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

Your representative meets you at Cairo International Airport with a name sign and walks you out to a private, air-conditioned vehicle for the drive to your hotel. After a long-haul flight, that handoff matters: Cairo traffic is dense and loud, and you will not have to deal with taxis, fares or directions.

Nothing is scheduled for the rest of the day. Check in, sleep off the flight, and let the city introduce itself through your window. If you land early and feel restless, ask the hotel desk or your guide for a low-key walk or café nearby, but there is no pressure to do anything at all.

Your guide confirms the next morning's pickup time, either when you arrive or with a short welcome call that evening. Keep some Egyptian pounds in small notes for tips and minor purchases; ATMs are easy to find at the airport and in hotels.

No meals are included today.

After breakfast you drive to the Giza Plateau, where the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure have stood for about 4,500 years. Your Egyptologist explains how the blocks were quarried, moved and set, and what the pyramids meant in royal beliefs about the afterlife. Look at the top of Khafre's pyramid, which still holds a patch of its original smooth limestone casing.

You continue down to the Great Sphinx, carved from a single outcrop of the plateau's bedrock, and the Valley Temple beside it, whose granite-faced walls show how precisely the builders could work hard stone.

After lunch at a local restaurant, you head south to Saqqara, the vast burial ground of ancient Memphis. The Step Pyramid of Djoser, built some 4,700 years ago and credited to the architect Imhotep, is the earliest monumental stone building in Egypt, the prototype that led to Giza's smooth-sided pyramids. You return to your hotel in the evening.

Wear closed shoes; the plateau is sandy and the stone underfoot is uneven.

After breakfast you are driven to the Grand Egyptian Museum near Giza, a vast museum devoted to ancient Egypt. Here the entire Tutankhamun collection is displayed together: the gold mask, the nested shrines, the chariots, the jewelry and the everyday objects buried with the young king. Your guide leads you up the grand staircase, lined with royal statues, and through the Tutankhamun galleries, picking out the pieces worth slowing down for.

Next comes the Citadel, the hilltop fortress begun by Saladin in the twelfth century to defend Cairo. Its skyline is dominated by the Mohamed Ali Mosque, often called the Alabaster Mosque, and the terrace outside gives you one of the widest views over the city.

After lunch at a local restaurant, you spend the afternoon in Khan el-Khalili, a market that has traded since the fourteenth century. Browse spice stalls, goldsmiths and perfume shops, haggle with good humor, or sit down for tea before your transfer back to the hotel.

A small daypack and a scarf for the mosque are useful today.

Today starts early. After breakfast you are collected for the drive north on the desert road, about two and a half to three hours, reaching Alexandria by mid-morning. A local Alexandria guide takes over from here.

You begin underground at the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, a Roman-era burial complex cut into the rock, where Egyptian gods appear in Roman armor and Greek-style columns frame Egyptian motifs. Next is Pompey's Pillar, a single red granite column that has marked the city's skyline since Roman times, and then the Qaitbay Citadel, the fifteenth-century fort raised on or near the site of the Pharos lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Lunch is seafood with a view of the Mediterranean. Afterward you stop at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the modern library built to recall the ancient Library of Alexandria. Its tilted disc of a roof and its granite wall carved with scripts from around the world are the main things to see from outside; entry to the interior exhibits is not included.

You drive back to Cairo in the evening and reach your hotel at night.

After breakfast you explore the faiths that shaped Cairo. The day starts in Coptic Cairo, inside the old walls of the Roman fortress of Babylon. The Hanging Church takes its name from its position above a gatehouse of that fortress; inside, look for the wooden ceiling shaped like the hull of Noah's Ark and the inlaid screens. Nearby are the Church of St. Sergius, linked by tradition to the Holy Family's flight into Egypt, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, where the famous Cairo Geniza documents were found.

From there you move into Islamic Cairo, walking its old streets past medieval mosques, carved stone facades and wooden mashrabiya screens while your guide unpacks the dynasties, from the Fatimids to the Mamluks, who built them.

Lunch is at a local restaurant, and you return to the hotel by evening to pack for the coast.

Dress modestly today, with shoulders and knees covered; women may want a scarf for mosque visits.

After breakfast you are driven to Cairo International Airport for the short flight to Hurghada on Egypt's Red Sea coast. You are met on arrival and transferred privately to your beachfront resort.

The contrast with Cairo is immediate: low buildings, dry mountains behind the town, and water so clear that at many beaches you can see the reef from the shore. The rest of the day is yours. Swim, claim a lounger, try the resort pools, or walk the beach at sunset after four busy days of touring.

Only breakfast is included during the Hurghada stay, so lunches and dinners are at your resort or in town, at your own cost. If you plan to snorkel or dive over the next two days, talk to the resort desk this evening so you can book the trips you want; these excursions are not part of the package.

The Red Sea sun is strong even in winter, so pack reef-safe sunscreen and a hat.

A full day with no schedule. Hurghada's beaches and reefs are the reason most visitors come to this stretch of the Red Sea, and today you enjoy them on your own terms.

If you want some structure, the resort concierge can arrange optional activities: snorkeling and scuba diving on nearby reefs, boat trips to the offshore islands, desert safaris into the mountains behind town, or water sports on the beach. The coral here is home to parrotfish, angelfish and, with luck, turtles. Beginners can usually try an introductory dive with an instructor without holding a certification.

If you would rather do nothing at all, that works too. A rest day like this is what lets you arrive in Luxor with energy to spare for the temples and tombs ahead.

All activities are optional and paid locally. Breakfast is included; lunch and dinner are on your own.

Your second free day on the coast. If yesterday was for the beach, today could be for the water: boat trips to Giftun Island or Orange Bay are the classic choice, with white sand, shallow turquoise water and snorkeling stops along the way. These excursions are optional and booked locally.

Or stay put by the pool and read. There is no wrong way to spend the day.

In the evening, Hurghada Marina is worth a visit, with a promenade of cafés, restaurants and shops facing the yachts. It is a relaxed place for dinner on your own and an easy taxi ride from most resorts.

Before bed, settle your resort bill and pack. Tomorrow you leave by road for Luxor, so keep water, snacks and a charged phone within reach for the drive across the desert.

Breakfast is included; other meals are at your own expense.

After breakfast you leave the coast in a private, air-conditioned vehicle for Luxor, a drive of about four to five hours. The road climbs through the Red Sea Mountains, bare ridges of granite and sandstone, before dropping into the green strip of the Nile Valley around Qena and turning south to Luxor.

You check in to your hotel and have time to rest before the evening event: the Sound & Light Show at Karnak Temple. As darkness falls, lighting picks out the pylons, obelisks and columns while narration and music walk you through the history of the temple and the pharaohs who expanded it over some 2,000 years. Karnak at night feels entirely different from the daylight visit, and the evening air is far cooler.

Bring a light layer, since desert nights can be chilly, particularly from November to February.

Breakfast is included today.

After breakfast you cross to Luxor's West Bank, the ancient city of the dead. The first stop is the Valley of the Kings, where New Kingdom pharaohs were buried in tombs cut deep into the limestone hills, their walls painted with texts meant to guide the king through the underworld. Standard entry typically covers three tombs; Tutankhamun's tomb can be added separately at extra cost.

Next comes the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, three broad terraces set against a sheer cliff, built for the female pharaoh who ruled Egypt for some two decades. Look for the reliefs of her trading expedition to the land of Punt. Then you stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two seated statues of Amenhotep III that once guarded his vanished mortuary temple.

After the tour you board your Nile cruise ship for lunch, settle into your cabin and spend the afternoon on deck. Dinner is served on board.

Start with plenty of water: the West Bank heats up fast.

After breakfast on board, you visit Luxor Temple on the city's riverside corniche. Built mainly by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II, it was the setting for the annual Opet festival, when the image of the god Amun traveled here from Karnak. At the entrance stand seated colossi of Ramesses II and a single obelisk; its twin has stood in the Place de la Concorde in Paris since the 1830s. Above the old courtyard you will notice a mosque, built over the temple in the Middle Ages and still in use.

The temple connects to Karnak by the Avenue of Sphinxes, nearly three kilometers long, which you may have glimpsed during the Sound & Light Show.

You return to the ship for lunch as it sets sail south toward Edfu. The afternoon belongs to the sundeck: fields, palms, villages and grazing water buffalo slide past, and the light turns gold near sunset. Dinner is served on board.

After breakfast you visit the Temple of Horus at Edfu, one of the best-preserved temples in Egypt. Built under the Ptolemies between the third and first centuries BC, it still has its roof, its towering entrance pylon and long relief sequences showing Horus in battle with his rival Seth. The temple stands a short ride from the river; horse-drawn carriages are the traditional way there, but the carriage fee is not included in the package.

Back on board, you sail on to Kom Ombo, where the temple stands right on a bend of the Nile. It is a double temple, split down the middle: one side for Sobek, the crocodile god, the other for Haroeris, a form of Horus, each with its own gateway, halls and sanctuary. The adjoining Crocodile Museum displays mummified crocodiles found nearby.

The ship continues toward Aswan through the afternoon and evening, with dinner on board.

Keep your camera handy on deck; the stretch between Kom Ombo and Aswan passes some of the river's prettiest scenery.

You wake with the ship docked in Aswan, where the Nile narrows between granite boulders and golden dunes. After breakfast you visit the Aswan High Dam, completed in 1970, which ended the annual flood, gave Egypt year-round irrigation and hydroelectric power, and created Lake Nasser, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world.

Next you take a short boat ride to Agilkia Island and the Temple of Philae, dedicated to Isis. When the dams threatened to submerge it, a UNESCO-led campaign dismantled the temple block by block and rebuilt it on higher ground. Look for the Kiosk of Trajan near the water and for Christian crosses cut into older reliefs, signs of the temple's later life as a church.

If time allows, a felucca sail around the islands can be arranged as an optional extra; it is not included. You return to the ship for dinner and spend the night docked in Aswan.

Go to bed early: tomorrow's start for Abu Simbel is a very early one.

After an early breakfast you disembark and set out for Abu Simbel, near the Sudanese border. The standard plan reaches it by road, about three and a half hours each way across the desert, so the day is long.

The Great Temple of Ramesses II is cut straight into the sandstone cliff, its facade guarded by four seated colossi of the king, each about 20 meters tall. Inside, the halls are lined with statues of Ramesses in the form of Osiris and with reliefs of the Battle of Kadesh. Next door, the smaller temple honors Queen Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. In the 1960s both temples were cut into blocks and reassembled on higher ground to save them from the rising waters of Lake Nasser.

After the guided visit you are transferred to Aswan Airport for your domestic flight back to Cairo, then to your hotel for the night.

Bring snacks, water and a layer for the air-conditioned vehicle. Flying to Abu Simbel instead of driving is available as an optional upgrade at extra cost.

After breakfast you have free time until your private transfer to Cairo International Airport, timed around your flight. Use the morning for a last walk, a final coffee, or repacking the spices, papyrus and textiles you picked up along the way.

Your driver allows for Cairo traffic and check-in time, so you reach the airport without rushing. For international departures, plan on arriving about three hours ahead; security screening starts at the terminal entrance.

Over 15 days you have covered the pyramids and Saqqara, two of Cairo's historic quarters, Alexandria's Mediterranean ruins, the Red Sea, Luxor's temples and tombs, the Nile between Luxor and Aswan, and Abu Simbel. Breakfast is the last included meal of the trip, served at your Cairo hotel.