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Egypt · 8–10 days

Egypt: the Pyramids, the Nile and the temples, in the right order

An honest guide to the classic Egypt trip — Cairo and Giza, then a slow Nile cruise through the greatest temples on earth — with the season, the cruise direction and the daily pace chosen so the highlights land and the heat doesn't beat you.

Egypt delivers more wonder per day than almost anywhere: the last surviving ancient wonder at Giza, Tutankhamun's gold in Cairo, and a string of vast temples along the Nile that you can see, brilliantly, from the deck of a boat. The classic trip pairs two or three days in Cairo with a four-night cruise between Luxor and Aswan, capped by the colossi of Abu Simbel.

It is also a trip where the shape matters more than the list. Everything ancient sits along one river, the internal flights are short and cheap, and the boat moves you between sites while you sleep — so a well-ordered Egypt trip feels unhurried despite covering a thousand kilometres. A badly ordered one is a fortnight of 5am starts in 40-degree heat. The three decisions that separate the two are when you go, which direction you cruise, and whether you take a guide.

When to go

October to April is the season — warm, dry days that are comfortable for the temples and the desert. Within it there's a real difference:

• Late October to November — arguably the best. The summer heat has broken, the light is superb, and you're ahead of the Christmas rush. Days in the high 20s in Luxor, cool evenings.
• December to February — peak. The most reliable weather and the biggest crowds and prices, particularly over Christmas and New Year. Genuinely cold at dawn — Cairo can drop to single figures, and the deck of a boat at 6am in January needs a fleece, which nobody packs.
• Late February to early April — the other sweet spot. Warming up, quieter than midwinter, and everything still perfectly comfortable. By late April, Luxor is already hot.
• June to August — avoid if you can. Luxor and Aswan routinely pass 40°C and the Valley of the Kings, a treeless limestone canyon, is a furnace by 10am. If you're locked into summer, everything outdoors happens before 10 and after 5, and you accept a slower trip.

Two dates to check against your own. Ramadan shifts through the calendar each year: the sites all stay open, but daytime cafés and restaurants outside hotels are much reduced, and traffic just before sunset is chaotic — it's a fascinating time to visit if you go in knowing. And the Abu Simbel Sun Festival on 22 February and 22 October, when the rising sun reaches into the sanctuary to light the statues, fills Aswan and Abu Simbel completely — go deliberately or go a week either side.

How long, and where to base yourself

Give it eight to ten nights, in three acts, with short internal flights joining them:

• Cairo / Giza (2–3 nights) — the Pyramids and Sphinx, the Grand Egyptian Museum, and the older pyramids at Saqqara. Stay out at Giza for a pyramid view from your room, or in Zamalek or Garden City for a city that isn't a tour bus car park.
• The Nile cruise, Luxor → Aswan (4 nights) — your floating hotel: Karnak and the Valley of the Kings at Luxor, then Esna, Edfu, Kom Ombo and on to Aswan.
• Aswan & Abu Simbel (1–2 nights) — Philae temple, a felucca around the islands, and the dawn run to Ramses II's rock-cut colossi.
• With longer, finish on the Red Sea — El Gouna and Marsa Alam for calm and good diving, Hurghada for the flights — or add Alexandria for a very different, Mediterranean Egypt.

The internal flights are the trick. Cairo–Luxor is about an hour and Aswan–Cairo about an hour and a half, and they cost little. Take them. The overnight sleeper train is romantic in theory and a long, rattling night in practice, and the road is neither fast nor interesting.

Cairo and Giza

Cairo is loud, vast and much better than its reputation, and two days is the minimum that doesn't feel like a raid.

The Pyramids of Giza are on the edge of the city — the shot of them alone in the desert is a matter of which way you point the camera. Go at opening, before the coaches and the heat. Going inside the Great Pyramid is a separate ticket and an honest question: it's a steep, hot, low, unventilated climb to a bare granite room, and people with any claustrophobia should skip it without guilt. The Sphinx is smaller than everyone expects and no less strange for it.

The Grand Egyptian Museum below the plateau is the reason to give Cairo a third day — it holds the complete Tutankhamun collection, thousands of objects, most of which had never been shown together. Allow three hours minimum and don't try to pair it with the pyramids in one morning.

The overlooked half-day is Saqqara and Dahshur, forty minutes south: Djoser's Step Pyramid, the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid tell the story of how the Giza pyramids were arrived at, and you can often have them nearly to yourself. Back in the city, Islamic Cairo — the Citadel, Al-Muizz street and the Khan el-Khalili bazaar at dusk — is the part people remember, and Coptic Cairo is a quiet, ancient hour.

Luxor: the reason you came

Luxor holds roughly a third of the world's ancient monuments in a town you can cross in twenty minutes, split by the river into two halves.

The east bank has Karnak, which is the single most overwhelming ancient site anywhere — its hypostyle hall is a forest of 134 columns the size of factory chimneys — and Luxor Temple, which is best seen after dark when it's lit and half-empty.

The west bank is the necropolis. The Valley of the Kings ticket admits you to three tombs of your choice, with Seti I, Tutankhamun and Ramses V/VI sold separately — Seti I is the finest painted tomb in Egypt and worth the premium if you only splash out once. Across the ridge, Nefertari's tomb in the Valley of the Queens is expensive, limited to a short visit, and the most beautiful room most people will ever stand in. Add Hatshepsut's terraced temple at Deir el-Bahari, and the artisans' village at Deir el-Medina if you want somewhere without a crowd.

The dawn hot-air balloon over the west bank is the one splurge nearly everyone is glad they made: you lift off in the dark and watch the sun come up over the Valley, the temples and the green strip of the Nile. It's an early alarm and worth it.

The cruise, and Aswan

The boat is the trip's spine. Between Luxor and Aswan you stop at the Temple of Horus at Edfu — the most complete temple in Egypt, reached by pony trap through town — and the riverside double temple of Kom Ombo, which is at its best at sunset when the boats moor alongside. In between are the sailing hours, which are the point: tea on the sun deck, the green banks and the desert behind them sliding past.

Two things worth knowing. Standard cruise boats hold 60–150 passengers and run to a fixed timetable; a dahabiya is a small sailing boat of eight to twelve cabins that goes slower, moors at sandbanks and villages the big boats can't reach, and is a genuinely different holiday. For a group of a dozen or more, chartering one outright is the best-value luxury in Egypt.

Aswan is the calmest place in the country and the nicest to end in — Nubian villages in bright blues and ochres, the island temple of Philae, and a felucca sail around Elephantine Island at sunset that costs almost nothing and is the loveliest hour of the trip. Abu Simbel is three hours south by road (or a 45-minute flight); go at dawn, when the colossi take the first light and before the day's coaches arrive.

A sensible 9-night shape

• Nights 1–3 · Cairo. Giza at opening on the first full day and the bazaar in the evening. The Grand Egyptian Museum on the second morning, Saqqara and Dahshur after lunch. Islamic Cairo and the Citadel on the third.
• Day 4 · Fly to Luxor. Morning flight, Karnak in the afternoon, Luxor Temple after dark. Board the boat.
• Day 5 · The west bank. Balloon at dawn if you're doing it, then the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut and Deir el-Medina before the heat. Sail in the afternoon.
• Days 6–7 · Edfu and Kom Ombo. Two temples, two long sailing stretches, and the best of the doing-nothing. Arrive in Aswan on the evening of day seven.
• Days 8–9 · Aswan and Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel at dawn on one day; Philae, the Nubian village and a felucca on the other. Fly home from Aswan or back via Cairo.

Flip the cruise to Aswan → Luxor if your flights are better that way — it's usually a night shorter and the sites are identical.

Good to know

• Almost everyone needs a visa. The e-visa is quick to buy online before you fly and saves a queue on arrival; visa-on-arrival is also available at the main airports.
• A licensed Egyptologist guide is the best money you'll spend. The sites are enormous and essentially unlabelled — without one you are looking at very old stones. For a group, a private guide and driver works out cheap per head and removes almost all of the friction.
• Carry small notes for baksheesh. Tipping is constant, expected and small — the man who opens a gate, holds a door or points at a carving. A pocket of low-denomination notes makes the whole day smoother. Tips for your guide, driver and boat crew are separate and given at the end.
• Expect to be sold to, especially at Giza. A firm, friendly, repeated "no thank you" works; engaging does not. Agree camel or carriage prices in full, in writing on a phone screen, before you get on — including the price to get off again.
• Dress modestly — shoulders and knees covered at temples and mosques, and a scarf for women at mosques. Light long sleeves are also simply better sun protection.
• Bring a torch, closed shoes and more water than you think. Tombs are dim and uneven, sand gets everywhere, and the dry heat dehydrates you faster than you notice. Some tombs charge separately for photography; drones are not permitted.
• Stick to bottled water, including for brushing teeth, and be sensible about salads and ice in the first few days.
• Leave a buffer at Cairo airport. Security is thorough and layered — bags are scanned on the way into the terminal as well as at the gate.

Common questions

When is the best time to visit Egypt?

October to April, when the weather is warm and dry and comfortable for the temples and the desert. December and January are the peak — busiest and priciest, and genuinely chilly at dawn in Cairo and on deck. The two sweet spots are late October to November and late February to early April: still warm, noticeably quieter and cheaper than midwinter. Avoid high summer, June to August, when Luxor and Aswan routinely top 40°C and midday at the sites is punishing — if you are locked into summer, everything outdoors has to happen before 10am. Two other dates to check against your own: Ramadan moves through the calendar each year and changes restaurant and café hours (the sites stay open), and the Abu Simbel Sun Festival on 22 February and 22 October fills Aswan completely.

How many days do you need in Egypt?

Eight to ten nights covers the classic trip properly: two or three nights for Cairo, Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, a four-night Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan, and a day for Abu Simbel, linked by short internal flights. Seven nights works if you cruise three nights instead of four, but you will be moving every day. Six or fewer means choosing between Cairo and the Nile rather than doing both — and if you have to choose, most first-timers should still take Cairo plus a short Luxor trip over a rushed cruise. Twelve or more lets you finish on the Red Sea.

Is a Nile cruise worth it?

Yes, and it is the rare tourist cliché that is genuinely the best way to do the thing. The boat is your hotel and moves between Luxor, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Aswan while you sleep, so you wake up beside each temple instead of driving to it in the heat, and the sailing days between sites are the most restful part of most people's trip. Four nights Luxor to Aswan is the standard. The upgrade worth knowing about is a dahabiya — a small sailing boat with roughly eight to twelve cabins that moors at quiet banks the big boats cannot reach. It is slower, more expensive and much more pleasant, and it suits a group that can take most of the cabins.

Should you cruise Luxor to Aswan, or Aswan to Luxor?

Luxor to Aswan is the more common direction and the better one for most people. It sails with the current, it front-loads the two biggest sites (Karnak and the Valley of the Kings) while you are freshest, and it ends in Aswan, which is the calmer, prettier city to finish in and the natural jumping-off point for Abu Simbel. Aswan to Luxor is usually a night shorter and often cheaper, and it works well if you are flying home from Luxor. The itineraries are otherwise identical — Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo in between — so let your flights decide rather than agonising over it.

Do you need a guide in Egypt?

For the temples and tombs, a licensed Egyptologist guide is the single best thing you can spend money on — the sites are enormous and largely unlabelled, and the difference between old stones and a story you remember is entirely the guide. They also handle the transfers, ticket queues and tipping, which removes most of the friction people complain about. You do not need one for wandering Cairo, eating or the bazaar. Most visitors travel either on a guided cruise or with a private guide and driver, and for a group the private option costs surprisingly little a head. Almost all visitors also need a tourist visa, bought as an e-visa online before you fly.

Is Egypt good for a group trip, a honeymoon or a milestone birthday?

It suits all three, and it suits groups particularly well because the cruise solves the hardest part of group travel — everyone sleeps in the same place, eats at the same time and arrives at each site together, with no daily negotiation about cars or restaurants. A group of ten to twenty can charter a small dahabiya outright. For a honeymoon or a big birthday, the version to book is a private guide rather than a coach group, a room with a Nile view in Aswan, and a dawn hot-air balloon over the Valley of the Kings. The one thing to be deliberate about is pace: the sites are physically demanding in the heat, so build in an afternoon on deck doing nothing.

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