ARRIVAL IN CAIRO, EGYPT (D)

Upon arrival today at Cairo airport, you'll meet the TrailFinders representative and transfer to the hotel located downtown on the island in the centre of the Nile.

The tour leader will be there to assist with the check-in today.

No formal activities are planned for today other than a short orientation session which the tour leader will hold at the hotel this evening.

For those who would prefer to arrive prior to the first day of the tour, we can arrange one or more extra nights at the starting hotel according to your wishes. We would be pleased to discuss details of the various options available.

For those of you who have arrived early in Cairo, this day will be completely free until the evening session.

Cairo, Egypt’s chaotic, noisy, unpredictable capital city boasts a population of more than 16 million people. Situated on the Nile, it’s famous for its incredible history, well-preserved in the medieval Islamic city, in Coptic Cairo, in Giza (the pyramids and Sphinx) and in the Egyptian Museum. Visitors to Cairo have marvelled at its antiquities for thousands of years, but Cairo is about more than just the past – it’s also home to a vibrant and modern society. Mud-brick houses lean up against modern office buildings, flashy cars crowd donkey-drawn carts. Cairo’s inhabitants cope well with these contrasts and are not driven by the Western obsession to update and upgrade, possibly because they live in such close proximity to centuries of history.

Join the tour leader at the hotel before dinner for a casual happy hour and a short orientation to Egypt. Afterwards, we'll enjoy a welcome dinner together.

Overnight at the Cairo Marriott.

CAIRO (B, L)

Breakfast at the hotel.

This morning we depart for a full day of sightseeing. We visit the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Old Cairo and the ancient Khan al Khalili Bazaar.

The biggest single attraction within the city center for visitors is the Egyptian Museum. The sprawling building is unceremoniously packed with antiquities; mummies including the pharaohs Ramses II and III and Seti I, the contents of the tomb of Tutankhamen and thousands of other highlights from the oldest of civilizations including an excellent collection of Greek and Roman artefacts.

Old Cairo is a wonderful part of the city that contains the remnants of cities which were capitals before Cairo as well as some other elements from the city's varied history including Coptic Cairo with its ruins of Roman fortifications, the Coptic Museum, Babylon Fortress, the Hanging Church and other Coptic churches, the Ben Ezra Synagogue and the Mosque of Amr ibn al-'As.

Khan al-Khalili is a major souk in the Old City and a historic landmark. The souk dates back to 1382, when an Emir built a large caravanserai in Cairo in order to repair the city walls after major damages due to the plague. The souq is noted for selling good-quality clothing, cloth, spices, souvenirs, traditional jewelry and perfumes at reasonable prices. In addition to shops, there are several small and traditional coffeehouses serving Arabic coffee and offering shisha.

At an appropriate time today we will have lunch at a local restaurant.

We return to the hotel in the late afternoon. Join us for happy hour if you wish.

Free for dinner.

Overnight at the Cairo Marriott.

CAIRO - GIZA - CAIRO (B, L)

Breakfast at the hotel.

This morning we visit Giza to see the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx.

The Giza Necropolis stands on the Giza Plateau on the outskirts of Cairo near the town of Giza, southwest of city centre. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only remaining monument of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Ancient World’.

The Great Sphinx is a half-human, half-lion statue located just to the east of the pyramids. The earliest and largest monolith statue in the world, it stands 73.5 metres long, 6 m wide and 20 m high. It is commonly believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians in the 3rd millennium BC.

Lunch today will be at the atmospheric Khan El Khalili café at the Mena House hotel.

After lunch we'll visit the interesting Papyrus museum for a demonstration of the ancient art of producing and painting this famous material.

Remainder of the afternoon is free. Join us for happy hour if you wish.

Free for dinner.

Overnight at the Cairo Marriott.

CAIRO (B, D)

Breakfast at the hotel.

You can relax a bit this morning and enjoy the hotel or perhaps go out for a morning walk in the pleasant streets in the surrounding area of Zamalek. A wonderful afternoon is planned as we visit interesting parts of old Cairo.

We begin among the fortifications and mosques of the famous Citadel, a monument to medieval warfare and one of the most visible landmarks on Cairo's eastern skyline. Our visit will include El Sultan Hassan mosque, one of the masterpieces of Mamluk architecture completed in 1363. The mosque was constructed from the casing stones of the Giza pyramids. The entrance portal, the burial chamber, and the monumental staircase are particularly noteworthy. Verses from the Quran in elegant Kufic and Thuluth scripts adorn the inner walls. The mosque is featured on the Egyptian one-hundred pound note.

From here we proceed to Cairo’s El Moez Street.

Late in the afternoon we visit nearby Al Azhar Park which offers stunning panoramic views of the world's most intriguing city. The park’s lush, green landscaped gardens are an enjoyable sojourn away from the noise of the busy city. The park is home to the newly discovered Ayyubid wall, constructed by Salah El Din more than 800 years ago. The views are stunning as twilight approaches and the lights of the city begin to come on.

We'll have dinner in the park restaurant this evening.

Overnight at the Cairo Marriott.

CAIRO - LUXOR (B, D)

Breakfast at the hotel.

Today we check out of our hotel and transfer to the Cairo airport in time for our flight to Upper Egypt.

Luxor, with a population of about 376,000, is the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes and contains the ruins of the Karnak and Luxor temple complexes which stand within the modern city. Across the Nile River from the city lie the spectacular monuments, temples and tombs on the West Bank Necropolis which includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens.

Today we will visit the famous Temple of Karnak.

Home of Amun Ra, king of the gods, Karnak is like a theme park of ancient Egyptian religion - in which every god and goddess of that civilisation was represented over a period of about 2,000 years, with Amun at their head. It is a vast collection of shrines, added to by pharaohs right down to the time of Alexander the Great. The huge columned hall at its heart is so big you could fit both London's St Pauls and Rome's St Peters into it. As well as great size, Karnak has tremendous grandeur - and a huge labyrinth to get lost in.

As well, we'll climb aboard horse-drawn caleches and take a leisurely ride through the back streets of Luxor City to see how the local people live.

Afterwards, we'll return to the hotel for dinner.

Overnight at the Sonesta St. George Hotel.

LUXOR - NILE CRUISE (B, L, D) 

Breakfast at the hotel.

Today we spend the morning visiting the primary sites of the amazing West Bank of the Nile; the famous Valley of the Kings, the terrace temple of Hatshepsut and the Memnon Colossus.

The Valley of the Kings is the most famous necropolis on earth. The area is where the later pharaohs were buried in the hope of avoiding the attentions of tomb robbers. It was here that, back in 1922, the unplundered tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun was discovered by the British archaeologist Howard Carter. The tomb was a treasure trove, filled with statues, works of art, beds and furniture - much of which you have already seen in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Some of the big tombs in the valley are staggering in their size and decoration but most tombs have no more than ten or twelve chambers and corridors. We will have an opportunity to visit three of these tombs this morning.

Around noon we'll check in to our cruise cabins on the beautiful MS Monaco, our home for the next four nights. During the cruise all visits to important monuments are included as well as local transfers, Egyptologist guides, all meals, accommodation and entertainment.

After lunch on board there will be time for you to unpack and get organized.

Dinner and overnight on board MS Monaco.

NILE CRUISE (B, L, D)

Breakfast on board.

This morning we disembark and walk over to the famous Luxor Temple for a guided visit of this beautiful and interesting site.

Luxor Temple, with its 4,000 years of history, is right in the middle of town. It was built by two of the most famous Egyptian pharaohs - Amenhopis III, a magnificent patron of the arts whose 40-year reign was one of the peaks of Egyptian power, and Ramesses II, sometimes called the 'great builder'. The temple was dedicated to Amun, the king of the gods. It survived as a temple under the Greeks and the Romans and later became a Christian church - and now a Muslim mosque still nestles among its colonnades.

Around noon today we set sail southbound toward Aswan. Lunch on board.

The rest of the day is a leisurely one spent cruising the Nile and taking in the sights and sounds of the settlements along the banks of this amazing river.

Dinner and overnight on board MS Monaco.

NILE CRUISE (B, L, D)

Breakfast on board.

Edfu is the site of the great temple of the Royal Falcon God, Horus. This morning we visit the temple which was built between 237 and 57 BC, into the reign of Cleopatra VII. It is one of the best preserved temples in all of Upper Egypt.

Lunch and tea on board as we continue down the Nile.

This afternoon we arrive in Kom Ombo, an agricultural town on the shore of the Nile about 50 km north of Aswan. The town was originally an Egyptian settlement called Nubt which became a Greek settlement during the Greco-Roman Period. The town's location gave it some control over trade routes from Nubia to the Nile Valley but its main rise to prominence came with the erection of the temple in the 2nd century BC. We visit the temple this evening.

The Temple of Kom Ombo is an unusual double temple built during the Ptolemaic dynasty. One side of the temple is dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world. The other side is dedicated to the falcon god Horus the Elder. The temple is atypical because everything is perfectly symmetrical along the main axis.

After seeing the temple, we set sail for Aswan.

Happy hour, dinner and overnight on board MS Monaco.

NILE CRUISE (B, L, D)

Breakfast on board.

This morning we visit the magnificent High Dam with views of Lake Nasser and also visit Philae Temple.

Lake Nasser is a vast reservoir in southern Egypt and Northern Sudan. It was created as a result of the construction of the Aswan High Dam across the Nile between 1958 and 1970. The lake is named after President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who initiated the controversial project and is 550 km long and 35 km across at its widest point. It has a storage capacity of about 157 cubic kilometres of water.

When Lake Nasser was being created, the anticipated rising waters behind the dam required major relocation projects that were carried out during the 1960s. Many important Nubian and Ancient Egyptian archaeological sites were dismantled block by block and moved to higher ground. Two of the most notable of these were Philae Temple, which we visit today, and Abu Simbel, which we visit tomorrow.

Lunch on board at an appropriate time.

This afternoon we board a felucca and sail leisurely along the Nile passing  the Agha Khan Mausoleum. We'll make a stop at the botanical gardens on Kitchener’s Island.

Happy hour, dinner and overnight on board MS Monaco in Aswan.

ASWAN - ABU SIMBEL - ASWAN (B)

Breakfast on board.

Today we disembark from the MS Monaco for an early morning flight to Abu Simbel.

Abu Simbel is an archaeological site comprising two massive rock temples on the western bank of Lake Nasser about 290 km southwest of Aswan. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Nubian Monuments" which run from Abu Simbel downriver to Philae. The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself and his queen, Nefertari, to commemorate his alleged victory at the Battle of Kadesh and to intimidate his Nubian neighbours. The complex was relocated in its entirety in the 1960s on an artificial hill, high above the Aswan dam reservoir.

After a tour of this magnificent site we take the return flight to Aswan and upon arrival we transfer to our hotel. The remainder of the afternoon is free for exploring more of the town of Aswan at your leisure or for relaxing at the hotel.

Join us for happy hour if you wish. Free for dinner.

Overnight at the Movenpick Aswan Hotel.

ASWAN - CAIRO (B, D)

After breakfast at the hotel we transfer to the airport for our flight to Cairo.

Upon arrival, we transfer back to our hotel for our final night in Egypt.

Due to the potential scheduling irregularities of Egypt Air, we are not planning any activities for the rest of today and remain as flexible as possible. Bring a good book.

Tonight we get together for happy hour and farewell dinner.

Overnight at the Cairo Marriott.

CAIRO – HOME (B)

Breakfast at the hotel.

At an appropriate time today we transfer to the airport to board our flight home.