A Grand 11 Day Tour
of Egypt, Palestine, Jordan and Israel

Tour the highlights of the Near East: Cairo, Luxor, Petra, Amman, and Jerusalem. We have even included all the tips. No Hidden Charges. No Additional Tax.

Compare with the 14-day Edition

Tour

DAY 1 – CAIRO- Saturday – Weekly – Year Round
Our local rep. meets you at the airport and escorts you to your hotel, after which you’ll have some time to plunge into fascinating Cairo. Transfers are on a private basis. Private air conditioned vehicle, private chauffeur. Visa for Egypt may be secured upon arrival, please pay the $15 fee in cash at Cairo Airport, please pay in USD or Euro. This is available for a limited number of nationalities such as American, Australian, NZ, Canadian, EU, Singaporean, and Japanese Citizens. If in doubt about your eligibility, please contact the Egyptian Consulate nearest you. After exiting the terminal our local representative will escort you to the hotel where a complimentary welcome fruit basket awaits you.

DAY 2 – CAIRO – Sunday (BLD)
We introduce you to the wonders of Cairo with a visit to the great Egyptian Museum including the Mummy room and King Tut’s gold treasure room. After lunch at Naguib Mahfouz restaurant, an old-time favorite Cairo restaurant, we tour the Citadel of Saladin, Sultan Hassan and the Mohammed Ali Mosque, made of alabaster. We conclude the day with a walking tour of Muiz ledeenallah and Khan El-Khalili ancient districts. Dinner is included at La Bodega Restaurant.

DAY 3 – LUXOR – Monday (BLD)
An early morning flight takes us to Luxor. Crossing the Nile, we tour ancient Thebes: Valley of the Kings, the tomb-temple of Queen Hatshepsut in the Valley of the Queens, and the towering Colossi of Memnon. Returning to Luxor, we visit the stupendous Great Temple of Amon at Karnak before returning to Cairo by plane. Dinner is included at the hotel.

DAY 4 – Cairo Fayoum- Tuesday (BLD)

On Desert Safari for the Day – Fayoum Oases – And you thought the Pyramids were old

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.

Video by UNDP Egypt

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 enroute.

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 evening we will venture where few ordinary visitors ever tread… right into the homes of some of the people of Cairo! 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 evening, 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 5 – Cairo, Giza – Wednesday (BLD)
Today we fulfill your dream of a visit to the fabled Pyramids of Giza and the timeless Sphinx as well as Cheops Royal Barge Museum.

After breakfast, we’ll motor to the edge of Cairo, to the mysterious Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza. 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.

Those who are fit and adventurous enough may wish to penetrate into the heart of the Great Pyramid, to the King’s Chamber your ticket is included with our compliments (or the interior of Kephren Pyramid). Taking a camel ride (included) is entirely your own choice!

Lunch is included at the Mena House. Afternoon is for touring Memphis, Sakkara and the small yet charming Imhotep Musuem.We return to the hotel and get ready for dinner is included at Zeitouni at the Four Seasons Hotel. Queen Nefertiti Turns Egypt Upside Down!! Read More.

DAY 6 – Cairo – PETRA – Thursday (BLD)
We fly to Amman, Jordan, air fare is included in our rate in economy class, tax included. Our local rep. greets you, assists with border formalities, follow in the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia and Indiana Jones as you travel south to the “lost city” of Petra. Lunch is included enroute. Complimentary visa is issued upon arrival for American, Australian, NZ, Canadian, EU, Mexican, South African and Japanese passport holders. Passport must be valid at least for 6 month beyond the date of your arrival. This evening get ready for an evening tour of Petra then a Moonlight dinner served at a Bedouin camp. This evening we have a fantastic traditional dinner under the stars in a Bedouin camp, at a site that dates back more than 2,000 years.

DAY 7 – PETRA – AMMAN – Friday (BLD)
Breakfast is included daily at the hotel. Lunch is included at a charming local restaurant. 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.

Petra has a lot to tell. The visit starts at the visitor’s center, where each person is assigned a Bedouin guided horse for the journey to the entrance of the lost city. After passing some tombs which are located outside the city, the visitor passes through the SIQ, an immense crack in the Nubian sandstone. It is a winding, one-kilometer-long fissure between overhanging cliffs that seem to meet more than 300 feet overhead. Near the end of the passage, the SIQ, with great style, makes one last turn and out of the gloom in towering brightness appears Petra’s most impressive monument, el Khazneh – The Treasury. This is one of the most elegant remains of antiquity, carved out of the solid rock from the side of the mountain, is nearly 140 feet high and 90 feet wide.

Beyond el Khazneh the visitor is surrounded on both sides by hundreds of Petra’s carved and built structures, soaring temples, elaborate royal tombs, a carved Roman theater, large and small houses, burial chambers and much more. The Victorian traveler and poet, Dean Burgon, gave Petra a description which holds to this day – “Match me such a marvel save in Eastern clime, a rose-red city half as old as time.” after that we drive to Amman and our hotel. Dinner is included at a charming local restaurant.

DAY 8 – AMMAN – JERUSALEM – Saturday (BD)
We drive down into the Jordan River Valley and cross from Jordan into Israel passing through the historic Allenby Bridge / King Hussein Bridge. Climbing the tawny Judean Hills, we come to the golden city of Jerusalem, and to our hotel. After settling in, you may start to explore the world’s most famous city as you like. Local dates and pastries in your room.
Dinner is included at the hotel. We change vehicles at the borders. Estimated times and general info on the crossing: From the border to Jerusalem is about 45 minutes to an hour drive. Always air conditioned vehicle.

DAY 9 – JERUSALEM -Bethlehem – Sunday – Private Tour (BLD)
Today is a mix of walking and driving tour: Set out, in a private air-conditioned vehicle, with your private chauffeur and private guide, to see the wonders of Jerusalem: the Old City, Temple Mount, the ancient Western Wall, and the splendid Dome of the Rock, the Garden of Gethsemane; the colorful bazaars; Via Dolorosa and Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Continue to Bethlehem* to visit Rachel’s Tomb and the Church of the Nativity and return to Jerusalem. Lunch is again included at a charming local restaurant. Dinner is included at the hotel.

DAY 10 – JERUSALEM – Monday (BLD)
Today again, Jerusalem is ours to explore, in a private air-conditioned vehicle, with your private chauffeur and private guide, we concentrate on the modern city and visit the famed Israel Museum with its Shrine of the Book (repository of the Dead Sea Scrolls), the Knesset? and probe the labyrinthine alleys of the Arab Quarter, rich with the scents of spices and the vision of exotic pastries and sweets. Lunch is included at a charming local restaurant. Dinner is included at the hotel.

DAY 11 – DEPARTURE- Tuesday (B)
Our staff transfers you to the Airport for your flight. Bon Voyage.

Rates per person in US$

This tour departs weekly For Christmas, New Year’s & Easter weeks. On Passover please add 15% supplement to the rate.

Rates include

• All airfares, and motor coach transport in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, but do not include international airfares from and to your home country.
• All air fare taxes within Egypt and for Egypt Jordan air fare.
• Hotel accommodation (room with private bathroom), including all tax and service charges.
• Meals are as given in the itinerary (B = continental breakfast, L = set-menu lunch, D = set-menu dinner).
• All transfers in these listed countries, always on a private basis, private air-conditioned vehicle, private chauffeur.
• Private Guided sightseeing as per itinerary, including all entrance fees
• All departure taxes.
• Complimentary Jordanian visa is issued upon arrival for American, Australian, NZ, Canadian, EU, Mexican, South African and Japanese passport holders. Passport must be valid at least for 6 month beyond the date of your arrival.
• We have even included all the tips. No Hidden Charges. No Additional Tax.

Rate Does Not include

• Travel Insurance
• Beverages
• Laundry, phone calls etc.
• Visa for Egypt may be secured upon arrival. Please pay the $15 fee in cash at Cairo Airport, please pay in USD or Euro. This is available for a limited number of nationalities such as American, Australian, NZ, Canadian, EU, Singaporean, and Japanese Citizens, if in doubt about your eligibility, please contact the Egyptian Consulate nearest you. After exiting the terminal, our local representative will escort you to the hotel.

Sample Hotels in Jerusalem

The American Colony Hotel Jerusalem – Deluxe
The American Colony Hotel, a landmark fairytale get-away in the heart of Jerusalem, has been providing its luxurious hospitality services for more than 120 years. Personified by classic Arabian arches, elaborate furnishings and opulent suites, this elegant boutique hotel prides itself in offering guests an enchanting ‘east-meets-west’ experience in a distinctively tranquil and romantic setting.

With state-of-the-art amenities for business and leisure travelers and the bygone grandeur of royalty in the Pasha’s suite, the American Colony’s ambience and splendour enchants its guests with the ultimate blend of modern conveniences and old world charm. Its lush gardens, world-class restaurants and quintessential style, have earned the American Colony its distinguished reputation as an ‘oasis’ where timeless elegance meets contemporary facilities to provide new and returning guests of all ages with an extraordinary experience.

The hotel is within walking distance of all of Jerusalem’s major sights and within ten minutes of the Damascus Gate in the Old City, abd a 45 minute drive from the airport outside Tel Aviv. The American Colony Hotel . One Louis Vincent St, Jerusalem 97200.

Jerusalem Gold Hotel
Quiet European elegance, comfort, and affordability meet in the Jerusalem Gold Hotel to create a hidden sanctuary amid the overwhelming blaze of history, diversity, and faith that is Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Gold Hotel along with a world renowned architect has designed a haven of tranquility and warmth set into the very hub of local and national transportation in Jerusalem, thus allowing guests to enjoy the seemingly impossible combination of calm and serenity, with the ultimate accessibility.

General info on Hotels in Israel and Palestine

Four stars – Modest sample hotels used or similar

Novotel: A four-star Accor Hotel very close to the Old City of Jerusalem – around a 7 minute walk.

The Notre Dame Hotel: A nice hotel just across the New Gate leading into the Old City, but the rooms are Spartan – no TV’s, refrigerators or room service, yet very clean with a good homey atmosphere.

Suggested Restaurants in the Galilee, Israel/Palestine

Dag Al Ha’ Dan Restaurant el Dan. Kiryat Shemona, Israel/Palestine. Tel 972-4-695-0225