Tour Overview
This two-day private trip covers Egypt's two great ancient centers from Sharm El Sheikh without rushing either one. Day one flies you to Cairo for the Giza Pyramids, the Sphinx, the Grand Egyptian Museum and the Egyptian Museum, then on to Luxor in the evening for a night in a 5-star hotel. Day two brings the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's temple, the Colossi of Memnon, an island lunch and Karnak, before the flights home via Cairo.
Tour Highlights
- Spread the four domestic flights over two days, so neither Cairo nor Luxor is squeezed between airport runs the way a single-day trip can be.
- Start at Giza with the Great Pyramid, the Sphinx and Khafre's Valley Temple, then see Tutankhamun's full collection at the Grand Egyptian Museum.
- Sleep in a 5-star hotel in Luxor with breakfast, so you reach the Valley of the Kings rested instead of straight off a dawn flight.
- Visit Hatshepsut's terraced temple and the Colossi of Memnon, then take a boat across the Nile for lunch on an island.
- Finish at Karnak, the vast temple of Amun, among the 134 columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall, before flying back to Sharm.
Tour Route
Is the overnight Cairo and Luxor trip better than two day trips?
For most travelers, yes. Two separate day trips from Sharm mean six flights and two very early mornings. This version uses four flights, puts the Cairo to Luxor leg in the evening, and gives you a proper night's sleep before the Valley of the Kings.
What do you see on each day?
Day one is the Old Kingdom and the national collections in Cairo; day two is the New Kingdom capital at Luxor, on both banks of the Nile. Each day has its own lunch, and every entrance ticket on the program is already paid.
- Day 1, Giza and Cairo: the Pyramids, Sphinx, Valley Temple, Grand Egyptian Museum and Egyptian Museum.
- Day 2, Luxor West Bank: the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple and Colossi of Memnon.
- Day 2, Luxor East Bank: Karnak Temple after lunch on a Nile island.
Where do you stay in Luxor?
You spend the night in a 5-star hotel in Luxor, with breakfast the next morning, and we confirm the hotel name when you book. Bring a small bag with a change of clothes and toiletries; your main luggage can stay in your Sharm El Sheikh hotel.
What else can you combine with this trip from Sharm?
If your time is short, Luxor alone fits into one long day by plane. If you would rather give Cairo two days, there is an overnight Cairo tour with Saqqara and the Citadel. And for a sea day once you are back, Ras Mohammed is close to Sharm.
Compare the Luxor day trip from Sharm by plane, the 2-day Cairo tour from Sharm by plane and the Ras Mohammed snorkeling trip.
Tour Itinerary
Two full days with a night in between: the pyramids and museums of Cairo on day one, an evening flight south, and the tombs and temples of Luxor on day two before the flights back.
Our representative collects you from your hotel in a private air-conditioned car for the flight to Cairo. Pack a small overnight bag and keep your passport with you. Your Egyptologist guide meets you when you land and drives you straight to Giza.
The Giza plateau holds the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, built by the 4th Dynasty around 2500 BC. Your guide explains how the Great Pyramid was planned and raised, then leads you down to the Sphinx and Khafre's granite Valley Temple below it.
Next door to the plateau, the Grand Egyptian Museum opens with the Hanging Obelisk outside and Ramses II in the atrium. The Tutankhamun galleries show his burial collection as one complete set, from the gilded shrines to the chariots and jewelry.
Lunch is included at a restaurant looking out over the Pyramids or the Nile. Use the break to rest out of the sun and drink water, since the afternoon brings one more museum in central Cairo and the day ends with a flight to Luxor.
The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square has held the national collection since the early 1900s. Your guide picks out royal statues, painted coffins and smaller objects of daily life from galleries that still use many of their original wooden cases.
In the evening your car takes you to Cairo Airport for the flight south to Luxor. A driver meets you on arrival and takes you to your 5-star hotel for the night. Dinner is not part of the program, so you are free to eat at the hotel or nearby.
After breakfast, your guide and car take you to the West Bank. In the Valley of the Kings, New Kingdom pharaohs from the 18th to the 20th Dynasty were buried in rock-cut tombs, their walls painted with the journey of the sun through the underworld.
Hatshepsut's mortuary temple climbs the cliffs of Deir El Bahari in three terraces, a building for one of the few women to rule as pharaoh. On the way back to the river you stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two giant seated statues of Amenhotep III.
A boat carries you across the Nile to an island, where lunch is included. It is a calm hour by the water between the West Bank and the East Bank, and a good time to ask your guide about the tombs you saw that morning.
Karnak was enlarged by pharaohs for about two thousand years in honor of Amun, Mut and Khonsu. Walk the Avenue of Sphinxes at the entrance, then the Great Hypostyle Hall, where 134 columns covered in carvings stand in tight rows.
Your car drops you at Luxor Airport for the flight to Cairo and the connection home to Sharm El Sheikh. Our representative meets you at the airport and drives you back to your hotel. It is a late arrival, so plan an easy beach day after it.
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 Sharm El Sheikh. Our representative drives you to the airport for the morning flight to Cairo, where your guide meets you. On day two you fly home from Luxor through Cairo, and a representative drives you from Sharm airport back to your hotel.
All four domestic flights, one night in a 5-star Luxor hotel with breakfast, two lunches, a private guide and air-conditioned car, hotel and airport transfers, water and soft drinks, and entrance fees to every site in the program. Dinner on the first night, tips and personal extras are not included.
Yes. The guide and car are for your group only, and the hotel room is booked for you. The per-person price drops as the group grows because the guide and car are shared among more people. It also rises in the cooler months and over the holidays, when flights and hotels cost more.
A small overnight bag is enough, because you return to Sharm the next evening. Bring your passport, a change of clothes, a light jacket for the evening flight, sun protection for the West Bank and shoes you can walk in all day. Leave large suitcases at your Sharm hotel.
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.
