Planning your first holiday in Egypt can appear overwhelming for some. So, here is my suggestion for 7 days in Egypt for first-timers. First, I will suggest and price 7-day tours of the must-see sites. Then I will explain accommodation options and how to choose.

Mara House Luxor BASIC 7 Day Pharaonic Tour package

Each day your guide and driver will pick you up at your hotel and drop you off at the hotel each evening.

2 days tours in Cairo

  • Day 1 – Giza Plateau, Great Pyramid, Sphinx, Valley Temple at the Sphinx and the GEM – Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza.
  • Day 2 – Saqqara Complex and one more site from my list of tours in Cairo in the afternoon
    • Please see the Saqqara page here for full details of the normal tour and a video of the new discoveries.  

3 days tours in Luxor

  • West Bank – 5 sites – full details here
  • Abydos and Dendera – the first of many of my articles on these temples is here
  • Karnak and Luxor Temple –  information here

2 days tours Luxor to Aswan

  • Transfer from Luxor to Aswan stopping to see the temples at Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo drop at your accommodation in Aswan.
  • Morning tour to the Temple of Isis on Philae  Island.

Pricing:

  • €895 per person if 2 people travelling together
  • €695 per person if 4 or more adults travelling together

Included in the basic 7 day tour package:

  • Guide, transport and driver
  • 7 days touring the sites in the itinerary
  • entry tickets to all the sites on the itinerary
  • transfer Luxor to Aswan

Not Included: 

  • international flights
  • internal flights, transfer between Cairo and L:uxor.
  • This 7-day tour package does not include hotel accommodation,
  • Tips for guide and driverdriver—this tipping guide for Egypt

ACCOMMODATION

Advice on how to choose your hotel in Egypt:

What I am about to say may seem odd to you, reading this in your normal home environment. How well most people enjoy their time in Egypt as a whole. depends on 4 major facilities: hotel standard, service, food, and tours. I have observed over time that the trio of hotel standard, food, and service are the main deciders in whether tourists rate their trip a success or not—not the tours, oddly enough.

The reason is that if you spend a great day with a fantastic tour guide and your breakfast has not been good, you are off to a bad start. By the end of the day, you need to relax and enjoy a satisfying meal with good service. Go to bed unsatisfied or with a tummy ache, and I guarantee your tour guide and the places you visit will have lost their shine the following day, before you even get out of bed. And it is all downhill from there.

So, in choosing where to stay, I really do advise your first priority should be to try and find a hotel with good food reviews, then good service reviews, and let the look of the hotel be the third consideration on your priorities list—of course it must be clean! Alternatively, research the locality around the hotel of your choice for restaurants that you feel will keep you happy 🙂

Accommodation Options

For your accommodation in Luxor I would like to recommend my own Mara House Luxor as a unique and satisfying place to stay. If you are booking this tour package I will be happy to discuss hotel options in Cairo, Aswan etc. with you.

It is also possible to do these tours while incorporating the luxury of a 4 night Nile Cruise into the itinerary – the cost for a good boat would be approx. €225 per person per night and this includes full board – again if interested in doing this I am happy to help.

Note:

  • All offers are subject to availability, T & C, E and OE.  Limited availability.

*******************

ABU SIMBEL TEMPLES south of Aswan

Should you decide to spend an extra night or more in Aswan, we can provide you with a tour to Abu Simbel.  I don’t include this in the basic tour because it is a 10 hour day overland and not everyone is able to do it.  If you want to add it to your itinerary I will quote you for it as the price depends on number of people.

Add Extra Tours in Cairo to your basic 7 day itinerary :

Extra tours in Cairo are best added at the beginning or end of your trip.  For the extra tour days, you would get better value for your money by combining visits to more than one site per day.  If planned wisely, it is possible to get more than two sites in on any given day without stress or exhaustion.

If you would like to stay at Mara House Luxor while taking your Luxor Tours we would be delighted to have you and do everything possible to make your stay with us a happy, comfortable and enjoyable one.

If you would like to include a 4 night Nile Cruise from Luxor to Aswan contact me and lets chat about your options and pricing – email: maraegypt@gmail.com

I can now book for you Private Time/Visits to Egypt’s monuments

Please be aware when dealing with agents and online booking platforms that what they offer under the heading of “private tours.” is totally different from what we term “private visits” or “private time.” I have written a post to explain the difference “Private Tour in Egypt .v. Private Time or Private Visit”

PRIVATE VISITS

Private time is very expensive (approx. US$1000 – $2000 per person per visit on a site).  However, one way to reduce the cost and share the expense is by coming with me on one of my own group tours.  The next one is But to anyone willing to spend the extra cash just for themselves I recommend the following:

  • 2 hours inside the Gt. Pyramid at Giza – times 5pm to 7am.  Normally visitors are allowed about 10 mins in the Kings Chamber so to be able to sit in the Kings Chamber for longer, undisturbed is awesome.
  • between the paws of the Sphinx – inside the actual enclosure not the viewing platform which is where public access is allowed.
  • At Abydos – the Osirion