Depart on your overnight flight to Cairo.

Arrive Cairo and transfer to your deluxe hotel.

Visit the Giza plateau beginning your day at the inscrutable Sphinx, the giant man/beast that has puzzled mankind for generations, see the fabled Great Pyramids of Giza, and visit the Solar Boat Museum. After lunch at the Mena House, visit the old Pharaonic capital of Memphis to see the Alabaster Sphinx and the giant reclining statue of Ramses II. End the day at Sakkara touring King Zoser’s Step Pyramid. (B,L)

Tour the Egyptian Museum, the world’s greatest repository of ancient artifacts. See the incredible treasures of King Tutankhamon, exquisitely carved statues, splendid carved sarcophagi, and the evocative Mummies Room. The afternoon is free for independent exploration, perhaps at the Khan el Khalili Bazaar. (B,L)

Morning flight to Aswan (optional air excursion to Abu Simbel) and embark your five-star Nile cruise boat. Afternoon visit the Aswan High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk and exquisite Philae Temple. Late afternoon felucca sailing excursion around Elephantine and Kitchener’s Islands and past the Agha Khan’s Mausoleum. Evening Nubian folk show. (B,L,D)

Tour of Kom Ombo, the temple shared by two gods, Sobek and Haroeries. Be sure to see the mummified crocodiles and the Nilometer where the priests determined taxes. Afternoon visit to the best preserved temple in Egypt, the Temple of Horus at Edfu. (B,L,D)

Cruise to Luxor. Explore Luxor Temple with its Avenue of Sphinxes, and massive Karnak Temple with its soaring hypostyle hall and labyrinthine passageways. (B,L,D)

Cross to the West Bank and visit the incomparable Valley of the Kings. Tour the tombs of ancient Pharaohs of Egypt and see where Kent Weeks is conducting the new excavations on KV5, the tombs of Ramses’ sons. Explore Queen Hatchepsut’s Temple and the Colossi of Memnon. (B,L,D)

Return to Cairo. Afternoon on your own. (B)

Morning return fight to the USA. Welcome home! (B)
Please note : Nile Cruise may operate in Reverse Direction.