Egypt Tailor Made Holidays — Designed Around You

Tailor made on an Egypt Planners holiday means we build the trip around your dates, your travelling group, your interests and your budget — not the other way around. The 6 itineraries on this page are starting templates: every hotel, every cruise vessel, every guide, every excursion, even the order of the cities is editable. We have customised every itinerary on this page for guests in the past month — extra Luxor day, swap to dahabiya cruise, add Bahariya Oasis, slow Cairo down, drop Alexandria, upgrade to private jet between Cairo and Aswan. Send us a starting template and a one-paragraph wishlist; we send back a full custom version, usually the same day.

Not significantly — and often less. Because we operate every component in-house (no middleman, no reseller margins), customising a hotel night, swapping in a domestic flight or upgrading a Nile cruise vessel typically costs the same as it would on a fixed package. The main cost lever is hotel category and cruise vessel: a 5-star-throughout custom trip lands roughly 20–35% above the same itinerary in 4-star, and a luxury Nile cruise (Sanctuary Sun Boat IV, Oberoi Philae) adds about $400–600 per person versus our standard 5-star cruise. We give you a fully itemised quote so you can see exactly which line moves the price.

Eight days is the sweet spot for a first Egypt visit — it lets us cover Cairo, a 3 or 4-night Nile cruise, and either Abu Simbel or Alexandria without a single rushed morning. Five days is the absolute minimum for Cairo plus a Luxor flight (no cruise). Ten days gives you full Cairo, full cruise, Abu Simbel and Alexandria in one comfortable trip. Beyond fourteen days we usually add the Red Sea (Hurghada, El Gouna or Sharm) for beach and reef time, or the western desert (Bahariya, the White Desert, Siwa) for adventure travellers. We do build trips as short as a 4-day Cairo break and as long as a 21-day Egypt grand tour.

Yes — every component. Hotels: we default to handpicked 4 and 5-star properties (Marriott Mena House, Sofitel Winter Palace, Movenpick Aswan), but every property is swappable on request. Nile cruise: we book Sonesta St. George and Mövenpick SB by default; upgrades to luxury vessels (Oberoi Philae, Sanctuary Sun Boat IV, dahabiya boats) cost extra but we pass through the operator price. Guides: every Egyptologist on our team is a qualified, ministry-licensed Egyptologist with a history degree — name preference accepted (we work with the same dozen Egyptologists every year).

Step 1: send us a message on WhatsApp with your dates, group size and a rough wishlist (or use one of the 6 templates above as a starting point). Step 2: we reply same-day with a custom itinerary, an itemised quote, and 2–3 hotel options at each city. Step 3: you reply with edits — we go back and forth as many times as needed, no fee for revisions. Step 4: once you sign off, a 25% deposit confirms the trip. Step 5: final balance due 30 days before arrival. We send a 40-page pre-trip pack (visa walkthrough, packing list, tipping card, daily timings) one week before you fly.

Free date-change up to 30 days before arrival. Free name-change on the booking up to 14 days before. Cancellation: we refund 100% of your deposit minus any non-refundable hotel deposits up to 60 days before arrival, 50% between 60 and 30 days, and 0% inside 30 days (standard travel-industry terms). Most of our changes happen mid-trip — adding an extra Luxor day, swapping a cruise excursion, extending the Cairo end. Mid-trip changes are usually free if we can rebook at the same rate, otherwise we just pass through the supplier difference.

The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM, opened 2025 next to the Giza Pyramids) is included by default on every Cairo day on every itinerary on this page — entry, guiding and transport are part of the standard quote. Abu Simbel is included by default on the 8-day with Abu Simbel and 10-day templates. On any other template, Abu Simbel can be added as a one-day excursion from Aswan, either by domestic flight (faster, about $380 per person) or by road (cheaper, earlier start, about $180 per person). Tell us during the customisation conversation and we will quote it line-by-line.

Yes — the tourist zones (Cairo, Giza, Luxor, Aswan, Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada, Abu Simbel, Alexandria) are heavily protected, and the tourism and antiquities police presence is high. We run dozens of family trips with kids as young as five, and a meaningful share of our bookings are solo travellers (especially women aged 35+). Your private guide travels with you the entire day, and all transfers are in private, tracked vehicles. We do not route into the Sinai interior or near the Libyan border. US, UK, Canadian and Australian governments all currently list our operating zones as safe for travel with normal precautions — you can check those advisories yourself before booking.

International flights: we can book them as part of your tailor made package (we work with EgyptAir, BA, Lufthansa, Emirates and Qatar) but most travellers find slightly better prices booking directly with airlines or a flight aggregator. We are happy either way. Egypt e-visa: $25, applied online at visa2egypt.gov.eg, takes 5–7 business days — we send you the exact walkthrough. Travel insurance: not included in the package, but strongly recommended. We can connect you to two providers we trust (World Nomads for under-65, Allianz for over-65) but you book direct.

For October–April (high season) book at least 3 months ahead — Nile cruise cabins, Giza-view hotel rooms and Abu Simbel flights all sell out. For December 24 through January 5 and Easter week, book 6 months out. For May–September (shoulder / summer) 4–6 weeks is usually enough; summer trips are also 15–25% cheaper. We can often still build a tailor made trip 10–14 days out, but you will have less choice of cruise vessel and less negotiating room on hotel categories. The earlier you book, the more upgrades we can include at no extra cost.