Egypt on a Yacht (14 days)

The 14-Day Version with an extended stay in Cairo and a
Nile cruise on board a Deluxe Dahabiya

Here’s the best of Egypt: a good look at Cairo and a one week Yacht Felucca cruise along the Nile including the Abu Simbel Ramses temples in Nubia, locally escorted. The cruise boarding is in either Luxor or Aswan.

Sail the Nile in Royal Style on board these Dahabiyas, they were the traditional sailing vessel of much of the Mediterranean world, and the traditional Nile felucca, or Dahabiya, was the mainstay of travel in ancient Egypt. With shallow drafts, sails, and oars, dahabiyas/feluccas could navigate not only the great river, but the maze of canals threading through its banks, with or without wind, reaching every part of the kingdom.

Dahabbiyas/Feluccas long ago transcended their role as humble transports. They held the ancient empire together, carrying troops, decrees, and the very mystery of the pharaoh.

DAY 1 – CAIRO Tuesday – Weekly in Cairo, year round
On arrival, our local representative will greet you at the airport and whisk you to your hotel. Visa may be issued upon arrival at Cairo Airport.

VIP Meet & Greet Upon arrival at Cairo Airport
Visa issued locally in Cairo (for a limited number of nationalities) no photos required. Our representative greets you at the airport and whisks you to your hotel. Visa will be issued upon arrival at Cairo Airport for a limited number of citizens such as: American, Australian, NZ, EU, Canadian, EU Singaporean and Japanese citizens. You are responsible for having your passport in order valid at least for 6 month beyond the date of your arrival in Cairo. Our local rep. will meet you with a sign that carries your name, and will be waiting for you with the prepaid visa stamps to proceed to the passports control to stamp your passports and then you claim your luggage. After you clear the passport and customs formalities and exit the terminal, our local representative will escort you by private vehicle to the hotel. Welcome fruit basket & Egyptian pastry awaits you in your room with our compliments.

Sample Hotels: City Stars Inter.continental. Cairo Marriott or similar. After exiting the terminal, our local representative will escort you (private vehicle) to the hotel.

DAY 2 – CAIRO – Wednesday (BL)
On your first full day in Egypt we show you the Egyptian Museum including the “Mummies Room” and King Tut’s Gold Treasure Pavillion. Lunch is included at Naguib Mahfouz or Hadaik El Azhar restaurant. On to Al-Azhar Park and El Darb El-Ahmar, then the Citadel of Saladin, and Mohammed Ali Mosque, made of alabaster, then wander through the alleys of the charming Khan El-Khalili Bazaar district.The Agha Khan Development Network The Azhar Park Project in old Islamic Cairo and the Conservation and Revitalization of Darb al-Ahmar historical treasures.

DAY 3 – CAIRO – Thursday (BL)
After breakfast, drive to the edge of Cairo. We are now in Giza – stand in awe in front of the Sphinx, and the mighty Pyramids of Giza. Complimentary short camel ride is included to allow you a photo with the Pyramids in the background Time is limited, so please do not go for what the camel driver tries to convince you, i.e. go for a long ride around the Pyramids. Lunch is included at the Mena House. After lunch we head for Memphis & Sakkara, visiting some of the Mastabas and Zoser Step-Pyramid. Stop at Haraniya before we head back to your hotel.

DAY 4 – CAIRO- GIZA – Friday (BL)
Full day on your own, explore the city on your own as you wish, or ask us for help with any of the optional tours.

Day 5 – Saturday – Cairo to Luxor and board your deluxe air conditioned Felucca
Very early morning breakfast and transfer to Cairo Airport. Flight is included in our rate, in economy class, tax included. Morning arrival at Luxor. We’ll meet you at the airport, and escort you to your deluxe air conditioned Nile cruise dahabbiya.
Board Luxor (or Aswan) and get ready for a relaxing week of sailing the Nile on a luxuriously appointed Dahabbiya.

After lunch, excursion to the West Bank for visits to the burial places of the Pharaohs – the Valley of the Kings – where Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. Continue to the adjacent Valley of the Queens, the temple of Medinet Habu and the Colossi of Memnon.

Overnight moored on the Nile banks of Luxor. Sample Deluxe dahabiya: Sonesta or Movenpick “Faddiya”. In the evening our guide will call on you for a horse-drawn carriage ride throughout Luxor souks and water front.

Day 6 – Sunday – Luxor – On board your Yacht Nile Cruise
You will visit the magnificent temple complex of Amon-Ra at Karnak, with its vast hypostyle hall of 137 columns, followed by the imposing 28th Dynasty Luxor Temple.

Our Tour includes as well: Medinet Habu, the Ramesseum and Deir El Medinah, the first known “Workers Village” these were the true creative heroes who built the temples & tombs for the mighty Pharaohs of the Nile Kingdom.

Deir El Medinah is on Luxor’s west bank where you get a totally different perspective on ancient Egyptian life at the ancient workers’ settlement of Deir el-Medinah. While most of the imposing stone monuments and sites of Egypt honor the lives and after-lives of royalty, Deir el-Medinah gives us unique and surprising insights into the ordinary citizens who constructed and decorated the tombs.

Here we’ll see the excavated homes shared by laborers with their domestic animals. These quarters were surprisingly large, with three good-sized rooms, courtyard, kitchen, and even storage cellars. While ancient Egypt might not have been a workers’ paradise, we’ll see that artisans and builders were highly regarded in their community. We are proud to be the only operator to offer regular visits to this singular ancient settlement in its tour and cruise programs.

Overnight moored in Luxor. In the evening your guide will call on you for a horse-drawn carriage ride through Luxor and the water front.

Day 7 – Monday – Luxor to Esna – On board your Yacht Nile Cruise
Today will be a leisurely day. After breakfast, commence sailing to Esna where your Dahabbiya will moor. This evening you may wish to enjoy dinner in Egyptian style, dressed in galabias, the flowing national costume (A Galabia will be delivered to your cabin with our compliments). While you are on board the cruise, afternoon tea will be served daily on deck.

Day 8 – Tuesday – Edfu – On board your Yacht Nile Cruise
This morning you will sail to Edfu to visit the wonderfully preserved Temple of Edfu. Overnight on board as we will look for an island in the middle of the Nile where we moor.

Day 9 – Wednesday – Kom Ombo – On board your Yacht Nile Cruise
Today you will sail to Kom Ombo to see the Ptolemaic temple dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon-headed Horus, god of the morning sun. Overnight moored beside a Nile island.

Day 10 – Thursday – Aswan – On board your Yacht Nile Cruise
A leisurely day sailing to Aswan where the dahabiyya moors overnight.

Day 11- Friday – Aswan – On board your Yacht Nile Cruise
Today you will visit the Aswan High Dam (completed in 1971); the Old Dam (completed in 1902) and the ‘ unfinished obelisk’, lying in situ since the days of the Pharaohs. You will also visit the Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis, a structure rescued from the rising waters of Lake Nasser at the time of the High Dam’s construction. In the afternoon we’ll have the opportunity to experience Egypt at its most authentic, as we sail the Nile in a graceful Felucca, the age-old sailing vessel of the river to visit Elephantine Island and the Botanical Garden. In the evening our local guide will call on you once again for a horse-drawn carriage ride throughout Aswan and the local souks.

Day 12- Saturday – Aswan – Abu Simbel – Fly back to Cairo (BL)
Breakfast aboard the dahabiya and check-out.

We bid farewell to the crew, we switch transportation modes and head for Aswan Airport and your flight to Abu Simbel where your Private guide awaits you as well as your private chauffeur, of course you’ll have a private air-conditioned vehicle.

In the larger temple, colossal figures of Ramses are seated with the gods and attended by his queen and daughters. The smaller temple is dedicated to Queen Nefertari, who appears as Hathor, the goddess of love, joy and fertility, symbolized by the benevolent cow. We explore these fine temple, admiring their ancient aura and artistry, after which retire to a comfortable hotel for our lunch, and refreshments. Then fly back to Cairo and your hotel. Air fare is always included within Egypt, economy class, tax included. In Cairo, we ‘ll assist with your transfer to your hotel.

Hotels: City Stars Inter.continental. Nile Hilton, Cairo Conrad or Grand Hyatt or similar

DAY 13 – Sunday – On Desert Safari for the Day – Fayoum Oases – And you thought the Pyramids were old (BL)
We leave Cairo by sunrise (private air conditioned car/driver/guide): Full day Fayoum Oases including: Hawara Pyramid, El Lahoun Pyramid, Ruins of Karanis, and drive by Lake Qarun. Lunch is included at a local restaurant.

The wilds of the desert begin right on the outskirts of Cairo, and continue for hundreds of miles to the east and west, through sands, rock, mountains, oases, and a surprising variety of scenery and inhabitants.

Join us for a day ranging across the desert like modern nomads. In place of camels, we’ll travel in comfortable, reliable four-by-four Toyota Land Cruisers. Your guide and drivers will meet you at your hotel, and soon you’ll leave bustling Cairo behind as you undertake the drive toward the Oasis of El Fayoum, 150 kilometers to the southwest. Hard as it is to believe, a great inland sea once covered these sands. It was a holy reserve of sacred crocodiles, symbolized by the god Sobek.

We’ll visit the temple of Kom Oshim, drive over ancient lake beds, and alongside the waters of today’s Fayoum Lake to reach the fishermen’s village of Chak Chouk. There we’ll stop for a lunch of fish caught fresh that morning. There will be time to wander the village lanes and discreetly watch the everyday activities of baking flatbread, irrigating crops from the lake’s waters, and bringing in the catch. We’ll also include the craft and pottery museum where the best works of local artisans are on display.

Then it’s into our four-by-fours again, for an off-road adventure! We’ll head alongside and across desert washes, between dunes, and over ancient lake beds for 35 kilometers to the Valley of the Whales (In Arabic: Wadi-El-Hitan). Incredibly, these great mammals once thrived – almost forty million years ago – in waters surrounded by sands. We’ll stop and gaze in amazement at their fossilized remains alongside smaller sea creatures that remain in stone. This valley was discovered in 1936, by the German geologist George Schweinfurth in the northwestern corner of Wadi El-Rayan.

The valley provides evidence of one of the major changes in this mammal’s evolution and has been declared by the UNESCO to be a World Heritage Site. It is believed that these land based whales once had feet that may have helped them somewhat while ashore. A team from the University of Michigan discovered in the late 80’s that these Zeuglodon whales did have rudimentary feet. This was a startling discovery, suggesting that whales of Wadi -El-Hitan had recently started living in water as well. These whales were not related to any of the whales we have today, rather a more slender body and may grow up to 75 feet long. Several skeletons of whales are exposed in the sand. George Schweinfurth named this extinct specie the Zeuglodon Isis Whales.

In the evening, you’ll return to your hotel in Cairo. Land transportation in air-conditioned four-wheel-drive Toyota Land Cruiser with the services of driver and English-speaking driver. Lunch is included.

DAY 14 – CAIRO/ Departure – Monday (B)
Our representative escorts you to the airport for your homeward flight. Bon Voyage!

Rihana Dahabiya, Yasmina or Haya Dahabiya.
Cairo Hotels: J. W. Marriott. Cairo Marriott, Hilton, Cairo Conrad or Intercontinental Hotel or similar

Rates are per person in USD $
triple occupancy	$ 4785.
double	$ 4875.
single	$ 7154.

Peak Season: Easter season (2 weeks), Christmas and New Year season (2weeks): Please add: % 20 to the listed rates.

Sonesta Dahabiya or similar
Cairo Hotels: J. W. Marriott. Cairo Marriott, Cairo Conrad or Intercontinental Hotel or similar

Rates are per person in USD $
double	$ 5915
single	$ 7680
No Triple Occupancy

• Year Round (Except Holiday season)
• Peak Season: Easter season (2 weeks), Christmas and New Year season (2weeks): Please add: % 20 to the listed rates
• Upgrade to the Four Seasons Hotel in Cairo: Ultra Deluxe Rate

Sonesta Dahabiya or similar.
Private Local Guides Even For the Cruise Dahabiya Shore Excursions
The Four Seasons – Nile View room. Flying Business Class within Egypt.

Rates are PER PERSON and in USD $
double	$ 7860.
single	$ 9780.
There are no triple occupancy cabins

• Year Round, except during Easter – Christmas/New Year’s:
• Peak Season: Please add % 20 to the listed rate for Easter Season (2 weeks). Christmas and New Year season (2weeks):

Rate Includes:

• Nile cruise shore excursions with all the guided sightseeing including all entrance fees, all as per itinerary.
• Private Egyptologist and private car/driver for Cairo and Abu Simbel tours as listed including all entrance fees and lunch.
• All meals on board the DELUXE Felucca / Yacht / Dahabiya Nile cruise: Pre set meals as listed including B = Breakfast, (or cB, Continental Breakfast), L = Lunch, D = Dinner
• Tea/ coffle and afternoon tea while on board the Deluxe Nile Cruise
• All airfares within Egypt in “Y” class including tax as listed.
• Private air conditioned car /driver for all transfers within Egypt.
• Deluxe hotel accommodation with tax & service charges.
• Accommodation in a private cabin: Double or single on board The Dahabiya / Yacht Nile Cruise with all meals and shore excursions (there is no triple occupancy cabin on board.
• VIP Meet & Greet At Cairo Airport
  Visa issued locally in Cairo (for a limited number of nationalities) no photos required. Our representative greets you at the airport and whisks you to your hotel. Visa will be issued upon arrival at Cairo Airport for a limited number of citizens such as: American, Australian, NZ, EU, Canadian, EU Singaporean and Japanese citizens. You are responsible for having your passport in order valid at least for 6 month beyond the date of your arrival in Cairo. Our local rep. will meet you with a sign that carries your name, and will be waiting for you with the prepaid visa stamps to proceed to the passports control to stamp your passports and then you claim your luggage. After you clear the passport and customs formalities and exit the terminal, our local representative will escort you by private vehicle to the hotel. Welcome fruit basket & Egyptian pastry awaits you in your room with our compliments.

Rate Does Not Include:

• Travel Insurance.
• International air fare from / to your home country.
• Tips.

Cairo portion remains the same.

For the cruise portion:

Saturday – Board Aswan
Embarkation in Aswan for a relaxing week sailing the Nile on a luxuriously appointed dahabiyya. Overnight, the ship moors on the Nile banks of Aswan

Sunday
Today you will visit the Aswan High Dam (completed in 1971); the Old Dam (completed in 1902) and the ‘unfinished obelisk’, lying in situ since the days of the pharaohs. You will also visit the Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis, a structure rescued from the rising waters of Lake Nasser at the time of the High Dam’s construction. Overnight moored in Aswan.

Monday
Morning sail to Kom Ombo to see the Ptolemaic temple dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon-headed Horus, god of the morning sun. Overnight moored beside a Nile island.

Tuesday
This morning you will sail to Edfu to visit the wonderfully preserved Temple of Edfu. Overnight moored beside an island.

Wednesday
Today will be a leisurely day. After breakfast, commence sailing to Esna, and onwards to Luxor, where your dahabiyya moors overnight.

Thursday
Excursion to the West Bank to visit the great burial places of the Pharaohs – the Valley of the Kings – where Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. Continue to the adjacent Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu Temple and the Colossi of Memnon. Overnight moored in Luxor.

Friday
This morning you will visit the magnificent temple complex of Amon-Ra at Karnak, with its vast hypostyle hall of 137 columns, followed by the imposing 28th Dynasty Luxor Temple. Overnight moored in Luxor.

Saturday- Luxor -Disembarkation
Breakfast aboard the dahabiyya, check-out.