Sixteen days is long enough to stop rushing. This 16 day Egypt tour with White Desert covers four quite different countries inside one: pharaonic Egypt at Giza and Thebes, Greco-Roman Egypt at Alexandria, the Red Sea at Hurghada, and the Western Desert at Bahariya. Most itineraries this length run the same Nile corridor twice. This one does not.
You get seven nights in Cairo, deliberately spread across the trip rather than stacked at the front — five at the start, one after the Red Sea, one after the desert. That buys you Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, Coptic Cairo and the Citadel, Saqqara with Memphis and Dahshur, and a full day in Alexandria, without cramming three of them into one punishing day.
Three nights sail from Aswan to Luxor. That is the downstream direction, the shorter and more relaxed way to do it, calling at Kom Ombo, Edfu and Esna. Then four nights on the Red Sea at Hurghada on an all-inclusive basis with nothing scheduled at all. Then a 4×4 into the Black Desert, Crystal Mountain and Aqabat, and one night camped in the White Desert under a sky with no light pollution in it.
Two things worth knowing before you book. Day 9 is a long one — the Luxor west bank in the morning, then roughly four hours by road to Hurghada. And the White Desert camp is a genuine camp: mattresses, a fire, no plumbing. Both are worth doing. Neither should be a surprise on the day.
Small group, maximum 16 people. Private departures available on request. Call or WhatsApp +20 155 1580 786, or email info@egyptbestvacations.com.
Your Egypt Best Vacations representative meets you inside the arrivals hall at Cairo International Airport and stays with you through visa and passport formalities. Private transfer to your hotel, and the rest of the day is yours.
Overnight: Cairo
Meals Plan: No Meals Included
Your guide collects you for the Giza Plateau: the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, and the Sphinx with the Valley Temple of Khafre beside it. Khufu’s is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing, and going inside is an optional extra ticket bought on the day.
Lunch at a local restaurant, then the Grand Egyptian Museum. GEM holds the complete Tutankhamun collection, shown together for the first time since the tomb was cleared, along with the Grand Staircase and the colossus of Ramses II in the atrium.
Overnight: Cairo
Meals Plan: Breakfast & Lunch
Begin at the Citadel of Saladin, the fortress Salah al-Din began in 1176 to defend Cairo against the Crusaders, and which stayed the seat of Egyptian government for almost 700 years. Inside stands the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, known as the Alabaster Mosque for the Egyptian alabaster facing its courtyard walls, completed in 1848 and modelled on the imperial mosques of Istanbul.
On to Coptic Cairo for the Hanging Church, built over the gatehouse of the old Roman fortress of Babylon, and Abu Serga, where tradition holds the Holy Family sheltered in the crypt below. End at Ben Ezra Synagogue, where the Cairo Geniza was found — roughly 300,000 manuscript fragments that rewrote what we know about medieval Jewish life around the Mediterranean.
Finish at Khan El-Khalili, founded in 1382 and one of the oldest and best known bazaars in the Middle East.
Overnight: Cairo
Meals Plan: Breakfast Only
Drive north for the Catacombs of Kom El-Shoqafa, cut three levels down into the rock and blending Egyptian, Greek and Roman funerary art in a way found nowhere else. Begun as a private family tomb, it grew into a public cemetery holding several hundred burials.
Then Pompey’s Pillar, a single 27-metre column of Aswan granite raised for Diocletian around AD 297 — despite the name, nothing to do with Pompey. It stands on the ruins of the Serapeum, on the hill that was once Rhakotis.
Continue to the Citadel of Qaitbay, built by Sultan Al-Ashraf Qaitbay in the 1470s on the exact site of the Pharos Lighthouse, reusing its fallen stone. End at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Lunch locally, then back to Cairo.
Overnight: Cairo
Meals Plan: Breakfast & Lunch
The day that explains how the pyramids were figured out. Start at Saqqara and the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the earliest large-scale cut-stone building anywhere, designed by Imhotep around 2650 BC.
Continue to Memphis, Egypt’s first capital, for the fallen colossus of Ramses II and the alabaster sphinx. Then Dahshur for Sneferu’s Bent Pyramid, where the angle changes partway up because the original slope proved unstable, and the Red Pyramid beside it — the first successful true pyramid, and the direct blueprint for Giza.
Overnight: Cairo
Meals Plan: Breakfast Only
Transfer to Cairo Airport for the flight to Aswan, where your guide meets you.
Visit the Aswan High Dam, built between 1960 and 1970 — the structure that ended the Nile’s annual flood, created Lake Nasser, and forced the rescue of the temples of Nubia.
Then the Temple of Isis at Philae. The temple no longer stands on Philae Island: when the dam raised the water, UNESCO and the Egyptian government dismantled it and rebuilt it stone by stone on neighbouring Agilkia Island, reshaped to match the original setting.
End at the granite quarry and the Unfinished Obelisk, still attached to the bedrock. Finished, it would have stood around 42 metres and weighed over 1,000 tonnes. It cracked during cutting and was abandoned, which is exactly why it is useful — it shows the quarrying process frozen mid-stage. Board your cruise ship.
Overnight: Cruise, Aswan
Optional tour: Tour to the Nubian Village in Aswan
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
A free morning on board, or take the optional excursion to Abu Simbel.
The ship sails after lunch for Kom Ombo and its double temple of Sobek and Haroeris — the only fully doubled temple plan in Egypt, mirrored down the central axis so neither god outranks the other. Work began under Ptolemy VI and continued for some four centuries, with additions as late as Domitian and Caracalla. A short visit to the Crocodile Museum, then sail on to Edfu.
Overnight: Cruise, Edfu
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Before breakfast, a horse and carriage to the Temple of Horus at Edfu, built between 237 and 57 BC and the most completely preserved temple in Egypt — roof intact, walls fully inscribed inside and out. Because the texts are complete, Edfu is where much of what we know about temple ritual actually comes from.
Back aboard to sail for Luxor through the Esna Lock. In Luxor, visit Karnak, the largest religious complex of the ancient world at roughly 100 hectares, built and rebuilt across some 2,000 years. Then Luxor Temple, raised mainly by Amenhotep III and Ramses II and dedicated, with Karnak, to the Theban triad of Amun, Mut and Khonsu.
Overnight: Cruise, Luxor
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Disembark and cross to the west bank for the Valley of the Kings — Ta-Iset-Maat, “the Place of Truth” — the royal necropolis of the 18th to 20th Dynasties, roughly 1550 to 1080 BC. Thutmose I was the first king buried here and Ramses XI the last.
Then the terraced temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. Hatshepsut ruled as senior co-ruler alongside her stepson Thutmose III rather than alone, and the temple’s reliefs — including the Punt expedition — are among the finest surviving anywhere. Finish at the Colossi of Memnon, the two quartzite giants of Amenhotep III.
Road transfer to Hurghada, roughly four hours. Check in for four nights, all-inclusive.
Overnight: Hurghada
Optional tour: Sunrise Hot Air Balloon over Luxor
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Three full free days on the Red Sea, all-inclusive, with nothing scheduled. Diving, snorkelling, glass-bottom boat, desert safari and submarine trips all available on request — see Hurghada day tours.
Overnight: Hurghada
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Your 16-Egypt tour gives you a great opportunity to enjoy your Hurghada vacation. Tours such as diving, glass boat, safari, snorkeling, and submarine rides are available upon request.
Overnight: Hurghada
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Enjoy a free day with your Red Sea holiday. Tours such as diving, glass boat, safari, snorkeling, and submarine rides are available upon request.
Overnight: Hurghada
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Transfer to Hurghada Airport for the flight to Cairo, and on to your hotel.
Overnight: Cairo
Meals Plan: Breakfast Only
Early departure for the Bahariya Oasis. Lunch, then into a 4×4 for the Black Desert, its hills darkened by dolerite; the cold springs at Hez village; Crystal Mountain, a ridge of exposed calcite; and Aqabat, where white chalk meets black sandstone.
Camp for the night among the chalk formations of the White Desert, wind-carved into mushrooms and towers. Dinner at the fire, and a sky with no light pollution in it.
Overnight: White Desert Camp
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Sunrise over the formations, breakfast at camp, then the 4×4 back to Bahariya and the road to Cairo for your final night.
Overnight: Cairo
Meals Plan: Breakfast Only
Transfer to Cairo International Airport for your departure flight. If you want to come back for Siwa, Lake Nasser or the Sinai, tell us — we will build it.
Meals Plan: Breakfast Only
| Season | Dates | Triple | Twin | Single |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | 1 May – 30 Sep | $2,250 | $2,400 | $4,080 |
| High | 1 Oct – 10 Dec | $2,400 | $2,600 | $4,420 |
| Festive | 11 Dec – 10 Jan | $3,000 | $3,250 | $5,525 |
| High | 11 Jan – 25 Mar | $2,400 | $2,600 | $4,420 |
| Easter | 26 Mar – 10 Apr | $2,800 | $3,000 | $5,100 |
| Shadow | 11 Apr – 30 Apr | $2,350 | $2,550 | $4,335 |
Cairo Hotels: Safir Hotel. Sonesta Hotel. Ramses Hilton. Holiday Inn Citystars. Cairo Pyramids Hotels. Tolips Gardens Hotel or similar category
Nile Cruises: MS Ruby. MS Nile Dolphin. MS Princess Sarah. MS Nile Carinval. MS Semiramis. MS A Sarah or similar category.
Hurghada Hotels: Titanic Beach Resort. Pharaoh Azur Resort. Hurghada Marriott Beach Resort. Rewaya Inn Resort and more of similar category
| Season | Dates | Triple | Twin | Single |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | 1 May – 30 Sep | $2,700 | $2,900 | $4,930 |
| High | 1 Oct – 10 Dec | $2,900 | $3,150 | $5,355 |
| Festive | 11 Dec – 10 Jan | $3,625 | $3,940 | $6,700 |
| High | 11 Jan – 25 Mar | $2,900 | $3,150 | $5,355 |
| Easter | 26 Mar – 10 Apr | $3,400 | $3,700 | $6,290 |
| Shadow | 11 Apr – 30 Apr | $2,850 | $3,100 | $5,270 |
