10 Day Egypt Tour: Cairo and Nile Cruise

Arrive at Cairo International Airport, where your Memphis Tours representative meets you inside the terminal, assists with passport control and baggage, and escorts you to your private air-conditioned vehicle.

Transfer to your hotel, where your representative reviews the days ahead with you — pickup times, what to pack for six nights aboard, and how your touring works. The remainder of the day is at leisure.

Overnight in Cairo – Sheraton Cairo Hotel, Towers and Casino

Meals: None

Signature Experience: Private arrival assistance and an itinerary briefing before the journey begins

Good to Know: Your final hotel and cruise vessel confirmation is issued with your travel documents before departure.

After breakfast, meet your private Egyptologist and travel to 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, then visit the Grand Egyptian Museum, where the complete treasures of Tutankhamun are displayed together for the first time. Return privately to your hotel; your evening is free.

Overnight in Cairo – Sheraton Cairo Hotel, Towers and Casino

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Visits: Giza Pyramids, Sphinx, Valley Temple, Grand Egyptian Museum

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.

An early checkout and private transfer to Cairo Airport for your included flight to Luxor, arriving in around an hour.
You are met on arrival and taken to your Nile cruise vessel, where you unpack once and stay put for the next six nights. Lunch is served on board, followed by afternoon tea and time on deck as the vessel begins its journey south. Dinner is served aboard, moored at Esna.

Overnight in Nile cruise vessel, moored at Esna

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Signature Experience: Six nights aboard on a round-trip sailing — you unpack once, and the vessel returns you to where you started

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.

Breakfast on board as the vessel sails. At Edfu you visit the Temple of Horus, the most completely preserved temple in Egypt, its roof, columns and sanctuary still intact after centuries buried in sand.

Return aboard as the vessel continues to Kom Ombo, with lunch and afternoon tea served as the riverbank passes. This evening brings a traditional galabeya party on deck, followed by dinner.

Overnight in Nile cruise vessel, moored at Kom Ombo

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Visits: Temple of Horus at Edfu

Signature Experience: A galabeya evening on deck, moored at Kom Ombo

Good to Know: Shore excursions from the cruise are shared group tours with an accompanying Egyptologist. Your Cairo touring is private; the cruise portion is not.

An early sailing brings you to Aswan, where the Nile narrows between granite islands. After breakfast, visit the ancient granite quarries and the Unfinished Obelisk, still attached to the bedrock that cracked beneath it.
Continue by motorboat to Philae Temple on its island setting, dedicated to Isis and rescued stone by stone from the rising waters of the High Dam. Lunch is served on board, with an evening of music and dance followed by dinner.

Overnight in Nile cruise vessel, moored at Aswan

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Visits: Granite Quarries, Unfinished Obelisk, Philae Temple

Signature Experience: Approaching Philae by motorboat, the temple rising from its island as you cross

Good to Know: Sightseeing today is a shared group excursion with an accompanying Egyptologist.

A full day moored at Aswan with nothing scheduled — time to explore the souk, take a felucca around Elephantine Island, or simply stay on deck.

Guests who want to add Egypt's most remote monument can join the optional excursion to Abu Simbel, a three-hour drive each way across the Nubian desert, to see the twin temples of Ramesses II and Queen Nefertari relocated in their entirety when Lake Nasser rose. Return aboard for a Nubian show and dinner.

Overnight in Nile cruise vessel, moored at Aswan

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Signature Experience: A full day moored in Aswan, yours to spend ashore or on deck

Optional Premium Experience: Abu Simbel group coach excursion, $120 per person, visiting the Temple of Ramesses II and the Temple of Queen Nefertari. Six hours of driving in total, with an early start. Book in advance.

Good to Know: All meals are served aboard today whether or not you take the excursion.

Breakfast on board as the vessel sails north to Kom Ombo. Here you visit the double temple built with two identical entrances, divided between the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon-headed Haroeris, with the mummified crocodiles of the adjoining museum nearby.
Return aboard for lunch as the vessel continues past Edfu toward Esna, with afternoon tea on deck and dinner served at the evening mooring.

Overnight in Nile cruise vessel, moored at Esna

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Visits: Temple of Kom Ombo

Signature Experience: Seeing the same stretch of river from the other direction, at a slower pace, on the return leg

Good to Know: Sightseeing today is a shared group excursion with an accompanying Egyptologist.

Breakfast on board, then disembark to explore the East Bank. Visit the vast Karnak Temple Complex, where the Great Hypostyle Hall's 134 columns still carry traces of their original color, and the ceremonial Luxor Temple linked to it by the restored Avenue of Sphinxes.
Lunch follows at a Luxor restaurant before your transfer to the airport and included flight back to Cairo, where you are met and transferred privately to your hotel.

Overnight in Cairo – airport-area hotel

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Visits: Karnak Temple Complex, Luxor Temple

Signature Experience: A final Cairo night close to the airport, so your departure morning is short and unhurried

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. Dinner is not included this evening.

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.