Senast uppdaterad: 2010-01-27
Itinerary
Day 1
Day of arrival in Cairo. Gathering at the hotel.
Day 2
The first day will be spent in Cairo. Cairo is the biggest city on the African continent, with about 17 million inhabitants. The traffic is heavy and noisy. You can take the underground to some places, but still you have to take a taxi or walk if you want to go to Khan al Khalili (the big Bazaar) in the Islamic City, for example.
You can take it easy the first day if you like. It's nice just to walk along the main street Kaser El Nil from Midan Mosafa Kamil (Mostafa Kamil square) near the hotel to the river Nile. Just before arriving to the river (one block before) you get to the Egyptian Museum. It takes only 15 minutes, to walk.
You can also go to the pyramids by the local minibus if you like, Soliman will help you with the arrangement if need be (this is not included in the tour).
If enough people are interested Soliman will arrange a guided tour, with a local female guide, Racha, to the pyramid area, to the Hanging Church in the Old Coptic Cairo including a short vitit visiting to a perfume and a papyrus fabric in between (this is not included in the tour).
In the evening Soliman will bring you to see Sufi dance (not included, but for free, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, you only pay transport).
Day 3
In the morning you take the bus, 5 hours, to Bahariyya, an oasis in the Libyan Desert containing 7-8 villages and about 30 000 people. Bahariyya means northern, and this is the most northern oasis. A minibus will take you to the bus station early in the morning. You will stay one night in the Bedouin village camp in Bawiti, the capital of Bahariyya. From here you can visit hot springs, some of them are not good for swimming but offers beautiful views over the oasis gardens and the desert.
For those who are interested, we will together visit Sigam, a hot spring close to Mandisha village (one of the Bahariyya villages) where you can swim, climb the English mountain (with an excellent overview) and then go down-town Bawiti to allow some shopping before the desert tour (not included in the program).
Day 4 to 7
Now you will have some unbelievable days in the desert! The desert safari will start in the morning with jeeps. In the black desert (old volcanic area) if you like, you can climb a black mountain (it just takes about half an hour, but it can be hot in the sun!). You will have your lunch with a family in a village or in the desert and on the way to the white desert you will visit some valleys and Roman springs. In the late afternoon you arrive to the beginning of the White desert, where you can see lots of beautiful white rock formations of limestone, shaped by wind erosion, some of them look like big white “mushrooms”.
You can climb some hills in the night to enjoy the marvellous sunsets over the desert! If you are lucky the tour leader and his drivers will sing some traditional music for you. When they set up the camp they normally just put up something to protect from the wind and some mattresses to sleep on. It will be cold in the night, so you need a good sleeping bag. You will each get two blankets on top of that. It is appreciated is to sleep under the stars in the quiet desert! Many say this is their best memory of the whole tour.
Most people in these areas are Bedouins, but many are also farmers. Wheat and rice are the main crops, but there are regional specialities such as olives and olive oil. The richer oasises also produces dates, apricots, oranges etc.
The following days the exploration of the desert continues and you will visit a lot of different places where you do shorter walks, climb mountains or sand dunes in the yellow desert. You will walk every morning for about two hours from the night camp. The jeep will bring your luggage, so all you have to carry is plenty of water, sun protection and your camera. You will not be alone; the guide will go with you.
The last day you will be travelling to the Dakhla oasis. This is quite a hard drive through a very rough and stony part of the desert. The only way out is through the valley Al Kasr Bath. If the drivers miss the way, they will have to return - but they never do.
Day 8
In Dakhla we stay at a camp about 5 km outside El Kasr village, one of the villages of the Dakhla oasis. The camp has got a hot spring where you can bathe. You have a day “free” to do whatever you want. Rest or why not go for a lovely camel ride in the afternoon to some beautiful sand dunes outside the oasis? During this day you can also join our tour to the Islamic city in El Kasr, a world heritage from the 11th Century (not included) or merely walk around on your own in El Kasr village and talk with very friendly people. There are also several other hot springs that you can visit and some prehistoric rock paintings and tombs for those who are interested in history.
Day 9
In the morning you will go 200 km with the minibus to Kharga. After some 45 minutes we make a stop in Mut, the capital of Dakhla, where you can visit the market or just have a cup of thee. You have your lunch in Kharga and then you go to Luxor, where you arrive late in the evening after a long day, but with many breaks, on the roads through the desert and along the Nile, about 500 km.
Day 10 to 11
You have two days in Luxor, the religious centre of the ancient Egypt, at that time called Thebe. There are lots of things you can do in Luxor. The first day, if you wish, your tour leader will organise a tour with a local specialised guide on the West Bank of Luxor, to see the three first options mentioned in the list below. The second day you can do whatever you want, on your own. The hotel is located on the East Bank and from there it is walking distance at least to the Luxor Temple. Some people also take a ride in a hot air balloon over Luxor...
Optional:
On the West Bank
- The Colossi of Memnon: Two statues, 19,5 meters high from 1400 BC, formerly standing in front of a temple probably destroyed by an earth quake.
- Temle of Hatschepsut: (Deir al Bahri). Hatschepsut is the most known female pharaoh (ruling for 20 years).
- The Valley of the Kings: This is the valley where you find the tombs of many pharaohs like the tomb of Ramses II, Tutankhamun, the most known, but not the most beautiful to visit.
- The Valley of the Queens: The most beautiful is the tomb of Nefertari (one of the five wives of Ramses II)
- The Ramesseum: Another monument raised by Ramses II on the West Bank.
- You can also visit a small village on the West Bank.
- The Temples of Karnak: the most important place for worship in all Egypt during the height of Theban power. It is a spectacular complex of sanctuaries, pylons and obelisks, all dedicated to the Theban gods and to the greater glory of Egypt´s pharaohs. It was built between 1570 and 1090 BC! If you are interested in the light show in the evening - check which night it will be in English!
- Luxor Temple: Built by the New Kingdom pharaoh Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC), is just on the banks of the Nile. At the entrance of the temple you'll see some colossal statues of Ramses II and a pink granite obelisk. There were originally six statues, but only two remains. The obelisk, too, was one of a pair; the other one now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
- Luxor Museum: Here you can see selected items from the Theban temples and necropolis. The statue of Tuthmosis
III (from around 1436 BC) is impressing as well as a cow-goddess
head from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Also the expo of furniture, jewellery and pottery from the tombs is interesting.
- Mummification museum: Here you can see and learn everything about mummification, the process, the tools used, the items needed for the afterlife.
- Luxor Coptic Church: The Coptic Church in Luxor is very beautifully decorated.
Day 12
In the morning you go by bus to Aswan, it takes about 4 hours. On the way you will visit the camel market in Daraw. Once in Aswan you go directly by ferry to Elefantine Island in the Nile. There you will stay in Nubian families for the coming days. You will meet some of the relatives to Soliman.
Day 13 to 14
During these days you will have possibility to see both the daily life of the island village and famous sights in Aswan. You will have time to choose what you want to do. There are lots of options, see below, but don't forget the village itself. The first day you will go on a day tour to Abu Simbel. The tour includes a visit to the High Dam. You start very early in the morning and you will be back by noon (included).
- From the village you can do shorter excursions. You can go by felucca to other islands for example the Kitchener´s Island, where you can visit a botanical garden.
- If you still haven't had enough of camels (some can never get enough!), you can ride a camel to the Monastery of St. Simeon, from where you have a lovely view, or just go for a ride in the desert.
- In Aswan itself you find a 3 km long market street. The Nubian museum is very interesting, too. You can also visit the Aswan museum in Elefantine Island and in the West Bank there are the Tombs of the Nobles.
Day 15 to 16
You go by a felucca, the traditional Egyptian sail boat, on the Nile for two days and two nights up to Kom Ombo or to Daraw city, depending on the wind or the level of the Nile. It's a very relaxing tour, you will pass small villages, temples and markets and you will sleep and eat on the boat.
Day 17 to 18
From Kom Ombo (or Daraw) you go by minibus via Edfu back to Luxor and your previous hotel there. In Edfu you will have time to visit the beautiful temple made of sandstone. It's very well preserved and was built from 237 BC and finished 57 BC. It was built for Horus, Hathor and their son Harsomtus.
You will now have a third day in Luxor. A day for rest or visiting things you didn't have time for the two first days. Soliman will make the arrangement for the group to have some rooms at the hotel even in the afternoon until you go to the railway station for the overnight train with reclining seats to Cairo. The train leaves at about nine in the evening. You need to have something warm to put around you since air-condition can make it rather cold on the train.
Day 19
Cairo. You arrive early in the morning, about 6.30-7.00. After some rest you still have one day in Cairo if you haven't extended your stay in Egypt with more days.
Here follows a list of options in Cairo, if you missed some of it in the beginning: (Not included)
- You can visit the Pyramids in Giza. The Pyramid of Cheops is the only remaining of the “Seven Wonders of the World”. It was built 2 650 BC.
- The Egyptian Museum is not to be missed!
- It's very nice to walk around in the Islamic Cairo. (It's very close to the big bazaar, Khan al Khalili).
- It's easy to take the underground to the Coptic Cairo where you can visit the Hanging Church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
- From the Citadel you have a beautiful view over Cairo. You can visit the Mohammed Alis mosque.
- You might like to visit a 'sufi-dance' performance (Tannoura), if you missed it the first day.
- There are also restaurants or clubs where you can see “belly dancing”.
It is safe to walk around in Cairo, people are very friendly and it's easy to talk to people in the street.
Day 20
Day of departure.
