5 Day trip Nile cruise and Cairo from Marsa Alam

A driver will meet you at your hotel in Marsa Alam. Then you will travel to Aswan and get on your Nile cruise.

On arrival, lunch will be served on the cruise. After that, you will tour Aswan. You will see the Temple of Philae. You will also take a felucca ride around Elephantine. Next, you will visit the High Dam. You will finish with a stop at the Unfinished Obelisk.

Temple of Philae  
This temple was built for the goddess Isis. It is the last major temple made in the old Egyptian style. Work started around 690 BC. It was also one of the late places where Isis was still honored.

High Dam  
The Aswan High Dam is a rock-fill dam. It sits at the Egypt and Sudan border to the north. The dam is supplied by the Nile River. Its reservoir created Lake Nasser. The project started in 1960. It wrapped up in 1968. It was opened in 1971.

Unfinished Obelisk  
Aswan provided some of the best granite in ancient Egypt. People used it for statues and for decorations on temples, pyramids, and obelisks. The big unfinished obelisk at the Northern Quarries helps explain how these monuments were made, but the full method is not fully known. Three sides of the shaft were cut and shaped. They measure nearly 42 meters, but the inscriptions were never done. The final obelisk, had it been finished, would have weighed about 1168 tonnes. It would have been the heaviest stone piece made by the Egyptians.

12:00 Lunch will be served on board the cruise.  
Dinner and overnight will be on board the cruise.

Breakfast and lunch are served onboard the cruise.  
You also have an early stop at Abu Simbel, starting from Aswan.

Abu Simbel temples:  
The two temples of Ramses II and Queen Nefertari were cut into the mountain on the west bank of the Nile.  
This work took place from 1274 to 1244 B.C.  
The Great Temple honored Ramses II, Ra-Harakhty, Amun Ra, and Ptah.  
It also has four huge statues.  
The other temple was made for Queen Nefertari and the goddess Hathor.  
Later, both temples were taken down block by block.  
They were rebuilt on higher ground.  
UNESCO considers the saving of the Abu Simbel temples as one of its top achievements.

13:00  
Sail to Kom Ombo.

Kom Ombo temple:  
The temple, along with the nearby settlement, sits about 40 km north of Aswan.  
It was dedicated to Sobek and Horus.  
Most of what we see today comes from the Ptolemaic and Roman times, from 332 B.C. to 395 A.D.

Next, sail to Edfu.  
Stay overnight in Edfu.  
Dinner and overnight are onboard the cruise.

Morning meal on the ship while you are on the Nile.  
Next stop, Edfu.  

Edfu temple:  
This is an Upper Egypt place with a big temple that is in good shape.  
It honors the hawk God Horus.  
The Ptolemaic temple for Horus was built on an older spot.  
That earlier part dates back to the time of Ptolemy the Third, around 246 BC.  
On the walls you can see scenes from the tale of Horus and Seth.  
Some people think it was acted out each year as a religious play.  

Then you sail on toward Luxor, passing the Esna lock.  

Arrival in Luxor.  
Visit the Luxor temple.  

Luxor Temple:  
Much of it was put up in the New Kingdom under Pharaoh Amenhotep the Third.  
Later, it was finished by Tutankhamon and also by Ramses the second.  
The first pylon was built by Ramses the second.  
It shows his story of the Battle of Kadesh.  

Dinner and sleep will be on board.  
Gala dress party in the evening.

Morning meals are served on the board during the Nile cruise.  
You will have breakfast on the Nile Cruise.

You will go to the west bank in Luxor, then also see Karnak.

The Valley of the Kings:  
People once called this area the great place of truth.  
Today it is known as the Valley of the Kings.  
It was used by the pharaohs, who were laid in big stone sarcophagi.  
The place sits apart, behind Deir el Bahri.  
A tall, pyramid like mountain peak watches over the valley.

The Colossi of Memnon:  
These are two large statues.  
They are called the Colossi of Memnon.  
They rise about 18 m above the plain.  
They are all that is left from a much bigger site on the west bank.  
That larger complex was built by Amenhotep the Third.

The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut:  
The temple comes up from the desert plain.  
It is set on terraces, one level after another.  
It blends with steep limestone cliffs on the eastern side of the Theban hills.  
It can feel like nature made the monument itself.

Karnak Temple:  
Karnak is more than a single temple.  
It is a wide complex of sanctuaries, kiosks, pylons, and obelisks.  
Everything here is linked to the Theban gods.  
It also reflects the glory of Egypt’s pharaohs.  
Karnak was the main place for worship of the Theban triad, Amun, Mut, and Khonso.

Lunch will be served in Luxor.  
Then you fly to Cairo.  
You will be taken to your hotel.

After breakfast you will go to see the pyramids of Giza. These are the pyramids called Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinus. After looking at the pyramids you can go to visit the Valley Temple. While you are there you can look closely at the Great Sphinx. This is the guardian that stands near the large funeral complex. It has the body of a lion and the head of king Chephren.

There are options if the customer wants to go inside the pyramid or the boat museum of Cheops.. Both of these tours are not part of the tour price. Then continue your day tour to the Egyptian Museum of antiquities. This museum shows the most valuable items of Egyptian art in the world.

It shows a collection of over 250,000 real artifacts that are as old as 5000 years. This includes an exhibit about Tutankhamen. This is a collection of treasures, gold and jewelry that were placed in his tomb for than 3,500 years before they were found in 1920 when his tomb was dug up.

The cost to enter the Mummies room is not included. Then you will pass by Tahrir Square, where the Egyptian revolution started in 2011. Your tour ends with a drop-off at your hotel.

At the end of your tour in Cairo you will be taken to Cairo airport to fly to Hurghada. You will arrive at Hurghada airport around 18:45. Then you will be taken to your hotel, in Marsa Alam.