Tour Overview
This private 2-day tour from Luxor puts Egypt's two most famous monument sites into one short trip. You fly to Cairo for the Giza Pyramids, the Sphinx and two museums, fly on to Aswan for a night in a 5-star hotel, and visit the temples of Abu Simbel on day two. A first-class train brings you back to Luxor. Flights, train tickets, guide, transfers, two lunches and entrance fees are included.
Tour Highlights
- Tour the Giza plateau with a private Egyptologist: the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Sphinx with Khafre's face, and the granite Valley Temple beside it.
- See the complete Tutankhamun collection at the Grand Egyptian Museum, then the two floors of the older Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square.
- Fly from Cairo to Aswan the same day, so you sleep within reach of Abu Simbel instead of starting the long journey south from Luxor.
- Stand before the four colossal seated statues of Ramses II at the Great Temple, and visit the smaller temple he dedicated to Queen Nefertari and Hathor.
- Return to Luxor by first-class train along the Nile after lunch at a Nile-view restaurant in Aswan, with no third flight to arrange.
Tour Route
Can you see Cairo and Abu Simbel in two days from Luxor?
Yes, with two flights and a train. You fly from Luxor to Cairo for the pyramids and museums, on to Aswan the same day, see Abu Simbel the next morning and return to Luxor by train. It is demanding, best for travelers who are short on time and fine with early starts.
Why is Abu Simbel worth the journey?
Because nothing else in Egypt looks like it. Ramses II carved two temples into a sandstone cliff deep in the south, fronted by four seated statues of himself about 20 meters tall. Inside the Great Temple, the walls show his campaign at Kadesh, and a smaller temple honors his queen, Nefertari.
In the 1960s, a UNESCO-led campaign cut both temples into blocks and rebuilt them higher up, away from the rising Lake Nasser. Around 22 February and 22 October, the sunrise reaches the statues in the inner sanctuary.
How do the flights and the train work?
We book everything: the flights from Luxor to Cairo and from Cairo to Aswan, and a first-class train ticket from Aswan to Luxor. A private air-conditioned car handles every transfer in between, and you are dropped at your Luxor hotel or Nile cruise at the end.
What else can you do from Luxor or Aswan?
If you would rather focus on the south, the 2-day Aswan and Abu Simbel tour from Luxor gives Aswan more time. For the temples on their own, see our private Abu Simbel temples tour, and read about the Abu Simbel Sun Festival if your dates are close.
Tour Itinerary
Two very full days with two flights, an early road trip to Abu Simbel and a train ride home: this trip trades rest for range.
In the morning a driver collects you from your Luxor hotel or Nile cruise and takes you to Luxor Airport for the flight to Cairo. On arrival, our representative meets you and brings you to your private Egyptologist guide, and the sightseeing begins straight away.
The Great Pyramid of Khufu, built around 4,500 years ago, is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing. Below it, the Sphinx has a lion's body and Khafre's face, with the Dream Stela of Thutmose IV between its paws, beside Khafre's granite Valley Temple.
Close to the plateau, the Grand Egyptian Museum shows the full Tutankhamun collection together, along with the 11-meter statue of Ramses II in the main hall and the Hanging Obelisk outside. Your guide leads you to the key galleries so you see the essentials in the time you have.
Lunch is served at a restaurant overlooking the Pyramids or the Nile and is included in the price. It is a welcome sit-down break in a busy day, between the morning at Giza and the afternoon museum in downtown Cairo.
The Egyptian Museum has displayed the country's antiquities for more than a century. Its two floors are packed with statues, coffins, jewelry and papyri from the whole pharaonic timeline, and your guide picks out the pieces most worth stopping for.
From the museum you go to Cairo Airport for the flight south to Aswan, where a driver takes you to your 5-star hotel for the night. Get to bed early: day two starts very early, which is why your breakfast comes packed in a box.
You check out with your breakfast box and travel south with your guide in a private air-conditioned car, through the desert toward the shore of Lake Nasser, near the border with Sudan. The early start means you reach the temples before the strongest heat of the day.
Ramses II had both temples cut into the cliff in the 13th century BC. Four seated statues of the king, each about 20 meters high, guard the Great Temple, where carvings inside show his battle at Kadesh. The smaller temple honors Nefertari and the goddess Hathor.
Back in Aswan, lunch is at a restaurant overlooking the Nile and is included in the price. This stretch of the river, with its granite islands and white-sailed feluccas, is one of the prettiest in Egypt, and a good place to rest.
You board the first-class train from Aswan to Luxor. The line follows the Nile through farmland and villages, a calm way to end two busy days. In Luxor, a driver meets you and takes you to your hotel or Nile cruise.
What's Included
What the tour price covers, and what to plan for separately.
Paid
★
Your
Own
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers about this tour. For anything else, message us on WhatsApp — we reply fast.
It starts at your hotel or Nile cruise in Luxor, where a driver picks you up in the morning for the flight to Cairo. It also ends in Luxor: after the train from Aswan, a driver meets you and takes you back to your hotel or Nile cruise.
The price covers two domestic flights (Luxor to Cairo, Cairo to Aswan), a first-class train ticket from Aswan to Luxor, one night in a 5-star Aswan hotel, a private Egyptologist guide, private air-conditioned transfers, two lunches, entrance fees to all sites in the program, and taxes. Tips are extra.
Yes. The guide and car are only for you and your companions. The per-person price drops as your group grows, because the car, guide and hotel costs are shared, and it changes by season, mostly because domestic airfares are higher in the busy winter months and over Christmas and New Year.
It is demanding. Day one has two flights and four sites, and day two starts very early for Abu Simbel and ends with the train to Luxor. Most of the travel time is spent sitting in a plane, car or train, but plan a quiet day in Luxor afterward.
Yes. Avicon Travel is a Class "A" travel agency licensed by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism under License No. 1962 and registered since 2010. Our office and team are in Karnak, Luxor, so the guides, drivers and cars on this tour are our own local team, not a booking desk abroad.
