Flexi Tour — Departs Any Day

Egypt — Cairo & the Nile

Three nights under the pyramids, a sleeper train south through the desert, and three more drifting down the Nile from Aswan to Luxor. Five thousand years in a week, and you unpack twice.
From US$950 per person, twin share — three nights in Cairo, the overnight sleeper to Aswan, and a three-night Nile cruise with all meals and guided temple visits. Budget separately for flights, site tickets and the Cairo transfers. Compare the three hotel tiers
Travel DatesAny day you choose · year-round

Duration8 Days / 7 Nights
DestinationsCairo · Aswan · Luxor
Arrival
Fly into Cairo International (CAI) and home from Luxor (LXR), which usually connects through Cairo. An open-jaw ticket saves you doubling back 700km. Tell us your departure city and we will price the flights with the tour.
Confirmation
Tell us your dates and a tier → we confirm the Cairo hotel, the sleeper cabin and the boat within 24 hours → a deposit holds all three → vouchers by email before you fly. The boat leaves Aswan on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, so we fit the Cairo half around the next sailing — tell us your dates and we will name the day back to you. Before we confirm we check your dates against anything the itinerary is built round — museums, markets and monuments keep weekly closing days, and we would rather move a day than spend one at a locked gate.
The sleeper train is included, and that is deliberate. It is the one leg on this trip you could not sort out yourself on the day, because the cruise starts in Aswan and a client who booked the cruise but not the train would be holding something they could not reach. It is also the better way to go: an overnight train through the desert with dinner in your cabin is part of the trip, not a chore. If you would rather fly to Aswan, say so and we will price that instead — it is about an hour.

The trip at a glance

Cairo

Days 1–4 · the pyramids
01
Cairo
Pin this route

Arrive Cairo AT LEISURE

  • Into Cairo International. Transfers are not included — the airport is 20km out and a metered taxi or Uber runs about US$8–12.
  • Settle in Cairo. Nothing today is time-critical, which is deliberate: the flight in is usually long.
  • Cash matters here. Cards work in hotels and better restaurants; markets, taxis and tips do not. Draw Egyptian pounds at the airport and keep small notes.
  • Overnight in Cairo.
02
Cairo
Pin this route

Giza & the Grand Egyptian Museum AT LEISURE

  • The Pyramids of Giza — Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, built around 2560 BC, and the only one of the seven ancient wonders still standing.
  • Going inside a pyramid is a separate ticket, and it is a hot, low, airless climb. Worth it once; skip it if you are claustrophobic.
  • The Grand Egyptian Museum next door — the largest archaeological museum in the world, with Tutankhamun's complete tomb collection, over 5,000 objects, together for the first time.
  • Give the museum half a day, not two hours. Almost everyone underestimates it.
  • Overnight in Cairo.

Add to this day — approximate gate prices

  • Grand Egyptian MuseumEGP 1,450 · about US$30Book aheadThe one unmissable ticket in Cairo. Foreign visitors must book online in advance — there is no gate sale — so let us add it to your tour rather than arriving hopeful.
  • Inside the Great PyramidEGP 1,500 · about US$31More than the plateau ticket and more than the museum. Khafre's pyramid is EGP 280 and Menkaure's EGP 200 — you go inside a pyramid either way, at a fifth of the price.
  • The Giza plateau itselfEGP 700 · about US$14General entry, covering the plateau and the Sphinx but no pyramid interior. Cash at the gate — there is no official online sale for Giza, so bring Egyptian pounds.

Both of these are Giza-day alternatives rather than a pair — the private day runs most of the daylight, and the food walk is the middle of it. Neither is in your price.

Let us book it — per person, in US dollars

Private

Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum with an Egyptologist

The plateau, the Sphinx and the museum with your own Egyptologist and a car for the day, collected from your hotel; the tickets are the gate prices above.

7 to 8 hours · morning start · hotel pickup

Guide and car included; tickets extra

From US$26 per person

Ask us to add this
Lunchtime

Street food downtown, with a local family

Three hours of the food downtown Cairo actually eats, with a family who cooks it, meeting by a juice bar off Talaat Harb.

About 3 hours · lunchtime · meet downtown

The food and tea included

From US$44 per person

Ask us to add this

Tell us which you want when you confirm. Gate tickets travel with your documents; anything we book goes into your price at the figure shown, and the voucher comes from us. Prices as at 10 September 2026.

03
Cairo
Pin this route

Saqqara & Khan el-Khalili AT LEISURE

  • Saqqara — the Step Pyramid of Djoser, older than Giza and the first large stone building anyone ever put up. Far quieter than the Giza plateau.
  • Back into the city for Khan el-Khalili, a market since 1382 and still a working one.
  • Coffee at El Fishawy in the middle of it, which by local account has not closed in two hundred years.
  • Overnight in Cairo.

Add to this day — approximate gate prices

  • Saqqara & the Step PyramidEGP 600 · about US$12Its own site ticket, separate from Giza. Quieter, older, and many people prefer it.
  • Khan el-KhaliliFree to enterYou pay for what you buy, and haggling is expected rather than rude.

Or let us book it — per person, in US dollars

Private

Saqqara, Memphis and Dahshur in a day

The Step Pyramid, the colossus at Memphis and the Bent and Red pyramids at Dahshur with an Egyptologist and a car — the day’s own plan, plus the two sites almost nobody reaches.

6 to 7 hours · morning start · hotel pickup

Guide and car included; tickets extra

From US$44 per person

Ask us to add this
Guided walk

Islamic Cairo on foot: al-Muizz, al-Azhar and the Khan

The medieval street, the thousand-year-old mosque and the market with a guide who knows which alley is which, collected from your hotel.

About 5 hours · afternoon · hotel pickup

Guide and transfers included

From US$26 per person

Ask us to add this

Tell us which you want when you confirm. Gate tickets travel with your documents; anything we book goes into your price at the figure shown, and the voucher comes from us. Prices as at 10 September 2026.

04
The sleeper
Pin this route

Cairo → Aswan by sleeper TICKETS INCLUDED

  • Evening at Ramses Station for the overnight train south. Your cabin is included — twin berths, a fold-down basin, and dinner served at your seat.
  • The train runs about 13 hours. Breakfast arrives as the desert outside turns pink, which is the reason to take the train rather than fly.
  • Tonight is your bed — there is no hotel on day 4, which is why this is an 8-day trip with 7 nights.
  • Overnight on the train.

In your price today — go at your own pace

  • The overnight sleeper to Aswan, twin cabin

The Nile

Days 5–8 · Aswan to Luxor
05
Aswan
Pin this route

Aswan & Philae GUIDED

  • Into Aswan at breakfast and straight aboard. The boat is your hotel for three nights, full board, with an English-speaking Egyptologist.
  • The High Dam first — the 1970 wall that made Lake Nasser, drowned a stretch of Nubia and forced a dozen temples onto higher ground, Philae among them.
  • Philae Temple in the afternoon — a temple to Isis, moved stone by stone to a higher island when the High Dam flooded its own. You reach it by boat, which is half the pleasure.
  • A felucca at sunset if the boat offers it. The granite islands at Aswan go orange for about twenty minutes and then it is dark.
  • Overnight aboard, moored at Aswan.

In your price today — with your guide

  • Three nights on the Nile, Aswan to Luxor, full board with an Egyptologist guide
06
On the Nile
Pin this route

Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo & Edfu GUIDED

  • A pre-dawn start for Abu Simbel — three hours south by road in a small group, to the two temples Ramses II cut into a cliff and UNESCO cut out again, block by block, to lift them above that same lake. Back aboard by early afternoon.
  • Then sailing north with the current. Kom Ombo first — a double temple split down the middle between two gods, with three hundred mummified crocodiles in the museum next door.
  • On to Edfu, the temple of Horus and the best-preserved in Egypt, because it lay buried in sand until the 1860s.
  • The rest of the day is the point of a Nile cruise: a deck chair, a river that has looked much the same for five thousand years, and nowhere you need to be.
  • Overnight aboard.

In your price today — with your guide

  • Aboard your Nile cruise — full board, and the guided visits to Kom Ombo and Edfu
07
Luxor
Pin this route

Luxor, the Balloon & the Valley of the Kings GUIDED

  • Up before first light for the balloon — twenty minutes or so over the West Bank as the sun comes up behind the Theban hills, with the Valley of the Kings and the Ramesseum underneath you. It is in your price.
  • Into Luxor — ancient Thebes, with more of ancient Egypt standing above ground here than anywhere else on earth.
  • Karnak on the east bank, then across the river to the Valley of the Kings: sixty-three rock-cut tombs, including Tutankhamun's.
  • Your standard ticket covers three tombs. Tutankhamun, Seti I and Ramses V/VI are each a separate charge on top — decide before you go in, not at the gate.
  • Overnight aboard, moored at Luxor.

In your price today — with your guide

  • Aboard your Nile cruise — full board, and the guided day at Luxor and the Valley of the Kings
08
Departure
Pin this route

Luxor → onward AT LEISURE

  • Disembark after breakfast. Luxor airport is 10 minutes out and connects through Cairo.
  • If you have the morning, the Luxor Museum is small, superbly lit, and the opposite of overwhelming after a week of temples.

Restaurants worth trying

Your nights on the Nile cruise include all meals. In Cairo they are yours to choose, so here is where we would eat. We do not arrange any of these and you would pay for them yourself. They are simply places we rate, near where the trip goes. Tick any you like and they appear on the map.

    Suggested, not included. Opening hours and prices are theirs, not ours — and a place that is busy at eight will be busy whether or not you booked through us.

    Hotels & price

    Three nights in Cairo, with breakfast. Egyptian hotels self-declare their stars, so we name the actual property rather than promise a rating — each with thousands of recent guest reviews.

    Comfort · 4★

    4-star hotel in downtown Cairo A four-star in the centre, walking distance from the museum quarter and the metro.

    from US$950 per person · single supplement +US$550

    You will know exactly where you are staying before you pay a balance. We name the property in your confirmation, in writing, as soon as the room is held — and if it is ever unavailable for your dates we substitute at the same tier or better, never below it.

    All prices are per person, twin share, in US dollars — the figure on each tab is what you pay us. The tiers differ by the Cairo hotel only. Confirmed against live availability for your dates.

    Hotel tierPer person, twin shareSingle supplement
    Comfort — 4★, downtown Cairofrom US$950+US$550
    Deluxe — 5★, on Zamalek islandfrom US$1,090+US$655
    Luxury — 5★, at the pyramidsfrom US$1,495+US$960
    Seasonal pricing. Summer is low season and these rates come from it — Upper Egypt reaches 40°C and beyond in July and August, which is exactly why it is cheap. Sites open early and shut in the afternoon heat. October to April is the pleasant stretch and costs meaningfully more, with Christmas and New Year the peak. Ramadan changes opening hours and the mood of the country — not a reason to avoid it, but a reason to ask us first.
    Included
    3 nights in Cairo with breakfast · the overnight sleeper train to Aswan, twin cabin, with dinner and breakfast aboard · a 3-night Nile cruise, Aswan to Luxor, full board, with an English-speaking Egyptologist and the guided visits to the High Dam, Philae, Kom Ombo and Edfu · Abu Simbel · a sunrise balloon flight at Luxor · drinks aboard, and the tips for the cruise staff, guides and drivers · all transfers once you are on the Nile leg
    Not included
    International flights · Cairo transfers and the Cairo sightseeing days — you are free to arrange them or we will quote · site tickets, which in Egypt add up: the Grand Egyptian Museum, the pyramid interiors and the Valley of the Kings are all separate · the Egyptian visa · lunches and dinners in Cairo · tipping, which is customary, constant and expected in small notes · travel insurance
    How the flexi tour works. Choose any departure date and a hotel tier → we confirm availability and the exact price within 24 hours → pay a deposit to hold it → your final documents and vouchers arrive by email a week before you fly. There is no group to join and no fixed departure day.

    Start your booking

    Tell us who you are and when you want to go. We’ll reply within 24 hours with the price and what’s available. A deposit holds it, and comes back in full if we can’t get your dates.

    Prices are per person, twin share. One person to a room costs the single supplement shown above. Under 2s normally travel free — tell us in the box below.

    How should we reply?

    Rate
    Rated
    Nearby
    Room