Giza is the start. Not the trip.
Which pyramid morning beats the coaches. What a Luxor–Aswan cabin actually costs. Whether the reef is worth the early boat. Every tour in Egypt, reviewed.
The pyramids: pick the morning that fits.
All Giza tours →
Half a morning on the plateau, or a long day that carries on to Djoser’s step pyramid at Saqqara and the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. These three carry the most travellers; the full list splits the rest by how much of a day you have.
The plateau and the Sphinx, back by lunch
Three pyramids, the panorama point out in the sand, then down to the Sphinx enclosure. Enough for the scale and the photographs, with the afternoon still yours.
Giza, Saqqara and the pyramid that bends
Saqqara’s step pyramid is older than anything at Giza and Dahshur shows the geometry still being argued out. One long day, three sites, a fraction of the coaches.
The Grand Egyptian Museum, then the plateau
Tutankhamun’s burial goods now sit two kilometres from the men who built the tombs. See the objects in the morning and the plateau reads differently after lunch.
Down the Nile, stop by stop.
EdfuGiza, the Valley, the reef.
The pyramid plateau, the painted tombs on the Luxor west bank, a cabin between Luxor and Aswan, a balloon before sunrise over Thebes, and the reef twenty minutes off the Hurghada quay. Each one opens the full list, priced.
The tours most travellers in Egypt end up on.
Every review →One day trip out of Hurghada carries more travellers than anything else in the country. Here it is, and the seven behind it.
1
Luxor Valley of the Kings & Tutankhamun Tomb Trip
Full-day guided Luxor trip from Hurghada with Karnak, Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut, Colossi of Memnon, lunch, and optional Tutankhamun.
From · $76
Read our review →
2
Pyramids & Great Sphinx Private Tour with Camel Ride
from $48
3
Tour to Giza Pyramids and The Egyptian Museum
from $155
4
Cairo and Giza Highlights Full-Day Tour
from $76
5
Luxury Cruise Trip to Orange Bay with Lunch
from $53
6
Luxor Day Trip from Hurghada Small Group & Tutankhamun Tomb
from $95
7
Orange Bay Island Boat Trip w/ Breakfast and Lunch
from $34
8
Royal Seascope Submarine Cruise with Snorkel Stop
from $21
In Hurghada, the day starts at the marina.
Boats leave Hurghada and Makadi Bay before eight for Orange Bay, Giftun and the Magawish reefs, and the yellow submarine goes down off the same quay. Further south, the wild dolphins of Sha’ab Samadai are a Marsa Alam morning, not a Hurghada one.
From a felucca hour to a week on the Nile.
What an Egyptian day out costs. It starts at about the price of lunch on the Nile and runs all the way up to a week of cabins, flights and a private Egyptologist.
Felucca hours, museum tickets, quad tracks behind the hotel and the Citadel ticket.
The everyday best of Egypt: reef boats, half-day plateau runs, dinner on the water.
Full days with a guide and lunch — Saqqara and Dahshur, Luxor from the coast, Abu Simbel.
Balloons with a long day attached, multi-day cruises, private Egyptologists and flights.
In Cairo, the museum is only the first hour.
Tutankhamun’s mask has moved out to the Grand Egyptian Museum beside the plateau; Tahrir keeps the rest. After that it is the lantern lanes of Khan el-Khalili, the old capital at Memphis and the step pyramid at Saqqara, and a boat that leaves after dark with dinner on it.
Egypt keeps these three to itself.
Temples and reefs exist elsewhere. A dawn balloon over the Theban necropolis, a temple sawn into blocks to outrun a rising lake, and a desert valley full of whales do not.
The balloon over Thebes
Baskets lift off the Luxor west bank while it is still dark, and the sun comes up over the river with Hatshepsut’s terraces, the Ramesseum and the ridge above the Valley laid out underneath. Flights are dawn-only and wind-dependent: a cancelled morning gets rebooked, not argued with.
- 1Hot Air Balloon Ride in Luxor Egypt with Transfers Included★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,319 reviews
- 24-Days Nile Cruise From Aswan To Luxor including Abu Simbel and Hot Air Balloon★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3,142 reviews
- 3Hot Air Balloon Ride over Luxor Relics★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,681 reviews
Abu Simbel
When Lake Nasser filled behind the High Dam, Ramses II’s temple was cut into more than a thousand blocks and rebuilt sixty metres up the cliff. Twice a year the dawn light still runs the whole length of the sanctuary. It is three hours south of Aswan, which is why the cars leave in the dark.
- 14-Days Nile Cruise From Aswan To Luxor including Abu Simbel and Hot Air Balloon★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3,142 reviews
- 2Abu Simbel Temple Day Trip with Hotel Pickup★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 2,807 reviews
- 34-Day 3-Night Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor&Abu Simbel+Balloon★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,023 reviews
The Valley of the Whales
Wadi El-Hitan lies in the Fayoum desert, a hundred and fifty kilometres from the nearest sea, and it is full of whales: forty-million-year-old skeletons of animals that still had legs. It is a World Heritage site, it is a walk in the sand, and there is no water in it.
- 1Whale Valley and Wadi El Rayan Waterfalls Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 93 reviews
- 2Valley of Whales and Wadi El Rayan Water Falls Day Tour from Cairo★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 76 reviews
- 3Private Tour to Whales Valley & Wadi El Rayan Waterfalls in El Fayoum from Cairo★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 61 reviews
The desert starts where the last canal ends.
All desert trips →Chalk towers in the White Desert, two hundred kilometres of nothing on the road to Siwa, and the quad tracks behind the Hurghada hotels. Every White Desert night sleeps at Bahariya on the way — they are one trip, not two.
2-Day Bahariya & White Desert Private Camp Adventure
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Siwa Oasis All inclusive 3 days Tour from Cairo or Giza
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In Cairo and Sinai, some of the stops are working buildings.
Coptic Cairo, Islamic Cairo, the great mosques and St Catherine’s Monastery are on the itineraries as places of prayer, not attractions to score. Cover shoulders and knees; carry a scarf for the mosques; shoes come off at the door; and prayer times close some rooms without notice.
- Coptic CairoThe Hanging Church, Abu Serga and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, inside the walls of the Roman fort of Babylon.
- Islamic CairoA lived-in medieval quarter along al-Mu’izz Street, with Sultan Hassan and al-Rifai at the southern end.
- The mosquesAl-Azhar, a working mosque and a thousand-year-old university, and the Muhammad Ali Mosque inside the Citadel.
- St Catherine’s MonasteryAt the foot of Mount Sinai; a community of monks has lived here without a break for fifteen centuries.
Three Egyptian mornings that will not wait until you land.
Most of Egypt can be arranged at the hotel desk the night before. These cannot. They run on dawn slots, timed tickets and a drive that starts while it is still dark.
- 01Hot Air Balloon Ride in Luxor Egypt with Transfers IncludedBalloons fly at first light only and the baskets fill days ahead. Wind cancels the morning, so leave a spare one in the itinerary.
- 024-Days Nile Cruise From Aswan To Luxor including Abu Simbel and Hot Air BalloonThree hours south of Aswan, and three back. The day starts before four and the winter seats go early.
- 03Grand Egyptian Museum, Pyramids, Sphinx Tour & LunchEntry is timed. Arriving without a slot is how people lose a Cairo morning at the door.
By base — where you sleep decides the day
Cairo & Giza631 tours
Hurghada410 tours
Luxor210 tours
Aswan80 tours
Sharm el-Sheikh137 tours
Alexandria52 tours
Marsa Alam23 tours
Dahab7 tours- Every tour in Egypt →
Egypt, most recently reviewed.
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