Anubis – 6 Days (Cairo & Luxor)

After breakfast, an experienced and friendly Egyptologist guides you around Cairo. Your day starts at Giza, where the plateau holds the sole surviving wonder from the ancient world’s list of seven. The pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinos were raised from colossal stone blocks and still impress as works of human building. Near them crouches the Sphinx, the enduring sentinel of the pharaohs’ realm, with the body of a lion and a face believed to be Chephren’s.

You then visit the Grand Egyptian Museum, home to more than 250,000 artworks that cover around 5,000 years. The display not to miss is Tutankhamun’s treasure, especially his solid gold mask. Later you transfer to the railway station and take the sleeper train to Luxor.

After breakfast, you arrive at Luxor railway station, where a driver meets you and brings you to the hotel for check-in. Then it is over to the west bank of the Nile and the Valley of the Kings, a network of tombs created for the pharaohs beginning with Thutmose I. Further visits take in Hatshepsut’s temple and the Colossi of Memnon, two giant statues. You are then driven back to the hotel.

After breakfast, check out of the hotel and visit the east bank of the Nile. You see Luxor Temple first and then Karnak, two temples that were once connected by a road of ram-headed sphinxes. They show clearly why Luxor is described as an open-air museum larger than any other, as well as a top-ranking archaeological site. Afterwards you are driven to Luxor railway station, where the sleeper train takes you back to Cairo.

After breakfast, you are welcomed at Cairo railway station when the train arrives and driven to the hotel, where you check in. The first visit is to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, which pioneered the idea of a museum built around ancient Egypt as history’s earliest civilization; no other museum in Egypt offers visitors a broad view of every historical period the country has passed through. Some 50,000 pieces are on show, telling the story of Egypt from prehistory to today.

Next you go up to the Citadel of Saladin, home of the alabaster Mosque of Mohamed Ali. Then continue to Old Cairo, also called the religious compound, where all the sights lie in one compact area you can cover on foot. Inside it are the Hanging Church, the Ben Ezra Synagogue and Africa’s oldest mosque, not merely Egypt’s.

As the afternoon draws to a close you are taken to Khan el Khalili, one of the most impressive markets of the East, whose many shops are filled with gold and silver jewelry. The day ends back at your hotel.

After breakfast, you leave the hotel for the airport and your flight home.