14-Day Cairo, Alexandria, Nile Cruise & Hurghada Tour

At Cairo International Airport, your representative meets you in arrivals with a name sign and leads you to a private, air-conditioned vehicle. There is nothing to arrange and no fare to negotiate; your driver takes care of the whole drive into the city while you take in the first views of a capital that never quite slows down.

The rest of the day is free. Check in, rest, and recover from the journey. If you arrive early and want to stretch your legs, your hotel concierge or guide can suggest an easy outing nearby, but nothing is scheduled, so there is no pressure to do anything.

Your guide confirms the pickup time for Day 2, either at the airport or with a brief welcome call that evening. No meals are included today.

After breakfast your guide drives you to the Giza Plateau, where the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure have stood for some 4,500 years. Your Egyptologist explains how the blocks were quarried and placed, and what the pyramids meant to the kings who commissioned them. The Great Pyramid alone was the tallest building on earth for close to four millennia. Below the plateau sits the Great Sphinx, carved from a single limestone outcrop with a lion's body and a king's face.

You then head to the Grand Egyptian Museum next to the plateau, a vast museum dedicated to ancient Egypt. Your guide leads you up the statue-lined Grand Staircase and through the galleries where Tutankhamun's complete burial treasure is displayed together. Lunch is at a local restaurant, and you return to your hotel by evening.

After an early breakfast you drive north to Alexandria, about two and a half to three hours on the desert road, and arrive by mid-morning in the port Alexander the Great founded in 331 BC.

Your Alexandria-based guide starts at the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, a Roman-era underground necropolis where Egyptian, Greek, and Roman funerary art blend in carved tombs and statues. Next comes Pompey's Pillar, a towering red granite column standing among the ruins of the Serapeum.

After a seafood lunch overlooking the Mediterranean, you visit the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the modern successor to the legendary ancient library, and finish at Qaitbay Citadel, the fifteenth-century fortress built on or near the site of the Pharos lighthouse. In the evening you check into your Alexandria hotel. Dinner is on your own, and a walk along the Corniche at dusk is the best way to end the day.

After breakfast you drive back to Cairo, again about two and a half to three hours on the desert road. Once you arrive, the day is largely free. You might rest, revisit a neighborhood you liked, or do some shopping before the journey south. Khan el-Khalili, the old bazaar, is a lively place for spices and handmade goods, while Zamalek offers quieter cafés and riverside walks.

In the evening you transfer to Cairo's railway station and board your overnight sleeper train to Aswan. Settle into your private cabin as the train runs south along the Nile Valley through the night, and enjoy dinner served on board. Pack a small overnight bag with essentials, since cabins are compact and your main luggage is easier left closed. The steady rhythm of the rails is part of the experience, and by morning you are in Upper Egypt.

Your train arrives in Aswan in the morning, where your Aswan-based guide meets you at the station. The town has a relaxed, southern character, with granite islands in the river and Nubian villages on its banks.

The tour starts at the Aswan High Dam, the twentieth-century project that controls the Nile's flow and created Lake Nasser, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world. A short motorboat ride then takes you to Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis. When rising water threatened it, the temple was taken apart and rebuilt on higher ground in a UNESCO-led rescue, and it now stands on Agilkia Island.

After lunch you transfer to the dock and board your Nile cruise ship. The afternoon is free to settle into your cabin, relax on deck, and watch Aswan's riverbank as the ship prepares to sail. Dinner is served on board.

After breakfast the ship sails north to Kom Ombo, arriving in the late morning or early afternoon. Its temple, set on a bend of the Nile, is a rare double temple: one half belongs to Sobek, the crocodile god, and the other to Horus, the falcon god, with matching entrances, halls, and sanctuaries side by side. Your guide points out the reliefs, including a panel that many visitors read as a set of surgical instruments.

The adjoining Crocodile Museum displays mummified crocodiles once worshipped here, a reminder of how closely the Nile's creatures were tied to religious life.

You reboard for lunch as the ship continues toward Edfu. The afternoon is free on the sun deck, watching farmland and villages along the banks, or joining the onboard activities. Dinner is served aboard, and the ship spends the night at Edfu.

After breakfast you disembark for a short horse-drawn carriage or tuk-tuk ride to the Temple of Horus at Edfu, among the best-preserved temples in Egypt. Built under the Ptolemies, it still has its roof, its great pylon, and an inner sanctuary, and your guide explains the reliefs that tell the story of Horus and his rival Seth. The carriage at Edfu is not included in the package.

You return to the ship for lunch as it sails on toward Luxor, usually arriving in the afternoon or evening. Depending on the arrival time, you may visit Luxor Temple after dark, when its colossal statues of Ramesses II, its obelisk, and its colonnades are floodlit against the night sky in the center of town. Dinner is served on board, and the ship stays in Luxor overnight.

After breakfast you check out of the ship and cross to Luxor's West Bank. In the Valley of the Kings, pharaohs including Tutankhamun were buried in tombs cut deep into the hills. Standard entry covers three tombs, and Tutankhamun's tomb needs a separate ticket that is not included.

Next is the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, a terraced temple set against sheer cliffs for one of Egypt's few female pharaohs, followed by a photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two seated statues of Amenhotep III.

After lunch at a local restaurant you set off on the drive of roughly three to four hours across the Eastern Desert to Hurghada. The green ribbon of the Nile Valley gives way to bare mountains and then the blue of the Red Sea. On arrival you check into your beach resort, with the evening free to relax.

Your first day on the coast is entirely free. After a week of temples and early starts, many travelers simply sleep in and spend the day between the pool and the beach.

Hurghada stretches along the Red Sea for kilometers, with coral reefs offshore and the Eastern Desert mountains rising behind the town. If you want to see the reefs, your resort concierge can arrange optional activities locally, including snorkeling or diving trips, a boat excursion to the nearby islands, where the water turns a vivid turquoise over white sand, or a sunset cruise along the coast.

Use reef-safe sunscreen, wear a rash guard or T-shirt when snorkeling for long periods, and drink more water than you think you need. Activities are not included, and only breakfast is part of the package here, so lunch and dinner are at your own expense.

Another unscheduled day lets you settle into the rhythm of the coast. You might stay by the pool with a book, or head out to explore more of what the Red Sea offers.

Popular optional activities include a full-day snorkeling or diving excursion to the reefs off Hurghada, where you can expect parrotfish, clownfish, and hard and soft corals in clear water. If you prefer to stay dry, a glass-bottom boat tour shows you the reef from above. For a change of scene, a desert safari heads into the mountains behind the town and finishes with a Bedouin dinner under the stars.

Your resort concierge can book any of these, and none is included in the package. If you would rather do nothing at all, the resort's amenities are yours at whatever pace suits you. Breakfast is included.

With the sightseeing behind you, today is meant purely for rest. Float in the warm water, work through a novel on a sun lounger, or book a spa treatment at your resort to ease the walking miles out of your legs.

If you want a little activity, Hurghada's marina is a pleasant place for an afternoon or evening stroll, lined with shops, cafés, and waterfront restaurants that look out over moored yachts and dive boats. It is a good spot to pick up souvenirs or to sit with a fresh juice and watch the boats return from the reefs.

This is your chance to fully unwind before your final day on the coast. Any spa services, meals beyond breakfast, and excursions are at your own expense, so plan your spending around what you most want to enjoy.

Your last day in Hurghada is free to enjoy the resort and the coastline one more time. Take a final swim, return to a reef you liked for one more snorkel, or simply sit and watch the color of the sea shift through the day.

Optional activities remain available if you want to stay active, including a diving excursion or a sunset boat cruise to close out your time on the Red Sea. Your resort concierge can still arrange these at short notice in most cases, and they are not included in the package.

In the evening, pack for tomorrow's road transfer to Cairo. Keep water, snacks, and anything you need for the drive in a day bag, and check that swimsuits are dry before they go into your suitcase. Breakfast is included today.

After breakfast you check out of your resort and begin the road transfer back to Cairo, retracing your route across the Eastern Desert. The drive is long, so settle in with a book, music, or a nap, and enjoy the stark mountain scenery before the highway reaches the outskirts of the capital.

You are likely to arrive in the evening, depending on traffic, and you check into your hotel with the rest of the day free. If you have energy left, you could do some last-minute shopping or have a relaxed dinner near the hotel. Otherwise, rest and get organized for your flight home.

Use the evening to weigh your luggage if you bought heavy souvenirs, and keep your passport and flight details somewhere easy to reach. Only breakfast is included today.

After breakfast at your hotel, the morning depends on your flight schedule. Pack at an easy pace, take one last walk, or sit with a coffee and look back over two weeks of photos from Giza, Alexandria, the Nile, and the Red Sea. If your flight leaves late in the day, the front desk can advise on luggage storage.

At the agreed time your driver collects you for the private transfer to Cairo International Airport. Because Cairo traffic is hard to predict, the driver allows for congestion and check-in time, getting you to the terminal relaxed and on time for your international flight. Keep your passport close for the security check at the terminal entrance.

Your 14 days end here, after a journey that has moved by road, rail, and river from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.