Multi-Day Tours in Egypt

Multi-day tours in Egypt stack a few blocks, and distance decides the order. Cairo and Giza fill two or three days on their own. The temple valley begins at Luxor, 671 km south of Cairo by rail, with Aswan at 879 km. You reach it by air in an hour or so, by the Abela sleeper train (10 to 11 hours to Luxor, 13 to 14 to Aswan), or on the river, where cruises run three or four nights between the two cities past Edfu and Kom Ombo. Abu Simbel is a three- to four-hour drive each way from Aswan. The oases are the third block: runs to the White Desert and Siwa take two to four days, with nights in tents or an eco-lodge. Sinai is the fourth, with St Catherine's Monastery, founded under Justinian in the sixth century, as a two-day trip from Cairo.

Egypt multi-day tours are sold mostly private: a car, a driver and an Egyptologist, with hotels and internal flights inside the price on the longer ones. Cairo packages run two to five days. The classic loop of Cairo, Luxor and Aswan takes three to six days by air, and a Nile cruise stretches it to seven or eight. Ten- and twelve-day programmes add Alexandria or a beach finish at Hurghada, and a few join Egypt to Turkey (20 days) or to Jordan and Jerusalem (13). Two ten-day departures are timed for the Abu Simbel sun festival, when light reaches the inner sanctuary on 22 February and 22 October.

Practical. The valley is a November-to-March trip: Luxor's January afternoons reach 23C, while July highs pass 41C at Luxor and Aswan. Carry your passport, since internal flights and the road to Abu Simbel both check it. The sleeper train fills up around Easter, and Christmas, New Year and Easter dates carry supplements on several programmes. Before comparing prices, check what is included: entrance fees, flights and hotel nights differ between listings, and cruise prices are normally per person in a double cabin.