7-Day Cairo, Luxor and Aswan Tour with Abu Simbel

When you walk out of arrivals at Cairo International Airport, a representative with a sign bearing your name is there to meet you. Your bags go into a private air-conditioned vehicle and you are driven straight to your hotel, with no need to deal with taxis or public transport after the flight.

The rest of the day is open. Sightseeing starts tomorrow and the week moves quickly after that, so the smartest plan is usually to rest, eat something light and get a full night's sleep. If you arrive early and want to stretch your legs, your hotel concierge or guide can recommend a relaxed outing nearby, but nothing is booked.

Your guide confirms the pickup time for Day 2, either when you land or in a short welcome call the evening before. Use any spare minutes to get practical: buy a local SIM card or arrange roaming, withdraw or exchange some Egyptian pounds for small purchases, and check that your passport and printed travel documents are in an easy-to-reach place for the domestic flights later in the week.

No meals are included today.

After breakfast your guide collects you for the Giza Plateau. The Great Pyramid of Khufu was built from more than two million blocks of stone, and up close the scale is hard to absorb: the lowest courses stand taller than you, and the structure covers more ground than several city blocks. Nearby are the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, each with its own temples and causeway, a reminder that every pyramid was the center of a larger complex. Your Egyptologist explains how it was organized and staffed before you walk down to the Great Sphinx, carved from one limestone outcrop into a lion with a royal head.

Next is the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest archaeological museum in the world dedicated to one civilization. You climb its grand staircase past colossal kings and queens, then enter the galleries where Tutankhamun's complete collection is displayed together. Take time with the smaller pieces too, such as sandals, game boards and walking sticks, which bring the young king's daily life into focus.

Lunch is at a local restaurant during the day, and you return to your hotel in the evening.

Meals: breakfast and lunch.

Today belongs to the city of Cairo itself. After breakfast you drive to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat, home of the royal mummies. They rest in a dimly lit hall designed to evoke the Valley of the Kings, and among them are some of the best-known rulers of the New Kingdom, including Ramesses II. Your guide explains how mummification worked and what the burials reveal about health, age and status, and the main galleries trace Egypt's story from prehistory to the modern era.

Next comes the Cairo Citadel, the fortress Saladin began in the 12th century to defend the city. Its skyline is dominated by the Mosque of Mohamed Ali, often called the Alabaster Mosque, with slender pencil minarets and a vast domed prayer hall. From the terrace, on a clear day, the view runs across the rooftops all the way to the pyramids.

The day ends at Khan el-Khalili, the bazaar that has traded since the 14th century. Spice stalls, goldsmiths, perfume sellers and metalworkers crowd the alleys, and your guide can steer you toward reputable shops. Stop for tea or fresh mint lemonade at one of the old cafés before your transfer back to the hotel. Rest well, because tomorrow's flight leaves early.

Meals: breakfast and lunch.

An early transfer takes you to Cairo Airport for a morning flight to Luxor, ancient Thebes. Your Luxor guide meets you on arrival and heads straight to the West Bank. In the Valley of the Kings, pharaohs of the New Kingdom were buried in tombs cut far into the hillside and decorated with funerary texts in deep blues, reds and golds. Entry typically covers three tombs, and Tutankhamun's tomb can be added separately for a fee paid locally.

From there you visit the Temple of Hatshepsut, whose stacked terraces seem to grow out of the cliffs at Deir el-Bahari. Hatshepsut ruled as pharaoh, and the temple's reliefs record her trading expedition to the land of Punt. A photo stop follows at the Colossi of Memnon, two seated statues of Amenhotep III that once guarded a temple of which little else survives.

After lunch at a local restaurant you cross the river to Karnak, the largest religious complex of the ancient world. Walk the Hypostyle Hall, where 134 columns rise like a stone forest. The day ends with a short visit to Luxor Temple, elegantly lit and set right on the Nile corniche. You then check into your Luxor hotel to rest before the drive to Aswan.

Meals: breakfast and lunch.

After breakfast you leave Luxor by private air-conditioned vehicle for the three-to-four-hour drive south to Aswan. The road follows the Nile, and the views shift between sugarcane fields, desert cliffs and small villages where life still revolves around the river. It is a good chance to see the countryside that a flight would skip.

In Aswan, your local guide starts the city tour with a felucca sail around Elephantine Island and the smaller islands of the Nile. These traditional sailboats move almost silently, and from the water you see the granite boulders of the First Cataract, the riverside markets and the terraces of the Old Cataract Hotel, where Agatha Christie once stayed. Whether the felucca fare is covered is confirmed with your quote.

Next is the Unfinished Obelisk, still lying in the granite quarry where ancient masons abandoned it after a crack appeared. Had it been completed it would have been the largest obelisk ever raised, and the tool marks around it show how the stone was worked.

Lunch is at a local restaurant. If time allows, you may also visit the Nubian Museum, which tells the story of Nubia and its people. You check into your hotel by evening, with dinner on your own.

Meals: breakfast and lunch.

You leave Aswan very early in the morning, either by road convoy or, if you choose it, by an optional short flight paid locally. By road the trip south to Abu Simbel takes roughly three hours, crossing open desert toward the Sudanese border, and the first light over the sand is part of the experience.

The Great Temple of Ramesses II is fronted by four seated figures of the king, each about 20 meters tall, carved directly from the mountainside. Inside, the halls are lined with statues of Ramses as Osiris and with reliefs of his campaigns, including the Battle of Kadesh. The sanctuary was aligned so that the rising sun reaches it on two days a year, around February 22 and October 22. Next door, the smaller Temple of Hathor honors his queen, Nefertari, whose statues stand as tall as the king's on its facade.

Both temples were cut into blocks and moved to higher ground in the 1960s, a UNESCO engineering project that saved them from the rising water of Lake Nasser after the High Dam was built. After the visit you are driven back to Aswan, with lunch along the way or on arrival, and then transferred to Aswan Airport for your evening flight to Cairo.

Meals: breakfast and lunch.

After six days that have taken you from the head of the Nile Delta almost to the border with Sudan, your last morning is calm. Enjoy breakfast at the hotel and use whatever free time your flight schedule allows to pack, rest or take a short walk nearby.

At the agreed time your driver collects you for the private transfer to Cairo International Airport. The pickup is planned with Cairo's traffic and airline check-in in mind, so you reach the terminal with time to spare rather than in a hurry.

A few practical notes for departure day: keep fragile purchases such as alabaster or glass in your hand luggage, carry a small amount of Egyptian currency for a coffee airside, and keep receipts for any reproduction artifacts you bought, since genuine antiquities cannot leave Egypt. From the pyramids to Abu Simbel, you will have seen the arc of the country's ancient history in a single week.

Meals: breakfast.