Pharaonic Egypt, Alexandria & the Siwa Oasis

Fly to Luxor. Our representative meets you at the airport, helps with the entry formalities and drives you to your Nile ship. Settle into your cabin, have dinner on board and, if you still have energy, step out on deck: the temples on the East Bank are floodlit after dark.

An early start on the West Bank, before the heat. Your guide takes you into three tombs in the Valley of the Kings, where the colours on the walls still look freshly painted, then on to the terraced temple of Queen Hatshepsut and the two Colossi of Memnon. After lunch on board, cross to the East Bank for Karnak, a sanctuary built and rebuilt over two thousand years, and the Temple of Luxor. The ship then sets sail south towards Esna.

Optional: a hot-air balloon flight over the West Bank at sunrise.

A horse-drawn carriage takes you to the Temple of Horus at Edfu, the most complete temple in Egypt, with its roof and pylon still standing. Lunch while sailing past palm groves and mud-brick villages, then a sunset visit to Kom Ombo, the double temple of Sobek and Haroeris, and its small museum of mummified crocodiles. The ship continues to Aswan.

Morning visit to the High Dam, which created Lake Nasser, and the Unfinished Obelisk still lying in its granite quarry. A motorboat then takes you to the island temple of Philae, dedicated to Isis and moved stone by stone to save it from the rising waters. The afternoon is free; we recommend a felucca sail around Elephantine Island and the Aga Khan Mausoleum.

Breakfast on board and disembarkation. Transfer to Aswan airport for the flight to Cairo, where our team takes you to your hotel. Free evening; Khan el-Khalili and its cafés are a good place to start.

The day you have been waiting for. Your guide takes you to the plateau of Giza to see the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure up close, then to the panoramic viewpoint where all three line up against the desert. Finish at the Great Sphinx and the Valley Temple of Khafre. Afternoon free.

Optional: entry inside a pyramid (extra ticket) or an afternoon at Saqqara and Memphis.

Drive north to Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander the Great. Visit the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, where Egyptian and Roman art mix underground, Pompey's Pillar, the modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Citadel of Qaitbay, built on the site of the ancient Lighthouse. Seafood lunch included. Night in Alexandria.

A long but beautiful drive west along the Mediterranean coast, past El Alamein and Marsa Matruh, before turning south into the Sahara. Arrival in Siwa, an oasis of salt lakes and date palms close to the Libyan border. Dinner and night at an eco-lodge.

Visit the Temple of the Oracle, where Alexander the Great came to be declared son of Amun, the mud-brick fortress of Shali and the tombs of the Mountain of the Dead. Swim in Cleopatra's Spring and end the day at Fatnas Island, watching the sun sink into the salt lake.

After breakfast, the road back to Cairo across the desert, a journey of about nine hours with regular stops. Check-in at your hotel in the evening.

Breakfast and, depending on your flight time, a last coffee in the city. Transfer to Cairo airport with assistance for your flight home.