This 8 day Egypt New Year tour is built so that the turn of the year lands somewhere worth remembering. The tour starts on any day over the holiday, and everything is arranged around the next Nile cruise sailing from Aswan. Depending on the day you land, midnight on 31 December finds you either at the gala dinner on board, moored at Edfu with the river black and silent outside, or in Cairo at your hotel’s gala with the city celebrating below your window. The table below shows which for every arrival date. The New Year’s Eve gala dinner is included in the price. It is not an extra, and there is no supplement to pay on arrival.
Four nights in Cairo bracket the cruise. You see the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, the Grand Egyptian Museum with the complete Tutankhamun collection, the Citadel of Saladin with the Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali, the churches of Coptic Cairo and the lanes of Khan El-Khalili. A morning flight takes you south to Aswan, where you visit the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk and the Temple of Isis on Agilkia Island before boarding for three nights on the Nile. The ship calls at Kom Ombo and Edfu, passes through the Esna lock and lands you in Luxor for Karnak, Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hatshepsut. A flight returns you to Cairo for your last two nights.
The tour runs as a small group of no more than 16 travellers with Egyptologist guides throughout, and is available privately on request. Hotels come in two categories, Gold and Platinum, with triple, twin and single rooms on land and matching cabins on board. It is the eight-day member of our Egypt New Year tours: one day longer than the 7 day Cairo and Nile cruise New Year tour, which has three Cairo nights instead of four, and a different animal from the 7 night New Year Nile cruise, which has no Cairo at all.
The New Year’s Eve gala is included. Most operators quote the compulsory gala dinner as a separate supplement, sometimes only after you have booked. Ours is in the price whether midnight finds you on the ship or in Cairo.
Four Cairo nights, not three. The extra night is what lets the Grand Egyptian Museum have its own unhurried afternoon and keeps the last day for Coptic Cairo and the bazaar rather than an airport dash.
Start any day; the cruise sets the shape. The 3-night Aswan to Luxor cruise sails on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Whatever day you arrive, you board the next sailing on day 2, 3 or 4, and your four Cairo nights fall on either side of it. The sightseeing is the same; only the order changes.
An Egyptologist, a licensed operator, three Travelers’ Choice awards. Egypt Best Vacations is a licensed local tour operator led by an Egyptologist and a TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Award winner for three consecutive years, 2024, 2025 and 2026.
The tour starts every day. You board the Nile cruise on the first Monday, Wednesday or Friday sailing that falls on day 2, 3 or 4 of your trip, and where you have arrival days that allow two sailings you can choose. This is where each arrival date puts you at midnight on 31 December 2026.
| Arrive in Cairo | Board the Nile cruise | Cruise ends in Luxor | Tour ends in Cairo | Where you spend New Year’s Eve |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 20 Dec 2026 | Mon 21 Dec (day 2) or Wed 23 Dec (day 4) | Thu 24 Dec / Sat 26 Dec | Sun 27 Dec 2026 | Christmas Eve in Cairo or on the cruise |
| Mon 21 Dec 2026 | Wed 23 Dec (day 3) | Sat 26 Dec | Mon 28 Dec 2026 | Christmas on the cruise |
| Tue 22 Dec 2026 | Wed 23 Dec (day 2) or Fri 25 Dec (day 4) | Sat 26 Dec / Mon 28 Dec | Tue 29 Dec 2026 | Christmas Eve in Cairo |
| Wed 23 Dec 2026 | Fri 25 Dec (day 3) | Mon 28 Dec | Wed 30 Dec 2026 | Christmas Eve in Cairo |
| Thu 24 Dec 2026 | Fri 25 Dec (day 2) | Mon 28 Dec | Thu 31 Dec 2026 | Departure day, no gala (add a night to stay for it) |
| Fri 25 Dec 2026 | Mon 28 Dec (day 4) | Thu 31 Dec | Fri 1 Jan 2027 | Cairo hotel |
| Sat 26 Dec 2026 | Mon 28 Dec (day 3) | Thu 31 Dec | Sat 2 Jan 2027 | Cairo hotel |
| Sun 27 Dec 2026 | Mon 28 Dec (day 2) or Wed 30 Dec (day 4) | Thu 31 Dec / Sat 2 Jan | Sun 3 Jan 2027 | Cairo hotel / On board, Edfu |
| Mon 28 Dec 2026 | Wed 30 Dec (day 3) | Sat 2 Jan | Mon 4 Jan 2027 | On board, Edfu |
| Tue 29 Dec 2026 | Wed 30 Dec (day 2) or Fri 1 Jan (day 4) | Sat 2 Jan / Mon 4 Jan | Tue 5 Jan 2027 | On board, Edfu / Cairo hotel |
| Wed 30 Dec 2026 | Fri 1 Jan (day 3) | Mon 4 Jan | Wed 6 Jan 2027 | Cairo hotel |
| Thu 31 Dec 2026 | Fri 1 Jan (day 2) | Mon 4 Jan | Thu 7 Jan 2027 | Cairo hotel |
| Fri 1 Jan 2027 | Mon 4 Jan (day 4) | Thu 7 Jan | Fri 8 Jan 2027 | No gala dinner |
| Sat 2 Jan 2027 | Mon 4 Jan (day 3) | Thu 7 Jan | Sat 9 Jan 2027 | No gala dinner |
| Sun 3 Jan 2027 | Mon 4 Jan (day 2) or Wed 6 Jan (day 4) | Thu 7 Jan / Sat 9 Jan | Sun 10 Jan 2027 | No gala dinner |
| Mon 4 Jan 2027 | Wed 6 Jan (day 3) | Sat 9 Jan | Mon 11 Jan 2027 | No gala dinner |
| Tue 5 Jan 2027 | Wed 6 Jan (day 2) or Fri 8 Jan (day 4) | Sat 9 Jan / Mon 11 Jan | Tue 12 Jan 2027 | No gala dinner |
| Wed 6 Jan 2027 | Fri 8 Jan (day 3) | Mon 11 Jan | Wed 13 Jan 2027 | No gala dinner |
Arrivals from 1 January onward run as the same tour without the gala. For New Year 2027/28 the same rule applies: the ship sails Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and 31 December 2027 falls on a Friday, so arrivals on Tuesday 28 and Wednesday 29 December 2027 spend midnight on board.
An Egypt Best Vacations representative meets you inside the arrivals terminal at Cairo International Airport with a signboard and assists you with visa and passport formalities. A private air-conditioned transfer takes you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free; if you land early, ask us about an optional evening on the Nile.
Overnight: Cairo hotel
Meals: No meals
After breakfast your Egyptologist guide takes you to the Giza plateau: the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure and the Sphinx that has guarded them for some 4,500 years. Going inside the Great Pyramid is available as an optional ticket. After lunch you continue to the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest archaeological museum in the world, where the complete Tutankhamun collection, including the golden mask, is displayed together for the first time.
Overnight: Cairo hotel
Meals: Breakfast and lunch
A morning flight takes you to Aswan, where your guide meets you on arrival. You visit the High Dam, the 1960s project that ended the Nile’s annual flood, the granite quarries and the Unfinished Obelisk, and take a motorboat to Agilkia Island and the Temple of Isis, moved there block by block from Philae when the waters rose. You then board your Nile cruise ship for lunch and check-in, with the afternoon free on deck or in Aswan.
Overnight: Nile cruise, Aswan
Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner on board
The ship sails north to Kom Ombo, where the double temple of the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon god Haroeris stands on a bend in the river, its walls carved with surgical instruments and a Nile calendar. Your guide shows you the crocodile mummies in the museum beside it. You sail on to Edfu, moored for the night.
When 31 December falls on a cruise night, the gala dinner and the midnight countdown are on board; on the Cairo nights they are at your hotel.
Overnight: Nile cruise, Edfu
Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner on board
A horse-drawn carriage takes you from the quay to the Temple of Horus at Edfu, the best-preserved temple in Egypt, built by the Ptolemies between 237 and 57 BC. The ship then sails through the Esna lock to Luxor. In the afternoon you visit Karnak, the largest religious complex ever built, covering around 100 hectares, and the Temple of Luxor, at its best as the light goes.
Overnight: Nile cruise, Luxor
Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner on board
After breakfast you disembark and cross to the west bank: the Valley of the Kings, where the pharaohs of the New Kingdom were buried in tombs whose painted walls still hold their colour, then the terraced 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. A photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon ends the morning before your transfer to Luxor Airport and the flight back to Cairo.
Overnight: Cairo hotel
Meals: Breakfast
Your guide takes you to the Citadel of Saladin, the fortress begun in 1176 and crowned by the Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali, then to Coptic Cairo: the Hanging Church, the Church of Abu Serga above the cave where tradition says the Holy Family sheltered, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue of the Cairo Geniza. The day ends in the lanes of Khan El-Khalili, with time for last gifts and a coffee at one of its old cafes.
Overnight: Cairo hotel
Meals: Breakfast and lunch
After breakfast you are transferred to Cairo International Airport for your flight home.
Meals: Breakfast
This is one of the finest Cairo-and-cruise combination on our Egypt New Year tours page. If a week is enough, the 7 day Cairo and Nile cruise New Year tour follows the same route with three Cairo nights instead of four. If you only want the river, the 7 night New Year Nile cruise sails Luxor to Aswan and back with no Cairo at all, and the 3 night New Year Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor is the cruise section of this tour sold on its own. For the same eight days at Christmas rather than New Year, see the 8 day Egypt Christmas tour.
