You have seen the Pyramids in photographs your whole life. Standing in front of them is a different thing entirely.
Egypt Best Vacations is a licensed Egyptian tour operator based in Luxor, owned and run by a working Egyptologist. We have won the TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Award three years running, in 2024, 2025 and 2026, and we take American travelers to the real thing: the Pyramids of Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Valley of the Kings, and the stretch of Nile between Luxor and Aswan that most visitors end up calling the best part of the trip.
Land prices start at $330 for two days in Cairo and run to $3,990 for twenty days across Cairo, the Nile, the White Desert and the Red Sea. Below is everything you need to plan this from the American side: which airports fly nonstop, what the whole thing costs, how long to go for, and when.
A word on how we run trips, because it matters and other operators are vague about it. Trips of five days or less are private: your own guide, your own driver, your own vehicle. From six days upward our departures are small group, capped at sixteen travelers. That is a third of what a large coach operator puts on a bus, and it is the reason we can still get sixteen people through the Valley of the Kings without losing anyone. Any itinerary, at any length, can be quoted as a fully private departure if you would rather have it to yourselves.
We do not sell international flights. You book your own, which keeps your miles, your airline and your seat in your hands. What follows is simply the planning information we send American guests anyway, because knowing it changes how you build the trip.
EgyptAir is the only airline flying nonstop between the United States and Cairo. As of 2026 it serves five American gateways.
| Departure airport | Frequency | Approx. flight time |
|---|---|---|
| New York JFK | Daily | About 10 hours 30 minutes |
| Newark EWR | Several times a week | About 10 hours 45 minutes |
| Washington Dulles IAD | Several times a week | About 11 hours |
| Los Angeles LAX | 3x weekly — Mon / Thu / Sat | About 16 hours |
| Chicago O’Hare ORD | 3x weekly — Sun / Wed / Fri | About 12 to 13 hours |
The Los Angeles and Chicago routes are new for 2026 and both fly on the Airbus A350-900. Before they launched, anyone on the West Coast or in the Midwest had to connect through Europe or the Gulf.
From every other US city you will connect once: Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, Frankfurt or Munich on Lufthansa, Paris on Air France, Dubai on Emirates, Doha on Qatar Airways. Budget fifteen to twenty hours door to door, and expect a noticeably cheaper fare than the nonstop.
Egypt runs seven hours ahead of New York, eight ahead of Chicago and ten ahead of Los Angeles, all year round. Most eastbound flights leave the United States in the afternoon and land in Cairo early the next morning, which works in your favor. You clear the airport, get to the hotel, sleep off the flight, and start properly the following day. We build that arrival day into every itinerary rather than pretending jet lag does not exist.
When you land, your driver is waiting just outside the arrivals terminal holding a board with your name on it. Not inside the hall, so there is no scanning a crowd of thirty people after eleven hours in the air. We send written arrival instructions before you fly.
Two numbers make up your total: our land price, and your international airfare. We quote the first and you book the second, which is normal for Egyptian operators and means you keep control of your miles, your routing and your seat.
| Trip | Length | From (per person) |
|---|---|---|
| Cairo highlights | 2 days | $330 |
| Cairo and Luxor | 4 days | $790 |
| Cairo, Luxor and Aswan | 5 days | $1,015 |
| Cairo and Nile cruise | 6 days | $1,075 |
| Egypt with Nile cruise | 7 days | $1,175 |
| Cairo and Nile cruise by air | 8 days | $1,275 |
| With Hurghada and the Red Sea | 10 days | $1,525 |
| Alexandria, Hurghada and cruise | 14 days | $2,050 |
| Full cultural journey | 20 days | $3,990 |
Prices are per person sharing a twin room in low season. Single travelers pay a supplement. Peak dates from 16 December to 10 January and over Easter carry a seasonal rate.
Roundtrip airfare from the United States typically lands between $900 and $1,500 in economy, higher over Christmas, spring break and Thanksgiving. Book four to six months out for the best fares, particularly on the nonstops.
What our price already covers: accommodation, all transfers in air-conditioned vehicles, a licensed Egyptologist guide throughout, entrance fees to the sites on your itinerary, internal Egyptian flights where the route needs them, and all local taxes and service charges. If you travel over Christmas or New Year, the compulsory gala dinner is already inside the price we quote you. Other operators add it at the end. The price you see is the price you pay.
What it does not cover: international flights, your Egyptian entry visa, tips, travel insurance, and a handful of optional site tickets that Egypt charges separately. Those are the tomb of Tutankhamun and the tombs of Seti I and Ramses V in the Valley of the Kings, and going down inside the Great Pyramid. Tell us in advance and we will add them.
Tipping is customary and entirely your call. As a guide, allow $15 to $20 per person per day for your guide and $3 to $5 for your driver. Bring small dollar bills; they are the easiest thing to tip with in Egypt.
Seven to ten days is the sweet spot, and it is what we recommend to most first-time American visitors. That gives you two or three days in Cairo for the Pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum, then a three or four night Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan taking in Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae.
| You have | You’ll see | Good example |
|---|---|---|
| 2 to 4 days | Cairo and Giza only, or Cairo plus one flight to Luxor | 4 Day Cairo and Luxor, from $790 |
| 5 to 6 days | Cairo plus a short Nile cruise | 6 Day Cairo and Nile Cruise, from $1,075 |
| 7 to 10 days | The classic: Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, full cruise | 8 Day Cairo and Nile Cruise by Air, from $1,275 |
| 11 to 14 days | Add Alexandria, Abu Simbel or a Red Sea stay | 14 Day with Alexandria and Hurghada, from $2,050 |
| 15 days or more | White Desert, Siwa, or slow Dahabiya sailing | 20 Day Cultural Journey, from $3,990 |
One piece of blunt advice: if you are flying eleven to sixteen hours in each direction, do not come for four days. Two of them will go to travel and recovery. Seven days is the point where the flight stops feeling like most of the trip.
October through April. Cairo sits in the seventies and eighties Fahrenheit, Luxor and Aswan are warm but comfortable, and the walk between Karnak’s columns in the middle of the day is a pleasure rather than an endurance test.
Inside that window, October, November, March and April are the best value. December and January are peak: the weather is perfect, the Nile cruises fill early, and American school holidays collide with European ones. Thanksgiving week and spring break book out months ahead, so if either is your only option, get in early.
Summer is a real option if you can handle heat. Luxor and Aswan clear 100°F, so we start at dawn and rest in the afternoon, but prices drop, the sites are quiet, and you will get photographs at Karnak that no one gets in January.
One date worth planning around: on 2 August 2027 a total solar eclipse passes directly over Luxor, with more than five minutes of totality over the Valley of the Kings. It is the longest totality over a major archaeological site this century. We are already taking bookings, and Luxor hotel space for that week is finite.
The classic Egypt trip: Cairo, then the Nile. If you are not sure where to start, start here.
7 Day Egypt Tour Package with Nile Cruise
8 Day Egypt Tour with Nile Cruise by Air
9 Day Egypt Tour: Cairo, Luxor, Aswan & Nile Cruise
10 Day Egypt Tour with Nile Cruise and Hurghada: Cairo, Aswan, Luxor & Red Sea
For business travelers extending a trip, or a stopover on the way somewhere else.
2-Day Egypt Tour Exploring Cairo & Alexandria Wonders
Cairo & Luxor 3 Day Tour Package
4 Day Egypt Tour: Cairo, Aswan And Abu Simbel
5 Day Egypt Itinerary To Cairo, Luxor And Aswan
6 Day Cairo, Alexandria & Luxor Tour Package
Four or five days of the trip on the water between Luxor and Aswan.
3 Nights / 4 Days Nile Cruise From Aswan To Luxor
Best 5 Day Nile Cruise from Luxor to Aswan (4 Nights)
7 Night Nile Cruise Package: Luxor to Aswan & Back
Five-star hotels, expert guiding, and the option of a Dahabiya: a traditional two-masted sailing boat carrying a dozen guests instead of a hundred and fifty. See our luxury Egypt tours from USA for the full range.
4 Days Dahabiya Nile Cruise From Aswan To Luxor
5 Days 4 Nights Dahabiya Nile Cruise From Luxor To Aswan
Pair the ancient sites with a few days of diving or doing nothing in Hurghada.
11 Day Egypt Tour: Cairo, Hurghada, Luxor, Aswan and Nile Cruise
12 Day Egypt Tour with Nile Cruise & Red Sea Stay
13 Day Egypt Tour With Nile Cruise, Alexandria & Hurghada
Alexandria, the White Desert, Siwa, Abu Simbel, the Red Sea. Everything.
14 Day Egypt Tour with Nile Cruise and Red Sea Stay
15 Day Egypt Tour with Nile Cruise and Beach Holiday
17 Day Egypt Travel Package: Pyramids, Nile, Desert & Beyond
Travelling on your own, or as a group of women? We also run dedicated solo departures and Egypt tours for women from USA.
Your US passport must be valid for at least six months beyond your arrival date. Check the expiry now, not in July.
American citizens need a visa. You can buy one on arrival at Cairo Airport for $30, paid in cash dollars at the bank window before immigration, or apply in advance online for an Egyptian e-Visa. Both work. The e-Visa saves you a queue after a long flight, which after sixteen hours from Los Angeles is worth something.
For health requirements and the current travel advisory, check the CDC and the US State Department before you book. Those change, and we would rather you read them at the source than take our word for it.
We do not sell travel insurance and we recommend you buy it separately before you travel.
On money: bring some cash dollars for tips and small purchases and change a modest amount into Egyptian pounds for markets, cafés and taxis. Hotels, cruise ships and larger restaurants take cards. There is no need to arrive with a large amount of Egyptian currency.
Dress light and modest. Cotton, long sleeves for the sun rather than for anyone else’s benefit, a hat, and shoes you can walk several miles in over uneven stone. Women should carry a scarf for mosques. Drink bottled water throughout.
We are a licensed Egyptian operator based in Luxor, not a reseller in another country passing your booking down a chain. When something needs sorting at seven in the morning in Aswan, the person sorting it works for us.
Our founder is a practicing Egyptologist, and every tour runs with a licensed Egyptologist guide. That is the difference between being shown the Valley of the Kings and having it explained.
Our groups are capped at sixteen. Large operators run forty to fifty on a coach. Sixteen means you can hear the guide at Karnak without a headset, and it means the trip stops when you have a question. Trips of five days or less run privately, and any itinerary can be booked as a private departure on request.
We have won the TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Award in 2024, 2025 and 2026, three consecutive years, which puts us in the top ten percent of listings worldwide.
And we answer enquiries within an hour. Send us your dates and we will come back with a real itinerary and a real price, not a brochure.
At Egypt Best Vacations, we’re making this magic even more irresistible with unforgettable Egypt deals on our most popular Egypt tour packages, Nile cruises, and day tours!
The 8 Day Cairo and Nile Cruise by Air, from $1,275, is our most-booked trip with American travellers. It combines four nights in Cairo covering the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx and the Grand Egyptian Museum with a three-night Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan taking in the Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple and Philae Temple. Internal flights between Cairo and the south are included, which saves you two long road days.
Our land prices run from $330 for a two-day Cairo trip to $3,990 for a twenty-day journey across Cairo, the Nile, the White Desert and the Red Sea. The most popular range is $1,075 to $1,525 for a seven to ten day trip with a Nile cruise. On top of that, budget $900 to $1,500 for roundtrip airfare from the United States, plus $30 for your Egyptian visa. Prices are per person and exclude international flights.
Seven to ten days. That allows two or three days in Cairo for the Pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum, plus a three or four night Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan. Given that the flight is eleven to sixteen hours each way, anything shorter than a week means travel and recovery eat most of the trip. Our 8 Day Cairo and Nile Cruise by Air from $1,275 is the standard first-timer’s choice.
Yes, though we do not sell international flights — you book your own. EgyptAir is the only airline flying nonstop between the United States and Cairo, and as of 2026 it serves five US gateways: New York JFK daily, Newark, Washington Dulles, Los Angeles three times a week, and Chicago O’Hare three times a week. The Los Angeles and Chicago routes launched in 2026 on the Airbus A350-900. From every other US city you connect once, usually through Istanbul, Frankfurt, Paris, Dubai or Doha.
No, our packages do not include flights from the United States. They do include internal Egyptian flights where the itinerary needs them, such as Cairo to Luxor or Cairo to Aswan, along with airport transfers, accommodation, a licensed Egyptologist guide, and entrance fees to the sites on your itinerary. Booking your own international flight means you keep your miles, your preferred airline and your seat choice.
Yes. Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and the Red Sea resorts have substantial tourist security and receive millions of international visitors a year. On our tours you are with a licensed guide and a dedicated driver from arrival to departure, so you are never navigating a strange city alone. For the current official position, check the US State Department advisory before you book.
October to April, when Cairo sits in the seventies and eighties Fahrenheit and Luxor is comfortable for full days of sightseeing. October, November, March and April offer the best combination of weather and price. December and January are peak season and Nile cruise cabins sell out early, so book several months ahead if you are travelling over Christmas or spring break. Summer is hot but cheap and quiet, and we start at dawn to work around it.
Yes. Americans can buy a visa on arrival at Cairo Airport for $30, paid in cash dollars before immigration, or apply in advance for an Egyptian e-Visa online. Your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond your arrival date. The e-Visa saves you queueing after a long flight.
Both, depending on length. Trips of five days or less run privately, with your own Egyptologist guide, your own driver and a vehicle for your party alone. Trips of six days or more are small group, capped at sixteen travellers, which is well under the forty to fifty a large coach operator carries. Every departure has a licensed Egyptologist guide with you throughout. If you want a longer trip entirely to yourselves, ask us to quote it as a private departure — we can do that on any itinerary.
Most do. Options run from the 6 Day Cairo and Nile Cruise at $1,075 to the 15 Day package with Alexandria and Hurghada at $2,150. Cruises sail between Luxor and Aswan and visit Karnak Temple, the Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae, all with a licensed Egyptologist guide. If you would rather sail on something smaller, ask about a Dahabiya.
A Dahabiya is a traditional two-masted sailing boat carrying roughly a dozen guests rather than the hundred and fifty on a standard cruise ship. It sails rather than motors, stops at small villages the big ships pass, and is the quieter, slower way to do the Nile. Options include the 6 Day Cairo and Dahabiya Experience from $1,555, Classic Egypt and Dahabiya in 8 Days from $1,770, and the 11 Day Cairo and Dahabiya from $3,365.
Yes. Add Abu Simbel, Alexandria, a Red Sea stay in Hurghada or a White Desert safari, upgrade the hotel category, or change the number of days. On a small-group departure the daily running order is fixed once the group is set, so if you want to move start times around or set your own pace, ask us to quote the trip as a private departure. Send us your rough dates and what you want to see and we will come back within an hour with a costed itinerary.