This post was originally published on 15 Sept 2025 but completely rewritten and Last updated: 21 August 2026
Private access to sites like the Great Pyramid or the Osirion is something few travellers ever get to experience — and it’s not a ticketing exercise. It involves permissions, security coordination, and often weeks of negotiation with the authorities before a date is confirmed. If you’d like to arrange this solely for yourself, your family, or your own group, read the full explanation of a private visit to the Great Pyramid of Giza here.
If a fully private arrangement isn’t what you’re after right now, there’s another way to experience this level of access: joining one of my small group tours, where private, permit-based visits are built directly into the itinerary.
Why does private access to Egypt’s monuments cost so much?
Arranging access to sacred or restricted sites in Egypt takes permissions, security coordination, and timing negotiations with the authorities — often weeks of it before a date is confirmed. When you join a group tour designed around this kind of access, that work is already done, and built into a journey that’s still small and personal.
Because I plan the full itinerary rather than a single day, I can place these visits exactly where they fit — so a group’s schedule can flex around a rare opening, rather than an opening having to fit around a fixed schedule set by separate operators.
Can a custom itinerary turn into a group opportunity?
If you’re booking a 7, 9, or 14-night itinerary that I’ve designed specifically for you, and you reach out far enough in advance, something else becomes possible: other travellers with overlapping dates and a similar itinerary can sometimes come together organically around yours. When that happens, the group can share access to even more than a single private visit — it isn’t guaranteed, and it hinges entirely on numbers and timing, but the earlier you plan, the better the odds of it coming together.
And if it does — Mara’s group tours are genuinely fun. Small, personal, and full of people who came to Egypt for the same reason you did.
Which group tours include private access right now?
More departures are added throughout the year.
Want to know when a new one opens? Leave your email and I’ll let you know — no dates or budgets needed, just a heads-up when something new is scheduled.
Or explore what else is possible through private, closed-door access →