Eight days over Christmas, with three nights in Cairo and four on a five-star boat from Luxor to Aswan, ending at Abu Simbel.
You are met at Cairo International Airport, walked through the arrival formalities and driven to your hotel in a private air-conditioned vehicle. The rest of the day is free.
The Giza Plateau after breakfast, for the Great Pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinos and the Sphinx, which in the low winter light photographs better than at any other time of year. The Valley Temple beside it is where the royal purification rites were carried out. In the afternoon, the Grand Egyptian Museum, which now holds the complete Tutankhamun collection together for the first time since it was found. Lunch at a local restaurant in between.
A flight to Luxor after breakfast. Your guide takes you round the East Bank: the Karnak Temple Complex, built for Amun-Ra and added to for the better part of two thousand years, and then Luxor Temple, which is at its best under lights. You board the cruise afterwards and dine on board.
Breakfast on board, then across to the West Bank. The Valley of the Kings first, where Tutankhamun and many others were buried in tombs cut into the rock, then the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, terraced into the cliffs of Deir El-Bahari, and finally the Colossi of Memnon. Lunch back on the boat as it sails south towards Edfu.
A horse-drawn carriage up to the Temple of Horus at Edfu, one of the best-preserved temples in the country and dedicated to the falcon-headed god. The boat then sails to Kom Ombo, whose temple is shared between Sobek the crocodile god and Haroeris the falcon god, with an identical half for each. The evening on board, with the decorations up.
A guided morning around Aswan. Philae Temple comes first, moved stone by stone to Agilkia Island when the dam raised the water, and still dedicated to Isis. The High Dam follows, which is the structure that made the move necessary. The afternoon is free, and the sun deck in December is the pleasantest place on the river.
An early start and a private vehicle south to Abu Simbel, where Ramses II had two temples cut into the mountainside, one for himself and one for Queen Nefertari. The scale and the symmetry of them are hard to prepare for. You transfer to Aswan Airport afterwards for the flight to Cairo and your last night.
A last breakfast in Egypt, then a private transfer to Cairo International Airport for your flight home.