Special Cairo and the Nile Cruise Budget Tour

In the early morning you will enjoy your first delicious breakfast at the hotel, and and then one of the professional tour guides from the Cairo Top Tours team will come to meet you to start one of the best cultural and historical tours in the world because you will visit the most important archaeological landmarks in the world.

You will start the day by visiting one of the most important and largest archaeological museums in the world, the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, which includes a huge collection of the rarest and most dazzling artifacts. The tour guide will tell you the story of each artifact and pharaonic statue in the museum in detail so that you become familiar with the most important events in the lives of the ancient pharaohs. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East, containing more than 170,000 valuable artifacts, and it also contains the largest collection of diverse ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world. The Egyptian Museum development project in Tahrir is currently being implemented by the Egyptian Scientific Committee and several museum curators, with a grant from the European Union in cooperation with five European museums: the Louvre in Paris, the Egyptian Museum in Turin, the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, and the British Museum in London.

Then we will visit the greatest archaeological site in the entire world. The ancient Egyptian pyramids are royal tombs built over 2700 years, starting from the Old Kingdom until the late Ptolemaic era. The construction of the pyramids began in the Third Dynasty and was completed in the Sixth Dynasty. The pyramids were not isolated structures at that timebut were part of a huge architectural complex. The ancient Egyptians believed that the kings were chosen by the sacred gods to be intermediaries between them and the people, so their bodies must be preserved even after death so that they can return to life again.

You will see the Sphinx, which dates back to the Fourth Dynasty, specifically during the reign of King Khafre. The Sphinx is believed to have been painted in bright blue and yellow,, but the colors have faded over time. The statue was covered in desert sand,, but in 1400 BC the sand was removed from around it during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose IV. You will see the Valley Temple of King Khafre, which is one of the most famous temples with distinctive Pharaonic designs. It is known for its wonderful and breathtaking design, as it consists of huge blocks of limestone covered with granite, while the floors are covered with dazzling marble, and its wide courtyard includes homogeneous columns of granite. The niches carved in the walls of the courtyard were arranged symmetrically and wonderfully along the walls to contain statues of the king, some of which are currently on display in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir.

You will have the opportunity to visit the most famous holy churches where the Holy Family stayed during their escape to Egypt to protect the child Jesus from being killed by King Herod. You will visit the Hanging Church; the reason for its name is due to its construction on two high towers of the ancient Roman fort known as "Babylon Fortress," which was built during the reign of Emperor Trajan in the second century AD.

You will also visit the Church of Abu Serga, since the establishment of this church, the cave located underneath it has been the focus of the greatest attention because it is the place where the Virgin Mary, Christ, and Joseph the Carpenter stayed. This church is also distinguished by the presence of an ancient holy water well from which Christ drank, and on its opening, there is currently a glass door that allows visitors to look through it into the well.

You will visit the Ben Ezra Synagogue. The synagogue was originally a church called the "Church of the Candlemas" and was sold by the Orthodox Church to the Jewish community when it went through financial distress as a result of the large tax increases imposed on it at the time. The synagogue was named after "Ezra the Scribe," one of the most prominent Jewish rabbis at that time. It is sometimes called the Philistine Synagogue or the Levantine Synagogue. Modern researchers and Jews know it as the Geniza Synagogue after the famous Geniza documents found there in 1890. At the end of the day, you can visit one of the most famous and largest markets in the Middle East, Khan El Khalili Bazaar, so you can buy all the souvenirs you want and see the original Egyptian handicrafts. We will transfer you back to your hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After enjoying your delicious breakfast at your hotel, we will transfer you to Cairo International Airport to take your flight to Luxor, which is the most important archaeological city in the world. Upon arrival at Luxor Airport, you will meet your tour leader from Cairo Top Tours, who will transfer you to your cruise. You will visit the famous archaeological temples of the East Bank of Luxor:

One of our professional tour guides will accompany you to visit the Karnak Temple. This huge temple dates back to 2055 BC and was built to be a place of worship for the gods Amun, Khonsu, and Mut. The god Amun was the god of the sun and air for the ancient Egyptians, while Mut was the mother goddess and the mother of the god Khonsu, who is the god of the moon. The ancient Egyptians believed that she was the mother of everything in the universe. The Karnak Temple is the largest religious building in the ancient world, and therefore it is known to be one of the most visited places by the ancient Egyptians for worship. This temple is a huge open-air museum.

You will also visit the Luxor Temple, which was built in 1400 BC. It is the second largest temple after the Karnak Temple. The length of the hypostyle hall in this temple is about 61 meters, and this hall was decorated during the reign of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. The Luxor Temple was restored between 2001 and 2007 to preserve what remained of it. More than a thousand artifacts were restored to stop the erosion to which they were exposed, and the most famous of these pieces are hieroglyphic texts and sacred drawings for worship rituals.

After the end of this wonderful tour, we will return you to your cruise to have some rest.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

You will start your second day in the beautiful city of Luxor with a delicious breakfast to get ready for your next enjoyable tour of the most important temples of the West Bank of Luxor. Your private tour guide will accompany you to visit the magnificent Temple of Hatshepsut, which is distinguished by its unique architectural design, as it was carved entirely from the rocks of the Deir el-Bahari area, which is evidence of the ingenuity of the ancient Egyptians in engineering and construction. This temple was built to honor Queen Hatshepsut, who was famous for being one of the most powerful female queens who ruled ancient Egypt and whose era witnessed an unprecedented period of stability and prosperity. This temple bears witness to her great achievements and divine origins.

You will also visit the famous Valley of the Kings, which is the burial site of all the ancient pharaohs between 1539 and 1075 BC, starting with Pharaoh Thutmose I and ending with Pharaoh Ramses X. The tombs built in this valley show great diversity in terms of planning and decoration. UNESCO designated part of the valley as one of the most important World Heritage Sites in 1979, which also includes the Karnak Temple, Luxor, and the Valley of the Queens.

You will also see the Colossi of Memnon, which were built during the reign of Amenhotep, as they represent him between 1386 and 1349 BC and were completely completed in 1350 BC. This period was the most prosperous in ancient Egyptian civilization, as the artistic works developed greatly. Amenhotep paid special attention to the fact that both statues were made of one huge limestone, and the statues were damaged by the earthquake in 277 BC. They were restored during the Roman era.

After completing this enjoyable educational tour, we will return you to your cruise to rest and have your delicious dinner.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

You can enjoy the dazzling sunrise view on the banks of the Nile, then have your delicious breakfast to have enough energy to start your adventures today. You will meet your expert tour guide to start the day by visiting Edfu Temple, also known as the Temple of Horus. This impressive temple was built of sandstone and consists of several distinctive facilities, such as the various halls, such as the consecration hall, the library that preserves many ancient Egyptian texts and rituals, and the famous laboratory, which is the most interesting room because many medical prescriptions, incense, and perfumes were prepared in this laboratory.

You should not miss visiting the Kom Ombo Temple, which is the "Temple of Haroeris and Sobek."   This wonderful Ptolemaic temple was built in a distinctive place on high ground next to the Nile, surrounded by reed fields, and because the temple is shared between Haroeris, the good and skilled doctor, and Sobek, the god of crocodiles. This temple is famous for its huge double entrances, the lobby, and the "Holy of Holies". Among the prominent and famous engravings on the walls is a drawing showing ancient surgical equipment, bone saws, dental treatment tools, and other medical drawings. Near that place there are three mummified crocodiles, which are now in the "Hathor" cabin.

Then we will return you to the cruise again to enjoy your dinner while watching the enjoyable Nubian show.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

At the beginning of the day, you will enjoy a healthy and delicious breakfast to be able to visit the most important tourist attractions in Aswan with all activity and vitality. Your tour guide will come to meet you early in the morning to start your wonderful tour:

You will visit the High Dam, which is considered the greatest and largest engineering project in the twentieth century in terms of architecture and engineering, surpassing other giant global projects that were built at the same time. The High Dam was built to protect Egypt from high floods that were overflowing the country and submerging large areas in it and to preserve the large amount of water that was wasted in the Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptian people were able to overcome huge difficulties and challenges to build this dam, such as moving the giant Pharaonic temples, displacing the Nubian population, and diverting the course of the Nile River.

Then we will visit the second destination of the day, the Temple of Philae. Ptolemy II began building the huge Philae Temple for the goddess Isis, then built another temple for her consort Philae on the island of Bige, which was dedicated to their son Horus or Harandot. The famous British consul Henry Salt and his assistant Giovanni Belzoni took the two huge obelisks from the front of the temple in 1918 and moved them to a park in Dorset, England.

At the end of the day, you will visit the Unfinished Obelisk, which is located in the open-air museum in Aswan and also includes other huge unfinished structures, providing a comprehensive view of the advanced stone-working techniques of the ancient Egyptians. This obelisk is also a testament to the great role of women in ancient Egyptian society. Hatshepsut, one of the few powerful female pharaohs, ordered the construction of this monument, highlighting her power and influence during her reign.

We will transfer you to the cruise to spend your last night in Aswan and enjoy the stunning scenery while sailing your cruise.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After enjoying your delicious breakfast on board the cruise, you will check out, and then you can add an optional and additional tour to the famous Abu Simbel Temples. The impressive Abu Simbel Temple, carved into the Nubian rock, is an exceptional example of ancient Egyptian ingenuity, and unlike traditional structures, it adapts to the rare regional style, where there are colossal statues of Ramses II guarding the entrance, reaching a height of more than 20 meters.

The clear reliefs in the vestibule depict Ramses' great military exploits and victories, while the hypostyle hall decorated with anthropomorphic columns draws you into the depths of the temple, and Ramses sitting among the gods adds a touch of exciting mystery, enhanced by the unique sun rays that fall twice a year on the face of Ramses II.

We will then transfer you to Aswan Airport to be able to return to Cairo. Your tour leader will pick you up and take you back to your hotel for a relaxing night.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today is the last day of your holiday in Egypt. We hope you enjoyed your stay in Egypt and your tours with Cairo Top Tours. You will enjoy your delicious breakfast and check out of the hotel. Then we will transfer you to Cairo International Airport to take your flight back home.

Meal: Breakfast