| Duration |
9 Days / 8 Nights |
|---|---|
| Tour Location |
Cairo / Aswan / Abu Simbel / Edfu / Kom Ombo / Luxor |
| Tour Type |
Daily Tour |
| Pickup |
Cairo Airport or Your Hotel |
This 9 day luxury Egypt tour covers Cairo, Aswan, Abu Simbel, Edfu, Kom Ombo, and Luxor with a private Egyptologist guide, 5 star hotels, and three nights aboard a 5 star Nile cruise. It is the only 9 day luxury tour in this portfolio that guarantees a private visit to Abu Simbel by luxury vehicle, combined with a 5 star Nile cruise, with an optional fly upgrade available for those who want it.
From the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo to the colossal statues of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, every major site is covered in sequence. Day 1 opens with a private VIP transfer and a Nile dinner cruise. Day 2 takes in the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Great Sphinx, the Valley Temple of Khafre, and the Grand Egyptian Museum with VIP access. Day 3 flies to Aswan for the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk, and Philae Temple. Day 4 transfers by private luxury vehicle to Abu Simbel for a guided visit to the temples of Ramses II and Queen Nefertari, then boards the 5 star Nile cruise. Days 5 and 6 cover Edfu Temple, Kom Ombo Temple, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, and the Colossi of Memnon. Day 7 visits Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple on the East Bank. Day 8 flies back to Cairo for the Egyptian Museum, the Hanging Church, and Khan El Khalili Bazaar. Day 9 is the departure.
Only on this route
See the Nile Differently: Most Nile cruise ships dock at two stops between Luxor and Aswan — Edfu and Kom Ombo — because their size and draft prevent them from mooring anywhere else. This Dahabiya stops at El Kab, Bisaw Island, El Silsila, and El Hegz Village—four riverbank landings that have never appeared on a standard cruise itinerary.
Giza to GEM
Pyramids, the Sphinx, and Tutankhamun's treasures
Your Tripidays representative meets you at Cairo International Airport and transfers you by private vehicle to your 5 star hotel. Once you have settled in, your evening begins on the Nile.
You'll board a luxury cruise vessel as Cairo's skyline lights up and live cultural performances fill the deck while a gourmet buffet is served. It is the kind of first evening that resets your expectations for everything that follows, setting the tone for one of Egypt's most memorable 9 day Egypt tour itinerary packages.
Dinner
Your Egyptologist guide collects you after breakfast for a full day on the Giza plateau and at the Grand Egyptian Museum, the two defining Cairo experiences on this luxury Egypt Nile cruise tour with Abu Simbel.
Stand at the base, and you'll understand immediately why nothing you have read or seen prepares you for the scale your guide will walk you into the site with private access, away from the main crowd entry points. The three pyramids were built across three generations of one royal family, a detail that makes the ambition of the project feel more human, not less vast.
Your guide positions you at the angle most visitors miss, facing the Sphinx from the east as the morning light crosses its face. At over 4,500 years old, it remains the largest monolithic statue on earth.
You'll enter one of the best-preserved Old Kingdom temples in Egypt, built from massive limestone and granite blocks with no mortar holding them together. The silence inside contrasts sharply with the plateau outside.
Your VIP access to the GEM takes you through galleries that most visitors never reach, including artifacts from Tutankhamun's tomb displayed together for the first time in their entirety. The collection runs to over 100,000 objects; your Egyptologist filters it to what genuinely rewards close attention.
Breakfast, Lunch
Esna Lock to El Hegz
Board the Dahabiya at Esna — West Bank tombs & a village evening follow
A domestic flight from Cairo to Aswan opens the Nile chapter of this tour. Your guide meets you on arrival and moves directly to the sites, three in sequence, before you board the Dahabiya that evening.
You'll cross to the viewing platform above Lake Nasser, the reservoir created when the dam was completed in 1970, a body of water larger than some countries. Your guide explains the engineering decisions that also required moving Abu Simbel to its current position.
Your guide will show you the crack that stopped work 3,500 years ago and left the largest obelisk ever attempted still lying on the quarry floor. Seeing it horizontal gives you a sense of scale that no finished obelisk can match this one would have stood 42 metres tall.
The boat transfer to Philae crosses a stretch of the Nile that feels removed from the modern city entirely. The temple of Isis was dismantled and rebuilt on this island to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. Your Egyptologist walks you through the full story of that operation alongside the temple's ancient dedicatory history.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
An early start with a breakfast box, then your private luxury vehicle transfers you from Aswan to Abu Simbel, the centrepiece of this luxury Egypt Nile cruise tour, with Abu Simbel and the day that makes this itinerary distinct across the entire 9 day portfolio. Travellers looking for a luxury Nile cruise fly-in Abu Simbel experience can alternatively upgrade to a domestic flight, reducing travel time while preserving the full guided visit.
You'll arrive ahead of the main visitor groups, and your guide will walk you directly to the facade where four colossal seated figures of Ramses II rise 20 metres from the rock face. Inside, the alignment of the inner sanctuary means that twice a year, sunlight travels 60 metres through the mountain to illuminate the faces of the gods. Your Egyptologist explains exactly when and why. The nearby Temple of Queen Nefertari is the only temple in Egypt built by a pharaoh for his wife, a detail worth pausing on before you leave.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
El Kab to Kom Ombo
Ancient quarry walls, island farms, and a dual-sanctuary river temple
The Nile cruise moves north through the morning. Your Egyptologist guides both temple visits as the cruise docks at each site, two of the most complete temple complexes in Egypt, each built for a different purpose and a different god.
You'll enter through a gateway flanked by two granite falcons. The Temple of Horus at Edfu is the best-preserved ancient temple in Egypt, completed in 57 BCE after 180 years of construction. The scale of the entrance pylon, at 36 metres high, takes a moment to absorb.
Your guide walks you through the only double temple in Egypt. The structure is split precisely down the centre, with the left half dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile god, and the right to Horus the falcon. A small room at the back contains the only known ancient Egyptian medical instruments displayed in context, surgical tools, forceps, and scales carved in relief on the wall.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Breakfast on the Dahabiya cruise as it approaches Luxor. Your Egyptologist leads the West Bank in sequence, three sites that together cover the full span of New Kingdom royal burial tradition.
Your VIP access takes you into the Valley of the Kings tombs that standard tours do not include. The painted corridors descend into the hillside at a gradient that makes the burial chambers feel genuinely underground and remote. Tutankhamun's tomb is small by royal standards; Ramses VI's is the opposite.
You'll approach along the causeway that connects the valley floor to the three-tiered facade cut into the cliff face. Hatshepsut ruled Egypt for over 20 years and built this mortuary temple with a precision that her successors tried, and failed, to erase from history.
Your guide positions you in front of the two seated figures, each 18 metres tall, carved from single quartzite blocks transported from a quarry near Cairo. They have stood in this field for over 3,300 years and predate the surrounding agricultural land.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Aswan to Coptic Cairo
Philae Island to the Hanging Church — Upper Egypt to Old Cairo
After disembarking the cruise, a private air-conditioned vehicle takes you to Luxor's East Bank for the two great temple complexes that defined the city for over 1,500 years of continuous use.
Your Egyptologist leads you into the Hypostyle Hall, 134 columns, the tallest reaching 21 metres, arranged across a space large enough to contain the Notre Dame Cathedral. Construction at Karnak spanned 2,000 years and involved 30 different pharaohs, a fact your guide uses to explain how to read the site as a layered record rather than a single monument.
The Avenue of Sphinxes connects Karnak to Luxor Temple along a 3-kilometre processional road. Your guide walks you along it toward the entrance obelisk and the seated figures of Ramses II. The temple was buried under the city for centuries, and a mosque was built on top of it; part of that mosque still stands at the upper level, visible from inside the site.
Breakfast, Lunch
A morning flight from Luxor returns you to Cairo for the final full day of sightseeing, three sites covering pharaonic, Coptic, and Islamic Cairo in sequence.
Your private guide walks you through the royal mummy room and the Tutankhamun galleries. The collection holds over 120,000 artefacts, and your Egyptologist selects the pieces that reward close attention rather than moving at a tour-group pace. The museum building itself has been in continuous use since 1902.
You'll enter Coptic Cairo through the Roman gateway and descend to the church built above the southern gate tower of the old Roman fortress the reason it appears to hang. The interior has been in use as a place of worship for over 1,600 years without interruption.
Your guide leads you through the covered lanes of Khan El Khalili and onto Al Muizz Street, the best-preserved medieval Islamic street in Cairo. The architecture runs continuously from the 10th to the 19th century. This is the one section of the day where the schedule allows time to move at your own pace.
Breakfast, Lunch
A private vehicle transfers you to Cairo International Airport for your international departure. Your Tripidays representative handles the transfer and assists with check-in formalities.
You will be transferred to Cairo International Airport for your departing flight home, carrying with you the memories of a serene and luxurious cruise through Egypt’s legendary landscapes. Before departing Egypt, many mature travellers choose to continue their holiday with a Cairo, Nile cruise & Alexandria tour, enjoying Alexandria's cultural attractions, Mediterranean views, and relaxed sightseeing experience.
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.
The tour includes a private Egyptologist guide throughout, 5 star accommodation across Cairo, Aswan, a Nile cruise, and Luxor, two domestic flights, a guaranteed Abu Simbel visit by private luxury vehicle, VIP access at the Grand Egyptian Museum, all entrance fees, and meals as specified in the itinerary.
It is the only 9 day luxury tour that guarantees Abu Simbel as a confirmed itinerary day, by private luxury vehicle from Aswan as standard, combined with a 5 star Nile cruise. No other 9 day luxury tour in this portfolio includes both.
Abu Simbel is a rock-cut temple complex in southern Egypt built by Ramses II around 1264 BCE. The two temples contain some of the largest carved figures in the ancient world. It is included as a guaranteed day in this itinerary because it is the site that defines the difference between a standard luxury Egypt tour and this one.
You board the 5-star Nile cruise in Aswan on Day 4 after returning from Abu Simbel and sail north over three nights, stopping at Edfu Temple, Kom Ombo Temple, and the West Bank sites at Luxor before disembarking on Day 7. All meals, guided excursions from the cruise, and overnight accommodation are included for the duration of the sailing.
Yes, two domestic flights are included. The first flies from Cairo to Aswan on Day 3; the second flies from Luxor to Cairo on Day 8. An optional domestic flight to Abu Simbel from Aswan is available as a paid upgrade for Day 4 in place of the standard private vehicle transfer.
Prices shown include your hotel stay by default. Switch off to see tour-only pricing if you're arranging your own accommodation.
Xmas window: 21 Dec – 7 Jan / Easter window: 29 Mar – 11 Apr
Xmas window: 21 Dec – 7 Jan / Easter window: 29 Mar – 11 Apr
Xmas window: 21 Dec – 7 Jan / Easter window: 29 Mar – 11 Apr
9 Days / 8 Nights
Cairo Airport
Cairo / Aswan / Abu Simbel / Edfu / Kom Ombo / Luxor
8 Days / 7 Nights
Cairo International Airport
Cairo / Luxor / Esna / El Kab / Edfu/ Gebel el-Silsila / Kom Ombo / Aswan
10 Days / 9 Nights
Cairo International Airport
Cairo / Luxor / Aswan / Abu Simbel / Bahariya Oasis / White Desert / Black Desert
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.
