Difficulty Information
This holiday is classified as Category B
The difficulty of our travels varies greatly. Added to this is the fact that travel difficulty is a very personal perception. To give an impression of the difficulty of a particular holiday we have developed a classification system.
Category A: Light travel, possible for anyone. Short distances, good hotels, and low travelling speed.
Category B: Feasible for anyone who prepares for the trip. Sometimes longer distances, good hotels or camping facilities, some adventure nights, average travelling speed.
Category C: Feasible for anyone who prepares well and is flexible, but some parts of the journey are difficult, distances may be long or require a day’s walk, there may be some basic facilities.
Category D: Reasonably difficult trip because of long travel distances, often-primitive facilities or tents, long walks.
Category E: Difficult trip. The traveller knows him/herself and is well prepared, he or she realises that the holiday can be demanding.
The 14-day Egypt Adventure is a Category B holiday. Any reasonably healthy individual can make it. In the summer the trip is considerably more difficult than during the rest of the year. Although in the cities we stay in simple medium-priced hotels, remember that you are travelling in a developing country with much lower living standards than you are used to at home. Also, roads may be temporarily blocked because of the weather or owing to their state of repair, in which case a detour is unavoidable. Some journeys are very long, e.g. the first and last days of the oasis trip and the return journey to Cairo on Day 13. A flexible and positive attitude is just as important as a good physical condition.
Character of the trip
This gateway to Africa combines the most impressive historical monuments with a lively population and a wonderful climate. You can wander around the bazaars of Cairo, the Nubian villages, the pyramids, the tombs of the pharaohs and the ancient temples, and on the date-covered banks of the Nile. But the most special part of the holiday is our adventure trip to the western oases. You can extend your holiday with a week’s stay in Dahab on the Red Sea.
Day-to-day schedule
Day 1 -
3: Cairo
Here, you will stay in a simple medium-priced hotel in the city centre for three nights. The two entire days that you spend in this city are hardly enough to see the most important sights. To begin with, the pyramids of Saqqara and Gizeh are of course well worth a visit. Saqqara, the city of the dead, was built in the desert because the fertile Nile Valley was needed for agriculture. Kings and other important people were buried here. On the walls of the many tombs you will find beautiful decorations with scenes from everyday life. The tombs were marked with a mastaba, a building where offerings to the gods could be delivered. Royal tombs consisted of several mastabas on top of each other, forming a 'step pyramid'. The famous Step Pyramid of Zozer dating from the 27th century BC is a good example. Later pyramids were furnished with smooth walls, like the ones near Gizeh, which are among the Seven Wonders of the World. Ever since antiquity travellers have been amazed at the gigantic dimensions of the pyramids of Cheops, Chefren and Mycerynos. At the feet of these mighty buildings you will find the huge Sphinx. In the evenings it is interesting to experience the light show. A great way to explore the surroundings is on horseback. Or you can take a camel ride.
One of the absolute highlights of a visit to Cairo is the Egyptian National Museum, where the treasures of Tutankhamun and other pharaohs are on display. It is one of the most important museums in the world. Just as special is probably medieval Cairo with its citadel and immense, often accessible mosques and medressas. The churches of the Copts and Cairo’s vast cemetery are extraordinary. Cairo also has the most beautiful bazaars in the world, the most important and biggest of which is Khan Al-Khalili. Then there is contemporary Cairo with its boulevards along the Nile and worldly restaurants, a watchtower overlooking the entire city and everything else that comes with a modern-day metropolis.
Day 4: Cairo-Baharia Oasis
Desert and oasis trip. The contrast could be sharper. After the hustle and bustle of Cairo we take our own coach into the Sahara and travel to the western oases hidden in the Libyan Desert. Until recently, modern times had passed these places by. In four days we will visit the oases of Baharia, Farafra, Dakhla and Al-Kharga. The Bedouin are very friendly, curious and colourfully dressed. We will spend two nights under the starry sky and two nights in basic huts. Sanitation sometimes is no more than the village pump or a spring in the oasis. Meals are prepared by Bedouin, who can easily be persuaded to sing and dance in the open air.
On the first day you will take a 5-hour trip (400 km) to a hot spring near the desert in Baharia, where you can swim. You will sleep in basic huts.
Day 5: White Desert
The next day we will go some 180 km further and into the desert through blinding white sand dunes among rugged limestone formations. Here in the White Desert you’ll enjoy the most spectacular sunset. After a magical night under the twinkling stars we travel to the oasis of Farafra with its many springs and then on to the remote oasis of Dakhla (c. 320 km).
Day 6: Dakhla
Here in Dakhla, in the village of Al-Qasr, it feels as if the Middle Ages never ended in the narrow streets among the mud huts with the traditionally clad local population who are enjoying our visit as much as we are.
Day 7: Kharga Oasis
The next day we continue some 290 km to the final oasis, Al-Kharga. It stretches out for 90 km and at the far end, in Baris, we will spend the night in the open air on mattresses (blankets and a wind shelter will be provided). You will have the chance to take an optional 2-hour bumpy ride on a camel.
* Dinner is included for both camping nights, not for the hotel nights.
Day 8 -
9: Kharga Oasis-Luxor
We leave for Luxor, where we arrive early in the afternoon. The emptiness of the desert gives way to the lush, green Nile Valley. Luxor’s ancient name is Thebes. East of the Nile you will find the huge temples of Luxor and Karnak. Karnak is an impressive temple complex dedicated to the god Amon. Every pharaoh made his mark by erecting obelisks and statues and adding new parts to the existing temples. At one time this temple was connected by an avenue of sphinxes to the temple of Luxor. This is a much smaller temple in the heart of the city. In the evenings the temples are enchantingly spotlit; in Karnak you may witness a light show. You can visit the temple of Karnak by bike or horse and cart, since it is situated just outside the village.
On the west bank of the Nile lies the Valley of Kings and Queens, the pharaohs’ city of the dead with dozens of tombs. The tombs were carved out of the rocks and beautifully decorated with wall paintings (don’t forget your torch). The workers and architects who created these works of art had their own village, Deir el-Medina, where you can visit their graves. Another impressive building on the west bank is the spectacular Deir el-Bahri (the temple of Hatshepsut). Hatshepsut proclaimed herself pharaoh and was the first woman to reign as monarch.
It is also very pleasant to just walk along the Nile, or have a meal in the beautiful Victorian Winter Palace, or go to one of the small eating-places where you can eat good food among the Egyptians at little cost. A short felucca trip to Banana Island (optional) will give you a taste of life on the Nile. You will spend two nights in a comfortable medium-priced hotel with a swimming pool, which you are no doubt going to appreciate after four nights in the desert.
Day 10 -
12: Luxor-Aswan
Early in the morning we set out for Aswan, the southernmost town of Egypt, close to the tropic of Cancer. The following days you have plenty of time to discover Aswan, with its old market and long Nile boulevard. The town is located strategically at the first cataract (rapids) of the Nile. Here, the valley is at its most beautiful because of the rocks and the palm-covered islands in the river. There are numerous temples, tombs and obelisks, a colourful bazaar, a beautiful botanical garden, and nearby there is also the immense Aswan Dam. The temple of Philae, built on an island in the Nile, makes an interesting excursion. The temple is dedicated to the goddess Isis. It is also worthwhile taking a walk through one of the Nubian villages on the other side of the river. You can also visit the temples of Abu Simbel, which at the time of writing are accessible by road and by air.
Day 13: Felucca
In the morning we board a felucca, the traditional vessel in which the Egyptians have sailed the Nile since time immemorial. You will be floating and sailing upstream at a very relaxed speed and enjoying the spectacle of watching everyday life going on on the banks of the river. At night we will moor at an island. We will eat and sleep on board the felucca. Tonight's dinner is included in the holiday price.
Day 14: Luxor-Cairo
When you wake up this morning you will notice we are already slowly heading for the Kom Ombo temple which you can visit. Kom Ombo is a remarkable double temple, built to honour two different gods: crocodile-god Sobek and Horus, with his falcon’s head. Upon disembarking the felucca a bus is waiting for us to drive us to Luxor. En route there is a possibility to stop and visit the Edfu temple. In Luxor you will take the night train (with reserved seats) to Cairo.
Day 15: Cairo
Early in the morning you will arrive in Cairo. Spend the last full day of your tour shopping for last souvenirs and to take in once more the Middle-Eastern ambiance.
Day 16: Cairo
It is the last day of your tour but rather than being about ‘Goodbye’ your thought should be ‘Go further’!
Visit your personal ‘MyShoestring’ page on our website. ‘MyShoestring’ is the perfect way to make contact with other travelers before and after your trip. You can read and create journals from trips and upload your photos onto the photo gallery. Visit my shoestring today.
When booking your tour, please check to see whether you need any post-tour nights, bearing in mind that accommodation for the night of the final day of the tour (day 16) is not included.