12-Day Cairo, Nile Cruise & El Gouna Holiday

Our representative meets you as you come through arrivals at Cairo airport, and a driver takes you on to your hotel. Later you are picked up for a camel ride at sunset on the Giza plateau, around an hour in the saddle with a handler walking alongside, one camel per adult, and tea and bottled water included. The pyramids glow in the evening light.

A private vehicle then brings you back to the hotel. Nothing else is planned today, and dinner is not included.

After breakfast your Egyptologist joins you for a private day lasting about eight hours. The morning belongs to the Giza plateau, where you stand at the foot of the three great pyramids and the Great Sphinx. A drive across the city brings you to lunch at a local restaurant, and then to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, where royal statues, coffins and Tutankhamun's gold are displayed.

A pause for coffee or tea comes before the drive back to your hotel.

A lighter day, made of two half-day visits. In one you return to the Egyptian Museum, this time to look closely at Old and Middle Kingdom masterpieces, royal linens and papyri and the animal mummies; the Mummies Room is not covered by the ticket.

The other takes you to Coptic Cairo, where the Roman fortress of Babylon sits close to the Hanging Church, St George's, the Church of Abu Serga with its holy crypt and the Ben Ezra Synagogue. You stop for mint tea and a pastry. An Egyptologist guides both visits. Lunch is not part of the plan, so you can eat wherever takes your fancy.

You are driven to Cairo airport for the flight to Aswan, then on to the river to join your Nile cruise ship. With your Egyptologist you see the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk that cracked before it could be freed from the rock, and Philae Temple on its island. The day's sightseeing is arranged around your flight, and the Egyptologist, entrance fees and transport are all included.

You have dinner on the ship and sleep aboard.

Your ship remains at her mooring in Aswan while you head off early by road to Abu Simbel, where Ramses II had two enormous temples carved into the rock above Lake Nasser. Entrance fees are included. You are back on board for lunch before she sets sail. In the afternoon you go ashore at Kom Ombo, a temple on the riverbank dedicated to two gods, with the cruise's Egyptologist and transport included.

It adds up to a full day, and you will probably be glad of a quiet evening on deck.

The ship carries on downstream to Edfu, where your Egyptologist leads you round the Temple of Horus. She then continues to Luxor. There you see Luxor Temple by the river and Karnak, the vast temple complex, with a visit to the Sacred Lake. Entrance fees and transport are covered by the cruise sightseeing. You spend your third and final night aboard, moored at Luxor.

You say goodbye to the ship after breakfast and cross to the West Bank with your Egyptologist for the Valley of the Kings, with three tombs included, the terraces of Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahari and the Colossi of Memnon. Entrance fees and transport are included. A private air-conditioned car then takes you over the hills to the coast at El Gouna, a drive of around 5 to 6 hours.

It is a long day because the sightseeing comes first, so keep water and snacks to hand. Your hotel is your base for the next five nights.

You are collected from your El Gouna hotel and driven to Hurghada, where a motorboat takes you across to Orange Bay on Giftun Island. There are two guided snorkelling sessions, with kit and life jackets provided, then time on a sunbed on the beach and a hot lunch with bottled water. The boat returns you to the mainland in the afternoon, and a vehicle takes you back to your hotel.

There is no programme today. Have a lie-in, swim, wander round the lagoon town or simply do nothing by the water. If you would like something more, such as another boat outing, ask your representative, and we can usually arrange it for an extra charge. Coming after the long drive and with two sea days either side, it is the breather in your Red Sea stay. Lunch and dinner are for you to arrange.

This is a day of around eight hours afloat, with pick-up from your hotel in El Gouna. A boat shared with other guests takes you out to the reef called Dolphin House, a favourite resting place for wild dolphins. Sightings are likely, but they are never guaranteed. A snorkelling guide leads each swim, and mask, snorkel and fins are provided.

Lunch is served on board with soft drinks and water, marine park fees are paid, and you are returned to the hotel in the evening.

Your final full day is easy going. After breakfast a driver collects you for a trip of about three hours, with the reef viewed from below the waterline on a semi-submarine shared with other guests, followed by a glass-bottom boat and a swim stop with mask and snorkel. A soft drink and water are included. The afternoon is free, and you can pack in the evening.