Tour Details
| Duration |
8 Days / 7 Nights |
|---|---|
| Tour Location |
Cairo / Aswan / Abu Simbel / Luxor |
| Tour Type |
Daily Tour |
| Pickup |
Cairo Airport or Your Hotel |
Magical 8 Days Cairo, Aswan, Abu Simbel & Luxor Tour
This 8 day budget overland Egypt tour covers Cairo, Aswan, Abu Simbel, and Luxor in a single continuous journey by domestic flight, first-class train, and private air-conditioned transport. As one of our most popular low-cost Egypt tour packages, it visits all four of Egypt's greatest overland sites at the lowest guaranteed price, with no cruise markup and no all-inclusive premium. Every major monument from the Pyramids of Giza to the rock-cut temples of Abu Simbel is included in one itinerary.
The tour opens in Cairo with the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Great Sphinx, the Valley Temple of Khafre, and the Grand Egyptian Museum before a domestic flight south to Aswan on Day 2. Day 3 covers the Unfinished Obelisk, the High Dam, and Philae Temple on its island in the Nile. Day 4 runs an early overland excursion to Abu Simbel to visit the twin rock-cut temples of Ramses II and Queen Nefertari, followed by a first-class sleeper train from Aswan to Luxor. Day 5 visits the Karnak Temple Complex and Luxor Temple on the East Bank. Day 6 crosses to the West Bank for the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple at Deir el-Bahari, and the Colossi of Memnon, then returns to Cairo by domestic flight. Day 7 moves through Old Cairo and Islamic Cairo, taking in the Egyptian Museum, the Hanging Church, the Amr Ibn Al-Aas Mosque, the Ben Ezra Synagogue, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization with its Royal Mummies Hall, and Khan El Khalili Bazaar.
Why Book This Tour
- Lowest Priced Four City Egypt Journey
- Abu Simbel Included on Every Departure
- Private Egyptologist Guide Throughout
- Domestic Flights & First-Class Train Included
- Private Air-Conditioned Transport Across Egypt
- 7 Nights in Carefully Selected Hotels
- All Entrance Fees Included
- No Hidden Transport Costs
- Meals Included as Per Itinerary
- Flexible & Customisable Tour Schedule
- 24/7 Tripidays Customer Support
Included
- Meet and assist with the Tripidays representative at Cairo airport
- 3 Nights of accommodations in Cairo hotel
- 2 Nights of accommodations in Luxor hotel
- 2 Nights of accommodations in Aswan hotel
- Private Licensed Egyptologist Guide
- Private Air-Conditioned Transfers
- Domestic flight Cairo → Aswan, Luxor → Cairo
- 1st class train tickets from Aswan to Luxor
- All Entrance Fees Included
- Bottled Water During Touring
- Meals are provided as mentioned in the itinerary
- All Taxes & Service Charges Included
- 24/7 Customer Support Throughout the Tour
Excluded
- International Flights
- Egypt Entry Visa
- Travel Insurance
- Personal Expenses & Gratuities
- Optional Activities Not Listed in the Itinerary
- Meals Not Specifically Mentioned
Highlights
Giza Attractions
- Pyramids of Giza
- Sphinx of Giza
- Khafraa Valley Temples
- Grand Egyptian Museum
Luxor Attractions
- Valley of the Kings
- Karnak Temple
- Luxor Temple
- Hatshepsut Temple
- Colossi of Memnon
Aswan Attractions
- The High Dam
- Unfinished Obelisk
- Philae Temple
- Abu Simbel Temples
Cairo Attractions
- Egyptian Museum
- Hanging Church
- Amr Ibn Al Aas Mosque
- Ben Ezra Synagogue
- Museum of Civilization
- Khan El Khalili Bazaar
Itinerary

Your Tripidays representative meets you at Cairo International Airport and transfers you directly to your hotel, no queues, no confusion, no shared shuttles. This is the starting point of an 8-day budget overland Egypt tour that connects four cities without a single unnecessary detour.

Nile Dinner Cruise
You'll board a double-decker river boat as Cairo's skyline switches on around you, the corniche lights doubling in the dark water below. Experiences like this are a highlight of many 8 day Egypt packages, offering a different perspective on the capital after a day of sightseeing. It is one of the cheapest ways to see the city from the Nile and one of the most disorienting, because you realise immediately how wide the river actually is.

Meals
Dinner

After an early breakfast, your guide picks you up for a full day on the Giza Plateau before an evening domestic flight to Aswan. The day covers the three monuments most travellers come to Egypt to see, plus the largest museum collection of pharaonic artefacts ever assembled, all in one continuous loop before your flight south to Aswan.

The Great Giza Pyramids
Begin your sightseeing with a guided visit to the Great Pyramids of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The Great Sphinx
Your guide walks you to the viewing terrace where the Great Sphinx faces due east, its gaze fixed on the sunrise point it has tracked for over 4,500 years. From the front, you see the full 73-metre length and the ancient Dream Stele between its paws, where Thutmose IV recorded the promise that made him pharaoh.

Valley of the Khafraa Temples
Step inside one of the best-preserved Old Kingdom structures on the plateau, a granite-lined hall where the embalming and purification of pharaoh Khafre took place before his body moved to the pyramid above. Your guide will point out the alabaster floor channels that once drained the ritual fluids from the process.

The Grand Egyptian Museum
You'll enter the Grand Egyptian Museum on earth, built on 50 hectares at the foot of the plateau, and find the complete treasures of Tutankhamun reassembled in a single gallery for the first time since the 1920s excavation. Allow at least two hours; the Royal Statuary Hall alone runs the length of a city block.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch

You wake up in Aswan after last night's flight, a city that feels quieter and slower than Cairo, with the Nile running granite-green here instead of the brown of the delta. Your guide collects you after breakfast for a full day of Aswan's three defining sites, all within a short transfer distance of each other.

Aswan High Dam
Stand on the crest of the dam and look south toward Lake Nasser, a body of water 500 kilometres long created entirely by this structure, completed in 1971 and shifting Egypt's entire agricultural calendar in a single decade. The panorama from the top makes the scale of the engineering decision visible in a way no photograph manages.

The Unfinished Obelisk
You'll crouch alongside the largest piece of stone ever attempted in ancient Egypt, 42 metres long, still attached to the bedrock of the Aswan granite quarry where it was abandoned 3,500 years ago, a crack running its full length. The crack is the reason it was left, and looking at it, you understand in one glance exactly why ancient stone-cutting was as much about risk management as engineering.

Philae Temple Tour
A short motorboat ride delivers you to the island of Agilkia, where the Temple of Isis sits in full view across the water before you even dock. The temple was dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt on higher ground to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. Your guide will show you exactly where the original waterline cut across the columns before the relocation.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch

An early departure, typically before dawn, drives south from Aswan through the Western Desert to reach Abu Simbel before the morning tour groups thin out. This is the tour's centrepiece day: two rock-cut temples carved 3,200 years ago and then relocated in the 1960s to save them from the same rising waters that threatened Philae. In the evening, you board the first-class train at Aswan station for the overnight journey to Luxor.

Abu Simbel Temples
Explore the twin rock-cut temples of Abu Simbel, where four colossal 20-metre-high statues of Ramses II guard the entrance to the Great Temple, leading into a vast hall carved directly into the sandstone cliff. Twice each year, the rising sun illuminates the sanctuary deep inside the temple through a remarkably precise solar alignment. Just north stands the Temple of Nefertari, one of ancient Egypt's most extraordinary monuments, built by Ramses II to honour his queen as a goddess in her own right, with six entrance colossi portraying Ramses and Nefertari at equal height, a rare architectural tribute unmatched in Egyptian history. Abu Simbel is the highlight of this overland journey, but travellers who would rather combine the temples with several days of sailing between Aswan and Luxor can consider the all inclusive Abu Simbel with Nile cruise version.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch

You arrive in Luxor by train in the morning and transfer directly to your hotel to check in before the day's sightseeing begins. Luxor's East Bank holds two of the largest religious structures ever built, Karnak and Luxor Temple, both within a short drive of each other along the Nile corniche.

Karnak Temple Complex
Visit the vast Karnak Temple, the largest religious complex ever built, featuring towering columns, sacred lakes, and monumental reliefs.

Luxor Temple
Explore Luxor Temple, beautifully illuminated in the evening, offering a magical atmosphere and insight into ancient religious ceremonies.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch

An early start crosses the Nile to the West Bank, the side the ancient Egyptians reserved entirely for the dead. Three sites anchor the morning: the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, and the Colossi of Memnon. Your domestic flight back to Cairo departs in the afternoon, returning you to your Cairo hotel by evening.

Valley of the Kings
Discover the famous Valley of the Kings, burial ground of Egypt’s greatest pharaohs, including elaborately decorated royal tombs.

Colossi of Memnon
Your vehicle stops on the open plain, and two 18-metre quartzite figures rise from flat agricultural land with nothing behind them, the last standing elements of what was once the largest mortuary temple ever built, demolished long ago to supply stone for later structures. For 1,500 years, travellers made the journey specifically to hear the northern statue sing at dawn, a sound caused by thermal expansion that stopped after Roman repair work sealed the cracks.

Hatshepsut Temple
Visit the magnificent Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, an architectural masterpiece set against dramatic limestone cliffs.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch

A full day back in Cairo covering the city's Islamic and Coptic quarters, plus two of its major museum collections. Your guide collects you after breakfast for a route that moves chronologically through the city's layered histories from pharaonic through Roman through Coptic Christian through early Islamic, all within walking distance of each other in the old city.

The Egyptian Museum
You'll enter the world's largest collection of pharaonic artefacts through the same entrance that Egyptologists have used since 1902, over 100,000 objects across two floors, including the complete golden funeral mask of Tutankhamun in Room 3. Allow at least 90 minutes; the royal mummies room alone requires a separate ticket and a full 30 minutes to move through properly.

The Hanging Church
Your guide walks you up the entrance stairway into a church suspended above the southern gatehouse of the Roman Babylon Fortress. The building's unique elevated position gave it the name that it has held for 1,600 years. Look up at the nave ceiling, and you'll see a wooden barrel vault carved to the profile of an inverted hull, a detail that every visitor photographs and almost no one forgets.

Amr Ibn Al Aas Mosque
Step into the first mosque ever built on the African continent, founded in 642 CE by the Arab general who led the conquest of Egypt, on a footprint that has been rebuilt and expanded so many times that nothing from the original structure remains, yet the site has been in continuous use as a place of worship for 1,380 years without interruption. The courtyard's simplicity after the ornate Coptic interiors nearby stops most visitors short.

Ben Ezra Synagogue
You'll enter one of Egypt's oldest functioning Jewish sites through a door set into a façade that was once a Coptic church. The building was sold and converted in the 9th century, and in 1896, a hidden storage room behind the ark produced the Cairo Geniza, a collection of 300,000 Jewish manuscript fragments spanning a thousand years of daily life. Your guide will show you where the geniza was concealed.

The National Museum Of Egyptian Civilization
Walk through galleries spanning Egypt's complete history from prehistoric settlements to the present day before reaching the Royal Mummies Hall, where 22 pharaohs and queens rest in a purpose-built climate-controlled chamber designed to preserve them indefinitely. Ramses II is here identifiable by his distinctively long nose, lying in the same condition Howard Carter described when the Deir el-Bahari cache was opened in 1881.

Khan El Khalili
Your guide drops you at the entrance to Cairo's oldest functioning market, established in 1382 on the site of a Fatimid royal mausoleum, and gives you free time to move through a warren of covered alleys selling spices, jewellery, copperware, textiles, and every tourist object Egypt produces. The coffeehouse El Fishawy at the bazaar's centre has been open continuously since 1773, worth a glass of tea at minimum. Having explored four of Egypt's most important destinations, some travellers choose to extend their journey with the 5 city complete Egypt grand circuit, which adds another major destination beyond the Cairo–Upper Egypt route covered on this tour.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch

After a final breakfast at your Cairo hotel, you check out and transfer to Cairo International Airport for your outbound flight. Your Tripidays representative assists with the departure process. This concludes the 8-day budget overland Egypt tour covering Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, and Abu Simbel.

Departure
Enjoy a comfortable transfer to Cairo International Airport for your final departure, marking the end of your 8 day budget overland tour of Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, and Abu Simbel. For travelers who prefer spending more time on the river, the classic Nile cruise with no overland offers a traditional Nile sailing experience between Upper Egypt's most celebrated archaeological sites.

Meals
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
This tour includes 7 nights in 5-star hotels across three cities (3 Cairo, 2 Aswan, 2 Luxor), a domestic flight Cairo to Aswan, a domestic flight Luxor to Cairo, a first-class sleeper train Aswan to Luxor, a private Egyptologist guide for all 8 days, entrance fees to every attraction in the itinerary including Abu Simbel, all transfers by private air-conditioned vehicle, daily breakfast, and all taxes and service charges.
Abu Simbel is a guaranteed included day on every departure, not an optional paid upgrade which no other 8-day budget overland package in this price range offers as standard. The four-city circuit covers Cairo, Aswan, Abu Simbel, and Luxor entirely by land and domestic flight, with no Nile cruise component inflating the base price.
Abu Simbel is a pair of rock-cut temples carved into a sandstone cliff on the west bank of Lake Nasser, built by Ramses II around 1265 BCE. The larger temple features four 20-metre colossal seated figures of the pharaoh at the entrance, with a solar-aligned sanctuary that the rising sun illuminates twice a year. The smaller temple is dedicated to Queen Nefertari and is the only structure in ancient Egypt where a pharaoh depicted his queen at equal height to himself on the entrance facade.
The tour uses three distinct transport methods across the four cities: a domestic flight from Cairo to Aswan on Day 2 evening, a private air-conditioned vehicle for the overland Abu Simbel excursion from Aswan on Day 4, and a first-class sleeper train from Aswan to Luxor on Day 4 evening. The return to Cairo from Luxor is by domestic flight on Day 6, in the afternoon. All inter-city tickets are included in the tour price with no supplements.
Yes. Two domestic flights are included: Cairo to Aswan (Day 2 evening) and Luxor to Cairo (Day 6 afternoon). The first-class sleeper train from Aswan to Luxor on the evening of Day 4 is also included. No additional transport costs apply for any inter-city movement in the itinerary.
What to Pack
Tour Locations
Tour Prices
- Solo $2660
- 2 - 4 Pax $1730
- 5 - 8 Pax $1440
- 9 - 16 Pax $1390
- Solo $2560
- 2 - 4 Pax $1660
- 5 - 8 Pax $1370
- 9 - 16 Pax $1320
- Solo $2810
- 2 - 4 Pax $1820
- 5 - 8 Pax $1520
- 9 - 16 Pax $1480
- Solo $2970
- 2 - 4 Pax $1900
- 5 - 8 Pax $1600
- 9 - 16 Pax $1550
- Solo $2960
- 2 - 4 Pax $1890
- 5 - 8 Pax $1590
- 9 - 16 Pax $1540
- Solo $2830
- 2 - 4 Pax $1810
- 5 - 8 Pax $1520
- 9 - 16 Pax $1470
- Solo $3180
- 2 - 4 Pax $2010
- 5 - 8 Pax $1720
- 9 - 16 Pax $1670
- Solo $3550
- 2 - 4 Pax $2210
- 5 - 8 Pax $1920
- 9 - 16 Pax $1870
- Solo $3480
- 2 - 4 Pax $2160
- 5 - 8 Pax $1860
- 9 - 16 Pax $1810
- Solo $3070
- 2 - 4 Pax $1940
- 5 - 8 Pax $1650
- 9 - 16 Pax $1600
- Solo $3530
- 2 - 4 Pax $2200
- 5 - 8 Pax $1900
- 9 - 16 Pax $1850
- Solo $3960
- 2 - 4 Pax $2440
- 5 - 8 Pax $2140
- 9 - 16 Pax $2090
- Solo $6160
- 2 - 4 Pax $3580
- 5 - 8 Pax $3270
- 9 - 16 Pax $3220
- Solo $5200
- 2 - 4 Pax $3080
- 5 - 8 Pax $2780
- 9 - 16 Pax $2730
- Solo $6930
- 2 - 4 Pax $3990
- 5 - 8 Pax $3680
- 9 - 16 Pax $3630
- Solo $7620
- 2 - 4 Pax $4390
- 5 - 8 Pax $4070
- 9 - 16 Pax $4020































































































































