Cairo and Luxor Tour from Hurghada

Day 1: Cairo Tour

Hotel Pickup

We'll pick you up early (4.30am) from your Hurghada hotel and begin our Tour by driving to Hurghada airport for your flight to Cairo.

Cairo Tour to the Great Pyramid of Giza

Also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops, the Great Pyramid is the oldest and largest of the Pyramids of Giza. Composed of over 2.3 million blocks of granite weighing 25-80 tonnes each, the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one that still remains largely intact, the Great Pyramid never fails to astound and amaze. Built over a 20 year period, the Great Pyramid initially stood at 146 meters, making it the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years.

Our highly-trained Egyptologist tour guide will be able to give you any information you need on the Pyramids including supposed construction methods (nobody really knows for sure), materials used, labour used and why the pyramids were built.

There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid, the lowest was cut into the bedrock beneath the pyramid, with the Kings chamber and Queens chamber higher up in the structure. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only pyramid in Egypt known to contain both ascending and descending passages.

The main part of the Giza complex is a set of building that include two mortuary temples, three smaller pyramids for Khufu's wives, an even smaller pyramid, a raised causeway connecting the two temples and smaller tombs for nobles.

Visit the Sphinx on our Cairo Sightseeing Tour Translated as "The Terrifying One" but more commonly referred to as the Sphinx, this limestone statue of a mythical creature with a lions body and human head stands on the west bank of the Nile in Giza.

Believed to have been built by the ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of Pharoh Khafra around 2558 BC (the Pharoh who built the second pyramid), this amazing statue stands 20 m high and 73 meters long and is the oldest known monumental sculpture in the world.

Throughout Egyptian history the Sphinx has been revered with ancient Egyptians looking up at it with "divinity", and even to today it remains shrouded in mystery, with basic information like when it was built and by whom still debated. There are even theories of Kings being buried in it!

The Sphinx is an awesome sight and rich in history, over its lifetime being buried in sand for hundreds of years and then dug back out. There are also stories of Napoleon's soldiers shooting cannonballs at the great Sphinx and breaking off it's nose.

Khafre's Temples

At the base of Khafre's pyramid, the second tallest of the Pyramids of Giza, lies Khafres temple complex. These have remained in much better condition that other temples in the area and is the best example for us to explore. Built from megalithic blocks, weighing up to 400 tonnes each, this beautiful temple houses five storage chambers, an entrance hall, a columned court and an inner sanctuary to explore.

The interior of the temple has been remarkably well preserved and the temple of Giza are an amazing sight that have to be seen.

Lunch on the Nile

After exploring Cairo Museum we'll have a delicious buffet lunch at a restaurant alongside the famous River Nile, the lifeblood of Cairo.

Egyptian Museum Tour

Inside this massive and world-famous museum you'll find the most important pieces of Egyptian history including Pharaonic antiques and the treasure of Egypt's best known King, Tutankhamen. This massive museum in Tahir Square was established in 1902 and includes seven floors filled with fascinating artifacts such as two statues of King Tutankhamen made of cedar wood and covered in fine gold, a statue of King Akhenaton, Ushabtis statues that belonged to the Nubian kings, a mummy of a child and a small plychrome glass vase.

During the Egyptian revolution of 2011 the museum was broken into and two mummies were destroyed as well as around 50 objects being lost and several damaged. Since then 25 of those objects have been successfully recovered.

The Egyptian Museum spans across 2 floors, the ground floor housing numerous objects including papyrus with written Greek, Latin, Arabic and ancient Egyptian, and coins, again not only Egyptian ones but also Greek, Roman and Islamic, highlighting Egypt's rich history. The ground floor also houses large statues, tables and coffins.

On the first floor you'll find artefacts from the final two dynasties of Egypt including items from the tombs of Pharohs Tutmosis III, Thutmosis IV, Amenophis II, Hatshepsut, and the courtier Maiherpri, as well as many artefacts from the Valley of the Kings, in particular the material from the intact tombs of Tutankhamen and Psusennes I. Two special rooms contain a number of mummies of kings and other royal family members of the New Kingdom.

The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities is a fascinating place that allows you to see all the antiques that would have been buried in the ancient kings of Egypt's tombs and pyramids as well as some of the mummified kings themselves.

Optional Sound and Light Show

To end our fabulous tour of Cairo there's an hour at the end where you can decide to either watch the sound and light show at the pyramids or do your own thing for an hour.

Spend the Night in Cairo

After a fantastic day seeing the amazing ancient sights of Cairo, you'll be shown to your comfortable hotel in the heart of the city where our guide will leave you for the night. Whether you chose to get your heads down early, or explore the amazing city of Cairo is up to you.

---

Day 2: Luxor Tour

After a good nights rest you'll be picked up in the morning and taken to Cairo airport, to continue your journey onwards to Luxor.

Our fantastic day tour tour from Cairo to Luxor gives you the opportunity to see Luxor's biggest attractions in one fun-filled day.

We'll start the tour by picking you up early from your hotel in Hughada and travel to Luxor in a comfortable, air-conditioned coach. On arrival to the magnificent City of Luxor, it won't take you long to realize why this historically rich sight is regarded as the "World's largest open-air museum".

Karnak Temple

On arrival to Luxor together with your Egypt Excursions highly trained, knowledgeable and friendly tour guide we'll explore Karnak - "the greatest example of workmanship in history". The Karnak Temple complex - known simply as Karnak, comprises a vast mix of temples, chapels and other buildings dating back as far as the reign of Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom. The area surrounding Karnak was the ancient Egyptian's main place of worship of the eighteenth dynasty.

Our guided tour will take you around the impressive and vast open-air museum of Karnak, the second largest ancient religious site in the world and the second most visited historical site in Egypt after the Great Pyramids of Cairo.

The size, diversity and complexity of the ancient buildings of Karnak are due to the length of time Karnak was developed over, with approximately 30 pharaohs contributing to it over their respective reigns of Egypt, this is unheard of from any other temples in Egypt.

Walking around Karnak you'll see a staggering amount of carvings all over the stone built temples, representing the gods and figures worshiped from the very ancient to the different gods worshiped in the later stages of ancient Egyptian civilization. Almost all our customers comment on how intricately detailed the carvings on Karnak temple are, bearing in mind the enormous size of the complex, and describe a feeling of awe similar to that of seeing the great Pyramids up close. Questions of "How did they achieve this!?" are regularly asked, especially when you consider the age of the temple.

One of the more notable things you'll see as you make your way around Karnak is the Hypostle Hall, an enormous hall area of 5,000 m2 with 134 massive 10 meter tall columns arranged in 16 rows. The architraves on top of these columns weigh 70 tons, so the general theory is that they were built using massive levers requiring a great level of balance and time to get the massive stones to such a great height. There are many alternate theories to explain the building of Karnak, if you're interested then feel free to ask our guide.

Hatshepsut Tempe Tour

Next we'll continue our tour of Luxor's most impressive ancient sights at the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut, located beneath the cliffs at Deir el Bahari along the Niles West Bank.

Widely regarded as one of the "incomparable monuments of Ancient Egypt", this beautiful temple is different to many other ancient Egyptian temples with its lengthy terraces split over 3 levels. On our tour of Hatsepsut's temple we'll see the story of how Queen Hatshepsut came to be a female pharoh through colourful reliefs in the temple walls and ceilings. As always, your Egyptologist tour guide will tell you everything you want to know about this magnificent place from it's rich history to how it was built, as well as explaining what some of the hieroglyphics mean.

Hatshesut's temple is a magnificent place that has to be seen on your day tour in Luxor.

A Delicious Lunch

After a fantastic morning exploring some of Luxor's impressive temples, we'll relax along the Nile at a local restaurant for a delicious buffet lunch and some drinks.

Valley of the Kings

No trip to Luxor would be complete without seeing the Valley of the Kings!

The Pyramids of Giza were built for the Pharaohs of Egypt's Old Kingdom, but the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom wanted to be closer to the source of their dynastic roots in the south and so built splendid crypts in the barren dessert hills to the west of Luxor, in the Valley of the Kings.

The ancient Egyptians built massive public monuments to their pharaohs, but they also built hidden underground mausoleums that no one was ever meant to see, it's these tombs now excavated in the Valley of the Kings that we'll be seeing on our tour. The Valley of the Kings became a royal burial ground for the Pharaohs such as Tutankhamen and Ramses II, as well as other royal figures in society such as queens, high priests and other elites of the 18th,19th and 20th dynasties.

These ancient tombs tell of elaborate preparations for the next world in which pharaohs would need their bodies as they join the gods and so would require mummification to keep it in good order. Within these well hidden tombs was also vast amounts of treasure, food, linen, flowers, beer, wine and everything else a kings would need in the next world even including beloved companions from this life.

It was widely believed that the Valley of the Kings had given up all it's secrets and that all the tombs had been found throughout the thousands of years since their construction, however Howard Carter's find of king Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922 proves that there may still be tombs waiting to be found.

Return to your Hurghada Hotel

After seeing Luxor's most impressive sights on our famous overnight tour of Cairo and Luxor from Hurghada, we'll travel back from Luxor to your hotel in Hurghada by road which takes about 3 hours driving.

Please notice that : we can start by Cairo or by Luxor according the availability of the flights.

Cairo and Luxor Private Tour from Hurghada by Plane Reviews

There's more customer reviews to read!

This is just the last 7 customer reviews written for Cairo and Luxor Private Tour from Hurghada by Plane, if you want to see them all please click below. Don't worry it will open a pop-up and not take you off this page.

Show More Reviews

Most Frequently Asked Questions

Cairo and Luxor Private Tour from Hurghada by Plane Customer Questions

Book / Enquire