light turns gold over the water. Many travelers spend the day on deck with a book and a cold drink, then pack in the evening.

Before dinner, confirm your departure time with our team so your airport transfer tomorrow is set. If your international flight leaves from Cairo rather than Luxor, let us know early so we can help with the connection. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are on board.

After a final breakfast on board, you check out of your cabin and leave the ship in Luxor. At the agreed time, our driver transfers you to Luxor International Airport for your flight home or your onward travel.

If your flight is late in the day, you may have a few free hours. Your guide or our team can suggest how to spend them, and the ship's reception can usually hold luggage until your transfer. Remember that the trip ends in Luxor, not Cairo, so plan your international ticket to match.

This ends your 11-day trip: three nights in Cairo with the pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum, and seven nights on the Nile between Luxor and Aswan. Breakfast is included.