Tour Overview
On this private 2-day tour you fly from Aswan to Cairo for the Giza Pyramids and two great museums, then drive north to Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast before the flight home. You spend the night in a 5-star hotel in Cairo. Return flights, transfers from your Aswan hotel or Nile cruise, a private Egyptologist guide and car, two lunches and the entrance fees are all included, so the only thing you plan is what to pack.
Tour Highlights
- Explore the Giza plateau with your Egyptologist: the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the lion-bodied Sphinx and the granite Valley Temple of King Khafre.
- Spend time with Tutankhamun's treasures and the 11-meter Ramses II at the Grand Egyptian Museum, then see the historic collection in Tahrir Square.
- Visit Qaitbay Citadel, the Mamluk sea fort raised in the 1470s on the very spot where the Pharos lighthouse, an ancient wonder, once stood.
- Step into the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a modern library and cultural center that revives the name of the most famous library of the ancient world.
- Descend the spiral stairway of the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa and see Pompey's Pillar, cut from the same red granite quarried in Aswan.
Tour Route
Is a Cairo and Alexandria trip from Aswan worth it?
Yes, if you want the Pyramids and the Mediterranean but are based in Aswan. Flying both ways turns a journey of almost 900 kilometers into a short hop, and Alexandria, shaped by Greeks, Romans and Mamluks, feels very different from the pharaonic temples of the south.
What do you see in Alexandria on day two?
Four sites, with entrance fees and lunch included. They cover close to two thousand years of the city's history, and your guide ties them together on the way.
- Qaitbay Citadel: a Mamluk fort on the site of the Pharos lighthouse.
- Bibliotheca Alexandrina: the modern library on the Corniche.
- Pompey's Pillar: a Roman victory column of Aswan granite.
- Kom El Shoqafa: Roman-era catacombs blending Egyptian and classical art.
Where do you stay in Cairo?
One night in a 5-star hotel in Cairo is included, with breakfast before you set off for Alexandria. The exact hotel is confirmed with your booking. Pack a small overnight bag, since you are on the move both days and back in Aswan the second evening.
What else can you add from Aswan?
If you prefer more of Cairo, the 2-day Cairo trip from Aswan adds Saqqara and Old Cairo. With only one day, try the Cairo day trip from Aswan by plane, and plan ahead with our guide to Cairo's pyramids, museums and bazaars.
Tour Itinerary
Day one is pharaonic Cairo, day two is Greek and Roman Alexandria, with a flight from Aswan at the start and a flight back at the end.
A driver picks you up from your hotel or Nile cruise in Aswan and takes you to the airport for your domestic flight, already booked. In Cairo, your private Egyptologist guide and driver are waiting, and the sightseeing begins straight away, so keep your camera in your hand luggage.
At Giza, your guide tells the story of the Fourth Dynasty kings who turned this plateau into a royal cemetery. You stand beside the Great Pyramid, about 4,500 years old, then walk down to the Sphinx and Khafre's Valley Temple, where the king's body was prepared for burial.
The Grand Egyptian Museum sits at the edge of the plateau and looks toward the pyramids. Inside you find the Hanging Obelisk, the colossus of Ramses II and a whole wing for Tutankhamun, with his gold mask, chariots and thrones. Your guide leads you to the essential pieces first.
Lunch is included at a restaurant with a view of the Pyramids. It is a welcome sit-down after a morning on your feet, and a chance to cool off before the afternoon museum.
In central Cairo, the Egyptian Museum has displayed the nation's antiquities since 1902, from Old Kingdom statues to Late Period coffins. When the visit ends, your driver takes you to your 5-star hotel. Dinner is not included, so the evening is free.
After breakfast you check out and drive north with your guide to Alexandria. Alexander the Great founded the city in 331 BC, and under the Ptolemies, the Greek dynasty that ended with Cleopatra, it became one of the great centers of learning of the ancient world.
Your first stop is Qaitbay Citadel, built by Sultan Qaitbay on the harbor where the ancient lighthouse fell, partly from its stones. Then you visit the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, opened in 2002, whose huge reading room slopes toward the sea under a tilted, disc-shaped roof.
Lunch is included at a local restaurant in Alexandria. The city is known for fresh fish and seafood, so it is worth asking your guide what is good today.
Pompey's Pillar, about 27 meters high, was raised around 300 AD for Emperor Diocletian, not Pompey. The Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, cut into the rock in the Roman period, mix Egyptian gods with Greek and Roman styles in a way you see nowhere else in Egypt.
You drive back to Cairo Airport for the flight to Aswan. When you land, a driver meets you and takes you to your hotel or Nile cruise. It is a long final day, so dress in layers and keep water close.
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 and finishes at your hotel or Nile cruise in Aswan. A driver takes you to Aswan Airport for the flight to Cairo, your guide meets you on arrival, and after the return flight on day two a driver brings you from Aswan Airport back to where you are staying.
Both Aswan–Cairo flights, a 5-star hotel night in Cairo, private Egyptologist guiding, a private air-conditioned car for every transfer, two lunches, bottled water, every entrance fee on the program and all taxes. You pay only for tips and personal extras.
Yes. Nobody else joins you, so the guide and car work only for your party. A bigger group pays less per head, since car and guide costs are split, and rates move with the season: flights and Cairo hotels cost more from October to March.
Alexandria lies about 220 kilometers northwest of Cairo, reached by the desert highway. You make the drive there in the morning and back to Cairo Airport in the evening in a private air-conditioned car, so day two includes a fair amount of road time between the sights.
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.
