This 7 day Cairo Alexandria and Luxor budget tour covers Egypt’s three great chapters in a week: the pharaohs at Giza and Luxor, the Greeks and Romans in Alexandria, and the medieval city of Old Cairo. It keeps the cost down in two ways. You travel to Luxor and back on the overnight sleeper train, so two of your six nights are spent moving rather than paying for a hotel, and you stay in Bronze or Silver hotels, which are clean and central without the price of a five-star.
You spend your first touring day at the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx and the Grand Egyptian Museum, then board the train in the evening. You wake up in Luxor for Karnak and Luxor Temple, sleep in a Luxor hotel, and cross to the West Bank the next morning for the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hatshepsut before the train back north.
Back in Cairo you get two full days: one for the Citadel of Saladin, Coptic Cairo and Khan el-Khalili, and one on the coast in Alexandria for the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, Pompey’s Pillar, the Citadel of Qaitbay and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Your last day is kept free for your flight, so you are not sightseeing with your luggage in the car.
The tour is private: your own guide, driver and air-conditioned vehicle, on the dates you choose. A licensed English-speaking guide joins you at every site, and our representative waits for you inside the arrivals terminal at Cairo airport.
The 6 day Cairo Alexandria and Luxor budget tour follows the same route in one day less, fitting Old Cairo into your departure day. The 8 day Egypt budget tour of Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Aswan continues south to Aswan. If you would rather sail between Aswan and Luxor, the 7 day Egypt budget tour with Nile cruise swaps Alexandria for three nights on the river. Every option is on our Egypt budget tours page.
Our representative meets you inside the arrivals terminal at Cairo International Airport with a signboard and helps you with the visa and passport formalities. Your driver takes you to your hotel, and the rest of the day is free.
Meals: None
Your guide takes you to the Giza plateau to see the Great Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure and the Great Sphinx. Khufu’s pyramid stood as the tallest building on earth for nearly 4,000 years. After lunch at a local restaurant, continue to the Grand Egyptian Museum, where the complete Tutankhamun collection is displayed together for the first time.
In the evening you transfer to Giza station and board the overnight sleeper train to Luxor. Dinner is served in your cabin.
Overnight: sleeper train
Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Breakfast is served on the train before you reach Luxor in the morning. Your guide meets you at the station and takes you to the Temple of Karnak, the largest religious complex ever built, which grew over some 2,000 years as pharaoh after pharaoh added to it. Walk through the Great Hypostyle Hall with its 134 columns, then see the obelisks of Hatshepsut and Thutmose I and the sacred lake.
Next is Luxor Temple, built mainly by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II and joined to Karnak by the Avenue of Sphinxes. Check in to your Luxor hotel; the evening is free.
Overnight: Luxor
Meals: Breakfast
If you want to see Luxor from the air, you can start the day with the optional sunrise hot air balloon ride. After breakfast, cross to the West Bank and visit the Valley of the Kings, where your standard ticket covers three royal tombs. Then see the Temple of Hatshepsut 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. End at the Colossi of Memnon, the two giant statues of Amenhotep III.
In the evening you board the sleeper train back to Cairo, with dinner on board.
Overnight: sleeper train
Meals: Breakfast and dinner
Breakfast is served on the train, and you arrive at Giza station in the morning. Your guide starts at the Citadel of Saladin, begun in 1176 to defend Cairo against the Crusaders, and the Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali at its top. Then cross to Coptic Cairo for the Hanging Church, built over a gate of the Roman fortress of Babylon, and Abu Serga Church, where tradition places the Holy Family’s stay in Egypt. Next door is Ben Ezra Synagogue, where the Cairo Geniza manuscripts were found. Finish in the lanes of Khan el-Khalili bazaar, then check in to your hotel.
Overnight: Cairo
Meals: Breakfast
Drive north to Alexandria, about three hours on the desert road. Go down into the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, a 2nd-century AD tomb complex where Egyptian gods appear in Roman dress. See Pompey’s Pillar, a red granite column about 27 metres high raised for the emperor Diocletian. After lunch, visit the Citadel of Qaitbay, built in the 1470s on the site of the ancient Pharos lighthouse, and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Drive back to Cairo in the evening.
Overnight: Cairo
Meals: Breakfast and lunch
After breakfast, your driver takes you to Cairo airport for your flight home. The day has no touring, so you can take a late checkout or a last walk before you leave.
Meals: Breakfast
