10-Day Classic Egypt with Dahabiya Nile Cruise

Arrive at Cairo International Airport, where your Memphis Tours representative meets you inside the terminal, assists with your entry visa and baggage, and escorts you to your private air-conditioned vehicle.
Transfer to your boutique hotel in old Islamic Cairo, where your representative confirms the itinerary with you — pickup times, what to pack for four nights aboard the Dahabiya, and how each day will run. The remainder of the day is at leisure.

Overnight in Cairo – Le Riad de Charme

Meals: None

Signature Experience: Entry visa handled on arrival and a private itinerary briefing before the journey begins Good to Know: Your final hotel and Dahabiya confirmation is issued with your travel documents before departure.

Meals: None

After breakfast, meet your private Egyptologist and begin at the Giza Plateau. Explore the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx and the Valley Temple, with time at the panoramic viewpoint for photographs across all three pyramids.

Continue for lunch at a local Egyptian restaurant, followed by a visit to Saqqara, home to the Step Pyramid of King Djoser and the earliest monumental stone architecture in Egypt. Return privately to your hotel.

Overnight in Cairo – Le Riad de Charme

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Visits: Giza Pyramids, Sphinx, Valley Temple, Saqqara, Step Pyramid of Djoser

Signature Experience: Private Egyptologist-guided touring at your own pace, with no group to keep up with

Optional Premium Experience: Interior entry to the Great Pyramid can be arranged at additional cost.

Good to Know: Dinner this evening is not included, leaving you free to try Cairo's restaurants. Your guide can recommend and reserve.

A full day given to the Grand Egyptian Museum, rather than the hour most itineraries allow. More than 100,000 artifacts are held here, and the complete treasures of Tutankhamun are displayed together for the first time since their discovery.

Your Egyptologist takes you through the galleries at a pace that lets the collection make sense, with lunch at a local restaurant. The rest of the day is at leisure.

Overnight in Cairo – Le Riad de Charme

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Visits: Grand Egyptian Museum

Signature Experience: A full day at the Grand Egyptian Museum with a private Egyptologist, not a rushed afternoon stop

Good to Know: Dinner this evening is not included.

Transfer privately to Cairo Airport for your included flight to Luxor, arriving in around an hour.
Meet your Luxor Egyptologist and visit the Karnak Temple Complex, the largest religious site ever built, where the Great Hypostyle Hall's 134 columns still carry traces of their original color. Continue to Luxor Temple, the standing obelisk of Ramesses II and the restored Avenue of Sphinxes that once linked the two. Check in to your hotel.

Overnight in: Luxor – Sonesta St. George Hotel

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Visits: Karnak Temple Complex, Luxor Temple, Avenue of Sphinxes, Obelisk of Ramesses II

Signature Experience: Both great East Bank temples in one afternoon, walking the avenue that connected them

Optional Premium Experience: Sound and Light Show at Karnak Temple, available this evening at additional cost.

Good to Know: Domestic flight times are confirmed by airline availability and may require an early departure. Baggage allowance is 1 checked bag up to 23 kg (50 lb) plus 1 cabin bag up to 7 kg (15 lb) per guest.

Those who have booked the balloon rise before dawn and float over the Theban hills as the sun comes up. After breakfast, cross to the West Bank for the Valley of the Kings, where three tombs are included in your visit, then the terraced Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari and a stop at the Colossi of Memnon.

In the afternoon, transfer to Esna and board your Dahabiya. She casts off and sails south, mooring for the night near Esna.

Overnight in Dahabiya, moored near Esna

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Visits: Valley of the Kings (three tombs), Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Colossi of Memnon

Signature Experience: Stepping from the greatest necropolis of the ancient world onto a sailing vessel carrying no more than twelve guests

Optional Premium Experience: Sunrise hot-air balloon flight over the West Bank, approximately $129 per person, weather permitting. Separate-ticket entry to the tombs of Tutankhamun, Seti I and Ramesses IV can be arranged on the day.

Good to Know: Shore excursions from the Dahabiya are small-group tours with an Egyptologist. Your Cairo and Luxor touring is private.

An early crossing of the Esna Lock, then a morning at El Kab — a walled settlement and rock-cut tombs on the riverbank that larger cruise ships sail straight past, with time in the village alongside.

Sail on to Edfu, where a horse-drawn carriage carries you from the mooring to the Temple of Horus, the most completely preserved temple in Egypt, its roof and sanctuary still intact. Return aboard to anchor for the night near Sheikh Rehan Island.

Overnight in Dahabiya, anchored near Sheikh Rehan Island

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Visits: El Kab village and temple, Temple of Horus at Edfu

Signature Experience: El Kab and an island mooring — two things a cruise ship cannot do

Good to Know: Sailing times and mooring points may adjust according to wind and lock traffic.

Moor at Gebel Silsila, the sandstone quarries that supplied the stone for Karnak, Luxor and Edfu, and visit the rock-cut Temple of Horemheb carved into the cliff face. A short optional climb opens onto the Nile gorge, the narrowest point on the river.

Sail on to Fawaza Island for lunch, then continue to Al Bashir Island near Kom Ombo. Sunset tea on deck is followed by a barbecue dinner served under the stars.

Overnight in Dahabiya, anchored at Al Bashir Island

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Visits: Gebel Silsila quarries, Temple of Horemheb

Signature Experience: A barbecue dinner on deck under the stars, anchored off an uninhabited Nile island

Good to Know: The Gebel Silsila viewpoint climb is short but steep and uneven; it is entirely optional.

A short sail brings you to Kom Ombo and its unusual double temple, built with two identical entrances and divided between Horus the Elder and the crocodile god Sobek — the only temple in Egypt shared equally between two deities.

Return aboard as the Dahabiya continues south toward Aswan, with meals served on deck and the afternoon free to watch the river change as the granite begins to break through the banks.

Overnight in Dahabiya, approaching Aswan

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Visits: Temple of Kom Ombo

Signature Experience: A final full day of slow sailing as the Nile narrows toward Aswan

Good to Know: Shore excursions are small-group tours with an accompanying Egyptologist.

A last breakfast on deck before disembarking at Aswan. Travel by motorboat to Philae Temple on its island setting, dedicated to Isis and Hathor and moved stone by stone to save it from the rising waters of the High Dam.

Transfer to Aswan Airport for your included flight back to Cairo, where you are met and transferred privately to your hotel for the final night.

Overnight in Cairo – Le Riad de Charme

Meals: Breakfast

Visits: Philae Temple

Signature Experience: A final Cairo night that protects your international departure day, rather than flying out the moment you disembark

Good to Know: Domestic flight times are confirmed by airline availability and may require an early departure. Baggage allowance is 1 checked bag up to 23 kg (50 lb) plus 1 cabin bag up to 7 kg (15 lb) per guest. Lunch and dinner are not included today.

Enjoy breakfast and a relaxed final morning. Depending on your flight time, luggage storage can be arranged at the hotel should you wish to spend a few last hours in the city.

Your private air-conditioned vehicle and representative collect you at the appointed time and transfer you to Cairo International Airport, where you are assisted through check-in and security for your onward flight.

Meals: Breakfast

Signature Experience: Private departure transfer with airport check-in assistance

Good to Know: Standard check-out is 12:00. Late check-out is subject to availability and a supplement.