Egypt is one of the few countries where Easter happens twice, and our Egypt Easter tours are built around both. Western Easter follows the Gregorian calculation; Coptic Orthodox Easter follows the Julian, and in most years the two fall weeks apart. We run departures for both, so your trip fits your holiday rather than someone else’s calendar.
The spring window is the real reason to come. Easter lands in the last comfortable stretch before Egyptian summer arrives in earnest — warm enough for the Red Sea, cool enough to spend a full morning at Karnak or the Valley of the Kings without counting the minutes. By June the same itinerary starts at dawn out of necessity rather than choice.
One honest caveat, because you will not read it on most operators’ Easter pages. Spring is Khamaseen season. The Khamaseen is a hot, dry wind off the Sahara that blows intermittently between March and May, named from the Arabic for fifty after the rough length of the season. When it arrives it lifts temperatures sharply and puts dust in the air for a day or two at a time. It is not dangerous and it does not cancel itineraries, but it can flatten the light for photographs. Any operator who tells you April in Egypt is uniformly perfect has not spent an April here.
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Egypt marks two. Western Easter follows the Gregorian calculation and Coptic Orthodox Easter follows the Julian, so in most years they fall weeks apart. In 2027 Western Easter is Sunday 28 March and Coptic Easter is Sunday 2 May. In 2028 both fall on the same day, Sunday 16 April, which happens roughly one year in three. Sham El-Nessim, the national spring festival, always falls on the Monday after Coptic Easter.
Yes, both. Departures run across the Western Easter period and again across the Coptic Easter and Sham El-Nessim period, so you can travel whenever your own holiday falls. Tell us your dates and we will confirm availability for that window.
It depends on the length. Tours under seven days are private as standard, with your own Egyptologist guide, driver and air-conditioned vehicle. Tours of seven days and over run as a small group capped at 16 travellers, with a private version available on request for a supplement quoted alongside your itinerary. Every tour page states which applies.
Easter tours start from $650 per person for a four-day Cairo and Fayoum holiday and run to around $2,399 for a fifteen-day itinerary taking in the pyramids, a Nile cruise and the Red Sea. Nile cruise packages begin at $755. Final pricing depends on the itinerary, your accommodation tier, group size and whether domestic flights are included.
We apply one Easter rate whenever Easter falls, rather than sliding the price with the season. That means no surcharge appears on your booking and the price does not spike in the highest-demand years. It also means that if your dates are genuinely flexible and you do not need to travel over the holiday itself, a standard tour in the same month may price lower. Ask us and we will compare the two honestly.
It is one of the best windows in the year. Easter falls at the end of the comfortable season, warm enough for the Red Sea but before the summer heat makes midday sightseeing a chore. The trade-off is that it is peak season: sites are busier, hotels fill, and Nile cruise cabins go early. Book well ahead and start your sightseeing early and the crowds are manageable.
Warm and sunny, typically mid-twenties to low thirties Celsius by day in Cairo, Luxor and Aswan, with cooler evenings that need a light layer. Spring is also Khamaseen season, when a hot dry wind off the Sahara blows intermittently between March and May, raising temperatures and putting dust in the air for a day or two at a time. It does not stop itineraries but it can flatten the light for photographs.
Egypt’s spring festival, held on the Monday after Coptic Easter and celebrated by every Egyptian regardless of religion. It descends from the pharaonic harvest season of Shemu, which makes it one of the oldest continuously observed festivals anywhere. Families picnic in parks and along the Nile, eating fesikh (salted fermented mullet), spring onions, lettuce and coloured eggs — a tradition of painted eggs that predates its association with Easter by thousands of years.
Yes. If your dates fall over Coptic Holy Week we can build Coptic Cairo into your itinerary, including the Hanging Church, suspended over a Roman gatehouse, and Abu Serga, where tradition holds the Holy Family sheltered in the crypt. Services are long, crowded and moving. Your guide will tell you which are genuinely open to visitors and which are better watched from the edge.
Yes, and it is the most popular way to travel at Easter. Dedicated Easter cruises run three nights sailing north from Aswan to Luxor and four nights sailing south from Luxor to Aswan, calling at Edfu and Kom Ombo. Combined Cairo-and-cruise packages run from six to fifteen days. Cabins over the Easter period sell out earliest of anything we offer.
Most begin in Cairo with the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx and the Grand Egyptian Museum, then continue to Luxor and Aswan for the temples and royal tombs. Depending on the itinerary you can add Abu Simbel, Philae Temple on Agilkia Island, Alexandria, the Fayoum Oasis, the White Desert, or a Red Sea stay in Hurghada.
You choose from six tiers. Egyptian hotel licensing is more generous than the European and American systems, so we publish both labels rather than only the flattering one. Bronze is roughly a Western 2.5-star (Egyptian 3-star); Silver about a Western 3-star (Egyptian 4-star); Gold carries Egypt’s “5-star standard” licence and compares to a Western 3.5-star; Platinum is Egypt’s “5-star deluxe” licence and compares to a Western 4-star; Diamond is roughly a Western 4.5-star; and Elite is a genuine 5-star. Nile cruise ships follow the same approach: Standard is a 3.5-star equivalent, Deluxe a 4-star, Ultra Deluxe a 4.5-star and Luxury a true 5-star.
Most nationalities can buy a visa on arrival at Egyptian airports for $30, paid in cash, or apply for an e-visa in advance. Your passport should be valid for at least six months beyond your arrival date. Our representative assists with the formalities at the airport either way.
The single supplement is 70% of the twin-share rate across all our tours and cruises. If you are drawn to a dahabiya, note those cabins are too narrow for a third bed and sail twin or single only.
There are two scales depending on whether your itinerary includes domestic flights. Without flights: under 6 travel free, ages 6 to 11 pay 50%, and 12 and over pay the adult rate. With domestic flights: ages 0 to 2 pay 30%, 3 to 5 pay 40%, 6 to 11 pay 50%, and 12 and over pay the adult rate. The difference is the airline ticket, bought at the carrier’s own child rates.
Cancellation charges start at 15% of the tour price and rise as the departure date approaches, reaching 90% between 14 and 8 days before arrival. The full ladder is on our Terms & Conditions page. We recommend travel insurance on every booking, and particularly at Easter when itineraries depend on domestic flights.
Yes, earlier than you would for most of the year. Easter is a peak week across Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and the Red Sea simultaneously, and Nile cruise cabins and domestic flights sell out before hotels do. For 2028, when both Easters fall on the same Sunday, expect that pressure to arrive earlier still.
They suit families well. The spring weather is far kinder to children than summer, the shorter four- and five-day itineraries avoid the fatigue of a long programme, and a Nile cruise gives everyone somewhere to be between sites. Tell us the ages when you enquire and we will pace the itinerary accordingly.
Yes. Every tour on this page is a starting point. Add Abu Simbel, Alexandria, Saqqara and Memphis, or a Red Sea stay; change hotel tier or cruise ship; adjust the pace. Send us your dates and the shape you want and we will price it.
Because you are booking directly with a licensed Egyptian operator run by a working Egyptologist in Luxor, not through an overseas reseller. At Easter that means honest hotel ratings rather than the flattering local ones, a flat holiday rate with no surcharge added later, guides we know personally, and someone in the same time zone as your trip when a domestic flight moves. We have won the TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice award three years running 2024, 2025 and 2026.
