For Oases Lovers: 15 Days Classical Tour

Day-by-Day-Itinerary:

1^st Day: Cairo – Arrival

After your arrival at Cairo International Airport our representative will meet you in front of the exit door after you will have passed the passport control and the customs and claimed your luggage. Then we will transfer you to your hotel for the check-in and give you all necessary information for the following days. You will have dinner in your hotel.

Optional activities (against supplement):

• Pyramids Sound and Light Show in Giza
• Visit of the Cairo Tower providing you a great view of the nightly city
• Dinner cruise with oriental show on the River Nile

Dinner included. Overnight in Cairo.

2^nd Day: Sightseeing Tour Cairo

We will start our program in Giza where you will see the last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinos, as well as the Great Sphinx. Then you will visit the Egyptian Museum, one of the most interesting museums in the world, featuring more than 120,000 ancient Egyptian artifacts, among the countless pieces of jewelry, statues, sarcophagi and mummies. After lunch you will visit the city’s large medieval fortification, the Salah El Din Citadel, and inside its walls the magnificent Alabaster Mosque of Mohamed Ali. Finally you will enjoy strolling about the Khan El Khalili Bazaar, one of the oldest and biggest bazaars in the Middle-East where you can find all your heart desires. Then you will travel to the Al Fayoum Oasis where you will have dinner and spend the night.

Optional activities (against supplement):

• Camel Ride around the pyramids
• Entrance to the Great Pyramid in Giza
• Entrance to the Small Pyramid in Giza 
• Visit of the Solar Boat Museum in Giza
• Mummy Room in the Egyptian Museum
• Pyramids Sound and Light Show in Giza
• Visit of the Cairo Tower providing you a great view of the nightly city
• Dinner cruise with oriental show on the River Nile

Breakfast and lunch included. Overnight in the Al Fayoum Oasis.

3^rd Day: Al Fayoum Oasis

After breakfast you will discover Al Fayoum. The city of Fayoum is considered to be the oldest town in Egypt. Near the city you can see the remains of the pyramids of Amenemhet III in Hawara and Sesostris II in Al-Lahun. Another symbol of Fayoum are the hundreds of waterwheels lifting water into the irrigation canals; their invention dates back to the Romans. You will have lunch in a local restaurant. Then you will see the Wadi Al-Hitan (‘Whale Valley’), a great landscape with caramel-colored rock formations which was once an ocean’s seabed, so you can find countless fossils, skeletons, corals and shells of all kinds and sizes, among them more than 250 skeletons of prehistoric whales. Finally you will visit the Wadi Al-Rayan; amidst the desert you can find two lakes turning the desert here into a beautiful green oasis with a remarkable wildlife. The landmarks are the waterfalls between the upper and the lower lake. We will further make a short stop on the foot of the Al-Mudawara Mountains where the rough rocks and the golden desert meet the idyllic blue lake in a lonely bay. Then you will travel to the Al Bahariya Oasis.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in a hotel in the Bahariya Oasis.

4^th Day: Al Bahariya Oasis

Al Bahariya is one of the biggest and most important oases in the Western Desert. Visit the town of Al-Bawiti where you can see the oasis’ fruit-growing and lifestyle, and discover remains of the region’s history. A necropolis of the Greco-Roman contained countless different mummies, among them numerous gold-plated ones, the so-called ‘Golden Mummies’. You will see some of them here in the museum. Further you can see the remains of Ain Al-Tibniya, a temple dating back to the reign of Alexander the Great who is said to have passed by this oasis, the tomb of Banentiuwhere you can see well preserved colored hieroglyphs and paintings, and the temple area of Ain Al-Muftella with four around 2,600 years old chapels whose walls are preserved up to a height of around two meters, showing various beautiful decorations. Lunch will be served in a local restaurant. The rest of the day will be at your own disposal and gives you time to relax in your hotel or to walk around on your own to enjoy the landscape. You will have dinner in your hotel.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in a hotel in the Bahariya Oasis.

5^th Day: Black & White Desert

In the early morning you will enter a 4x4 jeep and drive into the Black Desert with its countless rock formations and witness buttes covered by black basalt. Then you will travel to the White Desert National Park. Once the seabed of an ocean it features myriads of white chalk sediments, formed by the rough desert weather to spectacular shapes. Enjoy this unique landscape, see the famous Crystal Mountain, a ridge laced with sparkling crystal, and the scenic Valley of Al-Agabat where white cliffs meet sand dunes and yellow limestone rocks. Lunch will be served as a picnic. In the evening you will travel to Farafra Oasis where you will have dinner in your hotel.

Breakfast, lunch (picnic) and dinner included. Overnight in a hotel in El Farafra.

6^th Day: Al Farafra Oasis – Al Dakhla Oasis

After breakfast in your hotel you will enjoy a tour through the Farafra Oasis with its lush gardens with palms and fruit trees, the hot springs, the farmers’ dwellings and the very special museum of the local artist Badr who exhibits all kinds of artwork produced by himself and consisting of all kinds of items and materials found in the desert. After lunch in a local restaurant you will head to the Dakhla Oasis, a vast green area surrounded by rosy cliff. On the way you will visit the remains of Al Qasr, an old Islamic fortified settlement with various well preserved buildings – houses, mosques, a mill, a madrasa (Koran school) and craftsmen’s workshops. You will have dinner and spend the night in a hotel.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in a hotel in the Dakhla Oasis.

7^th Day: Al Dakhla Oasis - Al Kharga Oasis

After breakfast in your hotel you will enjoy a trip to remains of the Roman temple Deir El Hagar, a sandstone temple dedicated to the Theban Triad, the Egyptian God Amun, his wife Mut and their son Khonsu, a greatly preserved temple with countless interesting reliefs. Then you will see the burial ground Qarat el-Muzawwaqa with its colorfully decorated tombs dating back to the Greco-Roman era. Further you will visit the old and partly ruined city centers of Budchulu and Qalamun with buildings dating back to the medieval times. After lunch in a local restaurant we will take you now to theKharga Oasis. You will visit the Temple of Hibis, a well preserved sanctuary built of sandstone dating back to the 5^thcentury BC and Bagawat, a necropolis of the regional early Christians with more than 260 burial chapels. Then you will have dinner in your hotel.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in a hotel in the Kharga Oasis.

8^th Day: Al Kharga Oasis – Luxor

After breakfast you will visit see the remains of Qasr Dush dating back to the Greco-Roman era, with its fortress and the well preserved temple. It was once an important crossroad for caravan routes. Then you will see the remains of Qasr El Labakha, a Roman fortified settlement. You can visit among others the large fortress, sanctuaries and some remainingqanats, underground aqueducts which once provided the village and its fields with water. After lunch you will leave the Kharga Oasis and head to Luxor. You will move into your hotel where you will have dinner. The evening will be at your own disposal.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in Luxor.

9^th Day: Luxor – Nile Cruise Day 1

After breakfast in your hotel your guide will pick you and take you to your cruise for your embarkation. After this you will visit Luxor’s West Bank, the ancient Thebes. You will marvel at the huge Colossi of Memnon, once guardians of a no longer existing temple, and the colored Pharaonic tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Then you will visit Medinet Habuwith its colossal statues, well preserved pylons and walls and more than 7,000 m² of decorated and inscribed wall reliefs before you will have lunch. And finally you will see the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, a fascinating mortuary temple which is unique in its architecture. Lunch will be enjoyed in a local restaurant. In the evening you can discover Luxor on your own. Dinner will be served aboard.

Optional activities (against supplement):

• Sound and Light Show at the Temple of Karnak
• Shopping on Luxor’s biggest bazaar
• Carriage Ride through Luxor

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight aboard.

10^th Day: Luxor & Esna – Nile Cruise Day 2

You will have breakfast aboard. Then you will visit Luxor’s East Bank with the Temple of Karnak, one of the largest and most fascinating temples in the world; as it is still in an amazingly good state with giant pillars and colored reliefs, you can really get a feeling of the ancient Egyptians’ architecture and religious cult. Finally you will visit Luxor Temple, a fascinating ancient edifice uniting building activities of various eras. After lunch you can enjoy some leisure time at your own disposal. Then your cruise will move to Esna where you will visit the remains of a beautiful temple dating back to the Greco-Roman period, featuring magnificent columns with varying lotus-leaf capitals and a pronaos decorated with great relief.  

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight aboard.

11^th Day: Kom Ombo & Edfu – Nile Cruise Day 3

After breakfast aboard you will visit the amazing double temple of Kom Ombo, a sanctuary symmetrical along its main axis, one side dedicated to Haroeris, the other to Sobek, with impressing reliefs. Then you will sail to Edfu and enjoy lunch en route. The Temple of Edfu, dedicated to the falcon-god Horus whose statues flank the portal, is one of the best preserved temples in Egypt; its completion once took almost 200 years, and its beautiful decorated walls provide precious information about the ancient religious myths.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight aboard.

12^th Day: Aswan – Nile Cruise Day 4

After breakfast aboard you will get to know Aswan. You will visit the giant High Dam, one of the greatest achievements in architecture and engineering of the 20^th century, and the Unfinished Obelisk in the ancient granite quarries. Then you will have lunch before you will sail to the amazing botanical garden on Kitchener’s Island, an unexpected green and calm oasis amidst the busy city, and visit Elephantine Island with the famous nilometer, the ancient ruins and the Nubian villages. And finally you will see the enchanting Nubian Temple of Philae which was once saved from disappearing in the floods of the Lake Nasser reservoir by dismantling and rebuilding it on a higher location.

Optional activity (against supplement):

• Sound and Light Show at the Temple of Philae

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight aboard.

13^th Day: Abu Simbel – Nile Cruise Day 5

You will disembark after breakfast and we will take you to the Twin Temples of Abu Simbel. The Temple of Ramesses II is 30 meters high and four enthroned colossal statues of the pharaoh guard the portal. The interior of the temple was dug into the rock on a length of more than sixty meters and beautifully decorated with pillars, colored reliefs and rock cut figures. The Temple of Nefertari, Ramesses’ wife, is a simplified version of the Great Temple. Please be aware that you see here something unique in ancient Egyptian art – the statues of the king and the queen adorning the façade are equal in size. The rest of the day is at your own disposal. In the evening you will take the night train to Cairo. Dinner will be served in the train.

Optional activities (against supplement):

• Visit of the Temple of Kalabsha
• Visit of St. Simeon’s Monastery

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in the train’s comfortable sleeping car.

14^th Day: Sightseeing Tour Cairo

After breakfast in your hotel you will be transferred to Dahschur, a royal necropolis, where you can see the strangely shaped Bent Pyramid, the Red Pyramid which was the first succeeded smooth-sided pyramid, and the badly damagedBlack Pyramid. Then we will move to the old capital Memphis with its ruins, the fallen colossal statue of Pharaoh Ramesses II and the Alabaster Sphinx. Furthermore we will show you Sakkara with its monumental mastabas (flat-roofed, rectangular tombs) and pyramids, among them Pharaoh Djoser’s famous Step Pyramid. In the afternoon we will have lunch and then we will show you the Babylon Fortress, an ancient fortress with well preserved remains, andthe ‘Hanging Church’ (‘El Muallaqa’), one of the oldest and most important Coptic sites. Then you will see the Abu Serga Church, one of the oldest churches in Egypt, which according to the legend has been built where the Holy Family rested during their flight to Egypt. Then you will marvel at the treasury collection of the Coptic Museum. The evening is at your own disposal; you can have dinner in your hotel. 

Optional activities (against supplement):

• Pyramids Sound and Light Show in Giza
• Visit of the Cairo Tower providing you a great view of the nightly city
• Dinner cruise with oriental show on the River Nile

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in Cairo.

15^th Day: Cairo – Departure

You will have breakfast in the hotel. Our representative will pick you up at the reception and transfer you back to Cairo International Airport for your final departure. This concludes our program and services.

Note: If you will fly only in the afternoon or in the evening, we can offer you an additional program against supplement. Anyway we will take you to the airport three hours before your plane will leave.

Breakfast included.

Included:

• All mentioned transfers in high-class air-conditioned vehicles
• Train ride Aswan – Cairo
• Guided tours in your language
• Entrance fees for the above mentioned sights
• 3* hotel accommodations in the oases with half-board
• 5-days-cruise Luxor – Aswan with full board
• Hotel accommodation (3, 4 or 5* upon your choice) in Cairo with half-board
• Mineral water and soft drinks

Not included:

• Gratuity (tips) for drivers, tour guides
• Personal items, meals, drinks or services not mentioned
• Listed optional activities
• International and domestic flights
• Visa


     See also: Round Trip Cairo, Oases of the Western Desert & Nile Cruise