Small Group Egypt Tour: 12-Day Dahabiya Nile Cruise

Welcome to Egypt. You are met on arrival and driven privately to the Kempinski Nile Hotel, the five-star riverside hotel in Garden City, on the banks of the Nile. Many rooms overlook the Nile. Settle in after your flight, with dinner at the hotel and your Egyptologist on hand.

Begin at Dahshur with the Red and Bent Pyramids of King Sneferu, two steps in the story of how the true pyramid was perfected, and step inside the Red Pyramid. Continue to Saqqara for the Imhotep Museum, the Step Pyramid of Djoser and the carved tombs of Kagemni and Unas. Lunch is served at a garden restaurant near the necropolis, before a relaxed afternoon at the hotel.

Visit the Giza Plateau with your Egyptologist guide, then continue to the panoramic viewpoint and enjoy lunch with a view across all nine pyramids of Giza. The afternoon is at leisure, while your Egyptologist shares the story of how the pyramids were built and aligned.

Spend a full, unhurried day at the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest museum in the world devoted to a single civilisation. Climb the Grand Staircase lined with royal statues, then linger in the Tutankhamun galleries, where more than five thousand objects are shown together for the first time. End with the restored Khufu Solar Boat. Lunch is at the museum, with dinner at the hotel.

Take a morning flight to Luxor and begin at Karnak, the largest temple complex ever built, with the Great Hypostyle Hall and its 134 columns. Board your dahabiya, a traditional two-masted sailing boat with only a handful of cabins, and settle in over lunch on the open deck. Visit Luxor Temple as its colonnades are lit, then dine on board beneath the stars.

Cross to the West Bank for the Valley of the Kings, entering royal tombs painted with scenes of the journey through the afterlife, then the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon. Return to the dahabiya for lunch as the sails are raised and you glide south towards Esna. Enjoy a candlelight dinner at the Esna Lock as the river traffic passes by.

Visit the Temple of Horus at Edfu, the best preserved temple in Egypt, its roof and towering pylon still intact. Back on board, spend the afternoon sailing past Gebel el-Silsila, the ancient sandstone quarries whose cliffs are carved with shrines and inscriptions. The dahabiya moors at a quiet bank for the night, far from the large cruise ships, with lunch and dinner served on deck.

Visit Kom Ombo, a rare double temple shared by Sobek the crocodile god and Haroeris the falcon god, beside its small Crocodile Museum. Continue sailing to a quiet Nile island for a relaxed lunch ashore, then set sail again towards Aswan through palm groves and granite hills. Dinner is served on board as you arrive, with the lights of Aswan reflecting across the water.

A private drive takes you south across the desert to Abu Simbel, where Ramses II carved his great temple, and a smaller one for Queen Nefertari, into the mountainside. Both were moved block by block in the 1960s to save them from Lake Nasser. Return to Aswan in the afternoon for a final dinner aboard your dahabiya. The drive takes about three and a half hours each way.

Leave the dahabiya after breakfast and take a short boat ride to the island Temple of Philae, dedicated to Isis. Enjoy lunch in a Nubian home, then visit the Unfinished Obelisk, still lying in its granite quarry. In the late afternoon, fly to Cairo, where your guide meets you at the airport and takes you to the Waldorf Astoria Cairo Heliopolis.

Visit the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization and its Royal Mummies Hall, then the great mosques of Sultan Hassan and Al-Rifai. Walk the medieval Al-Muizz Street, lined with mosques, fountains and palaces, and pause for coffee at the Naguib Mahfouz Cafe. End in the lanes of Khan el-Khalili before a farewell dinner celebrating your journey on the Nile.

A last breakfast by the Nile closes one of our signature Egypt private tours. Take your time over a final coffee overlooking the river, or a last walk along the Corniche if your flight leaves later in the day. A private transfer takes you to Cairo International Airport, where our team assists you through check-in and security. We hope to welcome you back to Egypt soon.