Wonders of Egypt River Cruise
Deal number 31098262
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Egypt
9-day cruise
Earn points on every booking with Travel Associates*
What's Included
- 9 day Trafalgar River Cruise departing Cairo.
- 8 nights accommodation.
- 17 meals (8 Breakfasts, 4 Lunches, 1 Afternoon Tea and 4 Dinners).
- The service of a dedicated Travel Advisor managing your booking.
- Earn & Redeem Points on all travel with our new loyalty program, World360 Rewards*
Trip Highlights:.
- Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx – Discover Egypt’s most iconic monuments with an Egyptologist, including a visit inside a pyramid.
- Valley of the Kings – Explore the ancient burial ground of Egypt’s pharaohs, where Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered.
- Sailing the Nile by felucca – Glide along the river aboard a traditional wooden sailing boat with a local sailor.
- Karnak Temple complex – Walk the avenue of ram-headed sphinxes and discover its vast temples, chapels and towering gateways.
- Cairo’s Egyptian Museum and Citadel – See treasures recovered from pharaohs’ tombs, then enjoy sweeping views across Cairo from the Citadel.
Itinerary
Cairo, Luxor and Aswan: Egypt in Full
Your nine days in Egypt begin in Karnak, where ram-headed sphinxes line your walk through a vast complex of temples, chapels and pylons. You'll cross the desert by luxury coach to the Valley of the Kings, where Tutankhamun was buried beneath the rock. On the Nile, a wooden felucca's billowing sails catch the breeze and a local sailor shares the traditional practices used to navigate the river. In Cairo, your Egyptologist Travel Director guides you among treasures recovered from pharaohs’ tombs, then up to the Citadel. At Giza, you'll pass the Sphinx and enter a pyramid through narrow passages of cool ancient stone towards the inner chamber. Wonders of Egypt
Day 1 Arrive in Cairo and Meet Your Group
From the moment you arrive in Cairo, the Nile threads between date palms and ochre rooftops, while the scent of warm bread and aromatic spices drifts through the streets and the desert stretches beyond the city. After your transfer, you can unwind at the hotel and explore its elegant amenities. Over a drink, you'll meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers, exchanging names before glasses rise in a toast to Egypt. Hotel: Cairo Marriott & Omar Khayyam Casino
OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES:
National Museum of Egyptian Civilization - Designed for travellers with extra nights in Cairo before or after the trip, or if a flight arrives before midday on Day 1. Travel to Old Cairo to visit the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC), where 22 royal mummies and more than 1,500 artefacts are on display. Exhibitions trace Egypt’s story from the predynastic era through the pharaonic, Roman and Coptic periods to the present day, showing how successive civilisations have shaped the country’s history.
* This Optional Experience is designed for guests that have a pre/post-night booked. It must also be booked in advance.
Day 2 Explore Karnak and Board Your Nile Cruise
Flying south with your Travel Director, you'll arrive in Luxor and enter Karnak between ram-headed sphinxes, their carved faces lining the avenue into the temple complex. In the Hypostyle Hall, papyrus-shaped columns rise in every direction, their sandstone surfaces dense with hieroglyphs and faint traces of ancient colour. Light slips through the open roof and catches the raised edges of gods, pharaohs and papyrus blooms. After settling into your cruise ship, your home for four nights, you'll share lunch on board before visiting the Luxor Museum. Carefully lit statues of kings and gods meet your gaze before you pause at two royal mummies, preserved across millennia. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Hotel: MS Medea or MS Miriam (or similar)
OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES:
Sound and Light Show at Karnak Temple - Listen to voices of ancient kings, queens and gods as they share stories about the places you’ll see in the Temple during a walking tour, followed by a show around the Divine Lake. This show is operated in Karnak Temple in Luxor during the evening, lasting for just under an hour.
Day 3 Luxor to Edfu: Tombs and Temples
Across the Nile’s west bank, you'll leave the river behind for pale cliffs, open desert and the immense seated forms of the Colossi of Memnon. Hatshepsut’s temple rises in long terraces against the rock, while in the Valley of the Kings you'll enter cool, dry chambers painted with gods, stars and royal figures, cut deep into the hills for rulers including Tutankhamun. In Geziret Bahirat, you tear bread with the Bahirat family and listen to their tales of village life. At Luxor Temple, colossal statues and carved processions fill the stone unearthed by Mariette in the 1860s. Back on board, the ship eases into Esna Lock, water pressing softly against the hull as the gates close and the vessel rises towards Edfu for the night. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Hotel: MS Medea or MS Miriam (or similar)
Day 4 Discover Kom Ombo’s Double Temple Design
Early light catches Kom Ombo’s sandstone temple as you sail towards its distinctive double design. Inside, two entrances open into parallel passages, columned halls and twin sanctuaries, one for Sobek, the crocodile god, and one for Horus the Elder, the falcon god. Back on board, you can choose between two experiences: hear the pan sizzle as rich aromas fill the room during an Egyptian cooking demonstration, or cradle a glass of hot tea with the Captain while the river slides past the deck. By evening, jewel-toned galabeyas sweep through the dining room as you share an Egyptian-themed dinner, with warm dishes on the table as the sun sets over the Nile. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Hotel: MS Medea or MS Miriam (or similar)
Day 5 Lake Nasser to Philae: Aswan in Full
At Aswan’s High Dam, you pause above the vast blue of Lake Nasser before entering the granite quarries, where the unfinished obelisk lies bound to the bedrock, its immense shaft never released from the stone. You'll cross the water by motorboat to Philae, the engine humming as the Temple of Isis waits ahead. Inside, lotus-topped columns border shadowed courtyards and reliefs of the goddess are cut into the walls of one of the final temples built in the classical Egyptian style. Later, a felucca’s canvas sail billows overhead and its timber mast creaks softly as a local sailor shares the practices used to read the wind and navigate the Nile. At the historic Old Cataract Hotel, fragrant steam rises from freshly poured tea while the buttery sweetness of pastries hangs in the air. Sir Winston Churchill once stayed here, while Agatha Christie is said to have written part of Death on the Nile within its walls. After dark, you'll return by boat to Philae, as gold and cobalt light colour the pylons and quiver in the water below. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon Tea, Dinner Hotel: MS Medea or MS Miriam (or similar)
OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES:
Life on the Nile - A chance to get up close with the wildlife of the world’s most famous rivers. Learn from your Local Nubian Specialist how the Nile has been the centre of life for ancient civilisations and local wildlife as you travel by boat around the islands of First Cataract. Keep an eye out for colourful native birds, different species of herons, kingfishers, sunbirds, and other wildlife that thrive in the marsh grass along the riverbanks whilst taking in the unique views of the Sahara sand dunes.
Day 6 Explore Aswan at Your Own Pace
After leaving your cruise ship, you can fly south on today’s Optional Experience to Abu Simbel, where four immense figures of Ramesses II sit above Lake Nasser, their crowns rising against the Nubian sky. You'll enter the shadowed Great Temple, cut deep into the mountain, while nearby the Temple of Hathor honours Queen Nefertari beside the pharaoh. Or remain in Aswan and follow the tart perfume of dried hibiscus through the Nubian bazaar, where crimson petals fill woven baskets beside embroidered cloth and bundles of fragrant herbs. You might spend the morning beneath the leafy canopies of the Botanical Gardens, before crossing to Elephantine Island for its Nubian villages and ancient remains or visit the white Aga Khan Mausoleum high on the west bank. You'll return to Cairo by air for the night. Meals: Breakfast Hotel: Cairo Marriott & Omar Khayyam Casino
OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES:
Abu Simbel Adventure - This four-hour excursion includes a flight to Abu Simbel, site of the Temple of Ramses II with his four great statues. You’ll also see statues of Queen Nefertari on the facade of the Temple of Hathor. Approximately 75 minutes will be spent at Abu Simbel, with the remainder will be travel time.
Day 7 Saladin’s Citadel to Tutankhamun’s Treasures
From Saladin’s Citadel, you look across Cairo from fortress walls once raised against Crusader attack. Inside the Great Alabaster Mosque, cascading domes rise above you as stained-glass windows wash the pale marble in ruby, amber and blue, with slender minarets high above the courtyard. Later, at the Grand Egyptian Museum, you'll move among ancient textiles, ornate coffins and Tutankhamun’s personal belongings, from festival earrings to a floral hair box intricately painted with papyrus, mandrake fruit, cornflowers and lotus petals. Meals: Breakfast Hotel: Cairo Marriott & Omar Khayyam Casino
OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES:
Dinner, Belly Dancing and Nile Cruise - Join us for a two hour cruise along the Nile river on a luxurious ship. You’ll be treated to dinner on board and be entertained by a captivating belly dancing show.
* During Ramadan there will be no alcohol or belly dancers.
Day 8 Egypt’s Ancient Capitals: Giza, Memphis and Saqqara
Beneath Giza’s pyramids, you feel the immense scale of the limestone before following your Egyptologist past the Sphinx and into one of the ancient tombs. Daylight thins behind you, the air cools and the passage tightens until the burial chamber opens ahead. Beyond Cairo, the colossal figure of Ramesses II rests at Memphis, while Djoser’s Step Pyramid rises at Saqqara in six pale tiers, marking the beginning of Egypt’s great age of pyramids. After monuments built for kings, you'll meet the artisans preserving a more intimate legacy during your MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience at a local weaving school, where wooden looms clack and coloured threads pull taut beneath practised hands. Later, you'll share canapés with your Travel Director and fellow travellers. Meals: Breakfast Hotel: Cairo Marriott & Omar Khayyam Casino
Day 9 Bid Farewell to Cairo and Egypt
Your time in Egypt comes to a close with a transfer to Cairo International Airport Meals: Breakfast
OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES:
Full-Day Alexandria (Designed For Those Visitors With Extra Pre- Or Post-Trip Nights In Cairo) - Visit Egypt's second city, Alexandria, where you'll see its 19th-century architecture and stop at the National Museum, the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa and Pompey's Pillar. Enjoy great views from Fort Qaitbey, and stop at the Roman Theatre with its marble seating before returning to Cairo.
* This excursion is only available to guests who have purchased extra nights in Cairo before or after their tour.
Your nine days in Egypt begin in Karnak, where ram-headed sphinxes line your walk through a vast complex of temples, chapels and pylons. You'll cross the desert by luxury coach to the Valley of the Kings, where Tutankhamun was buried beneath the rock. On the Nile, a wooden felucca's billowing sails catch the breeze and a local sailor shares the traditional practices used to navigate the river. In Cairo, your Egyptologist Travel Director guides you among treasures recovered from pharaohs’ tombs, then up to the Citadel. At Giza, you'll pass the Sphinx and enter a pyramid through narrow passages of cool ancient stone towards the inner chamber. Wonders of Egypt
Day 1 Arrive in Cairo and Meet Your Group
From the moment you arrive in Cairo, the Nile threads between date palms and ochre rooftops, while the scent of warm bread and aromatic spices drifts through the streets and the desert stretches beyond the city. After your transfer, you can unwind at the hotel and explore its elegant amenities. Over a drink, you'll meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers, exchanging names before glasses rise in a toast to Egypt. Hotel: Cairo Marriott & Omar Khayyam Casino
OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES:
National Museum of Egyptian Civilization - Designed for travellers with extra nights in Cairo before or after the trip, or if a flight arrives before midday on Day 1. Travel to Old Cairo to visit the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC), where 22 royal mummies and more than 1,500 artefacts are on display. Exhibitions trace Egypt’s story from the predynastic era through the pharaonic, Roman and Coptic periods to the present day, showing how successive civilisations have shaped the country’s history.
* This Optional Experience is designed for guests that have a pre/post-night booked. It must also be booked in advance.
Day 2 Explore Karnak and Board Your Nile Cruise
Flying south with your Travel Director, you'll arrive in Luxor and enter Karnak between ram-headed sphinxes, their carved faces lining the avenue into the temple complex. In the Hypostyle Hall, papyrus-shaped columns rise in every direction, their sandstone surfaces dense with hieroglyphs and faint traces of ancient colour. Light slips through the open roof and catches the raised edges of gods, pharaohs and papyrus blooms. After settling into your cruise ship, your home for four nights, you'll share lunch on board before visiting the Luxor Museum. Carefully lit statues of kings and gods meet your gaze before you pause at two royal mummies, preserved across millennia. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Hotel: MS Medea or MS Miriam (or similar)
OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES:
Sound and Light Show at Karnak Temple - Listen to voices of ancient kings, queens and gods as they share stories about the places you’ll see in the Temple during a walking tour, followed by a show around the Divine Lake. This show is operated in Karnak Temple in Luxor during the evening, lasting for just under an hour.
Day 3 Luxor to Edfu: Tombs and Temples
Across the Nile’s west bank, you'll leave the river behind for pale cliffs, open desert and the immense seated forms of the Colossi of Memnon. Hatshepsut’s temple rises in long terraces against the rock, while in the Valley of the Kings you'll enter cool, dry chambers painted with gods, stars and royal figures, cut deep into the hills for rulers including Tutankhamun. In Geziret Bahirat, you tear bread with the Bahirat family and listen to their tales of village life. At Luxor Temple, colossal statues and carved processions fill the stone unearthed by Mariette in the 1860s. Back on board, the ship eases into Esna Lock, water pressing softly against the hull as the gates close and the vessel rises towards Edfu for the night. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Hotel: MS Medea or MS Miriam (or similar)
Day 4 Discover Kom Ombo’s Double Temple Design
Early light catches Kom Ombo’s sandstone temple as you sail towards its distinctive double design. Inside, two entrances open into parallel passages, columned halls and twin sanctuaries, one for Sobek, the crocodile god, and one for Horus the Elder, the falcon god. Back on board, you can choose between two experiences: hear the pan sizzle as rich aromas fill the room during an Egyptian cooking demonstration, or cradle a glass of hot tea with the Captain while the river slides past the deck. By evening, jewel-toned galabeyas sweep through the dining room as you share an Egyptian-themed dinner, with warm dishes on the table as the sun sets over the Nile. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Hotel: MS Medea or MS Miriam (or similar)
Day 5 Lake Nasser to Philae: Aswan in Full
At Aswan’s High Dam, you pause above the vast blue of Lake Nasser before entering the granite quarries, where the unfinished obelisk lies bound to the bedrock, its immense shaft never released from the stone. You'll cross the water by motorboat to Philae, the engine humming as the Temple of Isis waits ahead. Inside, lotus-topped columns border shadowed courtyards and reliefs of the goddess are cut into the walls of one of the final temples built in the classical Egyptian style. Later, a felucca’s canvas sail billows overhead and its timber mast creaks softly as a local sailor shares the practices used to read the wind and navigate the Nile. At the historic Old Cataract Hotel, fragrant steam rises from freshly poured tea while the buttery sweetness of pastries hangs in the air. Sir Winston Churchill once stayed here, while Agatha Christie is said to have written part of Death on the Nile within its walls. After dark, you'll return by boat to Philae, as gold and cobalt light colour the pylons and quiver in the water below. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon Tea, Dinner Hotel: MS Medea or MS Miriam (or similar)
OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES:
Life on the Nile - A chance to get up close with the wildlife of the world’s most famous rivers. Learn from your Local Nubian Specialist how the Nile has been the centre of life for ancient civilisations and local wildlife as you travel by boat around the islands of First Cataract. Keep an eye out for colourful native birds, different species of herons, kingfishers, sunbirds, and other wildlife that thrive in the marsh grass along the riverbanks whilst taking in the unique views of the Sahara sand dunes.
Day 6 Explore Aswan at Your Own Pace
After leaving your cruise ship, you can fly south on today’s Optional Experience to Abu Simbel, where four immense figures of Ramesses II sit above Lake Nasser, their crowns rising against the Nubian sky. You'll enter the shadowed Great Temple, cut deep into the mountain, while nearby the Temple of Hathor honours Queen Nefertari beside the pharaoh. Or remain in Aswan and follow the tart perfume of dried hibiscus through the Nubian bazaar, where crimson petals fill woven baskets beside embroidered cloth and bundles of fragrant herbs. You might spend the morning beneath the leafy canopies of the Botanical Gardens, before crossing to Elephantine Island for its Nubian villages and ancient remains or visit the white Aga Khan Mausoleum high on the west bank. You'll return to Cairo by air for the night. Meals: Breakfast Hotel: Cairo Marriott & Omar Khayyam Casino
OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES:
Abu Simbel Adventure - This four-hour excursion includes a flight to Abu Simbel, site of the Temple of Ramses II with his four great statues. You’ll also see statues of Queen Nefertari on the facade of the Temple of Hathor. Approximately 75 minutes will be spent at Abu Simbel, with the remainder will be travel time.
Day 7 Saladin’s Citadel to Tutankhamun’s Treasures
From Saladin’s Citadel, you look across Cairo from fortress walls once raised against Crusader attack. Inside the Great Alabaster Mosque, cascading domes rise above you as stained-glass windows wash the pale marble in ruby, amber and blue, with slender minarets high above the courtyard. Later, at the Grand Egyptian Museum, you'll move among ancient textiles, ornate coffins and Tutankhamun’s personal belongings, from festival earrings to a floral hair box intricately painted with papyrus, mandrake fruit, cornflowers and lotus petals. Meals: Breakfast Hotel: Cairo Marriott & Omar Khayyam Casino
OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES:
Dinner, Belly Dancing and Nile Cruise - Join us for a two hour cruise along the Nile river on a luxurious ship. You’ll be treated to dinner on board and be entertained by a captivating belly dancing show.
* During Ramadan there will be no alcohol or belly dancers.
Day 8 Egypt’s Ancient Capitals: Giza, Memphis and Saqqara
Beneath Giza’s pyramids, you feel the immense scale of the limestone before following your Egyptologist past the Sphinx and into one of the ancient tombs. Daylight thins behind you, the air cools and the passage tightens until the burial chamber opens ahead. Beyond Cairo, the colossal figure of Ramesses II rests at Memphis, while Djoser’s Step Pyramid rises at Saqqara in six pale tiers, marking the beginning of Egypt’s great age of pyramids. After monuments built for kings, you'll meet the artisans preserving a more intimate legacy during your MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience at a local weaving school, where wooden looms clack and coloured threads pull taut beneath practised hands. Later, you'll share canapés with your Travel Director and fellow travellers. Meals: Breakfast Hotel: Cairo Marriott & Omar Khayyam Casino
Day 9 Bid Farewell to Cairo and Egypt
Your time in Egypt comes to a close with a transfer to Cairo International Airport Meals: Breakfast
OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES:
Full-Day Alexandria (Designed For Those Visitors With Extra Pre- Or Post-Trip Nights In Cairo) - Visit Egypt's second city, Alexandria, where you'll see its 19th-century architecture and stop at the National Museum, the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa and Pompey's Pillar. Enjoy great views from Fort Qaitbey, and stop at the Roman Theatre with its marble seating before returning to Cairo.
* This excursion is only available to guests who have purchased extra nights in Cairo before or after their tour.
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