Egypt by River & Rail
With Red Sea and Fayoum Oases

This 13 -day Friends Abroad ^tm itinerary includes Abu Simbel Excursions , a seas side stay in Hurgada on the Red Sea , an oases , a Nile cruise, and Nile-side journeys aboard a sleeper train

DAY 1 - CAIRO - Start Weekly on Sunday - Year Round
Our staff meets you at the airport and escorts you to your hotel.
Visa fee is included and issued upon arrival at Cairo Airport for American, Western Europeans, & Japanese citizens with valid passports that are valid for at least 6 month beyond the date of arrival.

DAY 2 - CAIRO / Sleeper- Monday (cBD)
Cairo is yours! Explore it as you like. The Egyptian Museum is in the city center, the Pyramids and Sphinx only a short taxi ride away . In the evening, we depart for Aswan aboard the Nile Express first-class sleeper train.

DAY 3 - ASWAN ABU SIMBEL -Tuesday (cB)
Morning Arrival , we drive along the shore of Lake Nasser, watching the sky lighten and the sacred sun rise above the horizon. We reach the great temples while the air is clean, clear and cool, and the sun's light still golden;just right for photographs.
In the larger temple, colossal figures of Ramses are seated with the gods and attended by his queen and daughters.
The smaller temple is dedicated to Queen Nefertari, who appears as Hathor, the goddess of love, joy and fertility, symbolized by the benevolent cow. We explore these fine temple by ourselves in the quiet of the morning, admiring their ancient aura and artistry, after which retire to a comfortable hotel for refreshments. Just as planeloads of visitors arrive to throng the temples we begin our leisurely drive back along the shore to Aswan late afternoon and your hotel.

DAY 4 - ASWAN Wednesday (cBLD)
We escort you to your Nile cruise vessel. After lunch, explore Aswan's lively bazaar as you wish , or stroll along the banks of the Nile. In the evening, we cast off and cruise down the Nile.

DAY 5 - KOM OMBO & EDFU Thursday (cBLD)
We dock at Kom Ombo, then set sail for Edfu with its great Temple of Horus. The evening finds us docked at Esna.

DAY 6 - ESNA & LUXOR - Friday (cBLD)
We pass the locks at Esna and cruise the Nile until our late afternoon arrival at Luxor.

DAY 7 - LUXOR /Hurgada Red Sea- Saturday (cB)
We check out of our cabins after breakfast, proceed by an air conditioned van to Hurgada on the Red Sea shores. Relax, enjoy the Red Sea & your luxury resort in Hurgada enjoy these 4 days in Paradise. Breakfast is included daily .

DAY 8 Hurgada Red Sea - Sunday(cB)
Enjoy the beach or take one of the local optional tours. Breakfast is included daily .

DAY 9 - Hurgada Red Sea - Monday (cB)
Breakfast is included daily . Today we have included a delightful day trip to Giftun Island National park, just 45 minutes from Hurgada by boat. The park has 48 diving and snorkeling sites , and includes a a major nesting are for sea turtles . Snorkeling is included , the Giftun park has four islands : Big Giftun , Small Giftun , Abou Monar and the Pinnacles of Ramada . Yet access is limited to Big Giftun that has two beaches at its southern tip. The rest of the island is off limit to tourists. The boat will moor off shore, then a zodiac will will take you ashore , Mahmya Beach accepts a maximum of 200 guests only per day . We must leave before sunset as no overnight stay is allowed.

DAY 10 - Hurgada Red Sea - Tuesday (cB)
Enjoy the beach or take one of the local optional tours. Breakfast is included daily .
Extend your stay in Hurgada as you wish ( please ask us)

Day 11 -Cairo (cB)
Fly back to Cairo , transfer is included to your hotel.
With your travel guide book in hand, explore Cairo as you wish or go on a shopping spree, the choice is all yours.

DAY 12 - Cairo - Fayoum Oases - (B)
On Desert Safari for the Day - Fayoum Oases - And you thought the Pyramids were old

The wilds of the desert begin right on the outskirts of Cairo, and continue for hundreds of miles to the east and west, through sands, rock, mountains, oases, and a surprising variety of scenery and inhabitants.

Join us for a day ranging across the desert like modern nomads. In place of camels, we’ll travel in comfortable, reliable four-by-four Toyota Land Cruisers. Your guide and drivers will meet you at your hotel, and soon you’ll leave bustling Cairo behind as you undertake the drive toward the Oasis of El Fayoum, 150 kilometers to the southwest. Hard as it is to believe, a great inland sea once covered these sands. It was a holy reserve of sacred crocodiles, symbolized by the god Sobek.

We’ll visit the temple of Kom Oshim, drive over ancient lake beds, and alongside the waters of today’s Fayoum Lake to reach the fishermen’s village of Chak Chouk. There we’ll stop for a lunch of fish caught fresh that morning. There will be time to wander the village lanes and discreetly watch the everyday activities of baking flatbread, irrigating crops from the lake’s waters, and bringing in the catch. We’ll also include the craft and pottery museum where the best works of local artisans are on display.

Then it’s into our four-by-fours again, for an off-road adventure! We’ll head alongside and across desert washes, between dunes, and over ancient lake beds for 35 kilometers to the Valley of the Whales ( In Arabic : Wadi-El-Hitan) . Incredibly, these great mammals once thrived - almost forty million years ago- in waters surrounded by sands. We’ll stop and gaze in amazement at their fossilized remains alongside smaller sea creatures that remain in stone.
This valley was discovered in 1936 , by the German geologist George Schweinfurth in the northwestern corner of Wadi El-Rayan.

The valley provides evidence of one of the major changes in this mammal evolution has been declared by the UNESCO to be a World Heritage Site. It is believed that these land based whales once had feet that may have helped them somewhat while ashore . A team from the University of Michigan discovered in the late 80's that these Zeuglodon whales did have rudimentary feet , this was a startling discovery , suggesting that whales of Wadi -El-Hitan had recently started living in water as well , these whales were not related to any of the whales we have today , rather a more slender body and may grow up to 75 feet long. Several skeletons of whales are exposed in the sand. George Schweinfurth named this extinct specie the Zeuglodon Isis Whales .

In the evening, you’ll return to your hotel in Cairo. Land transportation in air-conditioned four-wheel-drive Toyota Land Cruiser with the services of driver and English-speaking driver. Lunch is included

DAY 13 - DEPARTURE Monday (cB)
After breakfast, we escort you to the airport.

RATES per person in USD

* This tour departs every Sunday from Cairo.
* Dec 20 - Jan 5 & Easter Week : 15 % supplement applies

The tour rates include :

• All transfers within Egypt.
• Private air conditioned car/van transfer Luxor/Hurgada.
• Air fare Hurgada /Cairo.
• Sleeper train ticket Cairo /Aswan, including dinner on board, based on private compartment.
  
• Abu Simbel, excursion, including round-trip transfers, entrance fees, & local guide.
• Hotel accommodations including tax and service charges.
• Pre set menu meals as shown including B = Breakfast, (or cB, Continental Breakfast), L = Lunch, D = Dinner aboard the train.
• Cairo-Aswan and Luxor-Cairo first-class sleeper train tickets.
• Four-day (three-night) Nile cruise, including onboard accommodations, and all meals.
• Visa fee is included and issued upon arrival at Cairo Airport for Western Europeans, American & Japanese citizens with valid passports that are valid for at least 6 month beyond the date of arrival.
  
  

Enjoy luxurious Red Sea Resorts in Hurgada or El Gouna

Click here for Intimate size Nile Cruise : 6 Cabins cruises, available also for charter and private cruising. Of course Air Conditioned