10 Days Cairo Luxor Aswan & Abu Simbel (Archaeology Tour)

This is the day people picture when they imagine Egypt. Arrive at the Giza Plateau by 08:00, before the heat and the tour buses build up, to see the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the smaller Pyramid of Menkaure standing in a row against the desert. The Sphinx sits just below, facing east toward the rising sun. Guides can arrange an optional camel or horse ride along the plateau’s edge for photos with all three pyramids in frame — worth doing for ten minutes even if you’re not a fan of animal-back rides generally. After lunch, head to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square (or the newer Grand Egyptian Museum near Giza, which has been absorbing much of the museum’s collection — confirm which is showing Tutankhamun’s treasures at time of travel). Either way, this is where the gold mask, the royal mummies, and thousands of artifacts pulled straight from the tombs you’ll visit later in the trip are kept.

Continuing the journey, visit the ancient capital of Memphis, where you can witness the remarkable statue of Ramses II. Conclude the day’s adventures in Dahshur, where you’ll have the chance to marvel at both the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid.

After a fulfilling day, enjoy a comfortable transfer back to your hotel in Cairo for another overnight stay.

Overnight in Cairo.

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

A quieter, less crowded day than Day 2, and for many travelers, more atmospheric. Memphis was Egypt’s capital for over 3,000 years, though little remains above ground beyond a fallen colossus of Ramses II and a small open-air museum. Saqqara, ten minutes away, is where step pyramids were invented — the Step Pyramid of Djoser predates the Great Pyramid by roughly a century and still dominates the necropolis. With far fewer visitors than Giza, it’s possible to walk the surrounding tombs at your own pace. Spend the afternoon at Khan El Khalili, Cairo’s centuries-old bazaar, for spices, textiles, and a coffee at a café frequented by Cairo’s writers for generations — a good last stop before flying south the next morning.

Overnight in Cairo.

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

A short domestic flight (around one hour) takes you from Cairo to Luxor, ancient Thebes, capital of Egypt during the height of the New Kingdom. After checking in, the afternoon is dedicated to Luxor’s East Bank, where the living city and its temples always stood — as opposed to the West Bank, reserved for the dead. Karnak Temple is the main event: not a single building but an entire complex built up over 2,000 years, its Hypostyle Hall alone holding 134 towering stone columns. Time the visit to end near Luxor Temple as the sun sets, when its columns are lit and the crowds thin out for the evening.

Overnight in Luxor.

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

An early start (08:00) crosses the Nile to the West Bank, where the New Kingdom’s pharaohs carved their tombs deep into the desert cliffs rather than building pyramids, hoping to avoid tomb robbers. The Valley of the Kings holds over 60 known tombs, including Tutankhamun’s — tickets typically allow entry to three tombs, so a guide’s recommendation on which to prioritize matters. Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple, built into the cliff face at Deir el-Bahari, remains one of ancient Egypt’s most striking pieces of architecture. On the way back, stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two 18-meter statues that have stood alone in a field for over 3,400 years. By early afternoon, transfer to your Nile cruise boat and settle in as it casts off, sailing south toward Esna.

Overnight in Luxor.

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Morning arrival in Edfu, where a horse-drawn carriage takes you from the dock to the Temple of Horus — widely considered the best-preserved temple in Egypt, thanks to centuries spent buried under desert sand and Nile silt before 19th-century excavation uncovered it almost intact. The falcon-headed statues of Horus still guard the entrance. Afternoon is spent sailing toward Kom Ombo, with time on the sun deck to watch riverside villages, water buffalo, and palm groves pass by — this is the pace a Nile cruise is built for.

Overnight in Luxor.

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

An early visit to Kom Ombo’s temple, unique for being a “double temple” split symmetrically down the middle — one half dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, the other to the falcon god Horus the Elder, each with its own entrance, halls, and sanctuary. The adjoining Crocodile Museum houses several mummified crocodiles found at the site. The boat continues to Aswan by afternoon, Egypt’s southernmost major city and historically the gateway to Nubia. Visit the High Dam, completed in 1970 and responsible for both ending the Nile’s annual floods and creating Lake Nasser; the elegant, colonnaded Philae Temple, relocated stone-by-stone to Agilkia Island in the 1970s to save it from rising water; and the Unfinished Obelisk, still lying in its quarry, cracked before completion — its abandoned state reveals more about ancient Egyptian stone-cutting techniques than a finished monument ever could.

Overnight in Aswan.

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

The earliest start of the trip: a 04:00 departure for the roughly three-hour drive (or a short flight) to Abu Simbel, timed to arrive before the tour buses and the midday heat. The Great Temple of Ramses II, fronted by four 20-meter seated colossi of the pharaoh, was carved directly into a mountainside — and, like Philae, was moved in the 1960s in a UNESCO engineering effort to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. The smaller Temple of Hathor, dedicated to Ramses’s queen Nefertari, stands beside it. Return to Aswan by late morning, disembark from the cruise, and catch an evening flight back to Cairo.

Overnight in Aswan.

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

A deliberately open day after eight days of early starts. Sleep in, revisit Khan El Khalili, or take an optional full-day trip to Alexandria (roughly 2.5 hours from Cairo by road) to see the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, and Qaitbay Citadel, built on the site of the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria. Return to Cairo for a final dinner.

Overnight in Cairo.

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Private transfer to Cairo International Airport for your international flight home, timed around your specific departure — most operators recommend arriving three hours before an international flight.

Meals: Breakfast