This 10 day Egypt Christmas tour is a small-group trip of up to 16 travellers that covers the three parts of Egypt most visitors want in one holiday: four nights in Cairo, a three-night Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor, and two all-inclusive nights on the Red Sea in Hurghada. It runs only over Christmas and New Year, from $2,155 per person, with domestic flights, entrance fees and Egyptologist guides included.
The order of the trip is deliberate. The busy sightseeing comes first: the Pyramids of Giza, the Grand Egyptian Museum and Coptic Cairo, then Philae, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings from the ship. The Red Sea comes straight after the cruise, so the temple days are followed by a free day by the water.
December is also the best month to do it. Days are mild and sunny along the whole route, the Nile is at its most comfortable for sitting on deck, and all the sites stay open as normal on 25 December and 1 January. The tour is planned and run by Egypt Best Vacations, a licensed Egyptian tour operator based in Luxor and led by Egyptologist Essam Ali, and it is one of our Egypt Christmas tours.
| Detail | What you get |
|---|---|
| Duration | 10 days / 9 nights |
| Route | Cairo → Aswan → Kom Ombo → Edfu → Luxor → Hurghada → Cairo |
| Nights | 4 in Cairo, 3 on the Nile cruise, 2 in Hurghada |
| Tour type | Small group, maximum 16 travellers; private on request |
| When it runs | Every day during the Christmas and New Year holidays |
| Starts and ends | Cairo International Airport |
| Meals | 22 meals: 9 breakfasts, 8 lunches, 5 dinners |
| Flights included | Cairo to Aswan and Hurghada to Cairo |
| Price from | Gold $2,155 / Platinum $2,575 per person |
The tour runs every day during the Christmas and New Year holidays, so you can arrive in Cairo on whichever date suits your flights. The Nile cruise leaves Aswan every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and we build your itinerary around that sailing.
The day-by-day programme on this page shows the order for a Friday, Sunday or Tuesday arrival, when you board the ship on day 4. If you arrive on another day, you visit exactly the same sites and spend the same number of nights in Cairo, on the Nile and in Hurghada; only the order of the days changes to fit the sailing. We send you your own day-by-day plan with your quote.
For more time on the river and no beach, the 9 day Egypt Christmas tour has a four-night cruise from Luxor to Aswan. The 8 day Egypt Christmas tour is the shorter Cairo and Nile cruise version, and the 7 day Cairo and Hurghada Christmas tour pairs the Pyramids with the Red Sea without the cruise. The 11 day Cairo, Nile cruise and Hurghada Christmas vacation follows the same three-part route with one more day. Travelling outside the holidays? The same route runs all year as our 10 day Egypt tour with Nile cruise.
Our representative meets you inside the arrivals hall at Cairo International Airport with a signboard, helps you through the visa and passport formalities, and takes you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free to settle in before your 10 day Egypt Christmas tour begins.
Meals Plan: No Meals Included
The first full day goes straight to the Great Pyramids of Giza. You stand at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, built around 2560 BC and originally 146 metres high, then see the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure and the Sphinx beside Khafre’s valley temple.
After lunch at a local restaurant you visit the Grand Egyptian Museum, two kilometres from the pyramids. The colossal statue of Ramses II stands in the entrance hall, the Grand Staircase climbs past statues of kings and gods to a window facing the pyramids, and the Tutankhamun galleries show the complete contents of his tomb, more than 5,000 objects, together for the first time since 1922.
Meals Plan: Breakfast & Lunch
The morning is spent in Coptic Cairo, the oldest Christian quarter of the city and a fitting visit for a Christmas trip. You see the Hanging Church, built over a gate of the Roman fortress of Babylon, and the Church of St. Sergius, which stands over the crypt where tradition says the Holy Family sheltered during the flight into Egypt. Your guide tells the story of Christianity in Egypt as you walk.
After lunch you visit the Citadel of Saladin, begun in 1176, and inside its walls the Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali, whose terrace looks across the whole city. The day ends on foot in the lanes of the Khan el-Khalili bazaar.
Meals Plan: Breakfast & Lunch
An early flight takes you to Aswan, where your guide is waiting. You visit the High Dam, completed in 1970, then take a motorboat to Philae Temple on Agilkia Island, where the temple of Isis was rebuilt in the 1970s after its original island was flooded. The last stop is the granite quarry of the Unfinished Obelisk.
You then board your Nile cruise ship for lunch and have the rest of the day to settle into your cabin. Dinner and the night are on board in Aswan.
Optional tour: Tour to Nubian Village in Aswan
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
After lunch, the ship sails north to Kom Ombo. The temple here is unique in Egypt: a double temple, with one half for the crocodile god Sobek and the other for Horus the Elder. Next to it, the Crocodile Museum displays mummified crocodiles found nearby. You sail on in the afternoon and spend the night moored at Edfu.
Optional early this morning, before the ship sails: the temples of Abu Simbel by road from Aswan.
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
A horse-drawn carriage takes you through Edfu to the Temple of Horus. Built between 237 and 57 BC under the Ptolemies, it is the best-preserved temple in Egypt, with its roof, pylon and sanctuary still in place.
The ship then passes through the Esna Lock and reaches Luxor. You visit Karnak, the largest religious complex ever built, covering about 100 hectares, and walk through the Hypostyle Hall with its 134 columns. The day ends at Luxor Temple, which is at its best as the light fades.
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
After breakfast you leave the ship and cross to the west bank. In the Valley of the Kings you go down into three royal tombs. You then visit the terraced temple at Deir el-Bahari. Hatshepsut began as regent for Thutmose III and went on to rule as a crowned king in full pharaonic regalia, with his regnal years still running alongside hers. The last stop is the Colossi of Memnon.
In the afternoon you drive across the Eastern Desert to Hurghada, about four hours, and check in to your all-inclusive hotel on the Red Sea.
Optional tour: Sunrise Hot Air Balloon over Luxor
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Today has no programme. Your hotel is all-inclusive, so meals and drinks are covered, and the beach and pool are yours for the day. If you would rather be out on the water, snorkelling, diving, glass-boat and submarine trips can be booked locally, and we can also arrange excursions from Hurghada.
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
After a last morning by the sea you are taken to Hurghada Airport for the flight to Cairo, then to your hotel. The evening is free for last shopping or a final dinner in the city.
Meals Plan: Breakfast & Lunch
After breakfast we take you to Cairo International Airport for your flight home, at the end of your 10 day Egypt Christmas tour.
Meals Plan: Breakfast Only
