Egypt & the Nile
Templates · 13 days · 3 stops
Cairo, a sleeper south to Aswan, then three nights drifting down the Nile to Luxor.
- Cairo
- Aswan
- Luxor
Day 1 · Home → Cairo
Home→Cairo
Day 2 · Cairo
Day 3 · Cairo
Day 4 · Cairo → ON THE TRAIN
Giza at opening — buy the combined pyramids ticket and walk out to the panorama point past the third pyramid before the coach tours arrive; a camel is optional, the quiet is not.
The Grand Egyptian Museum by the plateau: the Tutankhamun galleries alone need two hours, so go early and save Khan el-Khalili's copper lanes and mint tea for the afternoon.
Islamic Cairo on foot — the Citadel, the Sultan Hassan mosque, then koshari from a busy counter and a felucca drift on the Nile at sunset.
Cairo→Aswan
Day 5 · ON THE TRAIN → Aswan
Day 6 · Aswan
Day 7 · Aswan → MS Nile Queen
The Watania sleeper leaves Giza after dark and you wake to palms and the first cataract — *book the private cabin weeks ahead*, and ask for a Nile-side berth.
Philae temple by motorboat at golden hour, then the Nubian village on Elephantine Island for hibiscus karkadeh and painted blue houses.
Optional dawn excursion to Abu Simbel — a long convoy drive, but Ramses' colossi at first light are unforgettable.
Aswan→MS Nile Queen
Day 8 · MS Nile Queen
Day 9 · MS Nile Queen
Day 10 · MS Nile Queen → Luxor
The moving heart of the trip: three nights aboard as the boat glides downstream from Aswan to Luxor, temples by day and the riverbank sliding past from the sun deck.
Kom Ombo at dusk — the twin temple to Sobek and Horus sits right at the water's edge; the crocodile mummies are next door.
Edfu the next morning by horse-drawn caleche: the Temple of Horus is the best-preserved in Egypt, its pylon towering and near-complete.
Lazy afternoon through the Esna lock — tea on deck, the Nile doing the work while you do nothing.
MS Nile Queen→Luxor
Day 11 · Luxor
Day 12 · Luxor
Day 13 · Luxor → Home
Disembark into the world's greatest open-air museum. Valley of the Kings at opening — three tombs on the standard ticket, then pay extra for Seti I's painted corridors.
Karnak's hypostyle hall in the low afternoon light, 134 columns like a stone forest; catch the smaller Luxor Temple lit up after dark.
Optional sunrise hot-air balloon over the West Bank — Hatshepsut's terraces and the Colossi of Memnon from the air, *reserve the night before*.
Luxor→Home