Escorted Tour in Cairo

Nile in Style 9 days/8 nights

Effective Dates: 12/31/11-01/06/13

Itinerary:

Day 1:

-Arrival: Arrival Cairo, meet & assist at Cairo International airport by our professional American Express Travel Representative, who will assist you with, luggage, customs and visa if needed.
-Transfer: Transfer in deluxe air-conditioned coaches to your hotel in Cairo.
-Check-in: Arrive at your 5-star hotel.
-Overnight: at hotel.

Day 2:

-Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at hotel. -Meet your Egyptologist guide in the hotel lobby and start your guided tour to visit Memphis, Sakkara & Pyramids.
-Memphis: The oldest capital of Egypt; was built by King Menes, and lays 24 km southwest of Cairo. The colossal statue of Ramses II is exhibited in the museum. This is the most beautiful representation of Ramses II.
-Sakkara: Is the oldest Ancient Egyptian cemetery. It lies on a desert plateau, southwest of Cairo. Above rises the Step-Pyramid and mortuary compound, built by the engineer lmhotep for King Zoser.
-Lunch: Set-menu lunch will be served at local restaurant.
-Pyramids: Today you will take an unforgettable tour of the great Pyramids of Giza. The only present day survivors of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, they are among the world's greatest tourist attract- tions and never lose their ability to inspire and overwhelm visitors.
-Sphinx: Enter the temple of the mysterious Sphinx, an ancient figure shrouded in legend and mystery. Your Egyptologist will enthrall you with the tales told of this fascinating figure.
-Transfer: back to hotel.
-Overnight: at hotel.

Day 3:

-Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at hotel and check-out. -Meet your representative at the hotel lobby and transfer to Cairo Airport to board your flight to Aswan.
-Aswan: Arrive Aswan airport, meet & assist upon arrival.

Optional Tour to Abu Simbel:

-Flight: Board your short flight to Abu Simbel.
-Abu Simbel: The two temples of Ramses II at Abu Simbel are each fronted by colossal statues up to 20 meters high, and are famed as the most impressive monuments remaining of Ancient Egypt in modern times. Recently the temples were threatened by the waters of Lake Nasser, and with the help of a UNESCO campaign they were cut into blocks, raised piece-by-piece, and reassembled in a new position higher up the hillside.
-Flight: Board your flight Aswan.

-Board your 5-Star deluxe Nile Vessel.
-Check in: Check in on board the cruise before lunch.
-Lunch on board: Buffet lunch will be served at the main restaurant.
-Agha Khan Mausoleum: Sail by felucca around Kitchener's Island and the Agha Khan Mausoleum.
-Afternoon tea.
-Dinner: Dinner will be served at the main restaurant.
-Overnight: on board the cruise in Aswan.

Day 4:

-Breakfast: Buffet breakfast on board.
-High Dam: This morning, your Egyptologist guide will escort you to visit the Aswan High Dam, Egypt's contemporary example of building on a monumental scale.
-Philae Temple: Take a short motorboat ride to visit the romantic and majestic Philae Temple on the Island of Agilka.
-Unfinished Obelisk: Next we proceed to the Granite Quarries, which supplied the ancient Egyptians with most of the hard stone used in pyramids and temples, and still hold a huge unfinished obelisk. -Sail to Kom Ombo during lunch.
-Kom Ombo Temple: Visit the Temple of Kom Ombo, dedicated to the crocodile-god Sobek. The temple stands at a bend in the Nile where in ancient times sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the riverbank.
-Sail to Edfu.
-Afternoon tea.
-Dinner: Dinner will be served on board.
-Overnight: on board.

Day 5:

-Breakfast: Buffet breakfast on board.
-Edfu Temple: This morning, explore the largest and most completely preserved Pharaonic - albeit Greek-built - temple in Egypt, the extraordinary Temple of Horus at Edfu.
-Lunch on board: Will be served on board.
-Sail to Luxor.
-Afternoon tea.
-Dinner & Galabiya Party: Dinner will be served at the main restaurant followed by Galabiya Party with a chance for all guests to dress up in the traditional Egyptian costumes.
-Overnight: On board the cruise in Luxor.

Day 6:

-Breakfast: Buffet breakfast on board.
-Valley of the Kings: Begin your day with a visit to the West Bank of Luxor to explore the Valley of the Kings, a vast City of the Dead where mag- nificent tombs were carved into the desert rocks, decorated richly, and filled with treasures for the afterlife by generations of Pharaohs.
-Hatshepsut Temple & Colossi of Memnon: Rising out of the desert plain in a series of terraces, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Ancient Egypt's only female Pharaoh) merges with the sheer limestone cliffs that surround it, as if nature herself had built this extraordinary monument. -On the way back to the river Nile, your road passes by the famed Colossi of Memnon, known in Ancient Greek times for their haunting voices at dawn. -On the way back to the river Nile, your road passes by the famed Colossi of Memnon, known in Ancient Greek times for their haunting voices at dawn.
-Lunch on board.
-Free afternoon.
-Dinner: Dinner will be served on board.
-Overnight: on board.

Day 7:

-Breakfast: Buffet breakfast on board and check-out.
-Karnak Temple: Built over a period of two millennia by generations of Pharaohs, the 62 acre Temple of Karnak was dedicated to the God Amun. It could take days to explore all of the numerous pylons, obelisks and smaller temples within.
-Luxor Temple: Proceed to the Temple of Luxor, once connected to Karnak via the Avenue of Human- headed Sphinxes, almost 3 kilometers in length.
-Transfer: Transfer in modern air-conditioned vehicle to Luxor airport.
-Cairo: Arrive Cairo Airport, meet & assist by your representative who will transfer you to your hotel in Cairo
-Overnight: at hotel.

Day 8:

-Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at hotel.
-Meet your Egyptologist guide in the hotel lobby and start your guided tour to visit Egyptian Museum, Citadel & Khan El Khalili bazaar. -Half day City Tour Museum: Your Egyptologist guide will meet you at your hotel to guide you today on a fascinating tour to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. The Museum houses the world's greatest collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts, including 12 rooms filled with golden treasures from the world famous tomb of the boy king Tutankhamen.
-Lunch: will be served at local restaurant.
-Half day Islamic Cairo: Your Egyptologist guide will meet you at your hotel to guide you today a fascinating maze of little streets, filled with numerous old monuments and mosques from Cairo's Islamic past. Saladin's Citadel, the impressive 19th century Mosque of Mohammed Ali, and the oldest university in the world, are some of its more notable sights.
-Return back to hotel.
-Overnight: at hotel.

Day 9:

-Breakfast: Buffet breakfast at your hotel and check-out.
-Meet your representative at the hotel lobby and transfer to Cairo Airport to board your flight back home.
-BON VOYAGE!