21-Day Egypt in Depth Holiday: Cairo, Nile & Red Sea

A driver is waiting in the arrivals hall at Cairo Airport and drives you to your hotel, where you can rest after the flight. As evening comes you are collected for a dinner cruise on the Nile. It lasts about three hours, with a buffet, a live show and Cairo's lights along both banks, and a private transfer brings you back to the hotel.

This is a full day with your Egyptologist guide, a private vehicle and the entrance fees already paid. Allow 4 to 6 hours at Giza, where you meet the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure and the Great Sphinx. The Egyptian Museum is part of the same day. You sleep in Cairo for a second night.

Nothing is planned for the morning. After lunch your driver collects you for a half-day tour taking in the Salah El Din Citadel and the Muhammad Ali Mosque, a stroll through Islamic Cairo and the Khan el-Khalili bazaar. A licensed Egyptologist leads the visit in a private vehicle, with the Citadel and mosque fees included.

Today is a private journey south of the city to the earliest pyramids. At Saqqara there is the Step Pyramid, at Memphis the remains of the old capital, and at Dahshur the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid. Your Egyptologist guide, the vehicle and the entrance fees are all included. These sites are much quieter than Giza, and the ground is sandy and uneven.

Today you move to the coast for two nights in Alexandria, taking the road that passes the Wadi Natrun monasteries. Lunch is included. The Alexandria sightseeing is spread over today and tomorrow: Pompey's Pillar, the Qaitbay Citadel, the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Graeco-Roman Museum. Tickets for all five are included, and so is the drive.

Because Alexandria's sights are split between today and yesterday, nothing is hurried. The list is Pompey's Pillar, the Qaitbay Citadel by the harbour, the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Graeco-Roman Museum. You stay in the same Alexandria hotel again tonight.

The journey back to Cairo goes through Wadi Natrun again, and the rest of the day has no sightseeing in it. Use the afternoon and evening as you like, before the flight to Aswan two days later.

This private day out lasts about 10 hours and starts at your Cairo or Giza hotel. The stops are Lake Qarun, the village of Tunis and the lakes and waterfalls at Wadi El Rayan. A driver and an English-speaking guide go with you in an air-conditioned vehicle, and lunch is at a local restaurant. After so many monuments, it makes a gentle change of pace.

You are driven to Cairo Airport for the flight to Aswan, which is timed by the airline. Another driver meets you at Aswan and takes you to your hotel. Later you step aboard a felucca, one of the Nile's traditional sailing boats, for a ride as the sun goes down.

Today is a full day by road from Aswan to Abu Simbel, where Ramesses II had his temples cut into the cliff. The vehicle and temple entrance fees are included, and an Egyptologist guide accompanies you. The road is long, and there is little shade at the site. You sleep in your Aswan hotel for a second night.

This is the day you join your ship for three nights on the Nile, all on full board. Your Egyptologist guide leads you around Philae Temple, the High Dam and the Unfinished Obelisk, with transport and entrance fees included. A private motorboat also takes you round Elephantine Island and the Aswan Botanical Garden.

The ship heads north along the river. Your Egyptologist takes you into the Temple of Kom Ombo and the Temple of Edfu, with fees and transport covered. There is also a Nubian village near Aswan to visit, reached by boat and by vehicle, with bottled water provided.

With your guide you see Luxor Temple and the Karnak Temples, the Sacred Lake included. Transport and entrance fees are covered. After dark there is the Sound and Light show at Karnak. Tonight is your last on the ship.

Once breakfast on board is over, your Egyptologist guide takes you across to the West Bank. The day takes in the Valley of the Kings, with three tombs, the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari and the Colossi of Memnon. Entrance fees and transport are included. You finish in downtown Luxor at your hotel.

Your Egyptologist guide drives you out of Luxor to two temples on the Nile's west bank to the north, Dendara and Abydos, in an air-conditioned vehicle. Entrance fees are paid, and lunch at a local restaurant comes with a bottle of water for each guest. It is a full day on the road and on your feet.

A private, air-conditioned car takes you from Luxor to Hurghada on the Red Sea, a drive of about 5 hours. No sightseeing is planned, so once you have checked in the rest of the day is your own.

You go out by boat from Hurghada to the Dolphin House reef and have time to snorkel there. We confirm the pickup arrangements and details with you before you travel.

Your hotel in Hurghada is the starting point for a five-hour quad bike safari led by a guide. Helmets are provided and each rider has a quad, or two can share one if you ask. Along the way there is a short camel ride, a barbecue dinner with soft drinks, tea and water, and a folklore show. You are then taken back to the hotel.

Today brings a three-hour look at the reef. Part of it is a two-hour semi-submarine trip shared with other guests, with a swim stop where you are given a mask and snorkel. A soft drink and water come with the trip, and so does pickup from your hotel and the return.

You are taken to Hurghada Airport for the flight to Cairo, which runs to the airline's timetable. On arrival you are met and driven to a half-day visit to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization with a private Egyptologist, including the Royal Mummies gallery where it is open, with a set lunch.

Spending tonight in Cairo is deliberate: it is a safety window in case a domestic flight runs late, before you fly home.