Deserts & Tombs

• Day 1:
• Arrive in Cairo.

We greet you on your arrival into Cairo airport, and transfer you straight to your hotel where you can settle in before starting the main tour tomorrow morning. 

• Day 2:
• Cairo

Our first tour today takes in Cairo's most impressive, important and famous sites, the Pyramids and Sphinx at Gisa, and the Egyptian Museum in the centre of the city.

• Day 3:
• Drive to Bahariya

We leave Cairo today and drive out through barren and rocky flat desert to the villages in the Bahariya Oasis depression.

• Day 4:
• Bahariya Oasis & desert safari

This morning we tour the oasis, visiting several interesting sites including a pyramid shaped mountain. We then leave Bahariya by 4x4 jeep and start our main desert safari. This takes us through the Black Desert and past some huge sand dunes and spectacular cliff and sand scenery to the flat expanses of the White Desert, filled with strange rock formations that have been eroded by years of wind and sand. We make a basic but comfortable camp here and sleep under the stars. 

• Day 5:
• Farafra and Dakhla Oasis

We drive out of the White Desert this morning and leave our jeeps at the Farafra Oasis, one of the smallest and most traditional in the Western Desert. Here we may enjoy a welcome bathe in one of the hot water springs before driving on to one of Egypt's most remote Oases, Dakhla, where we tour the main oasis town of Mut, the Islamic village of Al Qasr and the restored Roman temple of Deir al Haggar. 

• Day 6:
• Dakhla & Kharga Oases - Drive to Luxor

We leave Dakhla this morning and drive on to Kharga Oasis where we stop to visit the Temple of Hibis, Deir-al-Kashef monastery, and Al-Bagawat necropolis. We then drive on through the desert and into the Nile Valley and the city of Luxor, home to the greatest concentration of Pharaonic historical monuments and sites in the whole of Egypt. This evening you have the option of visiting the huge temple complex at Karnak for a Sound & Light show.

• Day 7:
• Luxor - West bank tour. Free time. Sleeper train to Cairo

We rise early this morning and tour the West Bank of the Nile, including stops at the Valley of the Kings, Queen Hatchepsut and Medinat Habu temples, and the Colossi of Memnon. In the afternoon you can visit Luxor temple in the middle of town, explore Luxor's markets, take a felucca sailboat trip on the Nile, or visit the Mummification Museum, before we board the overnight sleeper train for the journey back to Cairo. There is also an option available this morning for a spectacular hot air balloon flight.

• Day 8:
• Cairo - Free day

After arriving back in Cairo this morning, your day is free to explore the city a little more, perhaps visiting the ancient churches in Coptic Cairo, the mosques and palaces of the Citadel of Saladin, and the busy Khan-el-Khalili bazaar on an optional city tour. We can also arrange day trips to the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, or to the World Heritage Site of the Valley of the Whales in the Fayoum region close to Cairo.

• Day 10:
• Cairo - Tour ends

The tour ends today and your time is free until we transfer you to the airport for your departure.