IMPERIAL EGYPT - PYRAMIDS, NILE & RED SEA

Meet & assist at Cairo airport and escorted to hotel.

Overnight : Four Seasons Hotel Cairo At The First Residence

Visit to the Pyramids, Sphinx and the Grand Egyptian Museum.

See the 4,500 year old Pyramids on the Giza Plateau, the Grand Pyramid being the only survivor of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World", as well as the legendary Sphinx acting as the guardian of the Pharaoh's enormous funerary monument in the Valley Temple nearby. Explore the Sphinx and the many other legends surrounding this timeless regal figure. Lunch at a local restaurant in Giza.

Optional Camel Ride and entry to Cheops Pyramid (extra cost)

Visit to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) complex, a cultural hub that includes one of the largest museums in the world, displaying the diverse heritage of a single civilisation. The museum contains over 100,000 artefacts reflecting Egypt's past from prehistory up to the Greek and Roman periods.

See the exhibit of the boy-King Tutankhamun which houses over 5,000 artifacts recovered from his tomb, including his gold mask.

As you enter the museum, you will be amazed by the colossal statue of King Ramses II and the 87 huge royal artefacts exhibited at the grand staircase leading up to an impressive 28-meter-high glass facade overlooking the pyramids of Giza.

Meals: Breakfast at hotel, lunch at a local restaurant in Giza

Overnight : Four Seasons Hotel Cairo At The First Residence

Visit the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC), a modern institution tracing the country's heritage through artefacts, interactive displays, and immersive exhibits spanning every era of its long history. The highlight is the Royal Mummies Hall, where the preserved bodies of Egypt's most powerful pharaohs and royals lie in state, offering a rare and intimate window into ancient mummification, sacred ritual, and the lives behind the legends.

Then climb to the Citadel, a medieval fortress crowning the limestone hills above Cairo. Built in 1176 to defend the city against the Crusaders, it now houses a collection of historic mosques and museums, including the National Military Museum.

A day spent in Cairo wouldn't be complete without a visit to the fascinating Khan El-Khalili Bazaar. This is reputably the largest bazaar in the Middle East. Merchants founded it as a watering spot for caravanserai in the 14th century, but it has now grown to vast proportions. Wander through the labyrinth of narrow streets where you will find workshops and stalls selling all manner of craftmanship from woodwork and glassware to leather goods, perfumes, fabrics, and Pharaonic curiosities. Remember to bargain hard!

Lunch at a local restaurant in Cairo.

Meals: Breakfast at hotel, lunch at a local restaurant in Cairo
Overnight : Four Seasons Hotel Cairo At The First Residence

Breakfast at Cairo Hotel.

You will be transported to Cairo Airport for a flight to Aswan (flight not included in the package) and then transported from Aswan Airport to the cruiser.

Embarkation at Noon, followed by lunch on the cruiser.

Visit to the Aswan High Dam, Egypt's most notable example of a modern engineering feat. Its construction in the 1960s was somewhat controversial due to the loss of Nubian villages and temples, which now lie under Lake Nasser, the world's largest artificial lake. The electricity generated by the dam supplies the whole of Egypt.

Take a short motorboat ride to visit Philae Temple, which was relocated with the help of UNESCO to its current location on Agilkia Island to save it from the rising waters caused by the construction of the Aswad High Dam. Philae was built in honour of Isis, one of the great mother goddesses of Ancient Egypt.

You will also see the Unfinished Obelisk in the Granite Quarries which supplied the ancient Egyptians with most of the hard stone used in the pyramids and temples. A flaw discovered in the stone halted work in ancient times, leaving the enormous unfinished obelisk, which measures almost 42 meters in length, incomplete.

Dinner on board.

Overnight: Jaz Elite Viceroy
Meals: Breakfast at Cairo hotel, lunch and dinner on board the cruiser

Sail to Kom Ombo. Breakfast on board.

Visit the Temple of Kom Ombo dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek. The river stands at a bend in the Nile where sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the riverbank in ancient times. You will see mummified crocodiles in the chapel of Hathor temple.

Sail to Edfu. Lunch on board.

Explore Edfu Temple, the largest and most completely preserved Pharaonic temple in Egypt. This Greek-built Temple of Horus, Ancient Egypt's falcon god, whose annual ritual marriage to Hathor of Dendara constituted one of the most important celebrations in the city.

Sail to Esna. Dinner on board.

Overnight: Jaz Elite Viceroy
Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner on board the cruiser

Sail to Luxor. Breakfast on board.

Visit the Valley of the Kings on Luxor's west bank, where New Kingdom pharaohs were hidden away in secret tombs after centuries of pyramid robberies. Richly painted and filled with treasures for the afterlife, these chambers have kept their splendour intact for over three thousand years. Arrangements for tomb visits in the Valley of the Kings are possible during the visit for an additional supplement.

Then visit the Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Egypt's only female pharaoh. See the temple's brilliant white terraces rise from the desert against towering limestone cliffs. Dedicated to the goddess Hathor and to Anubis, god of the dead, this temple stands as a striking monument to a remarkable ruler, whose jealous stepson, Tuthmosis III, later defaced her image throughout in an attempt to erase her memory forever.

Before lunch, pause at the famed Colossi of Memnon - two towering statues of Amenhotep III that once guarded his mortuary temple. Renamed by the Greeks for their Trojan hero Memnon, they later became a Roman tourist attraction, where prominent travellers carved graffiti into the sandstone that remains visible today.

Lunch on board.

In the afternoon visit Karnak Temple, a vast complex built over 2,000 years by generations of pharaohs in honour of the god Amun. Walk through the great Hypostyle Hall, a forest of giant pillars rising 23 metres towards the sky, and stand beside the Sacred Lake where priests once purified themselves before sacred rites. At its height, Karnak received annual tribute from more than 65 cities.

Then continue to the Temple of Luxor, which was once linked to Karnak by a three-kilometre Avenue of Sphinxes. Built by Amenhotep III in 1380 BC and expanded by later pharaohs, it hosted the great Festival of Opet, lasting 27 days at its peak. Within its grounds stands the Mosque of Abu'l Haggag, honouring a 13th-century saint still venerated by Luxorians today.

Dinner on board.

Overnight: Jaz Elite Viceroy
Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner on board the cruiser

Breakfast on board the cruiser.

Disembark and transfer from Luxor to Hurghada where you will spend three nights at a beach hotel on the coast of the Red Sea.

Overnight: Kempinski Hotel Soma Bay
Meals: Breakfast on board the cruiser, and dinner at your hotel