7 Days · 6 Nights
7-Day Ancient Egypt Tour: Cairo Pyramids & Pharaonic Nile Cruise
$1,270 per person
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Tours focused on Egypt’s ancient civilisation — Old, Middle, and New Kingdom sites. The Pyramids of Giza and Saqqara, the Valley of the Kings, Karnak, Abu Simbel, and the new Grand Egyptian Museum. Egyptologist-guided with serious historical depth.
Most “ancient Egypt” tours rush through the Pyramids, the Egyptian Museum, and the Valley of the Kings on a 7-day schedule that doesn’t leave time to actually understand the dynastic timeline. The Ancient Egypt Tours below are sequenced chronologically where possible: Old Kingdom (Saqqara, Giza, Dahshur) first, Middle Kingdom (the Faiyum, Beni Hasan), then New Kingdom (Karnak, Luxor, Valley of the Kings, Abu Simbel). Your Egyptologist guide will frame each site in dynastic context so the timeline starts to make sense — not just “old stuff.”
Every package below includes the new Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza (opened October 2025), which now houses the complete Tutankhamun collection plus 100,000 other artefacts. Plan a half-day minimum.
From 7-day classics to 14-day grand tours covering every major archaeological site. WhatsApp Maro for private departures with PhD-level Egyptologist guides.
7 Days · 6 Nights
8 Days · 7 Nights
8 Days · 7 Nights
8 Days · 7 Nights
9 Days · 8 Nights
9 Days · 8 Nights
10 Days · 9 Nights
10 Days · 9 Nights
11 Days · 10 Nights
12 Days · 11 Nights
12 Days · 11 Nights
14 Days · 13 Nights
14 Days · 13 Nights
If you’ve read your Bauval, Lehner, Kemp, or Wilkinson and want a tour that respects what you already know, these ten tips will help you get the most from your time at the sites.
The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara (2670 BCE) predates the Great Pyramid by 80 years and is the architectural prototype Imhotep used. Visiting Saqqara before Giza makes the engineering progression coherent. Most tours do Giza first; ask Maro to flip the order on a private departure.
The Ministry of Tourism licenses guides as Class A (Egyptology degree, fluent English, 5+ years experience), Class B, and Class C. For a serious ancient Egypt tour, insist on Class A. Premium is $80–$150/day above standard guiding. Worth every dollar at sites like Karnak, Abydos, or the Old Kingdom mastabas.
Toby Wilkinson’s “The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt” is the single best one-volume history. Mark Lehner’s “The Complete Pyramids” for the architectural side. Erik Hornung’s “The Valley of the Kings” for the New Kingdom royal burials. One of these will transform your trip.
The GEM at Giza opened October 2025 and now holds the complete Tutankhamun collection (5,400+ items, including the gold mask) plus 100,000 other artefacts. The old Egyptian Museum at Tahrir is being reorganised; the Royal Mummies Hall has moved to NMEC. Don’t try to do GEM in 90 minutes.
Abydos (Seti I’s temple, the Osirion) and Dendera (Hathor’s temple, with its famous zodiac) are 90 minutes north of Luxor and missed by 95% of itineraries. A full-day trip from Luxor with a private driver is $80–$150 per person. For a serious ancient Egypt tour, both are unmissable.
The Valley of the Kings standard ticket includes 3 tombs of your choice (excluding KV62 Tutankhamun, KV9 Ramses VI, and KV17 Seti I, which require separate tickets). Best 3 picks: Ramses III (KV11), Merenptah (KV8), and Tausert/Setnakht (KV14). Or pay extra for the truly spectacular Seti I (KV17) at $50/ticket — the deepest, most preserved royal tomb in Egypt.
This is the canonical Luxor day. Karnak at 07:30 (cool, empty), then back to the cruise boat for lunch + nap, then Luxor Temple at 17:30 when the lighting starts and the temple is gold-floodlit. Don’t do them on the same morning — you’ll exhaust both visits.
Photography inside many tombs (Valley of the Kings, Tombs of the Nobles, Saqqara mastabas) requires a separate photo permit, sold at the ticket office for 300 EGP per camera. Phones are usually free; SLRs need the permit. Bring change in EGP — they don’t accept cards.
You can pay extra ($25–$30) to enter the Great Pyramid’s inner Grand Gallery and King’s Chamber. The climb is steep, low-ceilinged, and hot. The chamber itself is empty — just the granite sarcophagus. For most travellers it’s a one-time, do-it-once experience. Worth it once; not for the claustrophobic.
The two temples of Ramses II are 280km south of Aswan and require a domestic flight or 3-hour pre-dawn drive. Most short itineraries skip them. They are the single most photographed site in Egypt for a reason. The 4-night Nile cruise + Abu Simbel packages above are the right way to include them.
Send me your dates, how many of you are travelling, and what you care most about seeing. I’ll reply the same day with my honest pick from the packages here, or a custom version if nothing quite fits. No commitment, no deposit asked for at this stage.
Six reasons 247+ verified reviewers keep coming back, and why Maro’s WhatsApp inbox is full of return travellers planning their second and third Egypt trips.
Maro Saeed has personally guided over 1,200 international groups across Egypt with a 4.9-star average rating from 247+ verified reviews.
Every itinerary uses Ministry-of-Tourism-licensed Class A guides — no junior staff, no shortcuts on guide quality.
Direct line to Maro or our Cairo office throughout your trip. No call centre, no ticket queues, no time-zone gymnastics.
Every quote line-items inclusions and exclusions. No hidden “service fees,” no last-minute upcharges, no booking surprises.
Egypt Planners is the operator, not a reseller. You pay us, we deliver — no Booking.com markup, no agency commission stack.
Egyptian Ministry of Tourism-licensed operator and member of the Egyptian Tour Operators Association.
EXCELLENT rating · 56 reviews · Real guests from the past two seasons.
Il tour è stato molto interessante e la nostra guida Khaled molto preparato. Ha saputo bilanciare i tempi delle diverse tappe, è stato molto esauriente e disponibile. Grazie!
We chose this tour company to empower local guides and we were very satisfied with our decision. Maria is a passionate accredited Egyptologist who can answer every question. The transportation is modern, clean and always on time — difficult to manage in a city like Cairo.
Maro and his team organised everything — Cairo, cruise, Abu Simbel, even a last-minute Alexandria add-on. Hotels were 5-star without the 5-star headache. Our guide Ahmed made the Valley of the Kings actually make sense. Will book again.
The 8-Day Ancient Egypt & Antiquities Tour (Cairo + 3-night Nile cruise by flight) is the canonical first-time itinerary: Pyramids, Saqqara, Egyptian Museum, Karnak, Luxor Temple, Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philae. Add Abu Simbel for the full New Kingdom story.
Yes. We work with several PhD Egyptologists for private departures — extra $150–$250/day premium over a standard Class A guide. Recommended for serious history readers and academic groups.
The complete Tutankhamun collection (5,400+ items, including the gold mask), 100,000+ artefacts spanning 7,000 years, and 12 main galleries. The old Egyptian Museum at Tahrir is being reorganised. The Royal Mummies are now at NMEC (different museum).
Not usually — they require a side-trip from Luxor. We can add them to any package as a full-day excursion ($80–150 per person). Strongly recommended for ancient-history enthusiasts.
October to April. Cooler temperatures (22–28°C) make outdoor temple visits comfortable. Avoid June–August: 38–45°C in Upper Egypt is unsafe at sites like Karnak.
Yes. The 12-Day Ancient Egypt & White Desert Tour above includes 2 nights at Bahariya. Siwa Oasis (8 hours west of Cairo) requires an extra 3 nights — WhatsApp Maro for pricing.