| Duration |
12 Days / 11 Nights |
|---|---|
| Tour Location |
Cairo / Sharm El Sheikh / Luxor / Aswan / Abu Simbel |
| Tour Type |
Daily Tour |
| Pickup |
Cairo Airport |
This all-inclusive 12-day Egypt holiday covers Cairo, Sharm El Sheikh, Luxor, Aswan, and Abu Simbel in a single classic itinerary built for first-time visitors. It pairs Egypt's most recognised ancient monuments, the Pyramids of Giza, Karnak Temple, and the temples of Abu Simbel, with four nights of all-inclusive Sinai beach time in Sharm El Sheikh. The perfect all-inclusive first-timer Egypt itinerary connects every major landmark by domestic flight, so no travel day is wasted. Travellers comparing different styles of Egypt trips with Nile cruise often choose this route for its balance between cultural touring and Red Sea relaxation.
Day 1 begins with arrival at Cairo Airport and a Nile dinner cruise. Day 2 visits the Pyramids of Giza Complex, the Valley Temple of Khafre, the Great Sphinx, and the GEM before a flight to Sharm El Sheikh, where Days 3, 4, and 5 are spent on the Red Sea, with time to unwind on the Sinai coast and enjoy all-inclusive resort amenities, while optional snorkelling excursions offer the chance to explore Sharm El Sheikh’s coral reefs. Day 6 continues to Luxor, where Karnak and Luxor Temples begin a four-night Nile cruise. The journey then sails through Edfu and Kom Ombo, includes a private Abu Simbel excursion, and finishes in Aswan before returning to Cairo to explore Old Cairo, Khan El-Khalili Bazaar, and historic Islamic landmarks ahead of departure on Day 12. The itinerary is designed for travellers who prefer structured yet flexible private Egypt guided tours with domestic flights, organised transfers, and minimal logistical stress between destinations.
Only on this route
Your Tripidays representative meets you at Cairo Airport and transfers you to your hotel, where the rest of the afternoon is yours to settle in. That evening, board a Nile dinner cruise for your first view of Cairo's skyline reflected across the water at night.
You'll glide past Cairo's illuminated bridges and corniche as the city does what it rarely does during the day: goes quiet. It's the easiest possible introduction to Egypt, no walking, no crowds, just the river and the lights.
Dinner
Your guide picks you up after breakfast for a full morning at the Giza Plateau before an afternoon flight to Sharm El Sheikh, where your all-inclusive Sinai stay begins.
You'll stand at the base of the Great Pyramid and understand immediately why no photograph prepares you for the scale. At roughly 4,500 years old, it held the record as the world's tallest structure for nearly 4,000 years.
Your guide walks you into one of the best-preserved mortuary temples on the plateau, where the massive granite blocks fit together without mortar so precisely that a sheet of paper won't slide between them.
You'll face the Sphinx from the viewing terrace at the same level as its paws, which puts the full 73-metre length in immediate perspective. Your guide will point out the weathering patterns on the body that have been at the centre of one of Egyptology's longest-running debates.
Your guide leads you through the Grand Staircase, where 87 statues of Ramesses II line the ascent to the upper galleries. The GEM holds the complete Tutankhamun collection — over 5,000 objects — in a single dedicated wing for the first time in history.
Breakfast and Lunch
You'll wake up with the Red Sea outside your window, and nothing obligatory on the itinerary. This day is a deliberate reset between Cairo's intensity and the Nile cruise ahead; use it however you need to.
Today is all yours. Relax on Sharm’s pristine beaches, soaking up turquoise waters and golden sunshine. If you crave adventure, dive into the Red Sea’s vibrant coral reefs, home to some of the world’s most magnificent marine life.
Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
A second full day of all-inclusive time on the Sinai coast, with the option to arrange water activities independently through the hotel. For travellers who prefer a purely cultural itinerary without the beach stay, or prefer no beach, try Egypt overland.
Another full day in paradise. Lounge on silky sands and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere of the Red Sea coast, while optional activities such as snorkelling excursions or sunrise and sunset desert safaris offer the chance to explore colourful coral reefs and the dramatic Sinai desert landscape.
Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Your final all-inclusive day in Sharm El Sheikh before tomorrow’s flight to Luxor. Spend the day relaxing by the Red Sea, enjoying your resort facilities, or joining optional activities such as snorkelling excursions and desert adventures along the Sinai coast.
Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
A flight from Sharm El Sheikh connects through Cairo to Luxor, where your Egyptologist guide meets you for the afternoon and boards you onto your five-star Nile cruise in the evening.
Your guide walks you into the Great Hypostyle Hall, where 134 columns rise so close together the sky almost disappears above you. It took more than 2,000 years and 30 successive pharaohs to build the complex you're standing inside.
You'll enter through the avenue of sphinxes that once connected this temple to Karnak in an unbroken ceremonial road stretching over two kilometres. At the entrance, one of the two original obelisks still stands; the other has been in the Place de la Concorde in Paris since 1833.
Breakfast and Lunch
Your guide collects you from the cruise early to cross the Nile and spend the morning on the West Bank, where the tombs and temples of ancient Thebes are concentrated along the base of the Theban hills.
You'll descend into tombs cut directly into the limestone cliffs, where the walls are covered floor to ceiling in texts and images that ancient Egyptians believed would guide the dead through the underworld. Over 60 royal tombs have been found in this valley — excavations are still active.
Your guide leads you up the ascending terraces of Egypt's only colonnaded mortuary temple, built into the natural cliff face so precisely that it looks carved rather than constructed. Hatshepsut ruled Egypt for over 20 years as pharaoh.
You'll pass the two 18-metre seated figures of Amenhotep III that once guarded a mortuary temple so large it would have dwarfed every other structure on the West Bank. The temple behind them has been entirely lost the colossi are all that survive.
Breakfast, lunch, and Dinner
The cruise sails south through the morning, docking at Edfu for your temple visit before continuing to Kom Ombo for the afternoon.
You'll walk through the best-preserved ancient Egyptian temple still standing. The main pylon, the hypostyle halls, and the inner sanctuary are all intact, giving you a complete picture of how a working Egyptian temple actually functioned.
Your guide points out the detail that makes this temple unlike any other on the Nile: it is perfectly symmetrical, built as a double temple with two identical sanctuaries, two hypostyle halls, and two sets of everything, one side dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile god, one to Horus. Stand at the central axis, and the duplication becomes exact.
Breakfast, lunch, and Dinner
An early morning departure by private vehicle for the two-hour drive south to Abu Simbel, the most remote stop on this all-inclusive Egypt nile cruise, Sharm el Sheikh holiday 12 days.
You'll arrive before the main tour groups and face the four colossal seated figures of Ramesses II, each 20 metres tall, in the early light when the stone is still cool. The entire temple complex was relocated here in the 1960s in one of the largest engineering operations in history, cut into 1,036 blocks and reassembled 64 metres higher to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser.
Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Your final morning on the Nile cruise ends in Aswan, where your guide takes you to the city's two key sites before the afternoon flight back to Cairo.
You'll stand on the dam and look out over Lake Nasser, the reservoir it created is one of the largest artificial lakes in the world, stretching over 500 kilometres south into Sudan. The engineering decision to build it also triggered the rescue missions that saved both Abu Simbel and Philae.
Your guide leads you onto the island by boat, where the Temple of Isis was dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt on higher ground after the dam raised the water level permanently around its original site. What you walk through is a precise reconstruction, and the only reason it exists is because of an international UNESCO campaign in the 1970s.
Breakfast, lunch, and Dinner
A full day in Cairo with your Egyptologist guide covering the city's historic Islamic and Coptic quarters before your final night.
You'll stand in front of original artefacts spanning 3,000 years of pharaonic history, including the gold death mask of Tutankhamun, in the building that housed Egypt's national collection for over a century. The museum's layout has barely changed since 1902 — finding things here feels genuinely exploratory.
Your guide leads you into one of the oldest churches in Egypt, built over a gatehouse of the ancient Roman fortress of Babylon so that the nave appears to hang over the gate towers below. It has been a functioning place of worship for over 1,600 years.
You'll walk the oldest surviving medieval street in Cairo, where Islamic architecture spanning seven centuries lines both sides in an almost unbroken sequence. The concentration of listed monuments on a single street here is among the highest of any city in the world.
End your Cairo day wandering through Egypt’s most famous bazaar — a vibrant maze of crafts, spices, lanterns, and charming cafés.
Breakfast and lunch
Your Tripidays representative transfers you to Cairo International Airport for your outbound flight.
Ends your tour with a smooth transfer to Cairo Airport — carrying memories of pyramids, temples, the Nile, the Red Sea, and stories that will stay with you forever.
Breakfast
* You can let us know if you'd like to customize your tour itinerary to meet your needs. We value your input and aim to accommodate your requirements.
This all-inclusive package covers 3 nights at a 5-star Cairo hotel, 4 nights all-inclusive at a 5-star Sharm El Sheikh Sinai resort, and 4 nights on a 5-star Nile cruise sailing from Luxor to Aswan with all entrance fees, a private Egyptologist guide, 4 domestic flights, and daily breakfast included throughout.
It is the only 12-day Egypt package that places four nights all-inclusive on Sharm El Sheikh's Sinai coast before the Nile cruise, giving first-time visitors a genuine beach decompression between Cairo's monuments and the cultural intensity of Luxor, Aswan, and Abu Simbel. For a luxury upgrade, route through Hurghada instead, and upgrade to the luxury Hurghada version.
Abu Simbel is a private excursion on Day 9, departing early from the Nile cruise before the larger tour groups arrive. The four colossal seated figures of Ramesses II are best experienced in the early morning light with minimal crowds. The entire temple complex was relocated in the 1960s, cut into over 1,000 blocks, and rebuilt 64 metres higher to save it from Lake Nasser's rising waters — your guide covers the full story on site. For tours that focus exclusively on Sinai archaeology and the beach, book this tour for the Christmas season.
The cruise sails four nights from Luxor to Aswan, covering Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple on Day 6, the Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hatshepsut, and Colossi of Memnon on Day 7, Edfu Temple and Kom Ombo Temple on Day 8, and Abu Simbel by private excursion on Day 9 before docking at Aswan on Day 10.
Yes, this is the itinerary specifically structured for first-time travellers, sequencing the Pyramids of Giza and Grand Egyptian Museum first, then three days of all-inclusive Sinai beach time to adjust, before the deeper cultural immersion of the Nile cruise, Abu Simbel, and Old Cairo. A private Egyptologist guide accompanies all sightseeing days, so no prior knowledge of Egyptian history is needed.
12 Days / 11 Nights
Cairo Airport
Cairo / Bahariya / White Desert / Aswan / Abu Simbel / Kom Ombo / Edfu / Luxor / Hurghada
12 Days / 11 Nights
Cairo Airport
Cairo / Aswan / Abu Simbel / Luxor / Hurghada
11 Days / 10 Nights
Cairo Airport
Cairo / Alexandria / Luxor / Hurghada
14 Days / 13 Nights
Cairo Airport
Cairo / Alexandria / Aswan / Luxor / Sharm El Sheikh
All things you should know before visiting Egypt & Beyond
Tripidays Egypt Tours has been offering an exceptional range of Egypt tours, vacation packages, Nile cruises, day trips, and shore excursions tailored to meet the diverse interests of travelers worldwide for over 45 years.
