Sun & Sea – 8 Days (Cairo – Luxor & Hurghada)

After breakfast your Egyptologist, an expert as well as a friendly companion, shows you Cairo. Begin at the Giza Plateau. Only one of the seven ancient wonders remains, and it is here: three pyramids, built for Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus from huge cut stones, are a striking feat of human construction. The Sphinx rests nearby, shaped as a lion with the head of Chephren, standing guard as it has for ages over the realm of the pharaohs.

Continue to the Grand Egyptian Museum, where more than 250,000 objects tell a story stretching across 5,000 years. The undisputed highlight is the collection of Tutankhamun’s treasures, in particular his mask of solid gold. Later you are driven to Cairo railway station for the sleeper train to Luxor.

Travellers who want extra comfort can ask to upgrade the sleeper train to a domestic flight.

After breakfast, you are met at Luxor railway station on arrival. Your tour today covers the temple of Luxor and the temple of Karnak, joined long ago by an avenue lined with ram-headed sphinxes. Sites like these explain Luxor’s reputation: it is often called the largest museum in the open air and ranks among the world’s most important archaeological sites.

After breakfast, your tour heads to the Nile’s West Bank. The Valley of the Kings was the burial place of the pharaohs who ruled from Thutmose I onward, and you explore its chambers before moving on to Hatshepsut’s temple and finally the Colossi of Memnon, two colossal statues on the plain.

You then ride to Hurghada in a modern, air-conditioned coach, a drive of around four hours. One of the most famous resort towns on the Red Sea coast, Hurghada is also an international destination for water sports. You are then escorted to the hotel, which is all-inclusive, and dinner that evening is served there.

Today, after breakfast, there is nothing on the schedule. Spend it on water sports, for example sailing, windsurfing or deep-sea fishing, or unwind with your family on the sand, enjoying sunshine and warm water.

Once breakfast is done, check out and use the free day to explore Hurghada at your own pace. In due course you are driven to Hurghada bus station and travel back to Cairo by bus. On arrival, an air-conditioned vehicle brings you to your hotel.

For a more comfortable journey, you can ask to swap the bus for a domestic flight.

After breakfast, a transfer brings you to your hotel to check in. The touring then begins at Cairo’s National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. It was the first museum devoted to the earliest civilization in history, that of ancient Egypt. It is also the only museum in the country that gives visitors an overview of every period in Egypt’s history. Its collection of 50,000 artefacts follows Egyptian civilization from prehistoric times right up to the present day.

From here you drive to the Citadel of Saladin, site of Mohamed Ali’s alabaster mosque. Then continue to Old Cairo, known as the religious quarter because its places of worship sit together in one area you can cover on foot. You visit the Hanging Church, Ben Ezra Synagogue and the oldest mosque not only in Egypt but in all of Africa.

In the late afternoon you are taken to Khan el Khalili, one of the most striking oriental markets, where a great many shops display beautiful gold and silver jewellery.

Once breakfast is over, you leave for the airport and depart.