Cairo, El Alamein & Siwa, 6 Days

Arrival in Cairo, welcome at the airport and private transfer to your hotel.

Meals: picnic lunch · dinner at leisure.

Breakfast and departure by road for Siwa Oasis (about seven hours). On the way, stop at El Alamein to visit the Italian War Memorial and the Military Museum. Lunch in the seaside town of Marsa Matrouh, then continue to the oasis and check in at your hotel.

Meals: packed breakfast · picnic lunch · dinner at the hotel.

Visit the Shali fortress (12th century), the temples of Amun and Umm Ubayda — linked to the story of Alexander the Great — and Cleopatra’s Spring, followed by the Gebel el-Mawta necropolis.

After lunch, a 4×4 safari into the protected area and the Great Sand Sea, with its hot springs, free time for photographs and a stop in the desert at sunset. Dinner in the desert and overnight at the hotel.

Meals: breakfast at the hotel · picnic lunch · dinner in the desert.

Breakfast and check-out. A last stroll through the local market, known for dates, olive oil and the oasis’s traditional products, then the drive back to Cairo. Check in at your hotel and relax.

Meals: breakfast at the hotel · picnic lunch · dinner at the hotel.

After breakfast, a short drive takes you to the Giza Plateau and the great pyramids of Khufu (Cheops), Khafre (Chephren) and Menkaure (Mycerinus), built around 2500 BC. Continue to the Great Sphinx, the lion-bodied guardian whose face is traditionally attributed to Pharaoh Khafre.

In the afternoon, travel south in your private vehicle, through palm groves and irrigation canals, to Saqqara. Here the Step Pyramid of Djoser rises from the sand in six tiers — the oldest monumental stone building on Earth and the first pyramid ever built. Visit the Pyramid of Unas, the first to be inscribed with hieroglyphic texts beneath its star-painted ceiling, and the mastabas of high court officials, whose reliefs of daily life in ancient Egypt still keep their original colours. Overnight in Cairo.

Meals: breakfast at the hotel · picnic lunch · dinner at leisure.

Breakfast and check-out with your luggage.

Morning at the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), the monumental new museum facing the Giza pyramids behind a striking façade of glass and alabaster. Beyond its countless statues and works of art, the museum presents the complete funerary treasure of Tutankhamun — more than 5,000 objects displayed together for the first time, including the celebrated golden mask of the young pharaoh.

In the afternoon, continue to Islamic Cairo to visit Al-Azhar Mosque and the famous Khan el-Khalili bazaar, whose alleys are lined with workshops and stalls selling cotton, copper, perfumes, leather, silver, gold and antiques.

Transfer to Cairo International Airport or Sphinx Airport for your departure flight.

Meals: breakfast at the hotel · picnic lunch.