Classics of Egypt

Arrive in Cairo and transfer to your hotel. Overnight: Cairo

Explore the Grand Egyptian Museum, with a vast collection of Egyptian antiquities from the Pharaonic and Greco-Roman periods. Visit the Alabaster Mosque, which adds a picture-postcard element to Cairo’s skyline. There will be time at leisure to shop in the famous Khan-el-Khalili bazaar which is a labyrinth of cobbled alleyways. This vast bazaar tempts the senses with spices, perfume, gold, silver and brass. Overnight: Cairo (B)

After breakfast, visit Memphis, the ancient capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. It is the home of a colossal Statue of Ramesses II and the Alabaster Sphinx. Continue to the “Cemetery City” of Sakkara and view the Step Pyramid of King Zoser, the oldest of all Pyramids. In the afternoon visit the Great Pyramids of Giza, the only present-day survivor of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, built from over 2300000 blocks of stone, each weighing about 2.5 tons. Nearby, see the mystical Sphinx that keeps watch over the Giza plateau. Overnight: Cairo (B)

Transfer to the airport for the flight to Luxor (cost of flight not included). On arrival transfer to your Nile Cruiser. After lunch visit Karnak Temple, a complex dedicated to Amun Ra. Its impressive features are probably the most overwhelming of all the Egyptian monuments. Visit Luxor Temple discovered beneath the shifting desert sands. Overnight: Nile Cruiser (BLD)

Travel by coach to the West Bank and visit Thebes Necropolis and the Valley of Kings, a vast City of the Dead for generations of Pharaohs, where magnificent tombs were carved into the desert rocks. The most famous of the sixty-two tombs is the tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amun unearthed by Howard Carter. Continue to Deir al-Bahri, where the Temple of Hatshepsut built for the only woman who ruled Egypt. See the Colossi of Memnon; it is all that remains of the Temple of Amenophis, destroyed by the annual flooding of the Nile. The cruise continues to Esna, and then Edfu. Overnight: Nile Cruiser (BLD)

Travel through Edfu to the best-preserved ancient Greek-built temple, Horus Temple dedicated to the falcon God was built on a rise to escape the annual flooding of the Nile. Cruise to Kom Ombo and visit the Temple of Sobek and Haroeris, dedicated to the crocodile god and the falcon-headed god. Overnight: Nile Cruiser (BLD)

Visit the High Dam, a huge rock-fill dam, which captures the world’s longest river. Travel by motorboat to Agilkia Island and visit the reassembled Philae Temple dedicated to the goddess Isis. In the afternoon enjoy a Felucca ride on the Nile and view the lush Botanic Gardens on Kitcheners Island, Elephantine Island, and Aga Khan’s Mausoleum on the west bank (view only, no visit). Overnight: Nile Cruiser (BLD)

After breakfast, disembark and transfer to the airport for flight to Cairo (cost of this flight is not included). (B)