15-Day Western Desert Oases & Nile Cruise Tour from Siwa to Aswan

A representative meets you at Cairo International Airport with a name sign, guides you through the arrivals hall and walks you to a private, air-conditioned vehicle for the drive to your hotel. You will not need to deal with taxis or directions after the flight.

The rest of the day is yours to rest. This trip asks a lot of you later on, with long drives and nights in desert camps, so an easy first evening is wise. Check in, eat lightly, and sleep.

Use any spare time to check your packing for the desert section: a warm fleece or jacket for camp nights, a headlamp, sunglasses, a wide-brimmed hat, lip balm and a scarf against wind and dust. A soft bag loads into a 4x4 far more easily than a hard suitcase. Your guide confirms tomorrow's pickup time.

No meals are included today.

After breakfast you meet your Egyptologist guide and drive to the Giza Plateau. The pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure have stood here for about 4,500 years; your guide explains how they were built and what they meant to the kings buried inside. Below them sits the Great Sphinx, carved from the plateau's own bedrock, and the Valley Temple, linked to the purification and burial rites of the king, its granite-lined halls still square and solid.

After lunch at a local restaurant, you spend the afternoon at the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest archaeological museum in the world dedicated to a single civilization. Its galleries run across every era of ancient Egypt, with colossal royal statues, tomb furnishings and the objects of ordinary daily life, and the complete Tutankhamun collection is displayed here together.

You return to your hotel in the evening. Rest well: tomorrow is a long drive west.

After breakfast you leave Cairo for the Mediterranean coast and El Alamein, where the Allied victory over Rommel's Axis forces in late 1942 became a turning point of the North African campaign. At the El Alamein War Museum, uniforms, weapons, maps and vehicles explain how the battle unfolded across the desert.

You then walk among the Commonwealth and German war cemeteries. The Commonwealth cemetery holds thousands of graves in neat rows of pale headstones, many carrying short messages from families back home. These are quiet places, and visitors are expected to behave with respect.

From El Alamein the road turns inland, and after several more hours of driving through open desert you reach Siwa Oasis, a world of palm groves, olive orchards and salt lakes near the Libyan border. Siwans have their own Berber language and customs, quite distinct from those of the Nile Valley. On arrival you have time to wander the old village streets.

Breakfast and lunch are included today.

After breakfast you start at Shali Fortress, the old heart of Siwa town. Built in the 13th century from kershef, a mix of salt-rich mud and rock, it housed the whole community until heavy rains in 1926 dissolved much of it. Climb to the top for a view across the palm groves and salt lakes.

Next is the Temple of the Oracle of Amun at Aghurmi, where Alexander the Great came in 331 BC and, by ancient accounts, was greeted as the son of the god. The Siwa House Museum then shows how Siwan families lived, with traditional clothing, silver jewelry and household objects.

In the afternoon you climb the Mountain of the Dead, Gebel al-Mawta, a hill honeycombed with rock-cut tombs, several still with traces of painted walls, and visit the Crocodile Tombs. The day ends with sunset over the Dakrour Mountains.

Siwa is conservative, so dress modestly in town. Breakfast and lunch are included.

After breakfast you switch to 4x4 vehicles and leave Siwa for Bahariya Oasis, the longest desert crossing of the trip. The landscape changes all day: rocky plateaus, dry salt flats, and seas of rolling sand. Your local desert guide knows the tracks, the rest stops and the best places to stretch your legs and take photographs.

On arrival in Bahariya you have time to meet people in the community, a farming oasis of date palms and olive groves, before soaking in one of its natural hot springs. The mineral-rich water rises warm from deep underground, and after a day in the vehicle it is exactly what your back needs.

You watch the sun set over the oasis before dinner.

Keep a swimsuit and a quick-dry towel in your day bag. Breakfast and dinner are included today; lunch is not.

After breakfast you explore Bahariya's history. The Valley of the Golden Mummies made headlines in the late 1990s, when archaeologists found a vast Greco-Roman cemetery here, many of its mummies wearing gilded masks. You also see the nearby Greco-Roman necropolis and temple remains carved with ancient inscriptions.

In the afternoon your 4x4 convoy heads south into the White Desert. Here wind and sand have carved the chalk bedrock into white towers and mushroom-shaped pillars, some resembling animals or abstract sculpture. The light shifts from bright white at midday to pink and orange at sunset, the best hour for photographs.

The crew sets up camp, and dinner is a Bedouin-style meal cooked over the fire. With no towns for miles, the night sky is crowded with stars. Camping equipment is provided.

Nights can be cold, near freezing in midwinter, so keep your warm layers close. All three meals are included today.

After breakfast in camp you continue to Farafra, one of the smallest and most isolated of Egypt's inhabited oases. Life here moves slowly, among date palms, irrigated fields and a compact village of low houses.

You stop at the local museum, where archaeological finds sit alongside folk art made by Farafra's own residents, then explore the ruins of Roman-era temples and old mosques that show how many different eras have passed through this remote outpost.

In the afternoon you relax at one of Farafra's natural hot springs, where warm water fills pools in the open desert. It is one of the most peaceful afternoons of the whole journey, and a welcome chance to wash off the dust of camp.

Tonight you sleep in Farafra. Breakfast and lunch are included; dinner is on your own.

After breakfast you travel on to Kharga, the largest oasis in the Western Desert and the capital of the New Valley governorate. Kharga sat on the Darb al-Arbain, the Forty Days Road, a caravan route that linked Sudan to Egypt for centuries, and the Romans guarded the region with mud-brick forts.

You tour one of these Roman-era fortresses and learn how it protected trade through the desert, then visit the local archaeological museum, whose collection spans the many civilizations that passed through the region. Next is the Dush Temple, a Roman-era temple on a desert ridge, followed by the remains of nearby Christian cemeteries and Roman shrines that show how deep the oasis's religious history runs.

The day ends with a desert sunset and your second night camping under the stars, with equipment provided and dinner in camp.

All three meals are included today.

After breakfast you drive east out of the desert toward Luxor, ancient Thebes. For most of the journey the road crosses empty plateau, and then the land drops into the Nile Valley: green fields, irrigation canals, sugarcane and palms after a week of sand and rock.

You check in to your hotel in Luxor, and the change of scale is striking. After small oasis villages, Luxor feels busy, with horse carriages, riverside promenades and feluccas on the water.

The evening is free. Walk the corniche, browse the souk, or simply enjoy a long shower and a soft bed. Tomorrow begins the river portion of the trip, with temple visits and cruise embarkation.

If you need laundry done after the desert, ask at your hotel tonight. Breakfast is included today.

After breakfast you begin on Luxor's East Bank with a guided tour of Karnak, the largest religious complex built in the ancient world. Pharaohs added to it for some 2,000 years, and its Great Hypostyle Hall, with 134 giant columns covered in carved inscriptions, is one of the most extraordinary rooms in ancient architecture. You walk a stretch of the Avenue of Sphinxes, which once ran nearly three kilometers to Luxor Temple.

You continue to Luxor Temple on the corniche, where seated statues of Ramesses II and a lone obelisk guard the entrance. The temple was the end point of the annual Opet festival procession, and the colonnade of Amenhotep III inside shows some of the finest proportions in Egyptian building.

After the tour you check in to your Nile cruise ship, settle into your cabin, and take lunch and dinner on board. You spend the night moored in Luxor.

Bring sun protection: Karnak has little shade.

After breakfast on board you cross to the West Bank. In the Valley of the Kings, New Kingdom pharaohs were buried in tombs cut deep into the limestone, their corridors painted with texts and images meant to carry the king safely through the night journey of the sun. Among them is the tomb of Tutankhamun. Standard entry typically covers three tombs; Tutankhamun's tomb can be added at extra cost.

Next is the mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, three terraces rising against a vertical cliff, built for one of the few women to rule Egypt as pharaoh. Its colonnades carry reliefs of her expedition to the land of Punt. You finish at the Colossi of Memnon, two weathered seated statues of Amenhotep III that once stood before his temple, now almost entirely gone.

You return to the ship for lunch and spend the afternoon on board, with dinner in the evening. Carry plenty of water; the valley holds the heat.

After breakfast the ship sails south to Edfu, where you tour the Temple of Horus, one of the best-preserved temples in Egypt. Built under the Ptolemies, it still has its roof, its enormous entrance pylon, and carved walls telling the story of Horus and his struggle with Seth. Look for the granite falcon statues of Horus near the entrance. Carriage rides to the temple are optional and paid locally.

The ship continues to Kom Ombo, where the temple sits right on the riverbank. It is a double temple, with mirrored halls and twin sanctuaries for Sobek, the crocodile god, and Horus the Elder. In the adjoining Crocodile Museum you see mummified crocodiles found in the area.

In the evening the crew hosts a Galabeya party on board, with music and traditional Egyptian robes, as the ship sails on toward Aswan. If you want to dress up, galabeyas are easy to buy in the Luxor bazaars beforehand.

All meals are included on the cruise.

After breakfast you arrive in Aswan, where granite boulders and sand dunes meet the river. Your first stop is the Aswan High Dam, completed in 1970, which ended the Nile's yearly flood, provided year-round irrigation and electricity, and created Lake Nasser, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world.

Then you sail by small boat to Agilkia Island and the Temple of Philae, dedicated to Isis. When rising waters threatened it, a UNESCO-led campaign moved the entire complex, stone by stone, to this higher island. Wander through its colonnades and chapels, including the elegant Kiosk of Trajan by the water, and notice the crosses carved into some reliefs after the temple became a church.

You return to the ship for dinner and spend your final night on board, docked in Aswan.

This is a good evening to settle any onboard bills and organize your luggage for tomorrow's flight.

After breakfast you check out of the ship and transfer to Aswan Airport for your domestic flight back to Cairo, where you are met and taken to your hotel.

If you want one more great monument, an optional excursion to Abu Simbel can be arranged at extra cost. Ramesses II cut his Great Temple into the cliff above the Nile, fronted by four seated colossi of himself about 20 meters high, with a smaller temple beside it for Queen Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. Both were dismantled and rebuilt on higher ground in the 1960s, when Lake Nasser rose behind the High Dam. Because the excursion takes most of a day and has to fit around your flight, its timing is confirmed in your quote.

Otherwise, the rest of the day in Cairo is free: last purchases, dinner on your own by the Nile, or simply rest after two weeks on the move.

Breakfast is included today.

Enjoy a final breakfast at your hotel before checking out. Your representative then transfers you privately to Cairo International Airport, with the timing set around your international flight so you arrive without rushing. Allow for Cairo traffic and for the security checks at the terminal entrance, and plan to reach the airport about three hours before departure.

If you are carrying souvenirs from the oases, such as Siwan silver or embroidered textiles, pack them carefully in your checked luggage. Desert sand has a way of turning up in every pocket for weeks afterward.

You leave having crossed the Western Desert from Siwa to Kharga, slept twice under desert skies, and followed the Nile from Luxor to Aswan, a route very few visitors to Egypt ever take.

Breakfast is included.