Eight days is the length most people should book for Egypt, and it is the one we sell more of than any other. It is long enough to cover Cairo and the Pyramids, sail the Nile between Luxor and Aswan, and stand in front of Abu Simbel — without a single day that feels rushed. This is the day-by-day plan we actually run, with what it costs and what it does not include.
The 8-day Egypt itinerary at a glance
Every day below is a real day from our 8 Day Cairo and 4-Night Cruise with Abu Simbel, our best-selling trip. You fly south once, sleep on the boat for four nights, and fly home from Aswan — so no day is spent doubling back.
| Day | Where you are | What you see | Where you sleep |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cairo | Arrive, meet your guide, rest | Cairo hotel |
| 2 | Cairo & Giza | Pyramids, the Sphinx, the museum | Cairo hotel |
| 3 | Fly to Luxor | Karnak and Luxor Temple — board the boat | Nile cruise |
| 4 | Luxor West Bank | Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut, Colossi | Nile cruise |
| 5 | Sailing south | Edfu and Kom Ombo temples | Nile cruise |
| 6 | Abu Simbel | The rock-cut temples of Ramesses II | Nile cruise |
| 7 | Aswan → Cairo | Philae, the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk | Cairo hotel |
| 8 | Cairo | Departure | — |
Day by day: 8 days in Egypt
Day 1 — Arrive in Cairo
You are met inside Cairo airport, walked through visa and passport control, and driven to your hotel. Nothing is scheduled today on purpose: most long-haul flights land tired, and tomorrow starts early. If you land in the morning and want the afternoon, the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir is the easiest thing to add — it is indoors, central, and does not need a full day.
Day 2 — Giza, the Sphinx and the museums
The plateau opens at 8am and that is when you should be there — cooler air, softer light, and an hour before the coaches arrive. You see the three pyramids, walk down to the Sphinx at the end of the Khafre causeway, and stop at the panorama point where all three line up. Going inside the Great Pyramid is a separate ticket and worth it if you are not claustrophobic; there is nothing to see in the chamber itself, but the climb up the Grand Gallery is the thing people remember.
The afternoon is a museum. The Grand Egyptian Museum sits beside the plateau and holds the full Tutankhamun collection shown together for the first time — allow three to four hours. The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square is the older, denser alternative in town. Do one, not both.
Day 3 — Fly to Luxor, then Karnak and Luxor Temple
A one-hour morning flight puts you in Luxor before lunch, and you board the cruise boat straight from the airport. The afternoon is the East Bank: Karnak, the largest religious complex ever built and added to for roughly two thousand years, then Luxor Temple in the middle of the modern town. Karnak deserves two to three hours; the Hypostyle Hall alone — 134 columns, some 21 metres high — is why many people come to Egypt at all.
Luxor Temple is floodlit after dark and it is the single best evening of the trip. If your guide offers the choice, see Karnak in the late afternoon and Luxor Temple at night.
Day 4 — Luxor West Bank
An early start, because the West Bank has no shade at all and the valleys hold heat like an oven. The Valley of the Kings comes first — your standard ticket admits you to three tombs of those open that day, and Tutankhamun, Seti I and Nefertari are separate extra tickets. Then the Temple of Hatshepsut, three colonnaded terraces built straight into the cliff for the woman who ruled as pharaoh, and a short stop at the Colossi of Memnon on the way back.
You are back on board for lunch, and the boat casts off south in the afternoon. This is the point where the trip changes pace — the rest of the day is the sun deck and the riverbank going past.
Day 5 — Edfu and Kom Ombo
Two riverbank temples in one day, and both are reached from the mooring rather than by road — which is the entire argument for doing Egypt by cruise rather than by car. Edfu comes first thing in the morning, by horse carriage from the dock: it is the best-preserved temple in Egypt, roof intact and walls complete, dedicated to the falcon god Horus.
You sail on through the middle of the day and reach Kom Ombo in the late afternoon. It is the only temple in Egypt built symmetrically for two gods — Sobek the crocodile on one side, Haroeris on the other — and it sits so close to the water that you walk up from the boat. There is a crocodile museum next door holding mummified crocodiles found nearby.
Day 6 — Abu Simbel
The long day, and the one nobody regrets. Abu Simbel is roughly 280 kilometres south of Aswan, close to the Sudanese border, so you leave around 4am by road to be there before the heat — or take the short flight if you would rather buy back the morning.
Four colossal seated figures of Ramesses II are cut into the cliff face, with a second, smaller temple beside it for Nefertari. Both were sawn into more than a thousand blocks in the 1960s and rebuilt sixty-five metres higher to escape the rising water behind the High Dam, which is a piece of engineering almost as remarkable as the original carving.
Day 7 — Aswan, then back to Cairo
You check out of the boat and spend the morning in Aswan itself. Philae is reached by motorboat — the temple of Isis, moved stone by stone to a higher island when the dam flooded its original one, and the last place in Egypt where the old religion was still practised. Then the High Dam thirteen kilometres south, and the Unfinished Obelisk lying in the granite quarry it was being cut from.
An afternoon flight puts you back in Cairo for the last night. If you have energy left, Khan El Khalili is at its best after dark and the coffee houses stay open late.
Day 8 — Departure
Breakfast, checkout and a transfer to Cairo airport. If your flight is late in the day, Coptic Cairo or the Citadel both fit into a morning without risking the airport run.
What 8 days in Egypt costs
These are our real 2026 prices, per person on twin share. Each includes hotels, the full-board Nile cruise, internal flights or the sleeper train, every entry fee, a private Egyptologist and all transfers. International flights are not included, and neither are tips, drinks or the optional extra tombs at the Valley of the Kings.
| Trip | Cruise | Abu Simbel | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Days Cairo & 3-Night Cruise by Train | 3 nights | Optional extra | $1,205 |
| 8 Days Cairo & 3-Night Cruise by Flight | 3 nights | Optional extra | $1,325 |
| 8 Days Cairo & 4-Night Cruise with Abu Simbel | 4 nights | Included | $1,640 |
| 8 Days Luxury — Cairo & 4-Night Cruise with Abu Simbel | 4 nights | Included | $3,132 |
The $1,205 version travels south by sleeper train instead of flying, which saves money and a hotel night but costs you a morning. The $1,640 version is the one the day-by-day above describes, and it is what most people book.
What is included, and what is not
The single biggest cause of a surprise bill in Egypt is not knowing where the line sits. On every trip above, this is the split.
| Included in the price | You pay separately |
|---|---|
| All accommodation — hotel and cruise cabin | International flights |
| Full board on the boat, breakfast in hotels | Drinks, including bottled water at meals on the boat |
| Internal flights or the sleeper train | Tips for the crew, guide and driver |
| Every entry fee on the itinerary | Extra tombs at the Valley of the Kings |
| A private Egyptologist guide throughout | Going inside the Great Pyramid |
| All transfers and airport meet-and-greet | The Egypt entry visa |
| Abu Simbel by road on the $1,640 trip | Abu Simbel by flight, if you upgrade |
Budget roughly $8–12 per person per day for the boat crew, handed over once at the end, with your guide and driver tipped separately. Carry small notes for the horse carriage at Edfu, the motorboat to Philae and porters at embarkation.
Where you actually sleep
Three nights in a Cairo hotel and four on the boat, on the itinerary above. The hotel matters less than people expect because you are barely in it; the boat matters more, because it is your room, your restaurant and your view for half the trip.
Our standard trips use good 5-star Nile cruisers — en-suite cabins with a river view, a sun deck, usually a small pool, and full board. Upper-deck cabins are quieter and worth the small upgrade; lower-deck cabins are cheaper and steadier if you are motion-sensitive, though the Nile is a calm river and genuine seasickness is rare. You can also choose the vessel: the deluxe fleet starts at $660 per person and the luxury boats run up to the Historia and the Oberoi Zahra. For the most exclusive sailing there are dahabiyas, small sailing boats of eight to twelve cabins.
In Cairo, ask for a Giza-side hotel if seeing the Pyramids from your balcony matters to you, and a Zamalek or Garden City hotel if you would rather be in the city. Giza saves you an hour of traffic on day two; the city is better for evenings.
Five mistakes people make on an 8-day Egypt trip
- Trying to add Alexandria. It is three hours north of Cairo and the cruise runs south. Adding it to eight days means losing a day of Upper Egypt for a long drive — it belongs on a ten-day trip, not this one.
- Booking a three-night cruise and expecting Abu Simbel. The three-night sailing runs Aswan to Luxor and finishes in the north. Abu Simbel is reached from Aswan, so on a three-night trip it has to be bolted on before you board. The four-night sailing ends at Aswan and makes it straightforward.
- Doing both big museums. The Grand Egyptian Museum and the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir do not overlap, but three to four hours in each is most of a day you do not have. Pick one.
- Starting the West Bank late. There is no shade in the Valley of the Kings and the rock holds heat. A 10am start in October is uncomfortable; in June it is genuinely unpleasant. Be there when it opens.
- Underbudgeting tips. Tipping in Egypt is customary rather than discretionary and it adds up across eight days. Plan for it and it is a non-event; ignore it and it feels like a running ambush.
Adjusting this itinerary
Nothing above is a fixed departure — every trip we run is private, so the plan bends to you. The changes people ask for most:
- Swap Abu Simbel for a hot air balloon. The balloon lifts off over the Luxor West Bank before sunrise and is, for a lot of travellers, the most memorable thing they do in Egypt. It fits on the morning of day 4.
- Add Saqqara and Memphis on day 2 or 3. The Step Pyramid of Djoser is the first pyramid ever built, and Dahshur nearby is usually almost empty. This needs a full day, so it works best if you add a ninth.
- Travel south by sleeper train. Saves the cost of a flight and a hotel night, and the train itself is part of the experience. It costs you a morning on arrival.
- Upgrade the boat. The itinerary does not change between vessels — the cabin, the food and the number of people on board do.
- Extend to the Red Sea. Two or three nights at Hurghada after Aswan turns this into a ten or eleven-day trip with a proper decompression at the end.
Is 8 days the right length for Egypt?
It is the length we recommend by default, for one specific reason: it is the shortest trip where a four-night Nile cruise and Abu Simbel both fit without cutting something else short.
- Seven days still includes a real Nile cruise, but only a three-night sailing, and Abu Simbel becomes a stretch. It is the right answer if you have exactly one week off work.
- Eight days adds the fourth night on the boat, which is what makes Abu Simbel comfortable rather than punishing.
- Ten days keeps everything above and adds a second region — Alexandria on the Mediterranean, or the Red Sea at Hurghada.
If you are still deciding, our comparison of all twelve Egypt itinerary lengths sets 2 to 14 days side by side with what each one covers and what it misses.
Before you go
Four things worth settling before you fly, each covered properly in its own guide:
- When to travel. October to April. Luxor and Aswan pass 40 °C from May to September, which changes how every day above has to be paced — see the best time to visit Egypt.
- Visa. Most nationalities apply for the official e-Visa online before travelling — how to apply for an Egypt visa online.
- Tipping. Expected rather than optional, and worth budgeting for: roughly $8–12 per person per day for the cruise crew, with your guide and driver separate. See tipping in Egypt.
- What to pack. Light, loose clothing covering shoulders and knees, a hat, shoes you can walk on rubble in, and a fleece for winter evenings on deck — the Egypt packing list.
Egypt is safe on this route. The Nile valley between Cairo and Aswan sees millions of visitors a year and is heavily policed; the usual travel sense applies about agreeing taxi fares in advance and being firm with sellers at the big sites. There is more in our guide to safety in Egypt.