Board your overnight flight to Cairo today.

Welcome to Egypt, where tales etched in stone await your discovery—and where your own Egyptian story will unfold.

Transfer from Cairo to your hotel in Giza and get settled in. This evening, enjoy dinner at your leisure in the hotel.

Set off on a guided tour of Cairo, where its strategic location in the Nile Valley drew the area’s first settlements 2,000 years ago. You’ll explore labyrinthine alleys and ornate mosques as you learn more about the region’s history from your Egyptologist—who is also your Tour Director.

• Visit the Cairo Citadel. Built in the 12th century by the mighty Saladin and originally used as a fortress, it remained the seat of the Egyptian government until the 19th century.
• Stop at the Muhammad Ali Mosque, built in the Ottoman style and known as the Alabaster Mosque for its extensive marble paneling. Its twin minarets make it one of the most striking structures in Cairo’s cityscape.

Gather with your fellow travelers for a welcome dinner with beer or wine at a local restaurant this evening.

Please note: Travelers are required to remove their shoes when entering the Alabaster Mosque, and to dress modestly. Women should cover their heads and shoulders, and men should wear long pants.

Meet up with your Tour Director and set off on a guided tour of Giza, Egypt’s third-largest city and home to some of the world’s most enduring ancient monuments.

• Stand in the shadow of the Pyramids of Giza, the only Wonder of the Ancient World to have survived into the modern era. Standing as tall as 480 feet when it was built, the Great Pyramid of Giza continues to amaze with its size and the precision with which it was constructed.
• Visit the enigmatic, 4,500-year-old Great Sphinx, the largest monolithic statue in the world. (It was carved from a single limestone bedrock!)
• Enter the Grand Egyptian Museum, said to be the world’s largest museum, and explore its vast collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts alongside your Tour Director.
• Enjoy an included lunch at a local restaurant.

Dine like an Egyptian by adding an optional home-hosted dinner in Cairo, during which you’ll sample Egypt’s complex flavors, like dukkah and fenugreek.

Please note: Some cruise departures will follow days 5-9 in reverse.

Fly to Luxor, where you’ll board your cruise ship this afternoon. Enjoy an included lunch before seeing the painstakingly excavated Temple of Karnak and Luxor.

It’s said that 30 pharaohs presided over the building of the temple—a sprawling and vast ancient site. You’ll feel a palpable connection to the ancient world as you walk in the footsteps of priests and worshippers who came here for thousands of years.

• Venture through the Karnak temple complex with your guide to see the Precinct of Amun-Re, whose mudbrick walls stretch over 1.5 miles around. Gaze over extensive hieroglyphic inscriptions marking moments in history, and end at the Temple of Khonsu—a smaller, more intimate temple dedicated to the god of time and the moon.
• Take an early evening walking tour through Luxor Temple, located on the banks of the Nile River. As you approach, an avenue of human-headed sphinxes creates a dramatic and awe-inspiring entrance. The temple unfolds with a series of striking architectural elements that include massive columns, colossal statues, and hieroglyphs.
• Continue your exploration of the complex at the Abu Haggag Mosque. Although the structure itself “only” dates to the 13th century, its site has been used as a place of worship for more than 3,500 years—and is still in use today.

This evening, sit down for an included dinner aboard the ship, served with beer or wine.

Transfer to the airport for your flight home or extend your trip to Jordan, where you can keep satisfying your wanderlust at two of our travelers’ favorite bucket list destinations: Petra and the Dead Sea.