Exotic Egypt 
Including 4 nights down the Nile on our private Egyptian sailboat

February 6 – 21, 2023

15 Nights / 16 Days

$6,800 per person/double occupancy**

Limited 10-12 persons

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Included:

Domestic (in Egypt) flights – 2

          Full time escorts

          Private transports in air-conditioned vans including all airport transfers

          Entrance fees as in itinerary

          Private expert English speaking Egyptologist guides

          Tips

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All accommodations:  All 5 star accommodations:

3 nights in Giza at Marriott Mena House Hotel

3 nights in Luxor at Sofitel Old Winter Palace Hotel, Garden View

4 nights Esna to Aswan on Dahabiya, full board and daily afternoon tea

3 nights in Aswan at Sofitel Cataract Hotel, Nile View

2 nights in Cairo at Four Seasons Hotel, Nile Plaza, Pool View

(Upgrades for certain hotels are available at additional cost)

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Meals:

          Daily breakfasts

          All meals on the sailboat for 4 days with tea, coffee, water and soft drinks

Saqqara ~ Farm House lunch

Luxor ~ Sofra Restaurant dinner

Aswan ~ local lunch on board a felucca sail

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Itinerary:

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Day 1:  (February 6, 2023) Welcome to Egypt. On arrival at Cairo Airport, we will be met by Djed Egypt Travel host. He will arrange the visa for us, assist by collecting our luggage and then will accompany us to our hotel. He will help us settle in, introduce us to the local area, and explain tomorrow’s arrangements.

 

Day 2: We will visit the sole surviving Wonder of the Ancient World, Giza’s Pyramids, and the surrounding area. The Giza plateau is huge; musts are the 3 pyramids, the Sphinx, and the Valley temple. A short ride up the Giza Plateau will take us to a panoramic view point which will enable us to appreciate the pyramids and to see expansive views of these impressive monuments.  Optional:  Go inside the Great Pyramid of Cheops and camel ride around the pyramids.   After our explorations, we will return to home to relax in sight of the looming Pyramids.

 

Day 3:  We will journey through the countryside to Dahshur. Visit the Dahshur necropolis and venture into the heart of the Red or Bent Pyramids where a sense of antiquity and romance still lingers. Then it is on to the necropolis of Saqqara, with some extraordinary funerary old kingdom monuments, including the famous Step Pyramid of Djoser, the pyramid complexes of Kings Unas and Teti, rock tombs.

 

Day 4:  Transfer to Cairo Airport for our flight to Luxor. On arrival at Luxor Airport we will be met by our Egypt travel host, who will accompany us to our hotel. In the afternoon we will explore the jewels of Luxor’s East Bank, the temples of Karnak & Luxor. With our private Egyptologist guide, we will visit the huge Karnak temple complex, with its temples, chapels, and a sacred lake, these are the result of many pharaohs contributing buildings to the site over a period of at least 2,000 years, making Karnak the largest and most impressive temple complex in Egypt. We will walk through its avenue of ram-headed sphinxes and visit some of the many temples and chapels; we will feel dwarfed in the awesome great hypostyle hall, where 134 vast columns soar implausibly far into the sky. Around sunset, visit the elegant Luxor temple, one of the best-preserved complexes from Egyptian antiquity. A grand avenue lined with sphinxes connects the temples of Luxor and Karnak, which is at its most epic in the evening time. Visiting this grand temple at sunset is particularly memorable; when it is beautifully lit it is a magical experience.  Our day of exploration and wonder will be capped by a gourmet delight at Sofra, an Egyptian-style restaurant.

 

Day 5:  Monuments of Ancient Thebes – Valley of the Kings, Deir el Bahari, Nobles Tombs & Medinet Habu

A short trip across the Nile will take us to the Valley of the Kings. Hidden from view, beneath the sands and against the Theban hills, are 64 known tombs that have been hand-carved into the valley rock. Only 10 to 12 tombs are open at the same time because they are open on a rotation basis for preservation, conservation, and restoration.  

We will visit three tombs with the option to visit several more not on the itinerary. 

Afterwards, we will visit the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahari, the only terraced temple in Egypt, set in a natural amphitheatre in the cliffs rising out of the desert plain. This extensive temple features great ramps and courtyards and still contains beautiful reliefs on its inner walls and chapels. Another highlight of the day – visit the Valley of the Nobles where guards still use broken mirrors to direct the sun’s rays into the tombs to light their wonderful interiors. We will continue to the magnificent memorial temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu, probably the best-preserved temple in Thebes. It is a sprawling temple surrounded by a massive mud brick enclosure. The decoration of this temple is some of the most beautiful ever produced by Egyptian artists, and it is one of few temples that still has its original bright colors on many of the reliefs. This is a gem of a place to visit and is one of our favorite sites on Luxor's West Bank. End the day’s visits at the Colossi of Memnon.

 

Day 6:  Today is a free day to choose how we wish. We can enjoy the gardens at the Winter Palace, walk around the souk, and enjoy a carriage ride through the town.  We also have two other options listed below.  Following our day’s adventures, we will recount our experiences, dine and relax at the Sofra Restaurant.

Option 1.  Egyptian cooking class.  Egyptian chefs will lead us on an adventure into their favorite stalls in the colorful market of Luxor to purchase the ingredients for the meal we will prepare.  Returning to the kitchen, we will learn the basics and subtleties of Egyptian cuisine.  Following our culinary masterpiece, we will relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Option 2.  Abydos and Dendera.  We will be led by our tour guide through the countryside near Luxor to the ancient city of Abydos and the Temple of Seti.  Abydos was built in 1300 BCE by Seti I and Ramses II. It was the cult center of Osiris, god of the dead.  It contains many detailed reliefs that are among the best of the New Kingdom.  Our travel will continue south to Dendera and the Ptolemaic Temple of Hathor originally built over 4,000 years ago.  The present complex was built by Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra VIII.  There are a number of carvings on the temple walls depicting Cleopatra VII and her son, Ptolemy XV, the son of Julius Caesar. 

 

Day 7:  Boarding the Dahabiya in Esna – Sailing to El Kab & Quessia

Following an optional balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings, we will transfer to our Dahabiya boat in Esna and embark on the Dahabiya for a 4 day cruise on the Nile from Esna to Aswan. We will visit the Esna temple and take a short walk through the local markets. Sail to El Kab, the ancient town of Nekheb, to visit the remains of its temples and some of the tombs cut into the cliffs.

Set sail for a small island where the boat will moor for the night. Dinner will be served on board the Dahabiya or on the tranquil banks of the Nile.

         

Day 8:  Dahabiya Sailing to Edfu & Wadi el Shat

Sail to Edfu, the scenery is stunning changing from golden sand of the desert to lush and green forests of date palms – scenes unchanged in centuries. Visit the Temple of Horus, dedicated to the falcon-headed god, which is in a state of excellent preservation and where once huge ceremonies were held with live falcons in honor of Horus. Later stops will take us to small villages and the desert. Set sail for a small island where the boat will moor for the night. Dinner will be served on board the Dahabiya or on the tranquil banks of the Nile.

 

Day 9: Dahabiya Sailing to Gebel el Silsila, Kom Ombo & Maniha

Relax in a deck chair and watch the riverside pass by while the crew sails to Gebel El Silsila. Explore the rock-cut chapels of Seti I, Ramesses II, Merenptah and Horemheb and also remnants of the monuments in the old sandstone quarries.

During lunch on the sun deck the Dahabiya we will sail towards Kom Ombo, where we will go ashore to see the double temple of Sobek and Haroeris. Set sail for the island of Maniha, where the Dahabiya will moor for the night. This island is one of the many lovely spots for a refreshing dip in the Nile. The waters are relatively shallow and the scenery is fantastic, it is also very peaceful and quiet. Dinner will be served on a beautiful spot on the banks of the Nile, under a twinkling night sky.

 

Day 10:  Dahabiya Sailing to Daraw and El Koubania, Aswan

Sail to Daraw and take a walking tour to the village to visit the camel and local markets of Daraw, once the last stop on the famous 40-days desert road between Sudan and Egypt. Sailing continues to the Nubian village of El Koubania, near Aswan. Fourth and last night on boat.

 

Day 11:  Abul Simbel.

Upon completing our Dahabiya sailing adventure in Aswan, will have breakfast on board and head across the beautiful desert to Abu Simbel, the home of the spectacular temples of Ramesses II and Queen Nefertari overlooking Lake Nasser. We will have enough time to explore and take photos before heading back to our hotel in Aswan in time for one of the most memorable sunsets in Egypt.

 

Day 12:  Walking tour of Aswan.

In the morning, we can relax in the luxurious comfort of the Old Cataract Hotel before heading out in the afternoon for a walking tour into Aswan visiting the most colorful markets of Egypt which runs the whole length of town and is crammed with shops and stalls selling traditional wares such as spices, rugs & carpets, perfumes, scarves, handmade Nubian basketwork, textiles, and countless other wares. Free evening.

 

Day 13:  Felucca sails around Aswan’s Islands visit the Nubian Village.

Taking a traditional felucca out on the Nile is one of the pleasures of Aswan – the river is dramatically beautiful here. We will visit the evocative ruins of Aswan’s first settlement, on the tip of the Elephantine Island, known to the ancient Egyptians as Yebu. From here it’s a quick sail to Kitchener’s Island, home to the exotic Aswan Botanical Garden. The northern hills of the West Bank are honeycombed with the rock-cut tombs of Old and Middle Kingdom Nobles, boasting vestibules, offering chapels and several chambers, often decorated with daily life scenes. After a walking tour into one of the many colorful Nubian villages, we will be treated to a freshly-prepared lunch on board. A camel trek to the Monastery of St Simeon, beautifully located on the edge of the desert, is also possible.

 

Day 14:  Flight to Cairo – The Grand Egyptian Museum or the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities      

After breakfast, we will fly back to Cairo where our private Egyptologist guide will take us on a fascinating journey of exploration and discovery around the Grand Egyptian Museum. This lavish museum will house more than 100,000 pieces of artifacts and age-old antiquities, including the entire collection of Tutankhamun’s golden treasures. The sheer size of the place can be overwhelming. However, our Egyptologist guide will give us a private introduction to the collection, from little-known but important objects to pieces that have amazed the world. We will then have some free time to explore on our own.  **The much-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum is scheduled to open in November 2022. If not open, we will visit the Egyptian museum of Antiquities in Tahrir Square. Our evening is at leisure.

 

Day 15:  A Second visit to museum and a walk along Egypt’s marketplace.

In the morning, we may return to the Grand Egyptian Museum or the Museum of Antiquities.  In the afternoon, we will walk along the famous Darb-al-Ahmar to the covered Tentmaker’s market passing along the narrow alleys of the spice and textile bazaars.  Later, we will drift down the Nile on a traditional felucca sailing boat, and enjoy a farewell dinner to this magical place.

 

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Cost:  $6,800 per person/double occupancy (exact price will be known soon with 2023 flight prices)  Deposit due August 15, 2022:  $2000 per person

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Optional:  Hot air balloon, cooking classes, spas, extra tours and many other activities.

 

Not included:  International flight, personal expenses, visa fee, activities & meals not included in itinerary.

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Tour will be limited to 10 - 12 persons which includes 2 full time escorts

Price: $6,800 per person with double occupancy  Single rate available

Everyone going with our group must be fully vaccinated.

We will take all precautions and follow all regulations.

Please contact us with any questions or to be added to our list of interested travelers.

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 Join us for a trip through history