This 4 day Egypt budget tour covers the two places every first visit needs, Cairo and Luxor, from $575 per person. It keeps the price down in the smartest way we know: instead of paying for domestic flights and two extra hotel nights, you travel between the cities on the overnight sleeper train, in a private cabin with dinner and breakfast served on board. You spend one night in a Cairo hotel, sleep through the 670 km journey twice, and wake up each morning where the sightseeing starts.
Day 2 is Giza: the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx and the Grand Egyptian Museum, where Tutankhamun’s complete collection is now displayed together. That evening you board the train south. Day 3 is a full day in Luxor, with the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon on the West Bank, then Karnak and Luxor Temple on the East Bank, before the night train back to Cairo. Your last morning covers the Citadel of Saladin, Coptic Cairo and Khan el-Khalili before your transfer to the airport.
Budget does not mean shared. This Cairo and Luxor budget tour is private: your own guide, your own air-conditioned vehicle, and a schedule that moves at your pace.
If you would rather fly between Cairo and Luxor and stay in 5-star hotels, see our 4 day Cairo and Luxor tour package, from $790. If Aswan and Abu Simbel appeal more than Luxor, see the 4 day Cairo Aswan Abu Simbel tour, from $865. With a day or two more, the 5 day Egypt budget tour of Cairo, Alexandria and Luxor starts at $705 and the 6 day Cairo Luxor Aswan budget tour at $895. You can compare every short trip on our Egypt itinerary 4 days page, or every low-cost package in our Egypt budget tours.
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. If you land early, rest: tomorrow is long, and it ends on a train.
Meals: none
After breakfast your guide collects you for the Giza Plateau: the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, and the Great Sphinx. Your guide explains how and why they were built, and where to stand for the view that fits all three pyramids into one photograph. After lunch at a local restaurant you continue to the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest museum in the world devoted to a single civilisation, where Tutankhamun’s complete collection is displayed together for the first time. In the evening you transfer to Giza station and board the sleeper train to Luxor. Dinner is served in your cabin.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner on the train
You wake up in Luxor, have breakfast on the train and meet your Luxor guide at the station. The day starts on the West Bank in the Valley of the Kings, where your ticket covers three royal tombs of the New Kingdom and your guide will pick the three best open that day. Next is the Temple of Hatshepsut, stepped into the cliffs 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. You then stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two seated statues of Amenhotep III that have guarded the West Bank for 3,400 years.
After lunch at a local restaurant you cross to the East Bank for Karnak, the largest religious complex ever built, covering about 100 hectares, with the 134 columns of its Great Hypostyle Hall. You finish at Luxor Temple as the light softens, then transfer to Luxor station for the sleeper train back to Cairo.
Meals: breakfast on the train, lunch at a local restaurant, dinner on the train
After breakfast on board, your guide meets you at the station in Cairo. You start at the Citadel of Saladin, begun in 1176 to defend the city against the Crusaders, and the Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali on its summit. In Coptic Cairo you visit the Hanging Church, built over a gatehouse of the Roman fortress of Babylon; Abu Serga, whose crypt is traditionally held to have sheltered the Holy Family; and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, where the Cairo Geniza documents were found. The tour ends in Khan el-Khalili for shopping, followed by your transfer to Cairo Airport. Please book your flight home for the evening.
Meals: breakfast on the train
