Home  /  Journeys  /  Beyond the Nile

Grand journey · Cairo · Alexandria · Siwa · the Nile

Beyond the Nile

Sixteen private days across the whole of Egypt — Cairo, Alexandria on the Mediterranean, the silence of Siwa and the Great Sand Sea, then six nights down the river to Luxor, by way of Abu Simbel.

Duration
16 days / 15 nights
Route
Coast · desert · the Nile
Style
Private throughout
On the river
6 nights, luxury cruiser
Beyond the Nile Plan this journey
The journey

The whole country, edges and all

Most journeys to Egypt keep to the Nile. This one goes to its edges first — north to Alexandria and the Mediterranean, then far west into the Great Sand Sea to the oasis of Siwa, near the Libyan line — before turning, at last, to the river everyone else starts with. It is the most expansive journey we run, and the one for travellers who want the country whole.

You take Cairo and its pyramids, the Greek and Roman coast, the silence and salt lakes of the desert, and the older pyramids at Saqqara and Dahshur. Then six unhurried nights down the Nile by cruiser, from Aswan to Luxor, with Abu Simbel in the deep south and the temples and royal tombs of Thebes to close. Sixteen days, and very little of Egypt left out.

An idea, not a package

This is one way the journey could run.
The rest is a conversation.

Every day here is a suggestion — lengthen it, swap it, leave it out. Tell us how you like to travel, and we'll reshape it until it is unmistakably yours.

Make it yours
Day by day

Sixteen days

One way the days might run — yours to change.

Cairo & the Pyramids · Alexandria on the sea · the silence of Siwa & the Great Sand Sea
the older pyramids · the Nile by cruiser to Luxor · Abu Simbel · home

Day 1Cairo, arrival+
Met inside the terminal, walked through immigration and the bags, and driven to the Four Seasons at First Residence. The rest of the day is left free — there is a great deal of Egypt ahead.Stay · Four Seasons Cairo, First Residence
Day 2Giza & the Grand Egyptian Museum+
The Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, the Sphinx and the granite Valley Temple, reached early before the heat. Lunch with the Pyramids in view, then the Grand Egyptian Museum and the complete treasure of Tutankhamun, all of it under one roof.Stay · Four Seasons Cairo, First Residence
Day 3Alexandria, on the Mediterranean+
North to the sea, and a different Egypt — Greek, Roman, and salt-aired. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina; the catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, cut three levels into the rock; Pompey's Pillar; and the Qaitbay citadel, built on the foundations of the lost lighthouse. The Corniche as the light softens.Stay · Four Seasons Alexandria, San Stefano
Day 4Into the desert, to Siwa+
A long drive west along the coast and then south into the Great Sand Sea, to the oasis of Siwa near the Libyan border. You arrive at Adrère Amellal — built entirely of salt-rock and mud, lit only by candle, with a salt lake at the foot of the White Mountain. Sunset over the oasis to close.Stay · Adrère Amellal, Siwa
Day 5The Great Sand Sea & the salt lakes+
A day in the dunes by 4×4 — sandboarding, a desert spring, a Bedouin lunch — and the salt lakes, where you float weightless in pools bluer and saltier than the sea, rimmed with white crystal. Sunset from the dunes, and after dark a sky with almost no light in it, thick with stars.Stay · Adrère Amellal, Siwa
Day 6Siwa's old stones, and the long road back+
The Temple of the Oracle of Amun, where Alexander the Great came to be told he was a god; the Mountain of the Dead; and the salt-mud ruins of Shali, the old town. Then the long return drive toward Cairo — a real haul across the desert, and part of what it costs to reach a place this remote.Stay · Four Seasons Cairo, First Residence
Day 7The first pyramids — Saqqara, Memphis & Dahshur+
The pyramids that came before Giza. Saqqara and the Step Pyramid of Djoser — the oldest large stone building in the world — with the tomb of Teti and the nobles' mastabas. Memphis, the first capital, now a modest yard around a fallen colossus of Ramesses II. And Dahshur, where Sneferu's Bent and Red Pyramids show the form being worked out, almost always empty of other visitors.Stay · Four Seasons Cairo, First Residence
Day 8South to Aswan, and aboard+
A flight to Aswan, where Egypt turns Nubian. Philae, the temple of Isis among the water; the High Dam; the Unfinished Obelisk lying in its quarry. Then you board the Oberoi Zahra and the river takes over.Stay · Oberoi Zahra · night 1 of 6
Day 9Abu Simbel by air+
A flight to the deep south and the two rock temples of Ramesses II and Nefertari — colossal, remote, and cut into blocks and lifted to higher ground when the dam's lake rose to drown them. Back to Aswan and the boat.Stay · Oberoi Zahra · night 2 of 6
Day 10Aswan, the gentlest city+
The Nubian Museum — among the best in the country — then Elephantine Island and the Botanical Garden on Kitchener's Island. A relaxed afternoon under way, the river doing the work.Stay · Oberoi Zahra · night 3 of 6
Day 11Kom Ombo+
The temple to two gods at once, standing on a bend of the river, with its small, strange museum of mummified crocodiles. Then sailing on north through Upper Egypt.Stay · Oberoi Zahra · night 4 of 6
Day 12Edfu+
The best-preserved temple in Egypt, to Horus, reached by caleche through the town. The afternoon on the water, villages and palm groves going by.Stay · Oberoi Zahra · night 5 of 6
Day 13Luxor, the east bank+
The temples of the living city of Thebes: Karnak, two thousand years of building in one enclosure, with its hall of 134 columns; Luxor Temple in the middle of town; and the Avenue of Sphinxes uncovered between them. Your last night aboard.Stay · Oberoi Zahra · night 6 of 6
Day 14The west bank, then north to Cairo+
An early start for the necropolis of Thebes: the Valley of the Kings, with Tutankhamun's tomb (small and nearly bare, but his) and the separate tickets for Seti I and Ramesses VI — the two finest in the valley. Hatshepsut's temple against its cliff, the Colossi of Memnon, and, when it opens, Nefertari's tomb in the Valley of the Queens. Then you disembark and fly to Cairo.Stay · Four Seasons Cairo, First Residence
Day 15Cairo, the medieval city+
The Islamic city: the Citadel of Saladin and the alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali above the rooftops, then al-Muizz Street and the lanes of Khan el-Khalili as the day cools.Stay · Four Seasons Cairo, First Residence
Day 16Coptic Cairo & departure+
As your flight allows, the oldest Christian quarter in the city: the Hanging Church, the church of St Sergius, and the Ben Ezra synagogue, all within a few quiet streets. Then you are driven to the airport and seen through to your gate.Depart · Cairo
Where you stay

From a city palace to a candlelit lodge

Four very different houses for four very different Egypts — the city, the sea, the deep desert, and the river.

Cairo · three stays

Four Seasons, First Residence

A calm, polished base by the Nile and the old botanical gardens — the city hotel you return to between each leg of the journey.

6 nights, in three stays
Alexandria

Four Seasons Alexandria, San Stefano

On the Mediterranean Corniche, with sea-view rooms — a night of a coastal, Greco-Roman Egypt that feels like another country.

1 night
Siwa Oasis

Adrère Amellal

Built entirely of salt-rock and mud at the foot of the White Mountain, lit only by candle and moon — no electricity, by design. Rustic in the truest, rarest sense; there is nothing else like it in Egypt.

2 nights
The Nile · Aswan to Luxor

Oberoi Zahra

An all-suite luxury cruiser — spacious, polished, serene. A larger, more formal way to take the river than our small dahabiyas, and a very comfortable one.

6 nights, full board

Fifteen nights in all

Six at the Four Seasons, in three Cairo stays · one in Alexandria · two in the Siwa desert · six aboard the cruiser.

What's included

  • A private welcome at Cairo airport — met inside the terminal and walked through arrivals
  • Your Egyptian entry visa, arranged in advance
  • A certified Egyptologist throughout, from first day to last — and our team reachable at any hour
  • All sightseeing in private, air-conditioned cars, and the private drives to Alexandria and across the desert to Siwa and back
  • The Great Sand Sea safari by 4×4, with a Bedouin lunch
  • All domestic flights — Cairo to Aswan, the Abu Simbel excursion by air, and Luxor to Cairo
  • Fifteen nights at the houses above, full board aboard the cruiser, and dining at Adrère Amellal
  • All meals shown in the itinerary
  • Every site entrance in the day-by-day — including the separate tickets for Seti I and Ramesses VI in the Valley of the Kings and, when it is open, Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens

Not included

  • International flights to and from Cairo
  • Anything not named in the day-by-day
  • Gratuities for crew, guide and drivers, at your discretion
  • Travel insurance — required, and we'll point you to it
Before you book

The most expansive journey we run — and the most demanding

This crosses the whole country, and reaching its edges asks for some long road days — west to Siwa, and the longer haul back toward Cairo. That is the honest price of an oasis near the Libyan line; if you'd rather not give days to the desert drives, our Nile journeys cover the essentials in less time, and we'll happily point you to them.

Two notes on where you sleep. Adrère Amellal is unlike any hotel you know — salt and mud, candlelight, no electricity at all — one of the most beautiful places to stay in Egypt, but rustic luxury, not a polished resort, and that is the whole point of it. And the boat is a luxury cruiser, roomier and more formal than our small sailing dahabiyas; if the few-cabin, wind-powered river is what you picture, ask us about The Private Nile instead.

One suggestion worth making. Six nights on the river gives Luxor real time — enough that we'd add the quieter masterpieces the crowds miss: Medinet Habu, the Ramesseum and Deir el-Medina, and the painted ceiling of Ramesses VI. Give us a Luxor day for them and this becomes one of the finest archaeology journeys in Egypt. Nefertari's tomb, the loveliest of all, opens to only a few each day and closes when it needs rest — we secure it where we can, and never promise what the authorities may not open.

Begin the conversation

The whole of Egypt, properly.

Tell us your dates and what matters most to you, and we will shape this journey around you — these hotels, or others to suit.

Plan this journey

We reply within 24 hours