The second day brings one of the biggest highlights of your trip right away: the world-famous pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, the oldest and most famous structures in human history. After the tour, you’ll continue on to El Fayoum, where you’ll have lunch with an Egyptian host family—your first personal glimpse into everyday life in Egypt.

Overnight stay in El Fayoum.

In the morning, you’ll enjoy an authentic Egyptian breakfast consisting of falafel, fool, feteer, and honey. Afterward, your local guide will accompany you on a short safari tour to Fayoum, to the Wadi El Rayan valley. Wadi El Rayan National Park is located about 100 km from Cairo and is surrounded by two huge freshwater lakes.
Since the lakes are at different elevations, their confluence creates a magnificent waterfall that seems to go on forever. A natural spectacle that is a true delight! You’ll end the evening with a beautiful sunset over Lake Qarun.

Return trip to Cairo and overnight stay at the hotel.

Early in the morning, the journey continues to the agricultural village of El Monufia, the birthplace of former presidents Anwar Sadat and Muhammad Husni Mubarak. Here you’ll experience pure rural idyll, with an authentic lunch in the middle of a field and another breathtaking sunset. For the night, you can choose between staying with a local host family or at a local hostel—both options offer deep insights into everyday Egyptian life off the beaten path.

You’ll have breakfast with a host family. Are you ready for the adventure that follows? You’ll explore Egypt’s local countryside on a donkey or a horse. Things then take a more leisurely turn on a tour with the locals, where you’ll experience the rural atmosphere: Your tour begins with a visit to a traditional local market, where you’ll see Egypt through the eyes of the locals. You’ll enjoy a traditional Egyptian lunch outdoors in the fresh air. Afterward, you’ll be served aromatic tea at a local café.

After tea, we’ll head back to Cairo.

At 7:00 a.m., you’ll set off for Middle Egypt and El Minia. Along the way, you’ll visit the Tuna El-Gebel necropolis with its well-preserved tombs, underground passages, and the famous ibis and baboon mummies.

After lunch at a local restaurant, you’ll arrive at your hotel in El Minia, where dinner and overnight accommodations await you.

After breakfast at the hotel, you’ll visit the rock-cut tombs of Beni Hassan. Princes were buried in these rock-cut tombs during the Middle Kingdom. The unique pictorial depictions and inscriptions here depict everyday activities of the time, such as crafts, sports, games, and hunting. Afterward, enjoy a local lunch. The tour continues to Tell el-Amarna, the former capital of the ancient Egyptian king Akhenaten. Akhenaten founded and built Tell el-Amarna in honor of the sun god Aten. Afterward, the journey continues to Asyut.

Your German-speaking tour guide will pick you up at the hotel in the morning and drive you to Dendara, where you’ll visit the temple of the same name. This temple was dedicated to the goddess Hathor, the goddess of Egyptian mythology, the mother goddess and “Goddess of the Western Sky,” and the goddess of love and the arts. The journey continues to Abydos to visit the Mortuary Temple of Sethos. Sethos I himself built this temple for his own funerary cult and that of his father, Ramses I. After the tour, you’ll enjoy a delicious lunch before heading to your hotel in Luxor.

The next leg of the journey begins in the morning: You’ll set out with your tour guide for the west bank of the Nile (West Thebes) to visit the three tombs in the Valley of the Kings. The royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings are carved into the rock. It was here that archaeologists discovered the famous treasure of Tutankhamun. Afterward, you’ll continue on to Deir el-Bahari, north of Thebes on the west bank of the Nile. Deir el-Bahari is home to the remarkable mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut. She was the only female pharaoh in the history of ancient Egypt. This temple clings to the limestone cliffs and is unique due to its multi-tiered structure. On the way back, you’ll stop at the Colossi of Memnon, a temple complex in Luxor. After lunch, the journey continues to the east bank of the Nile to the Karnak Temple Complex and the Sacred Lake. The complex covers a vast area and includes several temples and chapels built of white and red limestone. Afterward, you’ll drive back to the banks of the Nile and visit the impressive Luxor Temple complex.

Overnight stay at a Nubian inn.

After breakfast, the drive will take you through the seemingly endless desert to Abu Simbel, on Egypt’s southern border. There, you’ll find the world-famous rock-cut temples of Ramses II—one of the most impressive structures of Ancient Egypt.

Overnight stay at the Eskaleh Nubian Ecolodge, nestled in the heart of the Nubian countryside.

Back in Aswan, you’ll visit the Temple of Philae—also known as the “House of Beginnings”—as well as the Nubian Museum and the picturesque Nubian village with its colorful houses. A day that will give you a deeper appreciation of the unique Nubian culture of southern Egypt and round out your 12-day tour of Egypt with another authentic highlight.

After one last breakfast together at the hotel, your tour guide will take you to Aswan Airport and assist you with departure formalities. With countless memories of pyramids, temples, and, above all, the warm encounters with locals, you’ll board your return flight.