Egypt and Jordan a la Indiana Jones

A Grand 15 day tour of Egypt and Jordan, Including Petra

(Starting in Egypt - compare with the sleeper train version)

We have even included all the tips . No Hidden charges . No Additional Tax

Indiana Jones himself couldn't squeeze more adventure into a 15-day journey: Cairo and the Pyramids, a cruise on the Nile, the fabled temples and tombs of Luxor and Thebes, diving in the Red Sea, the mountains of Sinai, and a trek to the mysterious ruins of Petra in Jordan

DAY 1 - DEPARTURE - Friday - ( or Thursday) Weekly year round
( click here if your prefer to start in Amman Jordan)
We take off aboard Lufthansa, Swiss , Air France, British Airways or KLM from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

DAY 2- CAIRO - Saturday
Our Egypt-based local rep. greets you in bustling Cairo airport and escorts you to your hotel . The Egyptian visa may be issued for a limited number of nationalities such as : for American, Australian , NZ, EU , Canadian, Mexican and Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival). Please pay the visa fee $ 15 upon arrival in cash. After exiting the terminal, our local representative will escort you (private vehicle) to the hotel . After exiting the terminal, our local representative will escort you (private vehicle) to the hotel

DAY 3 - CAIRO - Sunday (BLD)
We drive to the edge of the Sahara and Giza : tour the mysteries of the Pyramids , Cheops Royal Barge Museum, and the Sphinx.

The museum of the Royal Barge of Cheops The museum is built over the rectangular pit that housed the Royal Barge for thousands of years , the wooden boat was readied for the king's daily journey with the sun god, Ra . Discovered in 1954, in a completely dismantled state, the 43-metre (140-foot) cedar boat is a rare window on the Royal boats used by the kings of Ancient Egypt.

Lunch is included at Mena House . Afternoon tour of Memphis , Sakkara , including the Step Pyramid and the new Imhotep Museum . Dinner is included tonight at the "Zeitouni" restaurant at the Four Seasons.

We are glad to include the entrance fee to get inside the Great Pyramid , if interested , please read this first : The King's Chamber in the Great Pyramid was not meant to be visited:
Getting to it is challenging, and once you enter, it is very difficult to turn back. The stone passage is only wide enough for one person. You must be in good physical condition, able to climb several flights of stairs, bend double, crouch and duck-walk for short distances. The King's Chamber itself is the world's most claustrophobic place, with dim light and heavy, hot, oxygen-poor air. There is no ventilation. If you are at all sensitive to claustrophobia or confinement, or if you have any sort of respiratory condition, for your own safety and the safety of others, you must not enter the pyramid because it is impossible to remove a person or to bring aid to them quickly

Day 4 - Fayoum Oases - Monday
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, 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 evolution 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 5 - CAIRO- Tuesday (BLD)
Your exploration of the ancient world begins today! First stop is the Egyptian Museum, with its treasures of the ancient pharaohs: mummies, statuary, precious stones and metals. We'll also stop at the Citadel of Saladin and the Alabaster Mosque. Lunch is included at the new Al-Azhar Park .

Evening complimentary dinner is included at a local home:
Meet the locals, you may wish to bring token gifts to exchange with the host family ( T shirt , small souvenirs of your home town):
This afternoon we'll venture where few ordinary visitors ever tread . . . right into the homes of some of the people of Cairo l! You'll be invited to a family dinner, and while you enjoy wholesome home-cooked specialties, you'll learn about and appreciate the outlook, aspirations, and way of life of your hosts. Be assured, as curious as you may be about your new friends, they're sure to have questions about your own background. Once the ice is broken, you'll enjoy a lively afternoon , and find that you have more in common than you ever suspected. Of course, you may enjoy a quiet evening with your travel companions, by letting us know your preferences.

DAY 6 - ASWAN - Wednesday (BLD)
After an early breakfast board your flight heading for Aswan , where we settle you into your cabin on your Nile steamer. Complimentary welcome fruit basket.
We'll visit the world famous Nubian Museum, the enormous dams at Aswan, then board a launch on Lake Nasser to visit the Temples of Philae, rescued from rising waters. In the evening your guide will call on you for a horse - drawn carriage ride to tour Aswan souks and water front.

DAY 7 - KOM OMBO -Thursday (BLD)
We cruise northward down the Nile today, at a stately pace, disembarking for a visit to Kom Ombo, the twin temple dedicated to the crocodile river god, Sobek. We'll also see Haroeris, the solar disk.

DAY 8 - EDFU and LUXOR- Friday (BLD)
Horse-drawn carriages or vans meet us at riverside to take us through Edfu to the Temple of Horus, best-preserved in all of Egypt. Then we'll continue beside the Nile to take in an array of ancient splendors: the Valley of the Kings; the imposing tomb-temple of Queen Hatshepsut ; and, back in Luxor, tour Luxor Temple and the great Temple of Amon at Karnak. In the evening we return to the Karnak for the Sound and Light show, please bring a jacket and a flash light.

DAY 9 - SHARM EL SHEIKH - RED SEA - Saturday (BL)
Now that you've seen the best of the Egypt of the Pharaohs, our guides escort you to the airport. You'll fly over the Sinai Peninsula and land at historic Sharm El Sheik on the Red Sea. You're at the beach and free to swim, or explore under the waters. Lunch is included at the hotel in Sharm, is the flight is a late one, snacks will be served at your room at no additional charges.

DAY 10 - SHARM EL SHEIK - Dinner with the Bedouins in Sinai - Sunday (BLD)
Relax! Today is set aside as a strategic mid-journey break. Spend some time in the sun, but don't miss your chance to snorkel or dive under Red Sea waters for an array of coral and glittering tropical fish. Lunch at the hotel. Evening dinner with the bedouins in Sinai .

DAY 11 - MOUNT SINAI - Monday (BL)
Our knowledgeable guides arrange a pre-dawn departure into the still-cool wilderness of Sinai, through which Moses led the Children of Israel to the Promised Land. Our goal is the Monastery of St. Catherine, built of rock at the base of Mount Sinai, at the site of the Burning Bush. We tour the monastery, rich in history, icons and sacred paintings, then return to Sharm El Sheik.

Day 12 - Saladin’s Castle and Pharaoh’s Island- Tuesday ( BL)
Breakfast at the hotel, lunch box will be prepared by your chef and includes bottled water.
Just off the Sinai along the northern reaches of the Gulf of Aqaba lies one of the more curious and scenic locales in this part of the world.

The rulers of the Nile might once have held sway over these rocks and sand and water of Pharaoh’s Island (or Coral Island, or Geziret Faraoun). More certain is that Crusaders established an outpost here, on the site of a onetime Phoenician port, and erected a castle in 1115 A.D. to protect pilgrims on the way to St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai wilderness. The island did double duty as a base from which to attack Arab traders, which led to its capture by Saladin (or Salah El-Din). The legendary Arab leader strengthened the fortifications, and his name remains attached to the castle. Later, it was a Mameluke and Ottoman outpost.

We’ll have a treasured half-day opportunity to board a boat to visit this rarely seen fortress island. We’ll motor northward from Sharm El Sheikh, following the rocky coast, passing Bedouin travelers on camels, and secluded beaches, with occasional sightings of desert foxes. At Dahab or Nuweiba, we’ll embark for our short crossing to the island.

Once ashore, we’ll wander through the precincts of the reconstructed castle, with its courtyard, storerooms, galleys, and dining rooms, and appreciate the natural harbor that made this such a coveted outpost. And we’ll take in the unusual offshore vista of the breathtaking azure waters of the Gulf, backdropped by the grandeur of the mountains of Sinai and a cloudless sky.

Then, at your option, you can don scuba or snorkeling gear for a close encounter with the world-famous underwater life of coastal Sinai: corals, reefs, and schools of fish in every gradation of the rainbow, before we return to our lodgings at Sharm El Sheikh.

DAY 13 - Sharm El Sheikh - Amman , PETRA - Wednesday (BLD)
We'll drive to the airport , fly to Amman non-stop or via Cairo , air fare is included in economy class , tax included , ticket issued and delivered in Egypt . In Amman our Jordan-based representative waits to greet you. You'll drive south under a towering ridge of mountains, and arrive at your hotel in Petra for the night. Complimentary Jordanian visa fee (valid only for American , Australian , Canadian, NZ, EU and Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival). Dinner is included at the hotel in Petra.

DAY 14 - PETRA - Thursday (BD)
We'll spend the entire day at Petra, the stunning desert city hewn by the Nabateans from solid cliffs of pink and violet sandstone. Petra was known in the bible as Sela, and rediscovered only in 1812. You'll feel like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark as you penetrate into the city through a narrow sandstone gorge, the Siq, and wander among the Temple of the Winged Lion, tombs, Roman theater, and the imposing Treasury.

In the evening we will call on you for a unique experience :
Dine as a local : The Petra Kitchen is a delightful way to round out your Jordan travel experiences. Like any home kitchen, The Petra Kitchen is a relaxed, informal atmosphere where you’ll gather to prepare an evening meal, working alongside local women under the supervision of our chef.

Each evening meal includes soup, cold and hot mezza ( appetizers ) and salads, and a main course—all typical Jordanian dishes. You will have get an inside glimpse of the secrets behind the famous regional cuisine of the Levant.

The Petra Kitchen offers an evening of learning, fun and a very special dining experience, with each dish gaining the special flavor of a reward well-earned. Great care has been taken to make The Petra Kitchen a truly Jordanian experience—right down to the furnishings, all crafted in Jordan, the tableware, all produced by the Iraq al Amir Women’s Co-operative, and the aprons and table linens, all hand-embroidered by the Jordan River Foundation.

Tour experience tonight includes the cuisine course, meal and all non-alcoholic beverages as well as take-home recipes for all dishes prepared that evening.

DAY 15 - DEPARTURE FOR HOME- Friday (B)
Our staff escorts you to the airport of Amman for your flight home. Or, you may choose to add one of our extensions,to Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh, Syria, Greece or Turkey or even stop in Paris or London on the way back. Interested in adding an extra night in Amman ? Please click here

RATES per person in USD

• For departures from most west coast cities , please add $ 450 to the above rates.
  
• For travel May through end of Sep , as well as Dec 20 - Jan 3 please note that a $300 air-fare supplement is added to the above rates. This doesn't apply when you handle your own air fare
  
• Easter ( two weeks) , Christmas, New Year's Dec 15 - Jan 5 : 10 % supplement will apply.
  
• Click here for the : Dress code - What to Pack - Clothing on Board the Nile Cruise

Prices include:

• International air fares ( with tax) from New York to Cairo with return from either Amman . If / when you handle your own air fare please deduct $ 500 from the listed rates.
  
• All domestic flights within Egypt, as well as between Egypt and Jordan economy class with tax .
  
• Air-conditioned hotel accommodations with tax and service charges .
  
• All transfers in Egypt and Jordan, always on a private basis, private air-conditioned vehicle, private chauffeur .

• Complimentary welcome fruit basket on board the Nile Cruise.
  
• Bottled water ( one per person) delivered daily to your cabin.
  
• Bottled water / tea / coffee with every meal on board the Nile Cruise.
  
• Nile Cruise with all meals & shore excursions, cabins are always outside with large panoramic windows.
  
• Sightseeing with professional guide and entrance fees as indicated .
  
• Meals as indicated, with pre-set menu (B = Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner)

• Lonely Planet guidebook to Jordan and Egypt .
  
• Jordanian visa fee (valid only for American , Australian , NZ, Canadian , EU & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival).
  
• Jordanian departure tax.
  
• Gratuities to your guides, drivers, crew on board your cruise, as well as all the porters.

   Not included:

• Personal expenses and beverages .

• Additional meals, drinks and services

• Trip interruption and cancellation insurance

• Egyptian Visa : please pay the $ 15 in cash upon arrival, no photos required . Visa maybe issued upon arrival at Cairo Airport for a limited number of citizens such as : American, 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 .