Tour Paris,
Marrakech and Cairo
All
in a 12 - day tour
Departure weekly, on Sundays, year round
Explore the two gems of North Africa--Morocco and Egypt & Stop
in Paris to visit the Egyptian treasures at the Louvre , on this
12-day tour to Paris, Casablanca, Marrakech, Cairo and Luxor. A
bonus: journeys by train across the Moroccan countryside, and up
the Nile!
DAY 1 - PARIS Monday
In Paris ! We welcome you to your hotel , centrally located.
Our local representative will escort you to your hotel, settle
in, and enjoy this world-renowned cultural and entertainment destination.
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DAY 2 - PARIS Tuesday (cB)
Come with us on a half-day panoramic motorcoach tour of the city.
We'll stop by the Place DE l'Opera, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Elysees,
Arch de Triomphe, Trocadero, Eiffel Tower (tickets to the first
level), Le Bastille and Notre Dame. Then we'll take a short cruise
on the Seine before we let you go to find your own favorite Parisian
haunts, led there by your Lonely Planet guidebook.
Day 3 - CASABLANCA & MARRAKECH Wednesday
(B)
We escort you back to the Airport in Paris , board your flight to
Casablanca. Our international flight arrives in Casablanca. After
completing customs and immigration formalities. Our staff escorts
us to our hotel, where we enjoy a welcome mint tea & complimentary
welcome fruit basket.
DAY 4 - MARRAKECH Thursday (BLD)
Morning flight to Marrakech. We board a horse-drawn carriage
for a clip-clop tour of this ancient royal capital, including
the Kotoubia, and a former royal palace, lunch in a charming local
restaurant. Afternoon walking tour of the labyrinthine souks (bazaars).
Dinner at the hotel
Day 5 - MARRAKECH Friday (B)
Now that you've got your bearings, today is yours to explore the city
on your own. If you prefer, join one of our optional tours (for
an additional fee): one takes you to a nearby Berber village, another
takes you into the souks for a shopping spree.
Day 6 - BY TRAIN TO CASABLANCA Saturday (BLD)
"Getting there is half the fun!" We board the train for
our return to Casablanca, cruising through the lovely countryside
past green fields, fruit-laden orchards, traditional villages and
modern towns, with the lofty Atlas Mountains soaring in the distance.
Our tour escort points out interesting features, and fills us in
on Moroccan life and culture. After arriving in Casablanca, we
visit the majestic new Grand Mosque of King Hassan II, second only
to the Great Mosque at Mecca in size. We continue on a panoramic
tour of the city and its souks. After dinner, we drive to the airport
for our Royal Air Maroc night flight across North Africa to Egypt.
Day 7 - CAIRO Sunday (BD)
We arrive in Cairo with the dawn, complimentary Egyptian visa fee
(valid only for American, Canadian, EU & Japanese citizens.
Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival).
A visa will be issued at the airport upon arrival in Cairo
Drive through the awakening city to our hotel for breakfast
and a bracing cup of coffee or tea. Refreshed, we visit the
Citadel of Saladin and its Alabaster Mosque, enjoying spectacular
views of the city below. We descend from the Citadel into Khan el-Khalili,
the bazaar district, in search of Egyptian treasures. The rest of the
day is yours: find a little local restaurant for lunch, go museum-hopping,
take a nap, or stroll along the Nile, as you like. Dinner is included
at the hotel
Visa
will be issued upon arrival.
As you exit the gate, you will pass through a door or two , down some
stairs , then walk for 2-5 minutes , until you pass the duty free shops,
at the end of a wide corridor , you will see the security officers. There
you will be met by a local representative, who will be holding a sign with
the name you prefer to use for the sign .
Our local representative will then take your passport to obtain a stamp
from the cashier / bank window and escort you to speak with the passport
officer. He will escort you through another last check on your passport
as you exit the passport control, into customs area, he will assist you
in collecting your luggage and clearing customs . After exiting the terminal,
our local representative will escort you (private vehicle) to the hotel
DAY 8 - CAIRO Monday (BLD)
Today we visit Cairo's most famous monuments: the awesome
pyramids of Giza, the Valley Temple and the timeless Sphinx. After
lunch we drive to Memphis and Sakkara and tour the Step Pyramid .
In the evening, we board our first-class sleeper train for the journey
to Luxor. Dinner is served in our private compartments as we speed
southward along the banks of the Nile.
DAY 9 - LUXOR Tuesday (BLD)
We leave our train for breakfast in a luxury hotel, after which we
cross the Nile by ferry to visit the Valley of the Kings and the
Colossi of Memnon. After lunch in Luxor, we tour the stupendous
Great Temple of Amon at Karnak, and visit the Sacred Lake and red
granite quarry with its huge unfinished obelisk. We take a quick
look at the great temple of Amon Ra at Luxor on our way to the
airport for our flight back to Cairo. In the evening, we enjoy dinner
cruise on the Nile .
DAY 10 - CAIRO Wednesday (BL)
The world-famous Egyptian Museum, which holds the treasures of Tutankhamon,
is our first stop today, after which we wander the narrow streets of
Old Cairo (once a Roman fort). We go on to the Jewish Quarter,
then the Coptic Christian Quarter, stopping at the churches of
Abu Serghius and Al Molaka, the Coptic Museum, and the Ben Ezra
synagogue. After lunch at a typical local restaurant, the afternoon
is yours to enjoy as you like. You may explore Cairo, guidebook
in hand, or accompany us on one of our optional tours (at additional
cost).
DAY 10 - CAIRO - Thursday
(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 11 - DAHSOUR - Friday
(BL)
After breakfast, we'll motor to the edge of Cairo, to
Dahshour, the newly-opened pyramid field south of Cairo. We visit
the great pyramid of Senfru, father of Cheops, and other structure:
The "Discovery" of Dahshour:
For almost half a century, the great field of huge pyramids near the desert
village of Dahshour, 25 miles south of Cairo, has been off limits to the
public. Confined within the perimeter of a military base were many pyramids,
including the great 4500-year-old pyramid built by Senfru, father of Cheops.
Senfru's pyramid, the largest in Egypt until his son built Giza's Great
Pyramid, is rhomboidal in shape: it tapers more distinctly on its upper
half. All the pyramids were coated in thick plaster at one time. Most
have lost these protective, decorative sheaths, but Senfru's--miraculously--is
still in place.
Lunch is included at a local restaurant . Remainder of the day at leisure
Evening Sound and Light show by the Pyramids.
Day 12 - DEPARTURE
Thursday (B)
After breakfast, our staff escorts you to the airport
for your flight home . End of our service.
This tour starts in Paris, weekly on Mondays, year round.
RATES per
person in USD
|
Deluxe
Hotels |
First
Class |
Tourist
Class |
| Triple |
US$3950.00 |
US$3450.00 |
US$2990.00 |
| Double |
US$3978.00 |
US$3478.00 |
US$3030.00 |
| Single |
US$4960.00 |
US$4460.00 |
US$3920.00 |
Your
hotel nights in Paris are :
For
Deluxe & First class categories we use - 4 stars in Paris :
Hotel New Roblin Le Warwick - Champs Elysees, Meridien Montparnasse,
Meridien Etoile, Sofitel Grand Arche -La Defense or similar.
For
Tourist Class - 3 stars :
A simple, clean, comfortable, centrally-located 3-star hotel, such as
the Primotel Empire, Fertel Etoile or Tilsitt.
Your tour includes:
* Round-trip international airfare Paris, Casablanca and
Cairo, including tax ,economy class
* Domestic airfares Casablanca-Marrakech and Luxor-Cairo, including
tax, economy class
* First-class day train Marrakech-Casablanca and sleeper train Cairo-Luxor,
including tax and service
* All airport and train station transfers in Morocco and Egypt as
described in the tour itinerary
* Your hotel room at a carefully selected deluxe, first class or tourist
class hotel, whichever you prefer, including tax & service. In
Paris its always 3 star. Unless you choose a higher budget
hotel in Paris.
* Meals as described in the itinerary, and indicated by the symbols:
aB = full American-style or buffet breakfast, B = continental breakfast,
L = set-menu lunch, D = set-menu dinner
* Guided sightseeing as listed in the itinerary including all entrance
fees (In London there is no tour included in our rate).
* Easter, Christmas & New Year's "15% supplement will apply
to the rates.
Note on Visas:
Complimentary Egyptian visa fee (valid only for Canadain, EU , Australian,
NZ , American & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid
for at least 6 month upon arrival). A visa will be issued at the
airport upon arrival in Cairo Visas are not required of US and
Japanese passport holders for entry into Morocco.
Rates do not include:
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