Two kingdoms, one seamless private journey. This 11 day Egypt and Jordan tour takes you from the rose-red city of Petra and the salt-heavy waters of the Dead Sea to the Pyramids of Giza, the new Grand Egyptian Museum, and three nights sailing the Nile between Aswan and Luxor. There is no group, no fixed bus and no strangers: just you, your own licensed guides and a driver who works to your pace. The Amman–Cairo flight and Egypt domestic flights are already arranged, so you only need to land.
Petra and the Pyramids sit only a 90-minute flight apart, yet most travellers visit them on separate trips. Combining them in one Egypt and Jordan tour package saves you a second long-haul flight and lets you see how the Nabataeans, Romans and Pharaohs shaped the same corner of the ancient world.
You set the start time. Reach the Petra Treasury in the cool morning or the Valley of the Kings before the tour buses arrive.
Your guide talks to you, not to a crowd. Ask questions, stop for photos, and skip what does not interest you.
Flexible pace. Walk the full Siq to the Monastery in Petra, or ride a horse part of the way. Spend longer in the Grand Egyptian Museum if you love history.
Easy for families and older travellers. Your private air-conditioned vehicle waits for you at every site.
Start in either country. You can reverse the tour to start in Cairo and end in Amman.
Your private representative meets you at Queen Alia International Airport, holding a sign with your name. They help you through the visa and passport formalities (or the Jordan Pass check if you bought one online) and walk you to your private vehicle for the 35-minute drive to your hotel in Amman.
Amman is built across hills, with white limestone buildings stretching in every direction. If you arrive early and still have energy, walk to Rainbow Street or downtown for knafeh, warm cheese pastry soaked in syrup, at a local sweet shop, and watch the city lights come on over the hills. Your representative will give you a briefing for the days ahead and the contact number you can call at any time during your trip.
Overnight: Amman | Meals: None
Leave Amman after an early breakfast on the Desert Highway for the 3-hour drive south to Petra. Your private Jordanian guide joins you at the visitor centre and explains how the Nabataeans, an Arab trading people, carved a capital city into the mountains more than 2,000 years ago and grew rich from the incense and spice caravans.
Walk down the Bab al-Siq past the Djinn Blocks and the Obelisk Tomb, then enter the Siq itself: a 1.2 km gorge with walls up to 80 m high, where you can still see the old water channels cut into the rock. At the end of the Siq, the Treasury (Al-Khazneh), about 40 m tall, appears through the gap in the rock. Continue along the Street of Facades to the Theatre, carved out of the mountain for around 4,000 spectators. Then see the Royal Tombs, including the Urn Tomb, the Silk Tomb and the Palace Tomb, before walking the Colonnaded Street to the Great Temple and Qasr al-Bint.
After lunch at a local restaurant inside Petra (not included), you have free time. Energetic travellers can climb about 800 rock-cut steps to the Monastery (Ad-Deir), which is even larger than the Treasury and far quieter. Others can climb to the viewpoint over the Treasury, or simply rest in the shade. In the late afternoon, drive back to Amman.
Overnight: Amman |Meals: Breakfast
Tip: wear real walking shoes. You will walk 8–12 km at Petra. Horses are available for part of the route, and donkeys for the Monastery steps.
Drive about 50 minutes north to Jerash, the ancient Gerasa and one of the Decapolis cities of the Roman East. Enter through Hadrian’s Arch, built for the emperor’s visit in 129 AD, and pass the Hippodrome where chariots once raced. The Oval Plaza, surrounded by 56 Ionic columns, opens onto the Cardo, a colonnaded street where you can still see the ruts left by Roman cart wheels. Your guide will show you the Temple of Artemis, whose tall columns move slightly in the wind, and the South Theatre, where the acoustics still carry a voice from the stage to the top row.
Drive south to Madaba, known as the “City of Mosaics”. In the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George, see the 6th-century mosaic map of the Holy Land, the oldest surviving map of the region, with Jerusalem shown in clear detail. Continue to Mount Nebo, where tradition says Moses saw the Promised Land before he died. From the terrace beside the Brazen Serpent monument, on a clear day you can see the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea and the hills around Jericho and Jerusalem. Inside the memorial church are more fine Byzantine mosaics.
In the afternoon, descend to the Dead Sea. The road drops quickly, and your ears may pop as you go below sea level. Check in to your resort on the shore, more than 400 m below sea level and the lowest point on land on Earth, in time to watch the sun set over the water.
Overnight: Dead Sea | Meals: Breakfast
Spend the morning at your resort’s private beach. The water is about ten times saltier than the ocean, so you float on your back without any effort, and you can even read a book while you lie on the water. Cover yourself in the black mineral mud, let it dry in the sun, and wash it off for soft skin. Then relax at the resort pool. Tip: do not shave the day before, keep the water away from your eyes, and do not swim on your front.
Around midday your driver collects you for the 1-hour drive to Amman Airport and helps you check in for your short flight to Cairo (included, about 1.5 hours). In Cairo, your Egyptian representative meets you before passport control, helps with your Egypt visa and drives you to your hotel. The evening is free.
Overnight: Cairo | Meals: Breakfast
Meet your private Egyptologist in the hotel lobby and drive to the Giza Plateau before the day gets hot. Stand at the base of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, built around 4,500 years ago from more than two million stone blocks and the tallest building in the world for almost 4,000 years. Your guide will explain the latest theories about how the pyramids were built, and how the workers who built them lived. See the Pyramid of Khafre, which still has some of its original smooth casing at the top, and the smaller Pyramid of Menkaure.
Drive to the Panoramic Viewpoint in the desert for the classic photo of all nine pyramids together. A camel or horse ride here is an optional extra. Then walk down to the Valley Temple of Khafre, built from huge granite blocks, and come face to face with the Great Sphinx, carved from a single ridge of limestone.
After lunch at a local restaurant, spend the afternoon at the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest museum in the world devoted to a single civilisation. The 11 m statue of Ramses II greets you in the Grand Hall. Climb the Grand Staircase, lined with statues of kings and gods, to the windows that look out on the pyramids. Then enter the Tutankhamun galleries, where all of his more than 5,000 treasures are shown together for the first time, including the golden mask, his chariots, his jewellery and his throne.
Overnight: Cairo | Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Your driver takes you to Cairo Airport for an early flight to Aswan (about 1 hour 15 minutes). Your Aswan guide meets you outside the arrival. Start at the Aswan High Dam, finished in 1970. It ended the yearly Nile flood and created Lake Nasser, one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. Next, take a short motorboat ride to Philae Temple on Agilkia Island. It was dedicated to the goddess Isis. When the High Dam threatened to flood it, UNESCO moved the whole temple, block by block, to its current island. Your guide will show you the Kiosk of Trajan and some of the last hieroglyphs ever carved in Egypt.
Then, visit the Unfinished Obelisk in the ancient granite quarry. If it had been finished, it would have been about 42 m tall and would have weighed about 1,100 tonnes, but a crack appeared, and the stoneworkers left it in the rock. You can still see the marks of their tools.
Board your 5-star Nile cruise in time for lunch, then relax on the sun deck. In the late afternoon you can take an optional visit to a colourful Nubian village.
Overnight: Nile cruise, Aswan | Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Option 1 (relaxed): Take a slow breakfast and spend the morning by the pool on the sun deck. Option 2: An early trip by road to Abu Simbel near the Sudanese border, to see the two temples Ramses II carved into the mountain for himself and his queen, Nefertari. The four 20 m statues of the king at the entrance are one of the great sights of Egypt. You are back on the ship before it sails.
After lunch, the ship sails north. In the late afternoon, it reaches Kom Ombo, which has a temple unusual in Egypt: it is a double temple with two identical halves, one for Sobek, the crocodile god, and one for Haroeris, the falcon-headed Horus the Elder. Look for the carvings that are believed to show ancient surgical instruments and the old Egyptian calendar. In the Crocodile Museum next door, see mummified crocodiles found in the area. The ship sails through the evening to Edfu, and dinner is on board.
Overnight: Nile cruise | Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
In the early morning, take a horse carriage through the streets of Edfu to the Temple of Horus. Built between 237 and 57 BC, it is the most complete temple in Egypt, with its roof and its 36 m entrance gate still standing. On the walls, you can follow the story of the battle between Horus and Seth, his uncle. Your guide will also show you the Nilometer, which the priests used to measure the river level and set the year’s taxes.
Back on board, enjoy lunch as the ship sails north and passes through the Esna Lock, where boats are lifted or lowered to a new river level. Watch from the deck as local traders sell scarves and tablecloths to passengers from small boats beside the ship.
In the afternoon, visit the Temples of Karnak, the largest religious complex ever built, which grew over about 2,000 years. Walk through the Great Hypostyle Hall, where 134 enormous columns, some about 21 m tall, still carry their original painted carvings. See the obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut and the sacred lake. Then, to Luxor Temple. Arrive as the sun sets, when the floodlights make the statues of Ramses II glow gold.
Overnight: Nile cruise, Luxor | Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
After breakfast, leave the ship and cross the Nile to the West Bank, known to the ancient Egyptians as the land of the dead. In the Valley of the Kings, where more than 60 tombs were cut into the hills for the pharaohs of the New Kingdom, you enter three royal tombs on the standard ticket. Inside them, the colours of the gods, stars and texts from the Book of the Dead are still surprisingly bright. You can buy separate tickets for the tombs of Tutankhamun, Seti I or Ramses V & VI if time permits.
Continue to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, which rises in three terraces from the foot of the cliffs. Hatshepsut was one of the few women to rule Egypt as pharaoh. On the temple walls, see the scenes of her trading expedition to the land of Punt. Stop for photos at the Colossi of Memnon, two seated statues of Amenhotep III about 18 m high, which are all that remain of his huge funerary temple.
In the late afternoon, transfer to Luxor Airport for your flight back to Cairo (about 1 hour), where your driver takes you to your hotel.
Optional tour: Sunrise hot air balloon ride over Luxor West Bank
Overnight: Cairo | Meals: Breakfast
Start at the Citadel of Saladin, built in the 12th century to defend the city against the Crusaders. Inside the citadel, visit the Mohamed Ali Mosque, often called the Alabaster Mosque, with its Ottoman domes and slim minarets. From the terrace, there is a view over the minarets of old Cairo, and on a clear day you can see the pyramids on the horizon.
Continue to Coptic Cairo, one of the oldest parts of the city, built around the Roman fortress of Babylon. Visit the Hanging Church, built above the old Roman gatehouse, and the Church of Saint Sergius and Bacchus (Abu Serga), built over the cave where the Holy Family is believed to have stayed during their flight into Egypt. Next door is the Ben Ezra Synagogue, where the famous Cairo Geniza documents were found, a collection of more than 300,000 manuscript fragments.
End the day in Khan El-Khalili, the bazaar that has been trading since the 14th century. Shop for spices, perfume oils, brass lamps and silver jewellery, and learn how to bargain. Finish with mint tea at El Fishawy café, which has been open for more than 200 years.
Overnight: Cairo | Meals: Breakfast
Enjoy a final breakfast at your hotel. Depending on your flight time, you may have a free morning for last-minute shopping, or a visit to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square can be added. Your representative then collects you and drives you to Cairo International Airport. They help you with check-in and stay with you until you reach passport control. Masalama, until we meet again.
Meals: Breakfast
| Travel season | Triple | Twin | Single |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 May – 30 Sep | $2,100 | $2,200 | $3,740 |
| 1 Oct – 14 Dec | $2,200 | $2,350 | $3,995 |
| 15 Dec – 4 Jan | $2,935 | $3,135 | $5,330 |
| 5 Jan – 25 Mar | $2,200 | $2,350 | $3,995 |
| 26 Mar – 10 Apr | $2,700 | $2,870 | $4,880 |
| 11 Apr – 30 Apr | $2,200 | $2,350 | $3,995 |
Jordan 4-star Hotels: Kaya Hotel. Seas Hotel. Corp Amman Hotel. Rival Amman Hotel and more of the same category.
Cairo 5-star Standard Hotels: Safir Cairo Hotel. Sonesta Hotel. Ramses Hilton Hotel. Cairo Pyramids Hotel. Holiday Inn Citystars and more of the same category.
5 Star Standard Nile Cruise Ships: MS Carnival. MS Ruby. H.S. Radamis I. MS Princess Sarah. MS Nile Dolphin. MS Semiramis II. MS Nile Shams. MS Le Sarah and more of the same category.
This tour suits first-time visitors who want the major sites of both countries in one trip, couples on a honeymoon or anniversary, families who want their own vehicle and pace, and friends travelling as a group of three, who get the best value with the triple-room rate. You should be able to walk for 3–5 hours a day on uneven ground, especially at Petra and in the Valley of the Kings.
Best time to go: October to April has warm days and cool evenings. Summer (May to September) is hot in Petra, Aswan, and Luxor, but sites are quieter, and prices are lower. Your guide will plan early starts to avoid the midday heat.
Ready to see Petra and the Pyramids in one trip? Send us your travel dates and the number of travellers, and we will reply with your private 11 day Egypt and Jordan itinerary and a final price within 24 hours maximum.
