Some people want a boat and eight days with nothing to decide. Others want a single morning in the Valley of the Kings before flying home. Both are proper ways to see Egypt.
Choose the format that fits how you like to travel, and we will shape the rest around it.
You can also come at it from the other side: by where you want to be, or by the kind of day you want to have. All three lead to the same journeys.
Four formats, and who each one suits
Dahabeya cruise
A dahabeya is a wooden sailing boat with eight or ten cabins: twenty guests at most, where a standard cruise ship carries two hundred. It covers the stretch between Esna and Aswan over four nights, moors at banks the large ships cannot reach, and runs no entertainment programme. Choose it if you want the river itself to be the point rather than the transport between temples. Five of our journeys are built around one, from a five-day sailing between Luxor and Aswan to eight days with Abu Simbel added.
Nile cruise
The five-star ships run the same Luxor-Aswan route on a fixed timetable, with a pool, a lift and a restaurant that serves at set hours. Landings happen alongside other boats, so the temples are busier - but the cabins are larger, the motion is negligible and nothing depends on the wind. It is the better choice with small children, with limited mobility, or when comfort matters more than quiet. Four journeys include one, among them eight days from Cairo to Aswan.
City and sightseeing
Cairo, Giza, Luxor and Alexandria on foot and by private car, with an Egyptologist who answers questions instead of reciting dates. No coach, no fixed group, no shopping stops. Seven journeys work this way, from four days in Cairo and Giza to four days in Luxor on both banks.
Desert
The White Desert north of Bahariya, the Siwa Oasis near the Libyan border, the Eastern Desert behind Hurghada. These routes need permits and four-wheel drive, and at least one of the nights is spent in a camp. Three journeys go there, including nine days combining the Nile with a night in the White Desert.
How long you need
The shortest thing we run is six hours - a morning on the West Bank of Luxor, or an afternoon in the Eastern Desert. The longest is twelve days from Cairo to Abu Simbel. Most travellers who want both Cairo and the Nile find that eight days is the point at which the trip stops feeling rushed. Below that, something has to be left out, and we would rather say which than pretend otherwise.
Our tours are private unless you ask us to put you with others, the retreats run as small groups, and every journey can be lengthened, shortened or recombined. If none of the four formats is quite it, tell us what you had in mind.