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Day 1: Arrive Cairo

Arrive in Cairo at any time. There are no planned activities, so check into to the hotel (check-in time is approx 3pm) and enjoy the city. In the late afternoon (approx 5pm) you will meet your fellow group members to go over the details of your trip and for the leader to collect your local payment. Check the notice board (or ask reception) to see the exact time and location of this group meeting. After the meeting we will be heading out for a meal in a nearby local restaurant (optional). If you arrive late, no worries, the leader will leave you a message at the front desk.

Day 2: Bahariya Oasis

We spend our first morning at the Cairo Museum, where the famous treasures of Tutankhamen’s tomb are on display. After lunch, drive into the Sahara Desert, bound for Bahariya Oasis. Visit the Valley of Golden Mummies, where archaeologists discovered a huge cache of mummies encased in gold. The cemetery where the golden mummies were found was discovered by accident, when an antiquities guard was riding his donkey and the leg of his donkey fell down a hole—which turned out to be undiscovered tombs.
Overnight at a local oasis hotel.

The Egyptian Museum is one of the most important places in Cairo. Packed to the point of overflowing with more than 100,000 relics and antiquities, it is a feast for the eyes and brain.

The Egyptian Museum is a fantastic collection of rooms packed with thousands statues, figurines, jewelry, coffins and sarcophagi, weapons, tools, masks, coins, seals, mummies, cloth, papyrus drawings, stone and clay tablets with hieroglyphics, etc, etc. Wandering from room to room is like taking a stroll through history.

It is impossible to see everything in one visit, so start out with the main attraction: the 1,700 or so objects on display from the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen. In 1361 BC, a young boy (only about 9 or 10 years old) named Tutankhamen, ascended to the throne as Pharaoh of the New Kingdom. His rule of nine years, until 1352 BC (he died suddenly and without leaving any heirs) was not marked by anything unusual; yet today he has become the most famous Pharaoh of all.

In 1922, British Egyptologist Howard Carter, after several years of searching, found King Tut's tomb completely intact and full of treasures--important because all tombs Egyptian pharaohs until now had been looted over the centuries. Even though all tombs were meant to be secret, of the 60 known tombs in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, only Tutankhamen’s was left untouched.

The most famous of all the objects discovered was the legendary gold mask placed over the head of King Tut's mummy. The mask was just one of 11 layers in which the body was placed, including more masks, body wraps of gold and precious rocks, coffins of different sizes (also made of, or covered in, gold) and large gold-covered wooden shrines. Even his inner organs were kept in four compartments of a beautiful alabaster container. In addition, the body was accompanied by enormous amounts of exquisite jewellery, beds supported by animal sculptures, chairs, boats, chariots, other assorted goods intended to be used by King Tut in his next life.

Day 3: Bahariya Oasis

Today we follow in the footsteps of kings, visiting the temples of Amasis and Alexander the Great. Bahariya also holds another well-kept secret – the tomb of Benantui with scenes of heaven and hell.

Day 4: White Desert

In the morning head out on a travel day to the White Desert, arriving in time for sunset over this fascinating place, where wind has eroded the limestone rocks into extraordinary shapes. Set up camp for a night under the starry desert sky.

Day 5: Dakhla Oasis

This morning take a gentle stroll through the walled gardens of Farafra Oasis. Venturing farther south to Dakhla Oasis, our first stop is at the perfectly preserved village of El-Qasr. Nearby, the great temple of Deir el-Haggar and the ruined town at Amheida testify to the area’s Roman history. Overnight at our local oasis hotel.

Day 6: Dakhla Oasis

Explore the vast wealth of archaeological sites from all periods found in Dakhla Oasis, including the Old Kingdom tombs at Qila el-Dabba and the associated town ruins of Ain Asil. Overnight at our local oasis hotel.

Day 7: Nubian Desert

Today we leave the oases behind and head into the Nubian Desert. Our destination is the remarkable prehistoric site of Nabta Playa, where thousands of years ago the desert supported a thriving community of cattle-herders. Their stone monuments – including an astronomical clock – speak of an advanced culture, foreshadowing the pharaonic civilisation. Camp overnight under the starry desert sky.
Day 8: Abu Simbel

Start out early for a long travel day to the Temples of Abu Simbel on the shores of Lake Nasser, doubtless designed to impress ancient travellers. Arrive in the late afternoon, with a chance to see this fascinating temple at night.

Part of the Nubian Monuments UNESCO World Heritage Site, which stretches all the way to Philae (where we head in a couple of days), the twin temples of Abu Simbel were originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II in the 13th century BC, to commemorate his alleged victory at the Battle of Kadesh, as well as to impress and intimidate his Nubian neighbours. The complex was relocated in its entirety in the 1960s, to an artificial hill made from a domed structure, to avoid their being submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser, formed after the building of the Aswan dam on the Nile River.

Day 9: Aswan

Morning visit to Abu Simbel, with its Great Temple—one of the most beautiful in Egypt. Our mission today is to find the quarries that supplied the pharaohs with diorite – a hard stone particularly favoured for statuary. Drive through the desert towards the Nile valley, arriving in the afternoon at the jewel of the Nile, Aswan.

Day 10: Aswan

This morning join an excursion to Philae temple, on the attractive island of Agilkai. Return to charming Aswan via the massive Unfinished Obelisk.

Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis and constructed during the third century B.C., was one of the last bastions of ancient Egyptian religion and hieroglyphic usage. In 1977 the entire temple was actually dismantled and reassembled on nearby Agilkai Island; its original home was on Philae Island, a now nonexistent island 550 metres away, which was submerged in the wake of the Aswan High Dam
Day 11: Luxor

Drive to Kom Ombo and Edfu, on either side of the Nile River, with their imposing walls and rich array of pre-historic rock drawings. Continue to Luxor, the spectacular end to a remarkable desert adventure.

Started by Ptolemy VI Philometor in the early second century BC, the temple known as Kom Ombo actually consists of two temples: a Temple to Sobek and a Temple of Haroeris. In ancient times, sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the river bank near here. Not much remains of the original temple, due first to the changing Nile, then the Copts who once used it as a church, and finally by builders who used the stones for new buildings. Edfu is considered one of the best-preserved cult temples in Egypt.
Day 12: Luxor-Cairo

Today start with a tour of the Valley of the Kings, including the Western Valley tomb of Ay. Next, visit the chapel of Ramose and other tombs in the Valley of the Nobles, ending the morning with the Colossi of Memnon. Night train to Cairo

The Colossi of Memnon are two massive stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. For the past 3400 years they have stood in the Theban necropolis, across the River Nile from the modern city of Luxor. The original function of the Colossi was to stand guard at the entrance to Amenhotep's mortuary temple: a massive cult centre built during the pharaoh's lifetime, where he was worshipped as a god-on-earth, both before and after his death. In its day, this temple complex was the largest and most opulent in Egypt.
Day 13: Depart Cario

You are free to depart at any time on Day 13, after arriving at the train station.

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