Opening Closed Doors – the exclusive access tours.

A priestess of Isis descends into the ancient tunnel at Taposiris Magna, holding a torch aloft to light the way for the funeral procession of Cleopatra and Mark Antony

You know the Giza Plateau.  You’ve seen the postcards, the documentaries, the crowds.  What you haven’t seen is what happens when those crowds leave.  Or the places they never get to go at all.

I’m Marie Vaughan and while Mara House Luxor Hotel is my main focus, I have never been able to resist the pull to explore and find places off the beaten path – this is where I want to show you just a fraction of what is possible that the ordinary tourist is unaware of.  Do you know how many global VIP personalities and celebrities come to Egypt, get treated like VIPS but still go away without ANY of these experiences?  Why?  Because the don’t now about them.  Their researchers and assistants taking care of their travel arrangements don’t know about them.  In Egypt, if you don’t ask, people don’t think to tell you!

This is not a list of standard sites.  These are the locked gates, the closed tombs, the temples that don’t appear on any itinerary.  Some of these places have never been opened to the public.  Some just feel like it.  A few are still active archaeological digs where you might be standing next to someone who’s holding a brush and a question mark.

I’ve arranged private visits to all of them.  Not the kind where a guard unlocks a door and hovers nearby.  The kind where you walk in alone or with just a guide and the place feels like yours.  When you visit temples, tombs or stand before statues in the midst of a crowd there is noise chatter and smiles.  When you stand in these places alone, the smile leaves your face – it’s just you and… ?

Before you go any further do you know the difference between Egypt’s private tours, private time and private visits?

Below, everything we can do that almost nobody else can.  Pick what moves you and contact me directly.

From Cairo
  • Early Access to Giza Plateau – Drive through the totally empty Giza Plateau after dark, under a clear star-studded sky – the atmosphere is totally different, magical, other-worldly.  In the past my private visits were always daytime.  So, November 2024 was my first visit after dark and it took my breath away.

The after dark drive towards the Great Pyramid gleaming like silver against the clear, dark, star-studded sky with Orion’s belt high above it – priceless.

  • Equally enviable is to be inside the actual Sphinx enclosure alone instead of being among the ever-present crowds on the viewing platform. Private Visit to the Gt. Pyramid
  • A Private Viewing of King Tutankhamun’s Treasures in the Grand Egyptian Museum GEM without the crowds.
  • Saqqara Behind-the-Scenes – Access tombs not open to the general public, such as the tomb of Wahtye and the tomb of Khuwy.
  • Abu Sir – Experience an exclusive, behind-the-scenes entry to Abu Sir — an extraordinary royal burial ground rarely opened to visitors — along with the Pyramid of Sahure, a site not ordinarily accessible.
  • Abu Rawash – Let us take you to Abu Rawash. It’s the lost pyramid — the northernmost one in Egypt. Nobody goes there. It’s been closed since forever. You’ll stand on this rocky ridge looking down at Giza like it’s a postcard someone left on the floor. The Romans tore the place apart for stone — aggressively, like they hated it. So what’s left feels less like a tomb and more like someone dropped a mountain and walked away. Oh, and there’s a First Dynasty boat burial out there, plus some ruined Coptic remains. A private visit gets you all of it. No vendors. No camel hassles. Just desert, ruins, and, on a clear day, a view of the Giza pyramids.
  • Abu Ghorab – No pyramids here. Just a forty-metre obelisk, a bloodless alabaster altar, and nine mysterious bowls that have baffled archaeologists for a century. Abu Ghorab — Egypt’s closed sun temple. Private visit only.
  • Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) – Private, guided walk through the full Tutankhamun collection after hours, without the crowds, 2 hours.
  • Taposiris Magna – Where Cleopatra may or may not be buried. But they found a miracle tunnel, golden tongues, and coins with her face. The temple’s closed to the public. You can stand over a 1,300-metre passage cut through solid rock and decide for yourself if she’s down there. This is an ongoing archaeological dig.
Desert Adventures from Cairo
  • White Desert by Private 4×4 – Overnight camping in the surreal chalk formations with a private Bedouin guide, and high-end camping (proper beds, chef — not sleeping bags on cold ground).
  • Black Desert & Bahariya Oasis – Volcanic formations, hot springs, and a pace tailored to your comfort.
  • Siwa Oasis – Salt lakes, Cleopatra’s Spring (hot spring), and the Temple of Amun (where Alexander the Great visited the oracle). Stay at Adrère Amellal — candlelight, no electricity, built into the mountain. We arrange:
    • Desert off-road tours
    • Sandboarding on the dunes
    • Stargazing with a local astronomer
  • Fayoum & Wadi Hitan (Valley of the Whales) – 40-million-year-old whale skeletons in the desert. A UNESCO site most tourists never see. Combine with Wadi El Rayan’s waterfalls and sandboarding.
From Luxor
From Aswan
  • Abu Simbel by Private Charter Flight – Instead of the 3am convoy bus, fly privately from Aswan.

Egypt for Health and Wellness

I will, as soon as I get time, write much more about this. I can only speak about Ireland now but there are health services available here for a fraction of the cost that I would pay in Ireland — not to mention how long I would be on a waiting list. What kind of things are bargains here? Eye tests/glasses/contact lenses, all kinds of dental procedures. You need a medical diagnosis, blood tests, MRIs, X-rays? No problem, walk in off the street and done! Physiotherapy, myofascial release — something else? Email me and I will tell you what is possible. I am currently having physiotherapy and myofascial release sessions for lower back problems which had ended up with swollen calves, ankles and feet. So happy with the fast improvements — this is actually what led me to writing this paragraph.

As for exploring in a more in-depth manner how you might best make use of the sacred energies of Egypt on a more personal level? I’ve got that covered also. I have an amazingly talented English-Irish friend who, like myself, has become part of the landscape of Egypt — and she has just come on board as part of the Mara House team to link you up to your hidden self. Her sessions are available at Mara House only.

A Different Type of Door Opens Now — The Sacred Currents of Egypt, Made Personal

While I have always connected personally with my guests when here at Mara House and offered my insights into their personal connections and reasons for coming to Egypt — and in particular to me — I am now taking this further in the shape of a more structured, energy-led exploration of how you can work with the sacred currents of Egypt on a deeply personal level while you’re here and visiting the ancient sites. To help bring this through, an extraordinarily gifted English-Irish friend — someone who, like me, has become part of Egypt’s living landscape for as long as I have, yet has kept her light under a bushel here until now — has just joined the Mara House team. Her role is to guide you into connection with your hidden self, using her personal talents and tools combined with the unique spiritual resonance of Egypt as the container. These intimate, transformative sessions are available exclusively at Mara House. More to come on this.

Shopping with a Difference

We have never done the normal “tat” shopping with our guests during tours as is the norm here. But who doesn’t love to shop and the thrill of finding a bargain or a treasure? So, now I am offering a new kind of shopping experience to my clients because many are requesting “something different from the usual.” Please understand before going any further — these are shopping expeditions you have to book in advance and discuss with me so that I am sure we are taking you to the right districts, and they will not be during tours. You may want to add on an extra day here and there for this kind of shopping, and it would also be a break from daily monument visits. This is not bargain/budget shopping because it’s unlikely you will want to stop at one item.

You need to understand that if you want to window shop for different types of items — that is not how to shop in Cairo. You need to be specific about what you want because if you want shoes you go to the street of shoe shops in Downtown Cairo — there are also some clothing shops. But if you want to find real antiques you will not find them there — you must go to the different streets of antiques. If you want a laptop or tablet you go to a huge building in Downtown Cairo — four floors, I think! The only place you will find an assortment of different types of goods in one place is a shopping mall — like back home. You want some men’s designer suits or something altered to the perfect fit — let me know. An enthusiast could furnish their house with treasures from Cairo — provided they were happy to pay as much to ship it home!

So if you want something special, something specific, do tell me and book a shopping tour with us — we do not include mandatory or hidden shopping excursions during our tours.

  • Private Viewing at the famous Azza Fahmy Jewellery Store
  • Create your own Signature Scent at Le Nez Fragrance Bar
  • Carpet School in Cairo – Learn about Egyptian weaving traditions and purchase direct from the weavers and have it shipped home.
  • Khan el-Khalili Goldsmiths – Explore with a personal guide.
  • Khan el-Khalili – Do you love the thrill of finding a treasure in a junk shop? There is one street you MUST visit.
  • Wekalet el-Balah – The largest clothing and fabrics market in the world — literally an entire district — one of my favourite places to browse.
  • El Attaba – Not known or visited by tourists.
  • Fustat – For pottery.
  • Al Azbakeya — The Book Market – Piled high with vintage books, decades-old movie posters, and bric-a-brac. Have a treasured book you’d like rebound — this is the place.
  • Souk Al Gouma — The Friday Market – This is a day to get fully immersed in the ambiance of the place (not for animal lovers — that is not the part that interests me). This is where everything too good to be recycled ends up — as well as seconds in furniture, tiles and more. I found some treasures here, and if I were ever to build in Egypt again I would go here and buy all my doors and windows and design my house around them. Everything is sorted. There are literal piles of telephones, piles of typewriters, gramophones, furniture and more. I love places like this — but you still need quite a bit of spending money! I hired a truck to bring my treasures back to Luxor — long time ago!
  • Hag Ahmed Abdel Fatah – Renowned artist on the West Bank hills, recreating scenes from the tombs in limestone.

Do remember to check back regularly for more updates on new opportunities from Mara — as well as all our basic tours here.