Egypt by Land

You’ll be met inside passport control by our Cairo team who will assist you with securing your visa and escorting you through immigration, baggage claim, customs and on to the Four Seasons First Residence along the Nile.

Following breakfast, we’ll begin with our Egyptologist at the Great Pyramids of Giza (WHS). We’ll also approach the Sphinx and its watchful gaze.  Enjoy lunch at the landmark Mena House where Churchill and Roosevelt met during the Second World War. Afterward, we’ll visit the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities downtown or the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza should it have opened, both the greatest repositories of ancient Egyptian treasures in the world. Following a guided visit at the museum, we’ll return to our hotel to freshen up before a delightful welcome dinner on the Nile. Meals B+L+D

This morning we’ll take an early flight south to Aswan and drive to Abu Simbel (WHS) with our expert Egyptologist to explore the two temples of Ramses II. Originally on the southern frontier of Ancient Egypt, the nearly 3,000-year-old temples with 67-foot-high statues of the Pharaoh and his wife are still intact and carved from solid rock, overpowering even today. We’ll enjoy a fine lunch in a picturesque restaurant on the e of Lake Nasser, view the temples from a small private boat on the lake and then tour the temples by land.  We’ll return to Aswan and the uniquely located luxury Movenpick hotel on an island in the Nile for an overnight.  Meals B+L

After breakfast, our private guide and car will chauffeur us up the Nile to the Temple of Horus at Edfu, another of Egypt’s most spectacular ancient monuments. This 2,000-year-old temple complex is renowned for its monumental reliefs, its impressive setting and exquisite hieroglyphics. We’ll continue on to Luxor and will be guided through both the Karnak (WHS) and Luxor (WHS) Temples, astounding monuments of the Ancient World, before overnighting at the Steigenberger Hotel along the Nile.   Meals B+L

This morning, with our skilled Egyptologist in the lead, we’ll cross the Nile and drive west to the fabled Valley of the Kings (WHS). Here, the pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty built tombs deep into the arid mountainsides, abandoning the funerary pyramids of their predecessors. We’ll be here early, before any crowds, to admire the vivid frescoes that adorn each tomb in miraculous condition, visiting the most elaborate tombs of Ramses III, Ramses IX and King Tutankhamen. Close-by, we’ll also visit the ancient village of Deir el-Medina, once home to the thousands of laborers who constructed these tombs and temples.  Flying back to Cairo (WHS), we’ll check-in to the Four Seasons once again. Meals B+L

Following breakfast, we’ll drive to Memphis (WHS), the site of Egypt’s ancient capital, to marvel at the formidable Colossus of Ramses II. Nearby we’ll see the Alabaster Sphinx before heading to Sakkara at the edge of the Egyptian desert to visit the impressive Step Pyramid of King Zoser (WHS), the oldest standing stone structure in the world. We’ll also enter the 4,000-year-old Tomb of Mehu, a wealthy merchant, with its vibrant drawings of daily life that adorn the walls.  Meals B+L

Today you’ll be escorted to the airport for your departure at the appropriate time for your onward flight.  Meals B