Our 15 day Egypt Christmas tour gives you two weeks in Egypt over the holidays: five days in Cairo, Giza and Alexandria with an Egyptologist, a three-night Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor, then four full, unscheduled days on the Red Sea in Hurghada before a last night back in Cairo. It runs only across the Christmas and New Year holidays, in a small group of no more than 16, and it is planned and run from our office in Luxor by Egypt Best Vacations, the company of Egyptologist Essam Ali.
The Cairo days have been rebuilt for 2026. Day two pairs the Pyramids of Giza with the Grand Egyptian Museum, two kilometres apart, so you see Khufu’s pyramid in the morning and Tutankhamun’s treasures in the afternoon. Day five follows the invention of the pyramid in the order it happened, from Memphis and Djoser’s Step Pyramid at Saqqara to Sneferu’s Bent and Red Pyramids at Dahshur, a site most Christmas itineraries skip.
The beach comes last on purpose. After nine days of early starts, temples and airports, four free days in Hurghada, where December afternoons sit around 23°C, turn the trip from a tour into a holiday. That is the difference between this itinerary and our 14-day version, which has three.
You can start on any day over Christmas and New Year. The fixed point is the Christmas Nile cruise, which sails from Aswan every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so we arrange your Cairo days around the sailing you join. Tell us your arrival date and we will send the exact day order with your quote.
If two weeks is too long, the same Cairo, Nile and Red Sea route comes in shorter versions: the 14 day Christmas tour with three Red Sea days, the 13 day Egypt Christmas vacation, the 12 day Christmas itinerary and the 10 day Christmas trip. All of them sit with our other Egypt Christmas tours.
An Egypt Best Vacations representative meets you inside the arrivals hall at Cairo International Airport with a signboard, helps you through the visa on arrival and passport formalities, and takes you to your hotel. The rest of the day is yours. Your guide will message you to confirm tomorrow’s pickup time.
Meals Plan: No Meals Included
Your Egyptologist guide meets you in the hotel lobby after breakfast for the Pyramids of Giza: the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing, the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, and the Great Sphinx beside Khafre’s valley temple. December mornings on the plateau are cool, the best time for the walk between them.
After lunch at a local restaurant, drive two kilometres to the Grand Egyptian Museum, open in full since November 2025. The colossal statue of Ramses II stands in the atrium, the Grand Staircase climbs past kings and gods to a window framing the pyramids, and the Tutankhamun galleries show the boy king’s tomb treasures together for the first time. Overnight in Cairo.
Meals Plan: Breakfast & Lunch
Start on the Muqattam hills at the Citadel of Saladin, begun in 1176 to defend Cairo against the Crusaders. Its skyline belongs to the Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali, and the terrace beside it looks across the whole city.
Then drive down to Coptic Cairo, inside the walls of the Roman fortress of Babylon: the Hanging Church, built over the fortress’s gatehouse; the Church of Abu Serga (Saints Sergius and Bacchus), whose crypt is held by tradition to be where the Holy Family sheltered in Egypt; and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, where the Cairo Geniza manuscripts were found. At Christmas the churches are dressed for the Coptic feast on 7 January; our guide to Christianity in Egypt explains why Egypt’s Christians keep a different date.
After lunch at a local restaurant, finish in the lanes of Khan el-Khalili, Cairo’s great market since the fourteenth century, with time for spices, lanterns and a mint tea. Overnight in Cairo.
Meals Plan: Breakfast & Lunch
Drive about three hours north to Alexandria, Alexander the Great’s city on the Mediterranean. Go three levels underground at the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, a 2nd-century AD tomb complex where Egyptian gods appear in Roman armour, then see Pompey’s Pillar, a red Aswan granite column about 27 metres high, raised in AD 297 for the emperor Diocletian on the site of the Serapeum.
After a seafood lunch near the Corniche, visit the Citadel of Qaitbay, built in the 1470s on the foundations of the Pharos lighthouse, and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the modern library that revives the ancient one. Drive back to Cairo for the night.
Meals Plan: Breakfast & Lunch
Today follows the invention of the pyramid in the order it happened. Begin at Memphis, Egypt’s first capital, founded around 3100 BC, where the open-air museum holds a colossal limestone statue of Ramses II and an alabaster sphinx. Continue to Saqqara, the city’s cemetery, and the Step Pyramid of Djoser, designed by Imhotep around 2650 BC, the oldest monumental stone building in the world.
After lunch at a local restaurant, drive south to Dahshur, where Khufu’s father Sneferu tried twice: the Bent Pyramid, whose angle changes halfway up, and the Red Pyramid, the first true smooth-sided pyramid. Dahshur sees a fraction of Giza’s crowds, so you often have it almost to yourself. Overnight in Cairo.
Meals Plan: Breakfast & Lunch
Transfer to Cairo Airport for the morning flight to Aswan. Your guide meets you at Aswan Airport for the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk lying in its granite quarry, and a motorboat to the Temple of Isis at Philae, moved stone by stone to Agilkia Island when the dam was built. Then board your 3-night Christmas Nile cruise. Overnight on board in Aswan.
Optional tour: Tour to Nubian Village in Aswan
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Spend a free morning on board, or join the optional early trip by road to the temples of Abu Simbel. Around lunchtime the ship sails north to Kom Ombo, where the double temple is shared by the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon god Horus, with two entrances, two halls and two sanctuaries side by side. The small Crocodile Museum beside it shows mummified crocodiles from the nearby cemetery. Sail on to Edfu for the night.
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Ride a horse carriage to the Temple of Horus at Edfu, the best-preserved temple in Egypt, built under the Ptolemies between 237 and 57 BC. Back on board, sail north through the lock at Esna to Luxor. In the late afternoon visit Karnak, the largest religious complex ever built, covering about 100 hectares, and Luxor Temple, both dedicated to Amun, Mut and Khonsu. Overnight on board in Luxor.
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Disembark after breakfast and cross to the West Bank. In the Valley of the Kings your guide picks the three best tombs open that day. At Deir el-Bahari stands the temple of Hatshepsut, who 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. End at the Colossi of Memnon, then drive about four hours east to Hurghada on the Red Sea. Overnight in Hurghada, all-inclusive.
Optional tour: Sunrise Hot Air Balloon over Luxor
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Your first full day with nothing planned. Most guests start slowly: breakfast late, the beach or the pool in the warm part of the day. If you would like one more guided day, our Hurghada day tours include trips to Luxor and Cairo and a desert quad-bike safari.
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner (all-inclusive)
A free day on the Red Sea. The water in late December is usually around 23 to 24°C, and the hotel’s dive centre can arrange snorkelling and diving directly. If your dates include Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, Hurghada’s resorts mark them with a festive dinner and entertainment.
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner (all-inclusive)
Another day with no schedule: the beach, the spa, or a walk along Hurghada’s marina in the evening.
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner (all-inclusive)
Your fourth and last free day in Hurghada, the day that sets this tour apart from our 14-day version. Use it to rest before the flight back to Cairo tomorrow.
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner (all-inclusive)
Enjoy a last morning by the sea and lunch at the hotel, then transfer to Hurghada Airport for the one-hour flight to Cairo. We meet you on arrival and take you to your hotel for the final night.
Meals Plan: Breakfast & Lunch
After breakfast we transfer you to Cairo Airport for your flight home. Thank you for spending the holidays with us.
Meals Plan: Breakfast Only
