Best of Egypt in 12 Days: A Journey of Discovery

Upon arrival to Cairo Int. Airport, you will be met with our English-speaking representative who will help and assist you in all formalities and transfer to your hotel, overnight Cairo.

Breakfast at hotel. Then you will be met by our English Egyptologist tour guide to start your first day tour by visiting Pyramids of Giza "Khufu, Khafre & Menkaure", where the greatness has been embodied in three pyramids with a limestone statue of Sphinx guarding the whole area.Then proceed to one of our local restaurant to have your lunch.

After that you will proceed to the city of Sakkara, where you will be so excited by exploring The Step Pyramid of king Djoser. This pyramid has a very nice story, when king Djoser asked his chief Architect Imhotep to create something different, so that the king could be buried at. As a result the well-known Architect creates the Step pyramid, which surprised the king so much since it was considered to be a new achievement in this period.

Finally you we will drive towards Memphis, where you can visit The Open Air Museum including the marvelous monuments of king Ramses II.After finishing your day tour, you will get back to your hotel in Cairo for overnight.

Meals Included:

• Breakfast
• Lunch

Breakfast at hotel. Our English speaking guide will meet you at the hotel to accompany you to start your second day tour in Cairo. Your tour today is completely different and more excited, as the best of our monuments are awaiting you. Start your tour with The Egyptian Museum, which is considered to be one of the most important museums in Egypt housing the Pharaonic monuments including those of the well-known king Tutankhamen. Then you will have your lunch meal at one of our local restaurant.

After Lunch, you will be transferred to Old Cairo area, where you can visit Citadel of Salah El-Din, which played as a very important role in protecting Egypt, as it was considered the seat of power for more than 700 years.

Then proceed to one of the most interesting and old market in Egypt, Khan El-Khalili, which consider as one of the stunning bazaars in the Middle East.
After finishing your day tour, you will be transferred back to your hotel in Cairo for overnight.

Meals Included:

• Breakfast
• Lunch

Check out from your hotel after breakfast. Then our representative will meet you at the hotel to transfer you to Cairo airport to take your flight to Luxor.

Upon arrival at Luxor airport, transfer to Visit the West Bank of Luxor. Start your magical tour in Thebes, the sacred land by exploring the wet bank of Luxor including Valley of the Kings, which considers as the royal cemetery of the Theban kings and rulers of ancient Egypt, and the place where our Pharaohs were buried, "Enter tomb of King Tut Ankh Amun".

Then proceed to visit Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir El Bahari. This temple is considered as one of the most wonderful examples of the Architecture in ancient Egypt, because it was totally carved inside the mountain.

At the end of the tour you will visit Colossi of Memnon, which is belonging to king Amenhotep III. Lunch at local restaurant.

Then you will discover the East bank of Luxor including Karnak Temples Complex, which are the largest structures ever build in the history of the mankind. The principal building is that of god Amun Ra, since it was considered the house of god on the earth, the earlier structure date back to the middle kingdom, but there are some references which refer to the earlier buildings as old as the 3rd dynasty.

Later on, you will proceed to visit Temple of Luxor, which was built by one of the kings of the 12th dynasty and completed by the well know king Ramses II. This temple was located in the heart of ancient Thebes and, like Karnak, was dedicated to the main/chief god Amun Re. After finishing your day tour, you will be transferred to your hotel in Luxor for check in & overnight in Luxor.

Meals Included:

• Breakfast
• Lunch

Breakfast at your hotel and then your expert tour guide will pick you up from your Hotel to visit the memorial temple of king Seti I at Abydos, which was built by Seti I and his son Ramses II for the God Osiris of the afterlife and resurrection. Abydos Temple is one of the most impressive religious structures in Egypt. The fine art reliefs incorporate the Abydos Kings list (showing the cartouche contains the names of the pharaohs of Egypt from the first dynasty to the 19th dynasty), There are seven chapels of Horus, Isis, Osiris, Amon Re, Ptah, Seti I, and Re-Horakhty. At the back of the temple, discover the enigmatic structure known as the Osireion, thought to be Osiris tomb. After finishing, enjoy free time to explore the temple at leisure.

Continue to visit Dendera temple (Located 99km to the South of Abydos), It is one of the best preserved temple complexes in Egypt. The temple was founded by pharaoh Pepi I (2250 BC) and continued during the New kingdom (1550-1080 BC). What was left dates back to the Greco-Roman time in Egypt. The ceiling of the Dendera Temple has recently been cleaned, in a careful way that removed hundreds of years of black soot, without harming the ancient paint underneath. As a result the spectacular ceiling painting has been exposed in the main hall of Hathor temple, and some of the most vibrant and colourful paintings dating from antiquity are now visible. Discover the widely known Dendera zodiac relief found during the Greco-Roman time in Egypt, the crypts which was for keeping cult equipment, archives and magical emblems for the temple's protection, though the most important object kept in the crypts was a statue of the BA of Hathor, the Isis Birth House (Mammisi) raised by Nectanebo II and the temple sacred lake.On the rear outside wall of the temple, the scenes showing the massive figure of Cleopatra VII and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion. Then enjoy free time to explore the temple at leisure.

After finishing, you will be transferred back to hotel & overnight Luxor.

Meals Included:

• Breakfast
• Lunch

Early Morning, we will Pick you up from your Hotel by Love Egypt Tours Licensed Tour guide then you will be transferred by Private A/C Vehicle to the West Bank of the Nile where you will visit Medinat Habu, it is an archaeological locality situated near the foot of the Theban Hills on the West Bank of the River Nile opposite the modern city of Luxor, Egypt. Although other structures are located within the area, the location is today associated almost exclusively with the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III The temple, some 150m long, is of orthodox design, and resembles closely the mortuary temple of Ramesses II (the Ramesseum).It is quite well preserved and surrounded by a massive mud brick enclosure, which may have been fortified. The original entrance is through a fortified gate-house, known as a migdol (and resembling an Asiatic fortress). The name at least its French form, Rhamesséion – was coined by Jean-François Champollion, who visited the ruins of the site in 1829 and first identified the hieroglyphs making up Ramesses's names and titles on the walls.It was originally called the House of millions of years of Usermaatra-setepenra that unites with Thebes-the-city in the domain of Amon.Also you will be able to visit some other temples inside Habu Temple Such as Temple of Amun dating to the 18th Dynasty, built by Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III. It has undergone many alterations and modifications over the years, partially in the 20th, 25th, 26th, 29th and 30th Dynasties and the Greco-Roman period.

Then Continue your day Tour to Deir el Medina, known as The Valley of the worker, Deir el-Medina is an ancient Egyptian village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th dynasties of the New Kingdom period (ca. 1550–1080 BC) The paintings appear so fresh.

End your day Tour with a visit to Valley of the Queens it's is a place where wives of Pharaohs were buried in ancient times. In ancient times, it was known as Ta-Set-Neferu, meaning –"the place of the Children of the Pharaoh", because along with the Queens of the 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties (1550–1070 BCE) many princes and princesses were also buried with various members of the nobility.The tombs of these individuals were maintained by mortuary priests who performed daily rituals and provided offerings and prayers for the deceased nobility. The valley is located near the better known Valley of the Kings, on the west bank of the Nile across from Thebes (modernLuxor). This barren area in the western hills was chosen due to its relative isolation and proximity to the capital.The kings of the 18th dynasty, instead of building pyramids as traditional burial chambers (perhaps because of their vulnerability to tomb robbers), now chose to be interred in rock-cut tombs to Preserve it as possible as they can from tomb robbers. Lunch at one of our local restaurant and transfer back to your hotel.

Afternoon Tour to Luxor Museum and Mummification Museum

Our tour guide will pick you up by air conditioned vehicle to visit the 2 fantastic museum of Luxor, Beginning with Luxor Museum which is located in a very attractive spot on the east bank of the Nile between Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple. The Museum displays various collection of monuments like "Jewelry, Furniture, Statues, Stelae, Pottery" from the Theban Temples and necropolis especially from the new kingdom.

Then, continue our journey among the ancient Egyptian history with going to the Mummification Museum which was opened in 1997 and it's located on the east bank also , The Museum shows and explains the process of Mummification and the techniques that were used during this process for the humans and animals as well and displays human and animal mummies and the tools which were used during the mummification operation , also there are examples of the types of objects that were traditionally buried with the dead in pharaonic times.

After finish your tour, you will transfer back to your hotel & overnight Luxor.

Meals Included:

• Breakfast
• Lunch

Check out from your hotel after breakfast, then our tour guide will pick you up to enjoy a day tour to the Temple of Edfu, where you will visit the majestic temple dedicated to Horus which is considered by most to be the best preserved cult temple in Egypt. According to the Egyptian myths, it was the place where the falcon-headed god Horus revenged the murder of his father Osiris by killing Seth.

Drive to Koum Oumbo city and visit Temple of Koum Oumbo,standing on high grounds overlooking the Nile. It differs from other temples because of its double entrance, each one is dedicated to divinity: "Haroeris" with his falcon head and " Sobek " with his crocodile head. The Temple of Kom Ombo was built on the honor of two deities the crocodile-headed Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world, and Haroeris or the ancient falcon-headed Horus. Also,Kom Ombo's importance lies in its huge sugar-cane.

Arrive Aswan, lunch at local restaurant and check in your hotel & overnight Aswan

Meals Included:

• Breakfast
• Lunch

Breakfast at your hotel and then our tour guide will pick you up to start your tour to the High Dam of Aswan, an engineering miracle when it was built in the 1960s. Containing more material than used in the Great Pyramid of Cheops, the Dam is 11,811 ft long, 3215 ft thick at the base, 364 ft tall and is carved into from the existing granite, providing irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt.

Continue to the Unfinished Obelisk in the granite quarries of Aswan where much of the red granite used for ancient temples and colossi came from. The Unfinished Obelisk still lies where it was carved when a crack was discovered as it was being hewn from the rock.

Proceed your trip to visit the majestic Philae Temple which was carefully moved to its current location (around 500 meters from the original site) when the construction of the High Dam caused surrounding Nile waters to rise, Philae Temple was built on the honor of goddess Isis the chief deity of the island. At the end of your tour you will be escorted back to your hotel.

Meals Included:

• Breakfast
• Lunch

Breakfast box from your hotel and check out. Later on, you will be transferred by private A-C van to Abu Simbel. The original site was known as Meha in the ancient times and was first documented in the 18th Dynasty, when Ay and Horemheb had rock-cut chapels hewn in the hills to the south.

Upon arrival, you will proceed to visit Abu Simbel Temples, which were built by king Ramses II. The first temple (the biggest one) was built by Ramesses II and being dedicated to the famous god Rahorakhty. While the second temple (the smaller one) was dedicated to king himself and his beautiful wife queen Nefertari.

After finishing your day tour, you will drive Aswan airport to fly back to Cairo. Upon arrival to Cairo airport, you will meet our rep whom will transfer you to your hotel & overnight in Cairo.

Meals Included:

• Breakfast
• Lunch

Breakfast at your hotel in Cairo. After that you will be met with our Egyptologist tour guide who will accompany you in such a stunning tour to Alexandria.

You will start your Alexandria city tour by exploring one of the main sources of knowledge in the ancient world, "The Alexandria Library". The site of which is the original site of the old Pharaoh. Later on, you will be transferred to have your lunch meal at local restaurant.

After lunch you will proceed to visit The Roman Amphitheatre, which is considered to be one of the most famous monuments belonging the Greco-Roman period.

Continue your Alexandria city tour by visiting Pompey’s pillar, which was erected in 292 AD. At the end you’ll be transferred to visit Sultan Qaitbay Citadel (from outside) which is considered to be one of most famous sightseeing in Alexandria.

After finishing your day tour, we will drive back to Cairo. Arrive to Cairo and proceed to your hotel there for overnight

Meals Included:

• Breakfast
• Lunch

Breakfast at hotel. Then you will start your tour to visit Islamic and Coptic Cairo. This tour is a very important as you will explore the greatness of the history of Egypt. You will explore the Islamic history and the other Coptic one.

You will visit Ahmed Ibn Tulun Mosque; It is the oldest intact, functioning Islamic monument in Cairo. It also survives as a rare example of the era and architecture of the classical period of Islam, i.e. the ninth and tenth centuries, for it was dominant in the Islamic world.

Then proceed to the Mosque of Sultan Hassan, which considered stylistically the most compact and unified of all Cairo monuments. The building was constructed for Sultan Hassan bin Mohammad bin Qala'oun in 1256 AD as a mosque and religious school for all sects. Then you will visit El Refa’i Mosque, it is separated from the mosque of Sultan Hassan by a pedestrian street.Take your lunch at one of our local restaurants.

After that, you will start your Coptic Tour, you will start with the Hanging Church, (The Church of the Virgin Mary), built into the walls of the Water Gate of the Roman fortress. It is possibly the oldest Christian church in Egypt, dating to around the 4th Century.

Then you will visit Church of St. Sergius, (Abu Serga), which legend has it is built atop one of the sites where the Holy Family rested on their flight from Herod. Continuing on this path brings one first to the Ben Ezra Synagogue, which is Egypt's oldest and dates to the 9th Century.

After finishing this fantastic and memorable tour, you will get back to your hotel. Overnight in Cairo.

Meals Included:

• Breakfast
• Lunch

Check out after breakfast. Our representative will pick you up. Transfer to Cairo international airport for final departure.

Meals Included:

• Breakfast