Luxury Egypt tour packages: private touring & Nile cruising
The premise
What actually goes into a luxury Egypt tour package.
Most travellers arrive with the same picture in their head. The Pyramids from a film, a temple from a documentary, a boat drifting past palm trees on a poster in a travel agent’s window. Then you stand in front of the real thing, and the picture quietly rearranges itself.
We can’t take credit for that moment. Egypt handled it roughly four and a half thousand years ago.
What we can take responsibility for is everything around it. The guide who tells you what you’re looking at. The timing that keeps you away from the worst of the crowds and the worst of the heat. The driver already standing there when you walk out of the airport. And the cabin on the Nile that carries you south while you sleep, so you wake up somewhere new without having packed a bag.
At Egypt Luxury Trips, our luxury Egypt tour packages are assembled from real, published, privately operated tours across Cairo, Giza, Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel and the stretch of the Nile that connects them. Nothing on this page is a brochure fantasy. Every component listed below is a tour we run, and your package is simply the ones that make sense for your dates, your pace and your interests.
It helps to think of a luxury Egypt trip as three layers stacked on top of each other.
Layer one — the cities. Cairo and Giza for the Pyramids, the museums and the older, stranger layers of the city. Luxor for temples and royal tombs. Aswan for the softer, slower end of the river, with Abu Simbel further south again.
Layer two — the Nile. The water between Luxor and Aswan is where Egypt stops behaving like a checklist and starts behaving like a landscape. We sail it in both directions, and the direction matters more than most first-time visitors expect.
Layer three — the details. A hot air balloon lifting off over the Luxor West Bank before sunrise. A sound and light show at Karnak or Philae. A felucca with the engine off. A camel or a quad bike out on the edge of the Giza plateau. These are the parts people describe first when they get home.
Our job is working out which pieces belong in your trip, and in what order. Your job is telling us what you’re hoping for. That conversation starts with the enquiry form at the bottom of this page — no cost, no obligation, and a written answer rather than a sales call.
Building blocks
Starting points, not fixed packages.
Each tour below is a standalone private programme, which is what makes a bespoke Egypt tour genuinely bespoke. We reorder them, swap them and adjust their length without anything breaking.
Private tour
Cairo · Giza
Giza Pyramids and Grand Egyptian Museum
The plateau plus Egypt’s newest major museum, in one private day. Most luxury Egypt tour packages open here, simply because the highest concentration of what you flew in for sits within an hour of the city.
4 nights
Luxor · Nile · Aswan
4-Night Nile Cruise, Luxor to Aswan
The southbound sailing, four nights on board. The extra night buys unhurried deck time, which is the entire argument for cruising instead of driving. You unpack once and the scenery moves instead of you.
Private tour
Aswan · Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel Temples by Flight
Two colossal temples cut into a cliff, then moved stone by stone in the 1960s to escape a rising lake. Flying from Aswan is the answer when your days are tight; the same temples are also offered overland by road.
Private tour
Aswan
St Simeon Monastery and Tombs of the Nobles
A desert monastery and a row of cliff tombs, on the quieter bank of a city where the river widens, the granite islands appear and the whole trip changes gear.
Private tour
Luxor · East Bank
Karnak and Luxor Temples
The two great East Bank temples in one private programme. Karnak alone can absorb an entire morning and you’ll still leave with unfinished business — which is exactly why the pace stays yours to set.
Your dates
Cairo · Luxor · Aswan · Abu Simbel
Built From Your Chosen Pieces
Tell us your travel dates, how many days you have, who’s travelling and which tours on this page caught your eye. We come back with what’s available, what it involves and what we’d honestly recommend for the time you’ve actually got.
The Nile decision
Luxury Nile cruise Egypt: three nights or four?
This is where a luxury Egypt package stops being a sequence of hotel stays and turns into a journey. We sail the Nile in both directions, and the direction genuinely changes the shape of your trip.
The 4-night cruise sails Luxor to Aswan — southbound, four nights on board. That extra night is the difference between seeing the river and living on it for a while. It suits trips that finish in the south, or that carry on to Abu Simbel afterwards.
The 3-night cruise sails Aswan to Luxor — northbound, three nights on board. The northbound sailing is the quicker one and slots neatly into shorter itineraries, so it works when you’re flying home from Luxor or heading back up to Cairo.
Either way the practical appeal is identical: you unpack once. No repacking between Luxor and Aswan, no second hotel check-in, no 5am transfer to catch a train. The scenery moves and you don’t. For couples and for anyone travelling with older parents, that single fact often decides the itinerary.
If your dates don’t allow a cruise at all, there are land alternatives that cover the same ground — the Edfu and Kom Ombo temples from Luxor by road, or a day tour from Luxor to Aswan. They’re longer days, and we’ll tell you so.
Vessel details, cabin categories and exactly what’s included on board are confirmed at the point of enquiry, because they change by sailing date. We’d rather send you accurate information than an attractive guess.
| 4-Night Nile Cruise | 3-Night Nile Cruise | |
|---|---|---|
| Route | Luxor to Aswan | Aswan to Luxor |
| Nights on board | 4 | 3 |
| Direction of travel | Southbound | Northbound |
| Best when | Your trip finishes in the south, or you’re continuing to Abu Simbel | You’re flying home from Luxor, or heading back to Cairo |
| Typical package fit | 9–11 day and 12–15 day itineraries | 6–8 day itineraries |
The map
Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and the Nile between them.
Every tour listed below is published, private and available as a component of your package. Where a duration isn’t listed, it isn’t published on the tour page — tell us which tours interest you and we’ll confirm timings in writing.
Cairo and Giza: where every luxury Egypt vacation starts
Almost every luxury Egypt itinerary opens here, and the reason is geography rather than tradition. The greatest concentration of what you came to see sits within an hour of the city, which means a well-built Cairo leg gives you the Pyramids, the Sphinx, the museums and the old Islamic and Coptic quarters without a single internal flight.
A quiet piece of advice from us: Dahshur and Saqqara are underrated. Most first-time visitors do Giza and move straight on. But standing at the Bent Pyramid with almost nobody else in sight gives you something Giza can’t — silence. If your package has room for one extra Cairo day, that’s where we’d spend it.
And if you want the plateau in a way that doesn’t involve a coach park, we publish a camel ride at the Giza Pyramids and a quad bike tour out on the desert edge. Both are short. Both tend to end up as the photograph on the wall.
| Tour | What it covers | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Giza Pyramids and Sphinx | The Giza plateau and the Great Sphinx | Half day |
| Giza Pyramids and Grand Egyptian Museum | The plateau plus Egypt’s newest major museum | — |
| Giza Pyramids, Memphis and Saqqara | Giza, the old capital, the Step Pyramid site | — |
| Dahshur, Saqqara and Giza Pyramids | Three pyramid fields in one route | — |
| Dahshur, Memphis and Saqqara | The quieter pyramid sites, away from Giza | — |
| Egyptian Museum, Citadel and Old Cairo | Antiquities, Islamic Cairo, Coptic quarter | — |
| Islamic and Coptic Cairo | The city’s religious and architectural layers | — |
| Camel ride at the Giza Pyramids | A short ride on the plateau | — |
| Quad bike tour at the Giza Pyramids | Desert edge, away from the main entrance | — |
| Day trip from Cairo to Luxor by flight | Luxor in a single day, flying both ways | Day trip |
Luxor: the world’s largest open-air museum
Luxor is where a luxury Egypt tour gets serious. The temple density here is close to absurd, and it’s split across two banks — the living East Bank with Karnak and Luxor Temple, and the West Bank of tombs, mortuary temples and workers’ villages. You can see the headlines in a day. You can spend four days and still find new corners.
If you take one piece of practical advice from this page, make it this one: book the hot air balloon for a morning when you have nothing scheduled before 11am. It launches in the dark. Afterwards you’ll want breakfast, not a temple.
Luxor is also where the quieter tours live. Dendera and Abydos are among the best-preserved temple complexes in the country and most itineraries skip both. So does Esna and El Kab. If you’ve been to Egypt before, that’s where we’d point you second time round.
| Tour | Focus |
|---|---|
| Full day Luxor tour — East and West Banks | Both sides of the river in one day |
| Karnak and Luxor Temples | The two great East Bank temples |
| Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut Temple | Royal tombs and the terraced temple |
| Valley of the Nobles, Deir el-Medina and Medinet Habu | The West Bank beyond the headline sites |
| Luxor Museum and Mummification Museum | Two focused, well-curated collections |
| Luxor hot air balloon ride | Dawn flight over the West Bank |
| Karnak Temple sound and light show | Karnak after dark |
| Luxor city tour by horse-drawn carriage | The city at ground level, unhurried |
| Felucca ride on the Nile in Luxor | Traditional sail, no engine noise |
| Dendera Temple half-day tour | The Hathor temple north of Luxor |
| Dendera and Abydos Temples | Two of Egypt’s best-preserved temple complexes |
| Esna and El Kab day tour | Sites most itineraries skip entirely |
| Edfu and Kom Ombo temples from Luxor | The two Ptolemaic temples, by road |
| Day tour from Luxor to Aswan | Aswan and back in a single day |
Aswan and Abu Simbel: the southern end of the journey
Aswan changes the tempo. The river widens, granite islands break the current, and the whole trip slows down in a way most travellers realise they needed only once it happens. The classic three — Philae Temple, the High Dam and the Unfinished Obelisk — fit comfortably into one private day, and there’s a Nubian village by motorboat for an afternoon that’s about colour and community rather than antiquity.
Is Abu Simbel worth the effort? Yes. Two colossal temples carved into a cliff, then lifted and reassembled in the 1960s to keep them above the rising lake. We offer it two ways — by flight when your days are tight, or by road if you’d rather see the desert and keep the schedule flexible. Which suits you depends entirely on how the rest of your package is built, and that’s exactly the sort of thing we’ll work through with you before anything is confirmed.
| Tour | Focus |
|---|---|
| Philae Temple, High Dam and Unfinished Obelisk | The three classic Aswan sites |
| Philae Temple sound and light show | The island temple, floodlit |
| Nubian village by motorboat | Nubian culture, colour and community |
| St Simeon Monastery and Tombs of the Nobles | Desert monastery and cliff tombs |
| Abu Simbel temples by flight | The Ramses temples, flying from Aswan |
| Abu Simbel private tour by road | The same temples, overland |
Travelling from the USA, UK, Canada or Australia
We work with travellers from the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Canada and Australia, and the questions arriving in our inbox are remarkably consistent: how far apart is everything, how much of the trip is spent moving, and how do we avoid losing days to logistics?
Our answer is always the same — reduce the number of transitions. Flights where flying saves a day. A Nile cruise where the boat does the moving. And for schedules that simply won’t stretch, one long day trip from Cairo to Luxor by flight, which puts Karnak and the West Bank inside a single day. It’s a big day. It’s also better than not seeing Luxor at all.
Jet lag matters more than people expect, too. If you’re flying long-haul from North America or Australia, we’d rather your first morning were Cairo at a civilised hour than a 4am transfer. Tell us your arrival time in the enquiry form and we’ll build the first day around it.
For cruise ship passengers docking at Safaga on the Red Sea coast, we run two shore programmes.
| Tour | Shape |
|---|---|
| Safaga to Luxor day trip | Luxor and back within port hours |
| Safaga port to Luxor 2-day tour | Overnight, with a fuller Luxor programme |
Honeymoons, families, seniors and small groups
Luxury Egypt honeymoon packages. Egypt is a quietly brilliant honeymoon. A private guide who reads the room, a felucca at sunset, a balloon at dawn, and long unhurried stretches on a Nile cruise where the biggest decision is which side of the deck to sit on. We publish a dedicated luxury honeymoon collection, and we’re glad to shape a route specifically around a couple’s first trip together.
Egypt family luxury tours. Children tend to enjoy Egypt more than their parents predict, largely because the subject matter is unbeatable. Camel rides, quad bikes, a boat out to a Nubian village, tombs that look exactly like the pictures in the book at home. The trick is pacing rather than content: fewer sites, more variety, and a private schedule you can shorten on the spot when someone melts.
Luxury Egypt tours for seniors. The honest constraints in Egypt are heat, steps and distance — several tombs involve a descending ramp, and temple floors are uneven. Private travel solves most of it, because the car waits where you left it and the day ends when you say so. Tell us about mobility in your enquiry and we’ll pick the sites accordingly rather than promising everything and improvising later.
Small group luxury Egypt tours. Travelling with friends or extended family works well here, because the cost of a private guide and vehicle is shared while the experience stays entirely exclusive. Give us your group size in the form and we’ll build around it.
Timing
How many days does a luxury Egypt tour need?
The honest answer is: more than most people budget. Egypt is longer than it looks on a map — Cairo to Aswan is roughly the distance from London to Edinburgh. Here’s how our published tours tend to combine into 7 day, 10 day and 14 day luxury Egypt itineraries.
| Trip length | What realistically fits |
|---|---|
| 4–5 days | Cairo and Giza in depth, or Luxor in depth — not both comfortably |
| 6–8 days | Cairo and Giza, then Luxor and Aswan linked by the 3-night Nile cruise |
| 9–11 days | The same route with the 4-night cruise, plus Abu Simbel and West Bank extras |
| 12–15 days | All of the above with genuine breathing room — Dendera, Abydos, Esna, El Kab, and days with nothing scheduled at all |
Notice what changes in the longer versions. You aren’t only adding sites. You’re adding space between them — a morning with nothing in it, an afternoon back at the hotel while the sun does its worst, an extra hour at Karnak because you didn’t want to leave. That space is the actual difference between a luxury Egypt holiday and an efficient one, and it’s the first thing that disappears when a trip is squeezed.
If you’re weighing up two lengths, send us both in the enquiry form. We’ll tell you plainly what each one buys you.
Standard on every journey
Private by default.
Every tour in our collection is arranged privately — your party only. Here’s why that matters more in Egypt than it does almost anywhere else.
Your group, your guide, your vehicle
Private means exactly that: your party, your guide, your vehicle and your pace, on every tour we publish.
Heat is real
A private group can go back to the hotel at 1pm and return at 4pm when the light is better. A coach group can’t.
Interest levels vary
If one of you wants ninety minutes in the museum and the other wants three hours, private travel settles that argument before it starts.
Tombs are narrow
Twenty people in a Valley of the Kings tomb is a completely different experience from four.
Plans change
Slow morning, sandstorm, or a simple change of heart — private means we adjust rather than apologise.
Bespoke isn’t a marketing word here
Because each tour is a standalone piece, we rearrange the order, swap components and adjust lengths without breaking the trip.
Straight answers
What we don’t publish, and why.
We’d rather be straight with you than impressive.
Plenty of luxury Egypt tour operators publish a headline price and fill in the awkward details later. We don’t, and the reasons are listed here. If a detail matters to your decision, ask us in the enquiry form — you’ll get a real answer rather than a brochure line, and a written breakdown for your actual trip.
No package prices on this page
Cost moves with group size, travel dates, which tours you choose, cruise availability and accommodation level. A single number printed here would be either misleading or so vague it’s useless.
No blanket inclusions list
Meals, entrance fees, transfers and domestic flights are confirmed per package rather than assumed across all of them.
No international airfare
Long-haul flights from the USA, UK, Canada or Australia are usually best arranged by you. Everything inside Egypt is ours to handle.
No guessing at your trip in public
Prices, inclusions, cruise availability and accommodation are confirmed for your specific journey, in writing, before you commit to anything at all.
Before you book
Frequently asked questions.
What is included in a luxury Egypt tour package?
It depends on the package you build. Ours are assembled from the private tours and Nile cruises listed on this page, so the inclusions follow the components you choose. Exact inclusions and exclusions are confirmed in writing when you enquire, before anything is committed.
How much does a luxury Egypt tour cost?
We quote per trip rather than publishing fixed prices, because dates, group size, trip length and cruise choice all move the number. Send us your dates and party size and we’ll come back with a figure for the itinerary you actually want.
How many days are ideal for a luxury Egypt vacation?
Eight to eleven days covers Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and a Nile cruise without rushing. Twelve to fifteen adds Abu Simbel, the quieter temples and room to breathe. Four to five days means choosing between Cairo and Luxor rather than doing both.
Are luxury Egypt tours private or small-group?
Private. Every tour we publish is run for your party only, with your own guide and vehicle. If you’re travelling as a group of friends or extended family, that stays private too — the cost is simply shared.
Do luxury Egypt tour packages include international flights?
No. We arrange your travel within Egypt; long-haul flights from the USA, UK, Canada, Australia or Europe are booked separately by you.
Which destinations should be in a luxury Egypt itinerary?
Cairo and Giza, then Luxor and Aswan, with Abu Simbel added when the schedule allows. That’s where our full tour collection sits, and it’s the route that gives you the most for each day spent.
Is a Nile cruise included in luxury Egypt tour packages?
It can be. We operate a 4-night Luxor to Aswan cruise and a 3-night Aswan to Luxor cruise, and either can be built into your package depending on which direction your trip runs.
What’s the difference between the 3-night and 4-night Nile cruise?
Route, direction and time on the water. The 4-night sails southbound from Luxor to Aswan and gives you the most unhurried deck time. The 3-night sails northbound from Aswan to Luxor and suits shorter itineraries. Vessel and cabin specifics are confirmed by sailing date.
Are five-star hotels included in luxury Egypt vacations?
Accommodation is arranged per package rather than fixed on this page. Tell us the standard you want and we’ll confirm the options, including exact property names, in writing.
Can I customise a private luxury Egypt tour?
Yes, and most travellers do. Every tour here works as a building block, so the order, the length and the content are all adjustable — that’s what a tailor-made Egypt tour actually means in practice.
What is the best time of year for a luxury holiday in Egypt?
Egypt works year-round, and the practical answer depends on your heat tolerance and your dates. Send us the window you’re considering and we’ll tell you honestly what to expect at that time of year, including how it affects timings for outdoor sites.
Is Abu Simbel included in luxury Egypt packages?
It can be, in two ways: by flight from Aswan when your days are tight, or by road as a private overland tour when you’d rather keep the schedule flexible.
Are luxury Egypt tours suitable for honeymoons?
Very. Private guiding, a Nile cruise, a dawn balloon and a sunset felucca make a strong case on their own. We also publish a dedicated luxury honeymoon collection you can build from.
Do you arrange luxury Egypt tours for families and seniors?
Yes. For families we adjust pacing rather than content — fewer sites, more variety, and a schedule you can shorten on the spot. For senior travellers, tell us about mobility in your enquiry and we’ll choose sites and timings accordingly instead of promising everything.
Can a luxury Egypt package combine Cairo, the Nile and the Red Sea?
Our published programmes cover Cairo, Giza, Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel and the Nile, plus shore tours from Safaga on the Red Sea coast. For anything beyond that, ask us directly in the form and we’ll tell you what we can and can’t arrange.
Do luxury Egypt tours include an Egyptologist guide?
Guiding arrangements are confirmed per package. If having an Egyptologist matters to you — and at Giza, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings it makes a real difference — say so in your enquiry and we’ll confirm it before you commit.
Are domestic flights included between Cairo, Luxor and Aswan?
We operate flight-based programmes including Cairo to Luxor by flight and Abu Simbel by flight. Which flight sectors sit inside your package is confirmed when we quote, along with what each one covers.
What should I pack for a luxury Nile cruise in Egypt?
Comfortable walking shoes for uneven temple floors, sun protection, something with sleeves for religious sites, and a light layer for evenings on deck. Any specific onboard requirements are confirmed with your booking.
How far in advance should I book a luxury Egypt tour?
Earlier is better, particularly for Nile cruise cabins and balloon flights in the busier months. Enquire as soon as your dates are firm and we’ll tell you what’s realistically available rather than holding something we can’t confirm.
How do I book a luxury Egypt tour package with Egypt Luxury Trips?
Fill in the enquiry form with your dates, trip length, party size and the tours that interest you. We reply with availability, what’s involved and a written breakdown, and only then do you decide whether to go ahead.
Next step
Let’s build your Egypt.
Fill in the enquiry form with your travel dates, how many days you have, who’s travelling and which tours on this page caught your eye. We’ll come back with what’s available, what it involves, and what we’d honestly recommend for the time you’ve got. No pressure and no obligation — just a proper conversation about a trip you’ll be describing for years. The Pyramids have waited four thousand years. They can wait another week; your dates might not.
