Day 2
Touch down in Cairo. Our representative meets you at the airport and accompanies you on the transfer to Giza. Enjoy an included welcome dinner. (B in flight, D)

Day 3
Your tour director, a professional Egyptologist, is an expert in the history and anthropology of the regions you’ll visit. Today, your tour director leads a fascinating tour of ancient Egypt. Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Pyramids of Giza is the only one to have survived to the modern era, and your tour introduces you to the three pyramids here: the stunning Great Pyramid of Cheops, pyramid of Khafre and pyramid of Menkaure. Then visit the enigmatic Sphinx, made up of a lion’s body, human face and royal beard. Continue to Saqqara, site of the Step Pyramid of Zoser, and Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt that predated Cairo by more than 3,500 years. (B, D)

Day 4
Enjoy a free day in Giza or join an optional excursion to mysterious Alexandria (weather permitting), ancient site of the lost library and capital of Alexander the Great's Egypt. (B, D)

Nile River Cruise
Accommodations: MS Nile Romance
Day 5
Fly to Luxor for the start of your Nile cruise. Reach your first stop, the amazing Temples of Karnak and Luxor, built on the ancient city of Thebes and long considered two of the world’s richest archaeological treasures. Your Egyptologist takes you inside the temples for a guided tour. This evening, you might opt for a Sound and Light Show. (B, D)

Day 6
Spend the day touring the Nile’s West Bank. Your tour director/Egyptologist leads you to the secluded Valley of the Kings, a series of tombs hidden in the Theban Hills. This “Place of Truth,” as the ancient Egyptians called it, is the location of the tombs of Pharaohs Tutankhamun and Ramses; you’ll enter the tombs for a tour. Then visit and tour the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, devoted to one of the few female pharaohs. Also view the 64-foot-high Colossi of Memnon and tour the Valley of Nobles, whose temples depict amazing scenes of daily Egyptian life. (B, L, D)

Day 7
Dock in Edfu and begin the day with a visit to the Temple of Horus, the second-largest temple in Egypt and one of the best-preserved. Next, voyage to the Temple of Kom Ombo. On your guided tour, have a look at the amazing Roman reliefs of medical instruments, proof that Egyptian medicine was already a sophisticated science nearly 2,000 years ago. (B, L, D)

Day 8
Tour the Aswan Dam, one of the greatest engineering projects of the 20th century. Also view the Temple of Isis at Philae and the Unfinished Obelisk, once destined to be the largest structure of worked stone in the world. (B, L, D)

Aswan
Accommodations: Basma Hotel
Day 9
Your cruise ends this morning. After disembarkation, take a felucca (traditional Egyptian sailboat) ride past Elephantine Island, which takes its name from the granite rocks resembling elephants bathing in the river. Also view the mausoleum of Agha Khan. (B, L, D)

Cairo
Accommodations: Semiramis Intercontinental Hotel
Day 10
Opt for a full-day excursion to Abu Simbel and the magnificent Temple of Ramses II. Then board your flight to Cairo and enjoy an optional Egyptian Folklore Evening. (B)

Day 11
Today, your tour director/Egyptologist leads a comprehensive sightseeing tour of historic and modern Cairo. The city’s spectacular mosques, of which there are more than 500, display some of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in the world. Visit the Citadel and Mohammed Ali (Alabaster) Mosque. Also visit the Egyptian Antiquities Museum, housing the famous masks of Tutankhamun. You might also choose to join an optional lunch in Cairo. (B, D)

Day 12
Transfer to the airport for an early morning departure, or journey to Sinai for our beach resort extension. (B in flight)