12-Day Egypt Tour: Pyramids, Kings Valley & Amarna

After breakfast, your driver and your guide will pick you up at your Cairo hotel and travel with you throughout your day.

Tour the Grand Egyptian Museum

Enjoy a guided visit of Egypt’s history with an expert eye at the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), the largest museum ever made to focus on a single civilization - from pre-dynastic antiquity to the present. During your visit, you’ll see the grand treasure of King Tutankhamun, on display for the first time in its entirety since 1922, and come face to face with the gilded mask of a king. 

Return to your hotel for overnight stay.

After breakfast, your driver and your guide will pick you up at your Cairo hotel and travel with you throughout your day.

Visit the Great Pyramids of Giza

Drive to Giza Necropolis to see the last remaining wonder of the seven wonders of the ancient world: the Great Pyramid. You will hear stories about the people and Pharaohs who built the pyramids over 4,500 years ago, and have the chance to explore these ancient structures with your expert Egyptologist guide. 

Optional additions at Giza include a camel ride or entry to the burial chamber inside the Great Pyramid.

See the Great Sphinx of Giza

The Great Sphinx of Giza has stood watch over the Great Pyramids of Giza for thousands of years. It is made from the limestone of Giza Plateau itself, and is one of the largest carved statues in the world.

Visit the Saqqara Necropolis and the Step Pyramid of Djoser

Saqqara is home to the oldest stone building in history: the Step Pyramid of Djoser. Here you will learn about the architect-engineer Imhotep, later deified by ancient worshippers. You will have the chance to beautifully decorated Old Kingdom tombs and view the pyramid texts inscribed inside. This visit will give you insight into the tremendous skill of ancient craftsmen and offer glimpses of daily and religious life thousands of years ago. 

Return to your hotel for overnight stay.

After checking out of your hotel, your driver will pick you up for the 1.5 hour ride to Faiyum.

Visit Meidum Pyramid

The Meidum Pyramid was built by Pharaoh Sneferu during the 4th Dynasty. It represents the development of pyramid architecture, beginning as a stepped pyramid with mastaba terraces, before smoothing and sloping the sides. However, the pyramid partially collapsed, perhaps during construction, and went unused. Sneferu continued to refine pyramid construction with the Bent Pyramid, before finalizing the design with the Red Pyramid.

Visit the Pyramid of Senusret II

The Pyramid of Senusret II at Lahun is a mud-brick pyramid that was originally covered by limestone. It has a number of subterranean passageways leading to the funerary chambers, with the main burial chamber featuring a vaulted ceiling and red granite sarcophagus.

Enjoy a boxed lunch

Continue driving approximately 1 hour to Minya City. Check into your hotel and enjoy the evening at your leisure.

After breakfast, your driver and your guide will pick you up at your Minya hotel and travel with you throughout your day.

Visit the Tombs of Beni Hassan

The Tombs of Beni Hassan feature several well-preserved tombs of nobility from Egypt’s middle kingdom era. They are striking primarily for their intricate painted wall scenes, demonstrating daily and ritual life during the period. 

Visit the Greco-Roman necropolis of Tunah Al Jabal

Tunah Al Jabal (or “Tuna el-Gebel”) dates primarily to the Ptolemaic period of Egypt, when it was used as a necropolis for the nearby city of Hermopolis. Mazelike catacombs filled with animal mummies indicate it was also a pilgrimage site for Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom. On the outskirts of Tunah Al Jabal is one of the boundary stela of Ahkenaten, marking the edge of the ancient city of Amarna. 

Return to your hotel in Minya

After breakfast, your driver and your guide will pick you up at your Minya hotel and travel with you throughout your day.

Visit Tell al Amarna

Tell al Amarna was built by the pharaoh Ahkenaten (Amenhotep IV), who moved the capital city from Thebes to Amarna. This ancient site was well-preserved as it was abandoned after the death of Ahkenaten. Amarna is especially known for its art, dramatically different from most other periods of Egyptian aesthetic - one stunning example is the famous bust of Nefertiti, the wife of Ahkenaten.

Tour the Tombs of the Nobles at Amarna and the Royal Tomb of Ahkenaten

The Royal Tomb of Ahkenaten features a main burial chamber for the king, a side chamber for his daughter Meketaten, and other unfinished rooms likely intended for other members of the royal family. Much of the tomb was intentionally defaced due to the heretical legacy of this divisive pharaoh. 

After your visit, you will continue along the Nile Valley with a 4-hour drive to Abydos

Check into your hotel at Abydos and evening at your leisure

After breakfast, your driver and your guide will pick you up at your Abydos hotel and travel with you throughout your day.

Visit the Temple of Abydos

The Temple of Seti I at Abydos is beautifully decorated with carved reliefs depicting religious scenes and iconography. One of the decorations is the List of Kings, which lists 76 pharaohs from the old to new kingdoms. This list is one of the most complete to date and helped to provide clarity on the names and period of some of the ancient rulers. Behind the temple sits the Osirion, the symbolic tomb of the god Osiris. 

Lunch in Abydos

Visit Dendera Temple of Hathor

Dendera is home to the Ptolemaic-era Temple of Hathor. It had long been a site dedicated to the goddess, and was frequented by pilgrims throughout antiquity. The rear of the temple includes a relief of Cleopatra, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt, and her son fathered by Julius Caesar.  

Drive to Luxor (approximately 3 hours) and check into your hotel. Overnight in Luxor.

After breakfast, your driver and your guide will pick you up from your Luxor hotel.

Tour Luxor Museum

Luxor Museum contains an expertly-curated selection of art and grave goods from archeological sites around Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, including statues found in the Luxor Temple cache. The museum is also home to two royal mummies, Ahmose I and Ramesses I.

Private visit to the Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings, located on the west bank of Luxor, is the home to many royal tombs from the new kingdom. The discovery of the nearly-intact tomb of King Tutankhamun in 1922 completely transformed Egyptian archeology and led to the Valley of the Kings becoming one of the most famous archeological sites in the world. More than 65 known tombs are located in the Valley and have been cut directly into the rock. Many of these tombs are still adorned with beautiful carvings and paintings, as befit their royal occupants. 

Visit the Tombs of the Nobles

The Tombs of the Nobles is located on the West Bank of Luxor, near the Valley of the Kings. It offers a unique glimpse into the lives of ancient Egyptian elites. You will see tombs with vividly painted scenes, depicting the daily life of Egyptians - farming, fishing, crafts, music, banquets. You will understand the real stories focused on nobles rather than kings, and learn about the authentic life in ancient Egypt. 

Return to your hotel in Luxor for overnight

After breakfast, your driver and your guide will pick you up from your Luxor hotel.

Drive to Edna (approximately 1 hour) and visit the Temple of Khnum

The Temple of Khnum is dedicated to the creation god Khnum. It is remarkable for its delicate carvings (characteristic of the Hellenic era of architecture), columns with intricate capitals, and some of the last-known hieroglyphic carvings made in 250 AD.

Lunch on your way back from Luxor

Visit the Ramesseum

The Ramesseum is the mortuary temple of Ramesses II (Ramesses the Great). It is one of the largest temples in Egypt and has a number of unique and outstanding archeological features, including a number of granaries with brick archways and the famous “Ozymandias Colossus” (coined by Percy Bysshe Shelley in his poem “Ozymandias”). 

Tour Medinet Habu

Medinet Habu was built by Ramesses III. Included in its numerous carvings are reliefs of the Pharaoh fighting the “Sea Peoples” and inscriptions documenting battles and conquests of this era. The temple interior includes a procession of Ramesses’ sons with their names carved deeply into the stone. 

Return to your hotel in Luxor for overnight

Fly to Cairo

After breakfast, check out of your hotel. Your driver will pick you up to take you to Luxor Airport, and you will fly back to Cairo with your guide

Visit to Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hasan

The Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hasan was built during the Mamluk period. It remains as one of the most impressive buildings in historic Cairo, with a mosque complex containing four madrasas (schools), a central courtyard, and two minarets flanking the main structure.

Check into your hotel in Cairo; evening at your leisure

Today is a free day, for your choice of optional tours. Check out our one-day Cairo tour itinerary here, or build a custom itinerary with the help of our expert guides.

After checking out of your hotel, a private driver will transport you to the airport for your departure flight.