Egypt Maximum adventure

Egypt Maximum adventure

Aswan, Luxor, Abydos, Cairo, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Gabal El Selsela, El Kab And Dendera.

Excellent

4.6/5
Duration

11 Days

Type

Private

Run

Everyday

Location

Aswan, Luxor, Abydos, Cairo, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Gabal El Selsela, El Kab And Dendera

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Overview

Whether you’re looking for a classic journey up the Nile or wonderful experience to explore temples and tombs and to see picturesque local villages and idyllic islands also to visit the ancient monuments without the crowd. Nile Dream offers a cultural trip, a desert adventure and a family holiday that allow you perfect balance between serenity, learning, comradery and beauty, the choice is one of these small boats called Dahabia, that takes you back like tourists of the last century when the crème de la crème of Europe and American used similar non-engine boats to explore the Nile valley. Also, with the program ''maximum adventure '' you will have the opportunity to visit Dendera, Abydos and to visit all the opened pyramid complex as well at Cairo

Itinerary

Day 1

Nile Dream Tours representative will assist you upon your arrival to Cairo Airport, transfer to the hotel and accommodation.
Day 2

In the morning you will meet by our tour guide of Nile Dream Tours then we will visit the following sites;

The Giza plateau where the 4th dynasty pyramids were constructed. Khufu (Cheops) pyramid, it is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one that stands until now, it is the most attractive monument on the plateau 146.59 meters high and its sides at the base reached 230.37 meters in length. The tilt of their faces was 52 degrees. It is the greatest monument in Egypt and has almost 2,300,000 stone blocks. As an Arab proverb says: "man fears time, but time fears pyramids." Khafra (Khefern) pyramid is 136.4 meters high, each side measures 215.25 meters and the inclination of its faces is just over 53 degrees. Its estimated volume is more than 1.6 million cubic meters. On its vertex remains of the old original shiny limestone covering can still be seen. The pyramid of Menkaura (Mykerinos) whose base measures 103.4 meters on each side and its original height was 65.5 meters, with a slope on all four sides of 51 degrees. It conserves at the base 16 courses of red granite that corresponded to the lower cladding of the monument. We will continue to visit the Valley Temple and the Great Sphinx built by Pharaoh Khafra (Khefern) it is 73 meters long, and almost 20 meters high

The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities which was built in 1902, and it exhibits a large number of items and treasures (exceeding 170,000 masterpieces) dating from the Prehistoric Period to the end of the Roman era, arranged in chronological order, exhibited in 42 rooms on the ground floor contains the largest of the exhibits, such as a massive statue pair of Amenhotep III and his wife Tiye, the colossal statues of Rameses II, the super famous pieces like the Narmer Palette, diorite statue of Khafre, bedroom furniture of Queen Hetepheres and the exhibits of the Amarna collection which include a colossal statue of the ‘heretic’ king Akhenaton. The upper floor there are 47 rooms housing about 3000 pieces of the treasure of Tutankhamun the boy-king’s tomb, discovered by Howard Carter in 1922, including the shrines and tomb furniture the famous gold mask and sarcophagi.

Lunch in a local restaurant

After the tour, you go back to your hotel
Day 3

After early breakfast at the hotel, our guide will accompany you to visit the following sites

The Meidum pyramid lies about 100 km south of Cairo. Started by king Huni who had laid the foundations at the end of Dynasty III – and finished by Snefru, Huni’s son and successor and the first king of Dynasty IV, 2700 bc. It was constructed in steps in the manner of the old-style step pyramids, and then filled with a better quality of stone to create a smooth surface, and it is believed that it was built in three phases of construction. Phase I consisted of the building of a seven stepped structure, which was then enlarged and covered in phase II and filled in with its final casing in phase III, Therefore it is considered the first ‘true’ pyramid and the transition point between the early step pyramids and the complete pyramids at Giza. The pyramid is entered from the north face, 18.5 m above the ground, now a staircase leads to the entrance hole, and a low passage slopes from the entrance down to the bedrock beneath the base of the structure. Then a short horizontal passage with a small antechamber and a niche on the right-hand side leads to a vertical shaft and the burial chamber at the original ground level. There you can see the high corbelled walls, where there are still traces of an ancient wooden beam, was used to facilitate lifting the sarcophagus.

EL-LAHUN AND HAWARA about 40 km. from Meidum

During the middle kingdom, the province of el-Faiyum flourished when the fertile area around Qarun lake converted into a leisure place where kings and nobles of the dynasty XII, Senwosret II and Amenemhet III were fishing, hunting and also chose it for their eternal life constructing their pyramids, Senwosret II’s pyramid complex is situated at El-Lahun and Amenemhet III’s complex is at Hawara

EL-LAHUN

Named, ‘Senwosret shines 'where king Senwosret II built his pyramid on a standing outcrop of rock and is built of mud brick to be the first large mud brick pyramid that was once covered by a white limestone casing. The entrance is on the south side to confuse the tomb robbers, the burial chamber is covered with red granite slabs, and a red granite sarcophagus of Senwosret II was found with an inscribed alabaster offering table bearing the king’s cartouches. within the enclosure wall are several tombs belonging to members of the royal family, in one of these William Petrie found a spectacular hoard of middle kingdom jewelers and cosmetic vessels. It is one of the finest jewelers discovered in Egypt belonging to Sit Hathor, one of the royal princesses, part in the Egyptian Museum and part in the Metropolitan Museum

HAWARA

Amenemhet III, construct this pyramid near the place of his grandfather’s pyramid at El-Lahun. He had previously built a pyramid at Dahshur, but due to architectural mistake, He decided to build this pyramid at Hawara, it is 58 m high,100 m² and slope of 48 degrees. There is a fantastic view of Faiyum from the top of the pyramid. The entrance is on the south side with a stairway and corridor descending into the substructure and was intended to mislead the tomb robbers with false burial shafts before finally coming to the burial chamber at a higher level to the west of the pyramid’s center. Within the enclosure, was excavated a unique mortuary temple covering an area of 25000 m², that was described by Herodotus as the labyrinth. To the north of the pyramid complex, Petrie found the famous Faiyum portraits, painted in wax encaustic on flat boards and dating to the Roman Period painted during life and attached to the coffin after death, they are among the earliest portraits' known now can be seen in the Cairo Museum

Wadi El Rayan

Faiyum is Egypt's largest oasis, measuring around 60 kilometers long and 70 kilometers wide, is one of the oldest cities in the country founded around 2000 BC and is home to a number of important archaeological sites; the pharaohs built palaces here and the Greeks built temples. Rich in nature as well as history, al-Faiyum’s landscape extends to sand dunes, palm trees, lakes, and valleys, home to an abundance of wildlife. One of the most beautiful Reserves in Al-faiyum is Wadi Al Rayan consists of two lakes have different altitudes, therefore a waterfall was created where they meet, there seems to be no end to this water and its level has gone up to 6 meters. Wadi Al Rayan is distinguished by its integrated desert environment, including sand dunes, natural eyes, different plant life and various animals, as well as marine fossils, and the waterfalls' area is one of the different marine sports areas. The reserve has 15 types of wildlife, the most important of them are (the white deer - the Egyptian gazelle - Fennec Fox - Sand Fox - Wolf) There are also several types of hawks.

Lunch in a local restaurant and go back to your hotel in Cairo
Day 4

After breakfast, you will be accompanied by your tour guide in an air-conditioned vehicle to the necropolis of Saqqara to visit;

The Mastaba of Meriroka 2340 B.C. is the largest of the Old Kingdom tombs and reflects his position during the reign of Teti in Dynasty VI. His titles are, Inspector of Priests ‘Chief Justice and Vizier,’, ‘Scribe of the Divine Books'. Also, he was the husband of the King’s eldest daughter, the tomb, was excavated in 1892 by Jack de Morgan, is famous for its fine reliefs of many aspects of daily life and customs of the Old Kingdom.


The Mastaba of kagmni 2340 B. C. who was Chief Justice and Vizier, Overseer of the Pyramid town of Teti, Overseer of the Priests of Teti’ and was married to a daughter of King Teti, discovered by Karl Lipsius in 1843, The tomb is famous for its beautiful depictions of birds and animals.

The funerary complex of king Tity 2340 BC. It is the second known pyramid containing pyramid texts, it was opened by Gaston Maspero in 1882 the burial chambers and corridors are very well-preserved.


The step pyramid complex of King Zoser 2700 B.C. This is one of the places where the challenging experiment of copying natural materials in stone is most evident. It is the first stone pyramid, built for a king of Dynasty III The pyramid structure rises above the plateau in a series of six stepped ‘mastabas" and was built in several stages, beginning with an initial square mastaba and that its plan was changed several times during construction and finally was surrounded by a complex of dummy buildings enclosed within a niche limestone wall over 10 m high. The burial chamber has been closed for restoration for decades but recently was opened


The funerary complex of king Unas 2600 BC. from the V dynasty the inscriptions, known as the Pyramid Texts, were carved for the first time on the walls of its burial chamber. These Texts are the oldest large corpus of religious writing known from Ancient Egypt. A total of 283 such spells, appear in Unas's pyramid. The spells are the smallest and best-preserved collection of Pyramid Texts known from the Old Kingdom.


The Mastaba of the two brothers 2500 BC., Overseer of Manicurists of the Great House It dates to mid-Dynasty V, the reigns of Niuserre or discovered by Ahmed Moussa in 1964, is one of the most beautifully decorated tombs in the Saqqara necropolis. ’ and is unique in its depictions of the two men appearing together throughout the tomb in an intimate embrace. Much has been made of these scenes and the relationship between the owners is still unclear.


The Mastaba of Mihu 2340 BC, from the VI Dynasty, during the reign of Pepy I, and it is considered one of the most colorful and exquisite reliefs of the whole necropolis. Discovered 1940 and has been closed nearly since its discovery but now is opened decorated with scenes of trapping birds with nets, mending the nets and preparing food for the birds, hunting and fishing scene


The Mastaba of the butchers 2600 BC. belongs to Irukaptah ‘Master Butcher of the Great House, considered a unique tomb containing fourteen status, the statues are painted – the colors still brightly preserved, with red-brown skin and yellow kilts it was named so because of the famous butchering scenes.


The cemetery of the Apis bulls called Serapeum 700 BC discovered by. Auguste Mariette 1851 consisted of a long gallery containing a large side-chambers containing 20 huge granite sarcophagi, each weighing between 60 and 80 tones from Dynasty XXVI to the Ptolemaic Period. Except one sarcophagus, all the sarcophagi found in this gallery had been robbed in antiquity and were found empty.

The museum of Imhotep opened at Saqqara 2006, named after Imhotep who is credited as the great architect of the Step Pyramid spacious and with many well-lit objects beautifully displayed. In the entrance there is a library dedicated to the Egyptologist Jean-Philippe Lauer, who worked at Saqqara for much of his life, restoring many of the monuments we see there today was considered the vivid image of archaeology.

Lunch in a local restaurant and then you continue the visit to the group of pyramids at Dahshour where you can visit the Red Pyramid 2700 B.C. of king Senfru dynasty IV, called so, due to the color of limestone used in constructing the pyramid’s core, its casing of white limestone is now completely missing It is 220 length and 104 high The entrance is on the northern side of the pyramid leads to three chambers the second chamber coincides with the vertical axis of the structure.about4 km to the south is the Bent Pyramid recently opened for visitors and popularly called the Devil's Mouth since it is very difficult to reach its burial chamber.

After the tour, you will go back to your hotel in Cairo
Day 5

Checking out the hotel, and you will be transferred to Cairo airport to catch your flight to Abu Simbel transit Aswan, there you will visit the two temples of Abu Simbel. The great temple of Ramses II which is extends48 meters into the mountain was dedicated to the gods Ra-horakhty, Amun and Ptah, as well as the divine Rameses himself. The impressive façade of the temple is fronted by 4 colossal seated statues of Ramses II each 20 m high and depicting the king, in different stages of his life, his mother queen Tuya, his chief wife queen Nefertari and some of his many children can be seen in a smaller scale at his feet on the walls of the first hypostyle hall are scenes showing the king’s victories over the Hittites, during the battle of Kadesh. The temple was aligned so that twice a year, on February 22 and October 22, the sun’s rays penetrate the length of the temple and flood the sanctuary with light. About 100 meters north of the great temple is the smaller temple dedicated to the Queen Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. Goddess of love beauty and motherhood the imposing façade consists of six colossal statues of the king and the queen each 10 meters high again with smaller images of royal children at their feet. Scenes on the walls of the pillared hall depict Nefertari taking part in divine rituals with her husband before Hathor and Mut in the sanctuary at the rear of the temple a statue in high relief seems to grow out of the rock wall, showing Hathor as the sacred cow. After the visit, you will take your flight back to Aswan

Lunch in a local restaurant

Visit the romantic Philae Temples located now on The island of Aguilca between Aswan dam and the high dam constructed during the reign of Ptolemy II and completed by the Roman emperors. And it was dedicated to Goddess Isis, goddess of maternity and magic in the Egyptian mythology and was considered the mother of god Horus and the consort of God Osiris.

After the tour you will be transferred to your hotel in Aswan, check in and accommodation
Day 6

After breakfast transfer to your boat Dahabia, start sailing to one of the small islands of the Nile there you will enjoy walking in the countryside, lunch may be served on the island or onboard according to the circumstance , after that, the Dahabia continue sailing towards Kom Ombo upon arrival you visit the double temple of Hours and Sobek

Kom Ombo is an industrial town 45 km north of Aswan. Its classical name was Ombos, the temple is very unusual. It was dedicated to two triads of deities, each with their own associated chambers and sanctuaries. On the eastern side of the temple, the crocodile god Sobek is honored with his wife who is here named as Hathor and their son Khonsu. On the west side, Haroeris or ‘Horus the Elder’ is accompanied by his wife Hathor-ta-sent-nefert and their son Panebtawy. The main part of the temple was probably begun by Ptolemy VI Philometor, On the inside of the enclosure wall at the rear of the temple is a famous relief depicting surgical instruments

After the visit Dahabia continue sailing to Gabel el Silsila and stay the night there, dinner will be served on board
Day 7

After breakfast, you will visit the following

The quarries of Gabel el- Silsila ''chain of mountains'' or Series of Mountains'' 60 km north of Aswan where the river Nile narrows and high sandstone cliffs come right down to the water’s edge.Gebel el-Silsila became a source of sandstone were mainly in use during the new kingdom for religious building so the area was regarded as gods land provided the stone used at Karnak and Luxor temple and later Ptolemaic temples and some quarries are still in use. Because of series of rapids here in ancient times, dangerous to navigate it was mainly the gods associated with the Nile who were worshipped here Hapi Hequet and Sobek before converting it into an important cult center and at the beginning of the inundation season sacrifices and offerings were made to ensure the country’s prosperity for the coming year, therefore the sandstone blocks coming from these quarries were considered to have a special blessedness. You can visit the rock-cut chapels of Horemheb, Seti I, Ramses II and Merenptah.

Dahabia sail to Edfu and visit :

The Temple of Horus located in the town of Edfu that derives its name from the ancient Egyptian Djeba which was the place where the god Horus was worshiped and where the battle between Horus and his traditional enemy Seth in ancient mythology took place. The main monument at Edfu is the Ptolemaic Temple of Horus The sand has helped to preserve the building which was found completely intact when it was first cleared and excavated by Auguste Mariette in the 1860s it is the most well-preserved and the only that has been completed, was constructed from sandstone blocks in time of Ptolemy III Euergetes I in 237 BC, and was completed 57 BC

After the visit Dahabia will continue sailing to a small island and stay overnight, there you will enjoy dinner maybe onboard or around a campfire on the peaceful banks of the Nile
Day 7

Sailing and after breakfast, you will visit el KAB

El kab is one of the oldest provinces of Upper Egypt embracing monuments from Predynastic to Ptolemaic era was the land of Nekhbet, the patron goddess of Upper Egypt, its necropolis of rock-cut tombs, belonging to New Kingdom officials provides the first valuable information about the beginnings of the 18th Dynasty. It shelters several tombs which include unique military reliefs document the expulsion of the Hyksos, especially from that of Ahmose son of Abana and the attractive tomb of Pahery

Tomb of Ahmose, son of Ibana

Ahmose was ‘Captain of Sailors’, who served under three different pharaohs in various successful campaigns in the wars of liberation against the Hyksos during the late 17th and early 18th Dynasties, so he was awarded of the ‘gold of honor’ and given four slaves from the loot of the battle his tomb is considered the only historic source covering the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt

Tomb of pahery

Pahery grandson of Ahmos was a ruler of el kab during Dynasty XVIII. The well-preserved paintings in his tomb show scenes of funeral procession, offerings and agricultural scenes of daily life. In the rear wall is a statue of Paheri with his mother and wife Art in the tomb is of beautiful quality, although sandstone doesn't help the perfection of sculpture achieved in the tombs in the limestone of Luxor. All hieroglyphs texts and figures are in high relief and are painted. Only the small hieroglyphs and those of the wall at the rear are in sunk relief

After the visit, you go back to Dahabia to continue sailing to Esna for the third night on board
Day 8

After breakfast, you will check out the Dahabia and go from Esna to Luxor to visit:

The Valley of the Kings is one of the oldest Royal burial places in all over the world. It consists of more than 60 rock-cut tombs carved out of a big mountain which looks like a huge natural Pyramid overlooking the Nile on the west bank of Luxor, more than a third of this number of tombs used for burying the great pharaohs ruled Egypt from the 16th century to 11th century B.C which considered the glamorous days of Ancient Egypt known as the New Kingdom period (18th, 19th and 20th dynasties), such as the famous pharaohs Thotmosis lll, Sity l Ramses ll, Ramses lll, etc. Each tomb consists of 3 or 4 large corridors decorated with bright and colorful scenes, paintings and carvings representing philosophical ideas and future vision of the Hereafter, which explained and illustrated in 9 Holly books such as the book of deads, the book of caverns etc..., those large corridors end by the most important point of the tomb which is the burial chamber supposedly to have the most valuable objects of the treasure buried around the Pharaoh's mummy, as well we can see a very large painting of goddess Nut the goddess of the Sky and the journey of day and night, some of these burial chambers still has the sarcophagus you hardly believe it is cut out of single piece of granite brought from Aswan quarries 130 miles south of Luxor and taken dawn more than 300fts into the mountain, So many excavators worked in Valley of the Kings, such as Howard Carter who discovered the discovery of the discoveries of the 20th century which is the intact tomb of King Tut Ankh Amon occurred in 4th of November 1922.

The Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut is one of the best architectural buildings; it consists of three levels connected to each other and has different scenes on its walls that represent the queen's divine birth and commercial expedition to the land of Punt. The temple is mainly dedicated to worshiping the god Ammon-Ra, the Colossi of Memnun, are two statues that represent Pharaoh Amenhotep III in a Seated Position in front of his funeral temple.

After lunch in a local restaurant, you will visit the two temples on the eastern side of the Nile.

The Egyptians believed that towards the end of the annual agricultural cycle the gods and the earth became exhausted and required a fresh input of energy from the chaotic energy of the cosmos. To accomplish this magical regeneration the Opet festival was held yearly the procession began at Karnak and ended at Luxor Temple

Karnak Temple. A city of temples built over 2000 years, it is the largest religious building ever made, covering about 1.5 km by 0.8 km could hold ten average European cathedrals. The great temple at the heart of Karnak is so big that St Peter’s, Milan, and Notre Dame Cathedrals would fit within its walls, with the largest number of pylons in all the Egyptian temples dedicated to the sacred triad of Thebes Gods, Amun, his wife Mut, and their son Khonsu

Luxor Temple Lying at the other end of Thebes connected with Karnak by the avenue of sphinxes the temple was built by Amenhotep III completed by Tutankhamun and Horemheb from the XVIII dynasty and finally Ramses II from the XIX dynasty added the first pylon later the sanctuary was reconstructed by Alexander the Great,

After the visit, you will go to your hotel in Luxor check in and accommodation
Day 10

After breakfast Pick up from your hotel in Luxor to start your trip by our air-conditioned vehicle to Dendera temple dedicated to Goddess Hathor. The actual temple dates back to 125 B.C completed during Roman times, although there are texts which refer to earlier shrines on the site from the Old Kingdom onward, it is unique because the roof is still intact and visitors can admire the beautiful ceiling divided into 7 bands of well-preserved astronomical figures featuring the goddess Nut, vultures and winged sun-discs and the Roman signs of the Zodiac. Not only that but this temple has the only relief which represented Queen Cleopatra VII and her son Caesarion.

Lunch in a local restaurant, and Continue to Abydos, there you visit the temple of Seti I, the largest of the extant Abydos temples, built of limestone and sandstone blocks to an unusual L-shaped plan, it has seven sanctuaries instead of the usual one (or three). This temple was built in Dynasty XIX by Seti I, but the decoration of the courtyards and the first hypostyle hall was completed by his son Ramses II. On one of the corridors, you see the famous scene of Seti I and his young son Ramses offer to a list of cartouches of 76 kings. Seti holds a censor while Ramses reads from a papyrus scroll. The cartouches begin with the king Menes of Dynasty I and end with Seti I and are obviously carefully selected to be those which the king considered his legitimate ancestors, some rulers omitted include Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Smenkhare, Tutankhamun and Ay.

After this, back to your hotel in Luxor
Day 11

After breakfast in your hotel in Luxor our representative will pick you up to Luxor airport to take your flight back to Cairo and from Cairo, you will take your international flight back to your country

Included/Excluded

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- Meet and greet service by our representatives upon your airport arrival.
- Transfers in private vehicle with air conditioning
- 4 Airport transfers. (2 in Cairo, 1 in Aswan 1 in Luxor)
- Domestic Flight Tickets ( Cairo-Abu simbel /Luxor-Cairo) Economy Class
- English-speaking tour guide during your excursions
- 1Bottled mineral water every day
- Main Entrance Fees
- Excursions according to the itinerary
- This itinerary could be changed in order according to the circumstances of service not to be canceled .
- 6 meals in a local restaurant
- Accommodation in Cairo 5* for 4 nights, including daily breakfast.
- Accommodation in Aswan for 5* 1 night, including breakfast
- Accommodation in Luxor 5* for 2 night, including daily breakfast
- Accommodation on board Dahabia Nile cruise 3 nights, on full board
- Egyptian SIM card, per family, for your unlocked mobile device for your stay in Egypt
- Tourism Police Permission
- Taxes

- International airfare to Egypt
- Entry Visa to Egypt
- Personal spending
- Extra Entry Ticket to inside the Pyramids
- Extra Entry Ticket to the Solar Boat Museum
- Extra Entry Ticket to the tombs that have a special entrance in Luxor
- Optional Activities.
- Drinks
- Tipping.
- Anything not mentioned above .

Package

Price,Terms & Conditions

1 Person

$2500

2 to 4 Person

$2300

5 to 8 Person

$2130

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