Classic Egypt on a Budget: 10 Days Cairo & Nile Cruise Adventure
English Speaking Guide
Explore Egypt’s Wonders Without Overspending
Enjoy the magic of Egypt while staying within your budget. This 10-day journey combines rich history with relaxing travel. First, you explore Cairo’s iconic landmarks. Then, you sail along the Nile and discover ancient temples. As a result, you experience Egypt’s highlights in a smooth and affordable way.
Discover the Best of Cairo
Your trip begins with five nights in Cairo, giving you time to explore deeply. Start with the legendary Giza Pyramids and the Great Sphinx. Then, visit fascinating museums filled with ancient treasures. Afterward, wander through lively bazaars and local streets. In addition, guided tours help you understand Egypt’s history clearly and easily.
Step Back in Time at the Pyramids
Next, witness one of the world’s greatest wonders. The pyramids stand tall as symbols of ancient engineering and power. Moreover, your guide shares stories that bring these monuments to life. Therefore, your visit becomes both educational and unforgettable.
Sail the Nile in Comfort
After Cairo, continue your journey with a 4-night Nile cruise. As you travel between Upper Egypt’s famous cities, you enjoy both comfort and scenery. Along the way, you visit remarkable temples and historical sites. Meanwhile, the calm waters of the Nile create a relaxing atmosphere.
Discover Ancient Temples Along the River
Each stop along the Nile reveals something unique. Explore grand temples, learn about ancient gods, and admire detailed carvings. Furthermore, the guided visits ensure you never miss important details. As a result, every day adds depth to your experience.
Enjoy a Balanced and Relaxing Journey
This tour offers a perfect balance between exploration and relaxation. On one hand, you discover Egypt’s rich heritage. On the other hand, you enjoy peaceful moments on the cruise. Consequently, the trip feels both exciting and refreshing.
Travel Smart with Great Value
Although this is a budget tour, it still provides comfort and quality. You stay in well-selected hotels and enjoy organized travel. In addition, professional guides support you throughout the journey. Therefore, you get excellent value without missing key experiences.
🌟 Experience Highlights
🏜️ Visit the Giza Pyramids and the Great Sphinx
🏙️ Explore Cairo’s museums and local markets
📸 Capture iconic views of ancient landmarks
🚢 Enjoy a relaxing 4-night Nile cruise
🏛️ Visit famous temples along the Nile
🧭 Learn from expert Egyptologist guides
🌅 Experience beautiful Nile sunsets
🏨 Stay in comfortable budget-friendly accommodations
🚐 Travel with organized and easy transfers
Included
Excluded
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival to Egypt
Arrival to Egypt
Welcome to Cairo. Your tour begins when you are greeted by our representative who will assist you. After you have collected your luggage, he will then take you, in our deluxe vehicle, to your Cairo hotel.
Overnight in Cairo
Meals: Welcome Drink
Day 2: Cairo (Sakkara Necropolis – Memphis Museum)
Start your day tour to Giza Necropolis where our driver will pick up you from your hotel in Cairo or Giza and join our professional tour guide to witness the real magnificence ancient Egyptian attractions through visiting:
Memphis Open Air Museum
Memphis was the oldest capital of ancient Egypt, the first one that was founded after the unification of upper and Lower Egypt. The city was founded in the first dynasty (3100 BC).
The Step Pyramid of Saqqara
It’s called also step Pyramid of Zoser or Josser, due to the King Zoser who ordered his minister Imhotep to build it, this pyramid consists of six-layers, It’s height was about 197foot (60 meters). It is the first Pyramid ever built and it is the first largest scale stone building in the world.
Pyramid of Unas
The Pyramid of Unas is a smooth-sided pyramid built in the 24th century BC for the Egyptian pharaoh Unas, the ninth and final king of the Fifth Dynasty.
Overnight in Cairo
Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Day 3: Cairo (Aday tour to the Pyramids, the Great Sphinx & The GEM)
At 09 am you will meet your tour Guide and start your day to the great Pyramids area which includes:
Giza Pyramids Complex
The three main pyramids of Giza (Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure) are sufficient enough to build a 2-meter-long wall and span 100,000 square kilometers around the globe along with the equator.
The Great Pyramid (Extra Ticket)
The Great Pyramid of King Khufu is considered largely represents the spirit of ancient Egypt, King Khufu who built this Pyramid as a cemetery has left little information about his reign. Khufu ruled for about twenty-four years. Ironically, despite the enormity of his pyramid, the only statue of King Khufu himself is really small statue carved from ivory.
The Magical Sphinx
Who among us when mentioning the name of the Sphinx does not think about this stone sculpture that carved in the form of the human head and lion body, which is located in the Giza plateau in Egypt the Sphinx is one of the oldest and the largest sculptures in the world, it’s about 73.5 meters long and 6 meters wide.
There have been many and different opinions about the symbol represented by the Sphinx, Old views said that it represents the wisdom of man and the strength of the lion together and these qualities were applicable to “King Khafre“.
The Valley Temple
It was used as a place for the embalming process. This temple constructed definitely for two functions: First, it was used for the purification of the mummy before its burial. Second, it was used for making the Mummification process of the king.
The Grand Egyptian Museum
The museum houses a collection of the most valuable Egyptian artifacts ever from various periods of the Egyptian civilization, from the Predynastic Period to Coptic Egypt, with an estimated total of over 100,000 artifacts, including at least 20,000 that will be displayed for the first time ever, including the complete King Tutankhamun collection comprising 5,398 pieces. The Tut collection is on display in a 7,500 m2 section of the museum. Rare pieces that have been restored will be displayed for the first time, such as the second solar ship of Khufu, the restoration of which cost $5 million, the collection of Queen Hetepheres (mother of King Khufu), and the collection of Yuya and Thuyu (parents of Queen Tiye).
Overnight in Cairo
Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Day 4: ✈️🌅 From Cairo to Luxor | Fly-In & Nile Cruise Check-In Experience 🌊🚢
Activities Included Karnak Temples - Luxor Temple - Optional Sound and light Show
Morning time, we will pick you up from your hotel in Aswan after having your breakfast, then drive you to Luxor hotel to check in and have some rest then take the chance to enjoy the exploration of the ancient city of Luxor and its impressive architectural heritage monuments, starting with:
The Complex of Karnak Temples
Built over two millennia between the years of around 2200 and 360 BCE, Karnak is a massive Ancient Egyptian temple complex that was one of the country's most important places of worship under the rules of Hatshepsut, Seti I, Ramesses II and Ramesses III.
The Temple of Luxor
Luxor Temple, Ipet‑resyt “Southern Sanctuary” to the ancient Egyptians, was so called because of its location within ancient Thebes (modern Luxor).
Optional Tour Sound & light show in Karnak
Enjoy Luxor Tours Watching Karnak Temple Sound and Light Show on the east bank illuminated at night with an audio-visual show that will explain how the temple was built and what life was like in Ancient Egypt. We will give you the chance to discover how life has been thousands of years ago? You will know about them through the splendid Sound and Light Show at the Karnak Temples. This spectacle will take about 75-minute first takes you around the temple grounds, and finally, the last act is played while you are seated along the Great Sacred Lake.
Overnight in Luxor
Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Day 5: 🏺🌄 Luxor Treasures Day Tour | Sail to Edfu 🚢✨
(Hatshepsut – Memnon Colossi – Valley of the Kings – Tomb of Merenptah – Ramses II – Ramses IV)
In the beautiful morning from your Nile Cruise in Luxor, our tour guide will meet you to take you to enjoy a journey in the west bank of Luxor where you will visit:
The Valley of the Kings
The rulers of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt’s prosperous New Kingdom (c.1550–1069 BC) were buried in a desolate dry river valley across the river from the ancient city of Thebes (modern Luxor), hence its modern name of the Valley of the Kings. This moniker is not entirely accurate, however, since some members of the royal family aside from the king were buried here as well, as were a few non-royal, albeit very high-ranking, individuals.
The Tomb of King Merenptah
The second-largest tomb in the valley, Merenptah’s tomb has been open since antiquity and has its share of Greek and Coptic graffiti. Floods have damaged the lower part of the walls of the long tunnel-like tomb, but the upper parts have well-preserved reliefs. The corridors are decorated with the Book of the Dead, the Book of Gates and the Book of Amduat. Beyond a shaft is a false burial chamber with two pillars decorated with the Book of Gates.
The Tomb of King Ramses III
One of the most popular tombs in the valley, KV 11 is also one of the most interesting and best preserved. Originally started by Sethnakht (1186–1184 BC), the project was abandoned when workers hit the shaft of another tomb (KV10). Work resumed under Ramses III (1184–1153 BC), the last of Egypt’s warrior pharaohs, with the corridor turning to the right, then left. It continues deep (125m overall) into the mountain and opens into a magnificent eight-pillared burial chamber.
The Tomb of King Ramses IV
Originally intended to be much larger, KV 2 was cut short at 89m on the early death of the pharaoh (1147 BC) and a pillared hall was converted to be the burial chamber. The sarcophagus is in place with a magnificent goddess Nut filling the ceiling above it. Close to the entrance of the valley, this tomb was opened in antiquity and inhabited (there is Greek, Roman and Coptic graffiti), and used as a hotel by many 18th- and 19th-century visitors.
The Temple of Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut (c.1473–1458 BC), the queen who became Pharaoh, built a magnificent temple at Deir al-Bahari, on the west back of Luxor. It lies directly across the Nile from Karnak Temple, the main sanctuary of the god Amun. Hatshepsut’s temple, Djeser-djeseru “the Holy of Holies” was designed by the chief steward of Amun, Senenmut.
The Colossi of Memnon
These two faceless colossi (the plural of colossus, which just means larger-than-life statue) are the first thing visitors see when they reach the west bank of the Nile opposite Luxor. This isn't surprising when you hear their dimensions: they tower 60 feet (18 m) above the plains and are estimated to weigh an enormous 720 tons each.
Your lunch will be served in a local restaurant before we go and check in at your hotel in Luxor and overnight.
Overnight in Luxor Hotel
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 6: 🏛️✨ Temples of the Nile Day Tour | Edfu & Kom Ombo Discovery Experience 🌊🚢
Included Activities ( The Temple Of Horus – The Temple of Sobek)
You can enjoy an early breakfast, while the cruise boat crosses the Esna lock to the city of Esna. Once the boat is moored you will visit the best-preserved temple in Egypt: The Temple of Horus.
Edfu Temple
Built during the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 237 and 57 BC, the Temple of Horus at Edfu is generally regarded to be the best-preserved of the Ancient Egyptian sanctuaries. For 200 years, the structure was buried under almost 40 feet (12 metres) of desert sand and silt from the Nile, which incredibly helped to conserve it to near-perfection.
After your visit to this superb temple, you will be taken back to the boat for your lunch while it sails onward to Kom Ombo. Enjoy sun bathing and tea time on the deck of the Cruise. Once a shore you will visit the Temple of Kom Ombo
Kom Ombo Temple
The temple is unique for its dedication to two different deities: the local crocodile-headed god Sobek, and the first "god of the Kingdom", the falcon-headed god Horus the Elder (also called Haroeris). This double dedication was deliberate. Not only is it architecturally duplicated, with two sets of courts, hypostyle halls and sanctuaries, the twin temple is symbolic of the local and Universalist themes that the two different deities represented. After this great visit you will return back to the cruise for your dinner being served as it sails majestically towards Aswan.
Overnight in Nile Cruise
Meals: Breakfast & Lunch & Dinner
Day 7: 🏛️🌊 Aswan Wonders Day Tour ✨
Aswan High Dam – Philae Temples – Unfinished Obelisk – Optional Nubia Village
A new day on board starts with breakfast, and then you will be driven to see the High Dam, the worlds largest rock filled dam, and the Temple of Philae moved to the island of Agilika after the waters of Lake Nasser flooded its original location. At the end of your tour drive back to rejoin your cruise for lunch. After lunch, we will have a felucca ride in the Nile and visit the Botanical Island and the Nubian Village.
Aswan High Dam
At Aswan High Dam, you’ll hear from your tour guide the whole story of its construction and how it helped the Egyptians a lot to improve their economic and social state. Then, you’ll move to witness the miraculous:
The Unfinished Obelisk
The Unfinished Obelisk was supposed to be standing in front of Hatshepsut Temple but some cracks happened to it which leads Queen Hatshepsut to order her men to move it to Aswan and it is characterized with its majestic size.
Philae Temples
Philae Temple was constructed in 690 B.C and it had been relocated with the help of the UNESCO because it was in great danger from the High & Low Dams of Aswan. It was dedicated to goddess Isis.
Optional The Nubian Village & The Botanical Island
Discover the colorful culture of Nubia, one of Africa's oldest civilizations, traveling by felucca sailboat or modern motorboat, you'll meet locals, visit a traditional house, drink tea, and have free time to explore villages independently while Kitchener’s Island, to the west of Elephantine
After your tour finishes you will return back to the Cruise and overnight in Aswan.
Overnight in Nile Cruise
Meals: Breakfast & Lunch & Dinner
Day 8: Optional Tour to Abu Simbel and fly back to Cairo
You will have your final breakfast on the boat before you have to check out. Then you will be transferred to Aswan airport for the flight back to Cairo (flight duration is about 55 minutes). Once there our representative will meet you and assist you with your luggage before transferring you to your hotel for check-in.
Optional Tour to Abu Simbel Temples
Abu Simbel temple complex includes 2 individual temples that were built during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II. The great temple was built for the king himself to commemorate his coronation and his birthday and it has been built in a very impressive accurate way which makes the whole world await the Sun Festival that occurs only twice a year in the great temple of the Pharaoh to witness the miracle that occurs there. The smaller temple was built as a sign of love & appreciation from the king to his beloved queen Nefertari and she was the only wife of the king for whom he has built a temple.
After enjoying our great tour to these amazing temples, we will return back to Aswan Airport to fly back to Cairo and overnight.
Overnight in Cairo Hotel
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 9: The National Museum of civilization, Cairo Citadel & Khan El Khalili
The National Museum of civilization, Cairo Citadel & Khan El Khalili
Breakfast at the hotel is followed by a full day tour, I will meet you at 8 am in the hotel lobby and start our visit to the
The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.
The first museum of civilization in the Arab world, the NMEC will present a comprehensive view of Egyptian civilization from prehistory to the present day, taking a multidisciplinary thematic approach designed to highlight Egypt’s tangible and intangible heritage. A museum of a new kind, unknown so far in Egypt and the entire Middle East region, the NMEC’s main goal is to “share knowledge”, to connect with the surrounding Egyptian society and to offer international visitors a richer and deeper insight into the meaning of Egyptian culture through the
The Citadel of Cairo
Salah Al-Deen (known as Saladin to European historians) overthrew the Fatimid dynasty in 1171 AD, establishing the new Sunni Ayyubid Caliphate. Given the threat of invasion by European crusader armies, Saladin decided to improve the fortifications of the city and in 1176 AD he began construction of a wall that would encircle both Al-Qahira (today Islamic) and Fustat (Old Cairo). Saladin’s Citadel served as the seat of government in Egypt for 700 years until Khedive Ismail moved into Abdin Palace in newly constructed Downtown Cairo in the 1870’s.
Mohamed Ali Mosque
The Mosque of Muhammad Ali is located inside the Citadel of Salah al‑Din al‑Ayyubi (Saladin) in Cairo. It was built by Muhammad Ali Pasha (1220–1264 AH/1805–1848 AD), the founder of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty (1220–1372 AH/1805–1953 AD), on the site of Mamluk palaces. He had these demolished to make room for his new building, which is also known as the "Alabaster Mosque", in reference to its marble paneling on its interior and exterior walls. The mosque’s twin minarets are the highest in all of Egypt, each reaching a height of 84 meters.
National Military Museum
This museum is the first of its kind to be devoted to the history of the Egyptian military through the ages. The museum was first located in the building of the Ministry of Defense in Falaki in 1937, after which it was transferred to another building in the neighborhood of Garden City in 1938, before finally being transferred to al-Haram Palace in 1949 in the Cairo Citadel in 1949.
National Police Museum
The National Police Museum is one of the museums in the Salah al-Din Citadel, located in its northern section. Its exhibitions display the history of Egypt’s police force.
Sultan Hassan & Elrefai Mosques
Mosque of Sultan Hassan is a primal example of the early Islamic Mamluk architecture between 1356 A.D and 1363 A.D. The Mosque is 150m in length and covering 7,906 sq m inland and its walls reach the height of 36 m.
Overnight in Cairo
Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Moaiz ST & Khan Khaliili
Elmoaz Street the largest open-air museum for Islamic monuments in the world, and a unique heritage site that was added to The UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979. While Khan Khalili is One of the wonderful places in Cairo and the oldest market in the Middle East it’s a medieval-style mall.
Enjoy your lunch and it will be served at a local restaurant after the day tour. Then return to your hotel and overnight in Cairo.
Overnight in Cairo
Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
Day 10: We will miss you
Cairo (Final Departure)
Your final day starts with breakfast at the hotel followed by check-out. You will then be transferred to the airport for your final departure.
Meals: Breakfast