| Duration |
11 Days / 10 Nights
|
|---|---|
| Tour Location |
Cairo / Aswan / Luxor / Hurghada
|
| Tour Type |
Daily Tour
|
| Pickup |
Cairo Airport
|
This 11-day Christmas Egypt tour covers Cairo, Aswan, Luxor, and Hurghada across the holiday period, combining pharaonic sightseeing with a Nile Cruise and three nights at a Hurghada all-inclusive Red Sea resort. It is the only 11-day Egypt tour designed around the Christmas and New Year holiday period, with a festive Christmas Eve dinner on board the cruise, holiday-period guaranteed departures, and pre-Christmas pricing built into the package. Travelers can also explore more Egypt guided holiday tours featuring cultural sites, Nile Cruises, beach stays, and family-friendly itineraries.
Day 1 opens with a Cairo arrival and an evening Nile dinner cruise. Day 2 covers the Pyramids of Giza, the Great Sphinx, the Valley Temple, and the Grand Egyptian Museum. Day 3 flies to Aswan for the High Dam, Philae Temple, and the Unfinished Obelisk before boarding the cruise. Day 4 visits Kom Ombo Temple and closes with the Christmas Eve Nile dinner event on board. Day 5 continues to Edfu Temple, then Karnak Temple, and Luxor Temple on the east bank. Day 6 covers the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut, and the Colossi of Memnon before transferring to Hurghada. Days 7 and 8 are full resort days at the all-inclusive Hurghada property on the Red Sea.
Your Tripidays guide meets you at Cairo Airport and transfers you to your 5-star hotel in time to settle in before the evening begins. After checking in, the night opens with a Nile dinner cruise — the city lights reflecting off the water as you eat, the first signal that this is not a standard Egypt itinerary.
You'll board in central Cairo as the city shifts from daylight to its lit-up nighttime skyline, a disorienting contrast of ancient river and modern glare. It sets the tone for the Christmas holiday ahead better than any hotel lobby could.
Dinner
After breakfast, your guide picks you up for a full day at the Giza Plateau and the Grand Egyptian Museum, the two heaviest-hitting stops in Cairo, covered while the winter air is still cool.
Stand before the Great Giza Pyramids, timeless symbols of Egypt’s greatness. Built over 4,500 years ago, the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure rise proudly from the desert, even more breathtaking under Egypt’s clear winter skies.
Continue to the Valley Temple of Khafre, where ancient mummification rituals once prepared kings for eternity. Its massive limestone and granite blocks tell powerful stories of belief, legacy, and immortality.
You'll approach from the east, the direction the Sphinx faces, which means you see it the way it was intended — watching the sunrise over the plateau it has guarded for more than 4,500 years. The erosion patterns on its body are still actively debated by geologists.
End the day at the spectacular Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), home to over 100,000 artifacts, including the complete treasures of King Tutankhamun.
Breakfast and Lunch
An early domestic flight takes you from Cairo to Aswan, where your Egyptologist guide meets you for a half-day of sightseeing before you board the cruise. The pace slows here — Aswan is quieter, the Nile wider, and the light noticeably different from Cairo.
You'll cross the top of the dam and look out over Lake Nasser stretching south into the desert — a man-made lake so vast it submerged entire Nubian villages when it was filled in the 1970s. The engineering was Soviet-assisted, and the political cost was significant; your guide will give you both sides.
Your guide will take you by boat to Philae Island, where this temple to the goddess Isis was dismantled stone by stone and reassembled on higher ground before the dam flooded its original site. The reconstruction is so precise that most visitors don't realize the entire complex was moved.
You'll crouch beside a crack that runs the length of a granite obelisk still attached to the quarry floor, abandoned mid-carving when the flaw appeared, roughly 3,500 years ago. If it had been completed, it would have been the largest obelisk ever cut in ancient Egypt.
Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
The cruise sails north through the morning. This is the heart of the festive itinerary — a pharaonic temple at the river's bend, then the Christmas Eve dinner on board as the Nile moves beneath you.
You'll step off the cruise directly onto the riverbank below this double temple, built to honor both the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon god Haroeris side by side in perfect symmetry. Look up at the ceiling reliefs, and you'll find one of the earliest known surgical instrument carvings in the ancient world.
The cruise dining room is set for the evening with a festive Christmas Eve dinner as the boat moves along the Nile under a winter sky. This is the itinerary lock that no other Egypt tour in this portfolio includes a named, guaranteed celebration on the water on the night that matters most to holiday travelers.
Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Christmas morning on the Nile, then two of Egypt's best-preserved temples. Your guide leads both visits; the day ends with the cruise docking at Luxor.
Explore the remarkably preserved Temple of Horus, one of Egypt’s best examples of Ptolemaic architecture.
Your guide will walk you into the Great Hypostyle Hall, where 134 columns rise so close together the sky almost disappears overhead. It took more than 2,000 years and 30 successive pharaohs to build what you're standing inside.
You'll enter through the Avenue of Sphinxes as the afternoon light drops low across the sandstone, the statues of Ramesses II flanking the entrance at a scale that makes everything around them look provisional. At night, this temple is lit up if timing allows, your guide can bring you back after dark.
Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
An early start on the west bank covers the three sites that define Luxor's ancient city of the dead, then a transfer east to the Red Sea coast for the all-inclusive Hurghada stay.
You'll descend into tombs cut directly into the limestone cliffs, where the walls are painted with the texts and images the ancient Egyptians believed would guide the dead through the underworld. More than 60 royal tombs have been found here; your entrance covers three.
Continue to the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut (1479–1458 BCE), one of Egypt’s greatest female rulers. Known as Djeser-Djeseru, this temple at Deir el-Bahari is a masterpiece of ancient architecture, designed by Senenmut, her royal architect. Its terraces, colonnades, and chapels honor Amun-Ra and showcase Hatshepsut’s powerful reign.
You'll stand before two seated stone figures that once marked the entrance to a mortuary temple so large it has now almost entirely disappeared into the floodplain. Each colossus is 18 meters high and was carved from a single block of quartzite sandstone transported hundreds of kilometers from the north.
Breakfast and Lunch
After the intensity of the Nile itinerary, Day 7 is a full resort day at your 5-star all-inclusive Hurghada property. No guide, no schedule — the Red Sea, the pool, and the beach are yours for the day. Spend Christmas-season days basking in sunshine, swimming in turquoise waters, or simply relaxing by the sea. If you are traveling with children and prefer Sharm El Sheikh over Hurghada, our luxury family Egypt holiday with beach follows a similar Nile Cruise structure but ends at Sharm's Red Sea resort with kid-friendly pacing throughout.
For an unforgettable adventure, join the Bedouin Village Desert Safari! This exciting tour takes you off-road into the stunning desert, where you’ll explore a traditional Bedouin village. Discover their fascinating culture, learn about their way of life, and create memories that will last a lifetime. Perfect for families and travelers looking for something unique!
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
A second full day at the resort. No transfers, no sites — this is the built-in recovery day that the Christmas holiday schedule is designed around.
Your second full day at the all-inclusive resort gives you time to try the snorkeling, take a glass-bottom boat excursion, or simply stay on the beach. The Hurghada reef system runs close to shore — some of the most accessible coral in the Red Sea is reachable by swimming from the beach.
Dive into the crystal clear waters of the Red Sea on an unforgettable snorkeling adventure! Swim with colorful tropical fish and get a close-up view of the vibrant coral reefs. It's the perfect way to explore the magical underwater world and create memories you'll never forget.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
A flight or road transfer returns you to Cairo for a half-day in Islamic and Coptic Cairo — the historic neighborhoods that most one-week Egypt trips skip entirely.
Start your journey through Old Cairo at the Salah El Din Citadel, a fortress built in 1176 by Sultan Saladin to defend Egypt from Crusader invasions. The citadel was the seat of power for Egypt’s rulers from the Ayyubid dynasty through the Mamluk and early Ottoman periods.
Admire the iconic Mosque of Muhammad Ali, rising gracefully above Cairo from the Citadel with its grand Ottoman domes and towering minarets. From its courtyard, enjoy breathtaking winter views over the city, a peaceful and memorable moment during your Christmas journey in Egypt.
Your guide will take you into this 4th-century Coptic church built above the gatehouse of an old Roman fortress, its nave suspended between two towers, which is where the name comes from. It holds some of the oldest Christian artwork in Egypt, including icons dating to the 8th century.
You'll step into the oldest mosque on the African continent, first built in 641 AD and rebuilt many times since. The current structure dates to the 18th century, but the site itself has been in continuous use as a place of worship for nearly 1,400 years.
Explore the historic Ben Ezra Synagogue, a powerful symbol of Egypt’s long tradition of religious coexistence. This ancient site once housed the famous Cairo Geniza, preserving priceless manuscripts from centuries past.
You'll move through one of the oldest functioning markets in the Islamic world, a labyrinth of covered lanes selling spices, perfumes, gold, and crafts that has operated continuously since the 14th century. It is loud, dense, and completely unlike anywhere else in the itinerary — give yourself more time than you think you need.
Breakfast and Lunch
Your guide picks you up from the hotel for a full day south of Cairo, covering three of Egypt's most significant ancient sites — the original pharaonic capital, the oldest standing pyramid complex, and the experimental pyramids that made Giza possible.
You'll stand before the oldest monumental stone structure in the world, built for Pharaoh Djoser around 2650 BC by the architect Imhotep — the first known named architect in human history. The surrounding necropolis contains mastaba tombs whose painted interior walls are among the most vivid surviving examples of Old Kingdom art.
You'll walk through the ruins of what was once the capital of unified Egypt for over 3,000 years, now an open-air museum holding the fallen colossus of Ramesses II among its key pieces. The scale of the statue — over 10 meters long and carved from a single block of limestone — gives you a measure of how seriously this city once took its own importance.
Your guide will take you to two pyramids that most Egyptian tourists never reach — the Bent Pyramid, where the builders visibly changed the angle mid-construction, and the Red Pyramid, the first true smooth-sided pyramid ever completed. You can enter the Red Pyramid and descend into its burial chamber, which almost no one at Giza can do.
Breakfast and Lunch
Your guide transfers you to Cairo International Airport for your onward flight. Check-out and transfer timings are coordinated around your departure schedule.
Breakfast and Lunch
* 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.
It is the only 11-day Egypt tour designed around the Christmas and New Year holiday period — with a Christmas Eve Nile dinner event as a named itinerary day, holiday-period guaranteed departures, and pre-Christmas pricing built into the package.
Yes, this tour is built specifically for Christmas and New Year travelers. Departures are guaranteed across the holiday window, pre-Christmas pricing is available for early bookings, and the Christmas Eve Nile dinner event is a fixed itinerary day rather than a seasonal add-on.
Definitely. This itinerary is designed for first-time visitors and families, with expert guides, comfortable pacing, and a mix of education, relaxation, and festive holiday experiences.
The Christmas Eve Nile dinner is a festive dinner held on board the cruise on Day 4, as the boat sails north after visiting Kom Ombo Temple. It is a named, guaranteed itinerary event — not an optional upgrade — and is the only such event in the 11-day Egypt tour portfolio. Travelers looking for a Hurghada stay reached by flight rather than cruise can compare the Hurghada by flight — four-city Egypt alternative.
You board the cruise in Aswan on Day 3 after the morning sightseeing, and the boat sails north over three nights, stopping at Kom Ombo, Edfu, and Luxor. The cruise is a 5-star vessel with private cabins, onboard dining, and deck access — the Christmas Eve dinner on Day 4 takes place in the cruise dining room as the boat moves along the Nile.
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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.
