Ten days with five nights in Cairo and a four-night five-star Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan, plus Abu Simbel and private guides throughout.
A representative meets you at Cairo International Airport, helps with the arrival formalities and drives you to your hotel in a private, air-conditioned vehicle.
Out to the Giza Plateau after breakfast with your private Egyptologist for the pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinos, the Sphinx and the Valley Temple. The day then moves south to Saqqara and the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest known stone structure of its kind, which is where the whole idea of the pyramid began.
A day given to collections. The Grand Egyptian Museum comes first, then the older Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square, between them holding statues, mummies and objects spanning thousands of years. Lunch is at a nearby restaurant before you return to the hotel.
A transfer to Cairo Airport and the flight to Luxor, where you board the cruise that will be your hotel for the next four nights. After lunch on board you visit the East Bank with your guide: Karnak first, then Luxor Temple.
Across the river after breakfast for the Valley of the Kings and the royal tombs cut into the hillside, then the Temple of Hatshepsut against its cliff face, and the Colossi of Memnon. Back on board for lunch, and the boat sails towards Edfu through the afternoon.
A horse-drawn carriage takes you to the Temple of Horus at Edfu, one of the best-preserved temples in the country. You return to the boat for lunch as it sails to Kom Ombo, where the afternoon is spent at the twin temple shared between Sobek and Horus, before continuing towards Aswan.
A last breakfast on board before disembarking. You visit the Temple of Philae on Agilika Island, built for Isis, then the Aswan High Dam, the piece of modern engineering that made the temple's rescue necessary in the first place.
An early start for the short flight from Aswan to Abu Simbel, where Ramses II had two temples cut straight into the sandstone cliffs — one for himself, one for his queen Nefertari. They are among the most extraordinary things in Egypt. You fly on to Cairo afterwards.
Your last full day covers the medieval city: the Citadel and the Mohamed Ali Mosque above the rooftops, then Coptic Cairo with its ancient churches, finishing among the stalls and coffee houses of Khan El Khalili.
Breakfast at the hotel, then a transfer to Cairo International Airport for your departure.