These terms govern the contract between you and Orientoura, owner Dr. Sherif Azab-Els, Pregelstraße 14, 53127 Bonn, Germany. Orientoura is a German company, so German law applies to your booking — including the protections of the EU Package Travel Directive as enacted in §§ 651a ff. of the German Civil Code (BGB). Those protections cannot be signed away, and nothing here is intended to reduce them.
Two different sets of rules apply, depending on what you book. Part A covers our multi-day journeys, which are package holidays in the legal sense. Part B covers our day trips and single activities, which are not.
Part A — Multi-day journeys (package holidays)
1. How a contract comes about
Everything on this website is an invitation to enquire, not a binding offer. When you send us an enquiry or accept a proposal we have written for you, you are making a binding offer to book. The contract comes into existence when we send you our written confirmation of booking. If our confirmation differs from what you asked for, it counts as a new offer from us, and the contract is formed when you accept it within the period we state.
If you book for other travellers, you are responsible for their obligations as well as your own, and you confirm that you are authorised to act for them.
2. Payment and your insolvency protection
A deposit of 20 % of the total price is due within 7 days of the contract coming into existence. The balance is due 6 weeks before departure. For bookings made less than 6 weeks before departure, the full amount is due immediately.
Under § 651r BGB we are required to protect your money against our insolvency. You will receive a certificate of insolvency protection (Sicherungsschein) with or immediately after your booking confirmation. We are not permitted to ask you for any payment before you hold that certificate, and you should not pay before you have it.
If you do not pay on time and we have made you aware of the consequences, we may withdraw from the contract and charge the cancellation fee set out in section 4.
3. What the price includes
Your booking confirmation lists exactly which services are included. Anything not listed there is not included — typically international flights, visa fees, travel insurance, tips, drinks and personal expenses. Where an itinerary offers an optional extra, we will quote it separately and it becomes part of the contract only once you accept the quote.
4. If you cancel
You may withdraw from the contract at any time before departure (§ 651h BGB). We recommend doing so in writing so that the date is beyond doubt; the date we receive your notice is what counts.
Because we commit to boats, guides and hotels well in advance, we charge the following flat-rate compensation, calculated on the expected saving of costs and the expected income from using the services otherwise:
| Notice received before departure | Compensation |
|---|---|
| 46 days or more | 25 % of the price |
| 45 to 8 days | 30 % of the price |
| 7 to 2 days | 40 % of the price |
| 1 day before departure, or no-show | 80 % of the price |
You are always free to show us that we have suffered no loss, or a much smaller one than the flat rate. In that case you pay only what we actually lost. Equally, we will explain on request how any figure we charge is made up.
These are the same rates and the same payment dates as our German-language terms at orientoura.de. Orientoura is one company in Bonn and there is one set of conditions, whichever of our two sites you booked through.
If unavoidable, extraordinary circumstances at or near your destination significantly affect the journey, you may cancel free of charge (§ 651h (3) BGB). We will then refund everything you have paid within 14 days.
Instead of cancelling you may transfer the booking to another person who meets the requirements of the journey, provided you tell us in good time — not later than seven days before departure (§ 651e BGB). We may charge the additional costs this actually causes, and we will show you what they are.
5. If we change or cancel the journey
We may make insignificant changes to the arrangements — a different hotel of the same standard, a reordering of days, a change of vessel within the same class. We will tell you clearly and promptly.
If we have to change something significant, or cannot provide a feature you specifically asked for, you may accept the change, accept a substitute journey of at least equal value if we can offer one, or withdraw from the contract free of charge. We will set you a reasonable period to decide; if you do not reply, the change is deemed accepted.
We may cancel the journey if unavoidable, extraordinary circumstances prevent us from carrying it out, and we will tell you immediately. Our journeys are private and have no minimum number of participants, so we will never cancel for lack of bookings. In every case of cancellation by us, you get the full price back within 14 days.
6. Price changes after booking
We may increase the price only if the cost of transporting you rises because of fuel or other energy prices, if taxes or charges for agreed services rise (for example airport, port or tourist taxes), or if the relevant exchange rate moves against us (§ 651f BGB). We will tell you clearly and on a durable medium, explaining how the increase is calculated, and no later than 20 days before departure.
If those same costs fall after booking, you are entitled to the reduction, and we will refund it — we may deduct the administrative expenditure we actually incurred, and will show it to you on request.
If an increase exceeds 8 % of the total price, you may accept it or withdraw from the contract free of charge within the reasonable period we set you.
7. If something is wrong during the journey
If a service is not provided as agreed, please tell your guide or our office straight away, so that we can put it right while you are still there (§ 651o BGB). This matters: if you do not report a problem when you could have, and we therefore had no chance to remedy it, your claims may be reduced.
Our contact number is given in your travel documents and is answered around the clock during your journey. If we do not remedy a defect within a reasonable period, you may remedy it yourself and claim the necessary expenses back. You may also claim a reduction of the price for the period concerned, and, where the defect is substantial, terminate the contract (§§ 651i–651l BGB).
8. Our liability
We are liable for the proper provision of the travel services included in your package. Where damage is neither a personal injury nor caused through our fault, our liability is limited to three times the travel price, as permitted by § 651p BGB. This limit does not apply to injury to life, body or health, nor to damage we cause intentionally or negligently.
Where an international convention or statutory provision limits the liability of a service provider — for example the Montreal Convention for air carriage — we may rely on that limitation too.
Where we merely arrange a service for you that is clearly described as a third-party service — a scheduled flight booked in your name, an event ticket, a hire car — we are liable for arranging it properly, not for the service itself.
9. Time limits
Claims arising from a defect in the journey become time-barred two years after the day on which the journey was due to end (§ 651j BGB).
10. Passports, visas and health
We will tell you what passport, visa and health formalities apply to citizens of the European Union, and how long they usually take. If you hold another citizenship, please tell us at the time of booking and check the requirements with the relevant consulate — we will help, but the rules for your nationality are yours to verify.
You are responsible for holding the documents you need and for meeting any health requirements. If you cannot travel because a document is missing, the cancellation fees in section 4 apply, unless the omission is our fault.
Please tell us at booking about any illness, reduced mobility, allergy or dietary requirement that affects how we should plan your journey. Egypt’s archaeological sites involve uneven ground, steps and heat, and traditional vessels have limited accessibility. We would rather adapt the itinerary honestly in advance than disappoint you on the day.
11. Insurance
The price does not include travel insurance. We strongly recommend cover for cancellation, medical treatment abroad and repatriation, and we are happy to say what a policy should cover for the journey you have booked.
Part B — Day trips and single activities
A single day trip or activity is not a package holiday, so the rules in Part A do not apply to it. The following applies instead. If you book two or more different types of travel service from us for the same trip — say a day tour together with accommodation — that combination may itself become a package, and Part A will then apply to it.
12. Booking, payment and cancellation of a day trip
A day trip is confirmed when we send you our written confirmation. Unless we agree otherwise, payment is due on the day, in cash or by card, to your guide.
You may cancel a day trip as follows:
| Notice received before the start | Charge |
|---|---|
| More than 48 hours | Free of charge |
| 48 to 24 hours | 50 % of the price |
| Less than 24 hours, or no-show | 100 % of the price |
If we have to cancel because of weather, safety, site closures or other circumstances beyond our control, you pay nothing and we refund anything already paid. Where we can, we will offer you an alternative date or a different day instead.
Timings are indicative. Traffic, ferry queues, weather and site opening hours in Egypt are not always predictable, and a private tour is adjusted to the day rather than driven through it. We will always tell you what has changed and why.
General
13. Your conduct on the journey
Please follow the reasonable instructions of your guide, crew and drivers, particularly on boats and at archaeological sites. If a traveller persistently disrupts the journey despite a warning, we may terminate the contract; we then keep the price, less the value of any expenses saved, and any additional cost of return travel is yours.
14. Photography
We sometimes photograph our journeys. We will always ask before photographing you, and we will not publish a picture in which you are recognisable without your consent. You may withdraw that consent at any time by writing to us.
15. Data protection
We handle your data as described in our Privacy Policy. To carry out your journey we have to pass certain details to hotels, boats, guides and transport companies in Egypt, on the basis of Art. 49 (1)(b) GDPR.
16. Complaints and dispute resolution
If something has gone wrong, please write to us first at info@orientoura.de. Most things are quicker to fix directly than through any formal channel.
We are neither obliged nor willing to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.
17. Governing law and jurisdiction
German law applies. If you are a consumer, this does not deprive you of the protection of the mandatory provisions of the law of the country in which you are habitually resident. You may sue us at our seat in Bonn or at your own place of residence. We may sue you only at your place of residence, unless you are a merchant, a legal person under public law, or you have no general place of jurisdiction in Germany.
If any provision of these terms is or becomes invalid, the rest remains in force.
18. Version
These terms are dated 17 August 2026 and apply to bookings made from that date. Orientoura, owner Dr. Sherif Azab-Els, Pregelstraße 14, 53127 Bonn, Germany.