Legends of the Nile & Lake Nasser

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.

Disembark from your Nile ship and drive south across the Nubian desert to Abu Simbel. Visit the temples of Ramses II and Nefertari, then board your Lake Nasser cruise ship, moored just below them. After dinner, the Sound and Light show lights up the temple façade.

Sail north on one of the largest artificial lakes in the world, with no towns, just desert hills and a few fishermen. Pass the fortress of Qasr Ibrim, the only Nubian site still on its original hilltop, and visit Amada, the oldest temple on the lake, along with the temple of Derr and the tomb of Pennut.

Moor at Wadi el-Seboua, the "Valley of the Lions", named after the avenue of sphinxes leading to its temple of Ramses II. Nearby stand the temples of Dakka and Maharraqa, rescued from the flood like Abu Simbel. Dinner under one of the clearest night skies in Egypt.

Final morning on the lake with a visit to Kalabsha, the largest free-standing temple in Nubia, and the kiosk of Kertassi. Disembark in Aswan and fly to Cairo.

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.

A free day. Ask us about optional visits: the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, the Citadel and Islamic Cairo, Saqqara and Memphis, or a day trip to Alexandria on the Mediterranean.

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