9-Day Egypt Tours for Families: Nile Cruise, Cairo, Luxor and Aswan

Your Egypt tours for families begin in Cairo. Your private representative meets you inside the airport, helps you through passport control, baggage claim and customs, and takes you to a hotel overlooking the Nile.

Begin at the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest museum in the world for a single civilization, and see the golden mask of Tutankhamun. After lunch at a local restaurant, visit the Giza Pyramids and ride a camel out into the desert for a view of the monuments from a distance, then stand in front of the Sphinx. Dinner is included at a local restaurant selected for you.

Visit Saqqara, the burial ground of ancient Memphis and home of the Step Pyramid, the first large stone structure ever built. Go inside a pyramid to see hieroglyphs carved on its walls, and visit three lesser-seen tombs with vivid painted reliefs: Mehu, the Butchers and the Two Brothers. After lunch, see the Mosque of Ibn Tulun and climb its minaret for a view of the old city, then walk Al-Muizz Street and the alleys of the Khan el-Khalili bazaar.

Take an early flight to Luxor and visit Karnak, the largest religious complex ever built for a god, including two quiet corners rarely seen by travelers: the Opet temple and the temple of Khonsu. Then visit Luxor Temple, largely built by Ramses II, and check in to your Nile cruise boat for the night.

Visit the Valley of the Kings, with entry to the tomb of Tutankhamun and the tomb of Ramses VI included. Then see the lesser-known painted tombs of Roy and Shuroy at Dra Abu el-Naga, the temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon. After lunch the boat sets sail south toward Edfu.

A horse-drawn carriage takes you to the temple of Horus at Edfu, one of the best-preserved temples of the ancient world. Sail on to Kom Ombo, a temple shared by the crocodile god and the falcon god, and visit the museum of mummified crocodiles.

After breakfast, drive about three hours to Abu Simbel, two rock-cut temples on the southern frontier built for Ramses II and his wife Nefertari, guarded by colossal statues more than 3,200 years old. Return to Aswan for lunch on board, then walk across Elephantine Island to see Nubian village life. The day ends on a felucca sailing the Nile at sunset, with a glass of sparkling wine for the adults.

Leave the cruise after breakfast and visit Philae, the island temple of Isis. In the afternoon fly to Cairo and spend the last night in a hotel by the airport.

After breakfast, walk to the international terminal for your flight home.