Giza & the Pyramids
Cataract Pyramids Resort
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Day 1
Board your overnight flight to Egypt.
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Day 2
Touch down in Cairo. A Go Ahead Vacations representative meets you at the airport and accompanies you on the transfer to Giza. Enjoy an included welcome dinner.
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Day 3
Your Tour Director, a professional Egyptologist, is an expert in the history and anthropology of the regions you’ll visit. Today, he/she leads a fascinating tour today of ancient Egypt. Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Pyramids of Giza are the only ones to have survived to the modern era, and your tour introduces you to the three pyramids here: the stunning Great Pyramid of Cheops, pyramid of Khafre and pyramid of Menkaure. Then visit the enigmatic Sphinx, made up of a lion’s body, human face and royal beard. Continue to Saqqara, site of the Step Pyramid of Zoser, and Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt that predated Cairo by more than 3,500 years.
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Nile River Cruise
MS Nile Style
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Day 4
Fly to Luxor for the start of your Nile cruise. Reach your first stop, the amazing Temples of Karnak and Luxor, built on the ancient city of Thebes and long considered two of the world’s richest archaeological treasures. Your Egyptologist takes you inside the temples for a guided tour. This evening, you might opt for a sound and light show.
Extension: Nile River Cruise Sound & Light Show in Karnak (Evening)
Watch an astounding performance of synchronized light and music cascades amidst the ancient monuments of Egypt.
After sunset, the area around the Karnak temples is cleared for the Sound and Light Show; the results are breathtaking. (Please note that travelers are advised to bring a flashlight and comfortable shoes. Also, this excursion involves walking on uneven terrain, so travelers should be steady walkers.)
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Day 5
Spend the day touring the Nile’s West Bank. Your Tour Director/Egyptologist leads you to the secluded Valley of the Kings, a series of tombs hidden in the Theban Hills. This “Place of Truth,” as the ancient Egyptians called it, is the location of the the tombs of Pharaohs Tutankhamun and Ramses; you’ll enter the tombs for a tour. Then visit and tour the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, devoted to one of the few female pharaohs. Also view the 64-foot-high Colossi of Memnon and tour the Valley of Nobles, whose temples depict amazing scenes of daily Egyptian life.
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Day 6
Begin the day in with a horse-drawn carriage ride to the Temple of Horus, the second-largest temple in Egypt and one of the best-preserved. Next, voyage to the Temple of Kom Ombo. On your guided tour, have a look at the amazing Roman reliefs of medical instruments, proof that Egyptian surgeons were already sophisticated almost 2,000 years ago.
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Day 7
Tour the Aswan Dam, one of the greatest engineering projects of the 20th century. Also view the Temple of Isis at Philae and the Unfinished Obelisk, once destined be the largest structure of worked stone in the world.
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Aswan
Basma Hotel
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Day 8
Your cruise ends this morning. After disembarkation take a felucca (traditional Egyptian sailboat) ride past Elephantine Island, which takes its name from the granite rocks resembling elephants bathing in the river. Also view the mausoleum of Agha Khan.
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Cairo
Semiramis Intercontinental Hotel
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Day 9
Opt for a full-day excursion to Abu Simbel and the magnificent Temple of Ramses II. Then board your flight to Cairo and enjoy an optional Egyptian Folklore Evening.
Extension: Cairo: Abu Simbel (Full-day ; must be pre-booked)
Fly to Abu Simbel from Aswan to visit the Temples of Ramses II and his wife Nefertari.
At Abu Simbel, the Temples of Ramses II and Nefertari were relocated block by block on the shore of Lake Nasser after the construction of the Aswan High Dam (1964-1968). The statues now stand 680 feet from their original site and 200 feet higher, but have lost nothing of their old grandeur and leave their viewers awestruck with their size, age, and style. Please note that this excursion involves extensive walking on rugged terrain, so sturdy footwear and confidence in walking are advised. Also, please be prepared for abundant sun exposure by bringing along a hat and extra sunscreen.
Extension: Egyptian Folklore Evening (Evening w/dinner)
Board a Nile riverboat for this evening’s dinner and live performance.
Savor a menu of local specialties and delicious Egyptian delicacies while a troupe of performers introduces you to the age-old music and dance traditions of Egypt.
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Day 10
Enjoy a free day in Cairo; or join an optional excursion to mysterious Alexandria, ancient site of the lost library and capital of Alexander the Great’s Egypt.
Extension: Alexandria (Full-day w/lunch)
Join a full-day excursion to Egypt’s second-largest city.
Visit the Greco-Roman Museum, which displays the best relics of ancient Alexandria and its Hellenistic civilization. Here you’ll see sculptures that date back to the 2nd century, as well as busts of the Roman emperors including Julius Caesar and Augustus. Next, visit the Catacombs of Kom el-Shogafa, the largest Roman funerary complex known in Egypt. Also visit Montassa and the beautifully preserved white marble Roman Amphitheatre. The excursion includes lunch.
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Day 11
Today, your Tour Director/Egyptologist leads a comprehensive sightseeing tour of historic and modern Cairo. The city’s spectacular mosques, of which there are more than 500, display some of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in the world. Visit the Citadel and Mohammed Ali (Alabaster) Mosque. Also visit the Egyptian Antiquities Museum, housing the famous masks of Tutankhamen. You might also choose to join an optional lunch in Cairo.
Extension: Traditional Cairo Lunch (Afternoon w/lunch)
This afternoon lunch excursion introduces you to the many flavors of Egypt’s unique cuisine.
Egypt’s cuisine has been influenced by Greece and France, as well as its Middle Eastern neighbors. You’ll visit a local restaurant and savor a collection of dishes, ranging from the typical Egyptian mezze (small dishes, usually served with bread or rice and topped with dipping sauces) to kebab (grilled beef, chicken or lamb).
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Red Sea Resort
Intercontinental Garden Reef Resort
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Day 12
Transfer to the airport for an early morning departure, or journey on to Sinai and our beach resort extension.
Extension: Fly to Sharm El Sheikh, one of Egypt’s newest resort cities and diving mecca.
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Day 13
Journey to the shadow of Mt. Sinai, where Moses supposedly received the Ten Commandments, on a fully guided tour of the Monastery of St. Catherine. In 337 B.C. the Byzantine empress Helena ordered a church built here, the site believed to be the location of the Burning Bush.
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Day 14
Opt for a full-day excursion to Ras Mohammed, whose coral reefs rival those of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef; the excursion also includes a cruise to Tirin Island.
Extension: Ras Mohammed & Tiran Island (Full-day)
Join a full-day optional excursion to some of oldest terrain on Earth.
Travel to Ras Mohammed, a national park located on the southernmost tip of the Sinai Peninsula with rock formations over 600 million years old. Abundant with wildlife, fossil remains and ecological history, the park (established in 1983) also offers beautiful views of the sea, a nexus of the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba. But the big draw are the coral reefs— these relatively unknown reefs rival those of Australia’s Great Barrier in scope and diversity. The excursion also includes a boat ride to the waters around Tiran Island, another reef-rich marine playground.
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| Conrad Cairo |
Days 15-16
Fly back to Cairo for a brief stay and early-morning departure.
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