Tour Overview
This private 2-day trip flies you from Aswan to Cairo for a fuller look at the capital than a single day allows. Day one covers the Giza Pyramids, the Grand Egyptian Museum and Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara, followed by a night in a 5-star hotel. Day two moves through the Egyptian Museum, Coptic and Islamic Old Cairo and the royal mummies. Flights, hotel, a private Egyptologist guide and car, two lunches and entrance fees are included.
Tour Highlights
- Compare Egypt's first pyramid with its greatest: Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara, designed by Imhotep, and the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza.
- See the Sphinx and Khafre's Valley Temple, then the Grand Egyptian Museum, where every piece from Tutankhamun's tomb is on show together.
- Visit the Hanging Church, set above a gate of the Roman Babylon Fortress, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue nearby in the old Coptic quarter.
- Stand in the Mosque of Amr Ibn Al-As, founded in 641 AD as the first mosque in Egypt, at the heart of Fustat, the country's first Islamic capital.
- Come face to face with famous pharaohs in the mummy gallery at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), then end in Khan El Khalili before your flight.
Tour Route
Is two days in Cairo enough from Aswan?
For a first visit, yes. Two days with a night in between let you see the three main layers of the city: the pyramids of Giza and Saqqara, the great museums, and Coptic and Islamic Old Cairo. You still return to Aswan on the second evening, so it fits well around a Nile cruise or a stay in the south.
What is the difference between the 1-day and 2-day Cairo trips from Aswan?
The one-day trip covers Giza, two museums and the bazaar between two flights. The 2-day trip keeps those and adds sites you would otherwise miss, with a hotel night so the pace is gentler.
- Saqqara: Djoser's Step Pyramid, the oldest of the great pyramids.
- Coptic Cairo: the Hanging Church and Ben Ezra Synagogue.
- Amr Ibn Al-As Mosque: the first mosque built in Egypt.
- NMEC: the Royal Mummies Hall.
What should you wear for the mosque and churches?
Choose clothes that cover your shoulders and knees on day two, since you enter a mosque, a church and a synagogue. Women may be asked to cover their hair in the mosque, so bring a light scarf. You take your shoes off inside the mosque, and comfortable shoes help everywhere else.
What else can you do from Aswan?
Short on time? The Cairo day trip from Aswan by plane fits the essentials into one day. To add the coast, see the 2-day Cairo and Alexandria tour from Aswan, and back in the south our Aswan day tours cover Philae and the Nubian villages.
Tour Itinerary
Day one is the age of the pyramids; day two is a long walk through Cairo's later history, from Roman walls and early churches to the medieval bazaar.
Our driver collects you from your hotel in Aswan for the domestic flight to Cairo; we book the tickets. On arrival, your private Egyptologist guide and air-conditioned car are ready, and you drive directly to the Giza plateau.
Your guide explains how Khufu's architect, traditionally named as his vizier Hemiunu, planned the Great Pyramid and its inner chambers. Below it lies the Sphinx, still guarding the stela Thutmose IV set up as thanks for a dream, and Khafre's Valley Temple, one of the best-preserved buildings of the Old Kingdom.
Next is the Grand Egyptian Museum, a short drive from the pyramids. The colossal Ramses II fills the atrium, and the Tutankhamun galleries bring together his golden mask, jewelry, chariots and more than five thousand other objects. Your guide focuses on the pieces worth your time.
Lunch is included at a restaurant overlooking the Pyramids, a relaxed break before the afternoon drive south to Saqqara.
At Saqqara you see the pyramid that started it all. Built for King Djoser around 2650 BC and designed by Imhotep, it stacks six stone steps and is often called the oldest large stone building in the world. From there, your driver brings you to your 5-star Cairo hotel.
After breakfast and check-out, you start in Tahrir Square at the Egyptian Museum, home of the national collection since 1902. Its crowded halls of statues, coffins and papyri give you the full sweep of pharaonic history in one building.
Lunch is included at a local restaurant in Cairo, a good chance to try Egyptian staples such as koshari, fresh bread and grilled meats before the afternoon in Old Cairo.
In Old Cairo, the Hanging Church seems to float above the street, because its nave sits on a gatehouse of the Roman Babylon Fortress. Close by, the Ben Ezra Synagogue is famous for the Cairo Geniza, a vast store of medieval documents. The Mosque of Amr Ibn Al-As, founded in 641 AD, has been rebuilt many times since.
Built on the old site of Fustat, the museum traces life in Egypt across seven thousand years. In a dim, separate gallery lie royal mummies including Ramses II and Hatshepsut, moved here in a televised procession through Cairo in 2021.
You finish in Islamic Cairo, walking Al Muizz Street past Fatimid and Mamluk monuments to Khan El Khalili, the bazaar of copper, spices and lanterns. Then your guide takes you to Cairo Airport for the flight to Aswan, where a driver returns you to your hotel.
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.
At your hotel in Aswan, where our driver picks you up for the flight to Cairo. Your guide meets you at Cairo Airport, and on the evening of day two a driver collects you at Aswan Airport and takes you back to your hotel. Just send us your hotel name.
Your Aswan–Cairo flights both ways, a 5-star hotel night in Cairo, private Egyptologist guiding, a private air-conditioned car throughout, two lunches, the entrance fee at every site on the program, and all taxes. Tips and anything outside the program cost extra.
Yes. No other travelers join you. Each person pays less when more of you travel together, since a couple and a family need the same car and guide. Prices also follow the season, with flights and Cairo hotels at their dearest from October to March.
Yes. The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat is on day two, and its mummy gallery holds famous New Kingdom rulers, Ramses II among them. The hall is kept dim and quiet, and photography rules are strict, so your guide explains the history before you enter.
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.
