Cairo · Privately Chartered Nile River Cruise · Giza
10 DAYS
With an optional add-on to Jordan. Ask us for details.
It is said that Cleopatra could speak seven languages and had exquisite taste. Egypt’s ancient wise monarch would certainly approve of Zoom Vacations®’ trip to Egypt, fit for a queen.
Zoom Vacations® Alumni have been asking us to design another trip to Egypt, and our overseas partners have assured us that there has never been a better time to go. Crowds are at a minimum, and visitors are eagerly welcomed with open arms. We are pleased to announce our Egyptian vacation, available for a maximum of 12 guests.
This intriguing country of gods and goddesses, pharaohs and fantasies will inspire and surprise you as it has done so to its travelers for centuries. But Egypt is so much more than mythology and magic, and offers more to see and do than ruins and camel rides. Zoom Vacations®’ trip to Egypt brings out the rich history, culture and cuisine in addition to the things every visitor to the country must experience.
At times you will feel like a pharaoh, while at other times you will see the authentic Egypt of today, and what it means to live in this fascinating country.
However, your highlight will likely be our 4 night cruise aboard the Sanctuary Zein Nile Chateau, perhaps the most elegant yacht on the Nile, privately chartered by Zoom Vacations for our group.
Cairo And Giza
- Fully escorted with the services of a Zoom Vacations® Concierge throughout the trip.
- Accommodations at the elegant Four Seasons First Residence and the stylish Mena House Hotel and Resort, with breathtaking views of the Pyramids.
- An unforgettable tour of the Great Pyramids of Giza.
- Enter the temple of the mysterious Sphinx, an ancient figure shrouded in legend and mystery
- Our exciting double tour to the city of Memphis and the necropolis of Sakkara
- A unique welcome sunset cocktail reception
- Breakfast daily
- Visit to the famed Egyptian Antiquities Museum
- Fascinating tour of Medieval Cairo
- Visit the Khan El-Khalilli Bazaar – reputed to be the largest bazaar in the Middle East
- Surprise farewell Event.
- All land and Zoom Vacations® event transfers
Privately Chartered Nile Yacht Cruise
- Services of a Zoom Vacations® Concierge throughout the trip
- Accommodations at Sanctuary Zein Nile Chateau
- See the very best of Upper Egypt while cruising in uncompromising luxury
- Daily excursions
- All gourmet Meals Included
- Daily afternoon tea
- Daily well-rounded, personalized conversations with our personable and candid Egyptologist guide.
- Motorboat ride to visit the romantic and majestic Philae Temple on the Island of Agilka
- Visit the Temple of Kom Ombo, dedicated to the crocodile-god Sobek.
- Egyptian cooking lesson
- Visit the Temple of Horus at Edfu, the largest in Egypt!
- Visit to the Valley of the Kings
- Visit the Colossi of Memnon, two massive stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III
- Visit to Luxor
- Sunset visit to the temple of Karnak, an incredible forest of giant pillars
- All airport transfers
More about our luxury yacht cruise on the Nile
We are chartering this special historic yacht on the Nile, exclusively for Zoom Vacations travelers!
The Sanctuary Zein Nile Chateau is a bespoke dahabiya (traditional sailing boat) that is the first of its kind on the Nile. With its extended open spaces, the Zein features a beautiful upper deck, an Arabian-themed sun deck, and an opulently styled dining area. Bask in the beauty of the surrounding views – unchanged for hundreds of years – as you sip on delicate cocktails from the comfort of the dahabiya. This is what sailing on the Nile was meant to be.
The Sanctuary Zein Nile Chateau features six beautifully designed cabins. The two suites and four signature cabins have all been created with guests’ comfort in mind for the ultimate luxury Nile cruise. Each of the cabins is decorated in its own original style with influences drawing from Egypt’s history, culture, and geography.
All cabins feature a Nile view, are fully air-conditioned with individual controls, and have LCD televisions with satellite connection and private bathrooms.
Space is limited. Call us today to book this tour: 773.772.9666
Pricing and Cabin Options
Note: Pricing includes 2 nights at the Four Seasons in Cairo, 1 night in Aswan, 2 nights at the Oberoi in Giza, and 4 nights on our private cruise on the Nile. However, the entire package price can be found below and varies depending on which cruise cabin you select.
THE FAROUK SUITE (93M²)
$15,700 per person in THE FAROUK SUITE (93M²) based on double occupancy.
Located on the Upper Deck, this fabulous suite is a calm oasis set in a breezy white color scheme to reflect the tranquil natural surroundings of Upper Egypt. Influences from Egypt’s Royal era can be seen in the furniture, décor and photographs adorning the walls. A poignant piece is an original hand-woven rug, a replica of a family letter sent by Egypt’s King Farouk to his mother, the Queen, which sits next to the luxuriously appointed bed. The suite also features a private dining area and panoramic windows, which offer a superb view of the natural surroundings while wood flooring sets a calm tone for luxury Nile cruises. Note: Single occupancy price is $23,265.
THE NAPOLEON SUITE (43M²)
$12,700 per person in THE NAPOLEON SUITE (43M²) based on double occupancy.
The Napoleon Suite reflects Egypt’s influential Napoleonic era. A drawing of the route his forces took through Egypt adorns the walls, with splashes of color in the accompanying furniture. The four-poster bed and classical furniture enhance the regal nature of the suite. Note: Single occupancy price is $16,781.
THE PHILAE CABIN (20M²)
$9,999 per person in THE PHILAE CABIN (20M²) based on double occupancy
Tranquility and romance surround you in this calm and exotic cocoon. Decorated richly with style and grace, adorning the walls is a beautiful map of the Nile. This cabin features a king bed. Note: Single occupancy price is $16,781.
THE NUBIA CABIN (20M²)
$9,999 per person in THE NUBIA CABIN (20M²) based on double occupancy.
The essence of Nubian culture, this cabin is steeped in beautiful tradition reflected in its colors and ambiance. The room features twin beds. Note: Single occupancy price is $16,781.
THE BALADI CABIN (20M²)
$9,999 per person in THE BALADI CABIN (20M²) based on double occupancy.
Highlighting Egypt’s culture and artistic world, the Baladi cabin, with king bed, chronicles famous artists and singers. Be transported back into Egypt’s artistic heyday. Note: Single occupancy price is $16,781.
THE LAKE NASSER CABIN (20M²)
$9,999 per person in THE LAKE NASSER CABIN (20M²) based on double occupancy.
Colorful and bright with a touch of elegance, the Lake Nasser cabin brings out the sights of nature of its namesake. The room features twin beds. Note: Single occupancy price is $16,781.
The Four Seasons Cairo First Residence (2 nights)
A gracious sanctuary of Four Seasons hospitality and service, with impressive views of the Great Pyramids over the old-growth canopy of Cairo’s ancient Zoological and Botanical Gardens. The Hotel is at the center of the shops on the west bank of the Nile.
The soothing interiors feature soft gold, red and green tones and gilded, empire-style furnishings. Advanced in-room technology includes wired or wireless Internet access, dual-line telephones with voice mail and satellite television. Signature Four Seasons marble bathrooms include a deep soaking tub, large granite-topped vanity and separate glass-enclosed shower.
Hotel Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan (1 night)
Step into the legendary site where King Fouad once entertained and Agatha Christie sipped cocktails: the 5-star Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan Hotel. In the Nubian Desert on the banks of the Nile, opposite Elephantine Island, the majestic hotel sits on a pink granite cliff overlooking the world’s longest river.
The Mena House in Giza (2 nights)
This award-winning palatial hotel in the shadow of the Great Pyramids in Cairo has enchanted guests since 1869. Located in forty acres of jasmine scented gardens, Mena House has played host to kings and emperors, Heads of State and celebrities.
Day 1 – Welcome to Cairo!
Upon arrival in Cairo airport, where your Tour Coordinator will meet you before immigration and transfer you to your hotel.
Welcome cocktail: Today we gather at the Hotel for welcome reception, hot and cold canapés will be served.
Welcome dinner: Welcome dinner at the Hotel
Accommodations: Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at The First Residence, Deluxe – Room
Meals Included: Welcome Dinner
Day 2
Breakfast, included at our hotel
Egyptian Museum, Islamic & Bazaar – Full Day
Egyptian Museum: You’ll tour 7,000 years of history at this museum which houses the largest collection of ancient Egyptian art in the world. Don’t miss the treasures of the boy-king Tutankhamun, including his gold mask, the solid gold sarcophagus that held his mummy, and his beautiful throne.
Khan El Khalili: The fascinating Khan El-Khalili Bazaar is reputed to be the largest bazaar in the Middle East. Originally founded as a watering stop for caravanserai in the 14th century, the bazaar has now grown to vast proportions. As one wanders through the labyrinth of narrow streets you will find workshops and stalls selling all manner of things from woodwork, glassware and leather goods to perfumes, fabrics and Pharaonic curiosities.
Lunch at Naguib Mahfouz restaurant: Located in the heart of the Khan El Khalili Bazaar, this restaurant is named after Egypt’s Nobel Prize-winning novelist, and it’s a convenient, air-conditioned place to take a break from shopping. The coffee shop at the entrance offers drinks, snacks and shisha (water pipes), while the restaurant section offers a selection of chicken, meats and mouth-watering Middle Eastern mezzas. No alcohol is served.
Citadel: Perched high on limestone hills above Cairo, the Citadel is a medieval fortress built by Salah El Din (Saladin) in 1176 to protect the city from Crusaders. The Citadel has always had a military use, and was expanded over the centuries by Egypt’s rulers who often resided there. Today, the Citadel complex has mosques and museums, including the National Military Museum.
Mosque of Sultan Hassan: With its grand, soaring architecture and rich decoration, the Mosque of Sultan Hassan, completed in 1363, is one of the finest in Egypt. In recesses around its open courtyard, each of the four schools of Sunni Islam was taught to students, and in its mausoleum, Sultan Hassan’s sons are buried.
Refaie Mosque: Next to the Mosque of Sultan Hassan, you’ll view the much newer Refaie Mosque, completed in 1912 with well-preserved, colorful decoration. Buried in tombs here are a Muslim saint, a companion of the Prophet Mohamed, Egypt’s last royal family and the last Shah of Iran.
Accommodations: Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at The First Residence, Deluxe – Room
Meals Included: Breakfast and lunch
Day 3
Breakfast, included at our hotel
Aswan
Your Tour Coordinator will escort you to Cairo International Airport by air-conditioned Vehicle to board you flight to Aswan. Note: Zoom Vacations will coordinate this flight and will advise the price at the time of flight purchase.
Arrival: At Aswan Airport where your Tour Coordinator will meet you and take you to our beautiful hotel, the Hotel Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan.
Afternoon at leisure to enjoy the hotel and the markets of Aswan.
Accommodations: Hotel Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan
Meals Included: Breakfast
Day 4
Breakfast, included at our hotel
Optional Abu Simbel Excursion. Enjoy a half-day tour to the Temple at Abu Simbel. Built by the Great Ramses II, Egypt’s longest ruling pharaoh, it is one of the most recognizable images in the country. Actually two temples, namely the Great Temple of Ra-Harakhte, fronted by the four colossal statues of Ramses II and the Temple of Hathor, dedicated to Ramses’ favorite wife Queen Nefertari, they were moved by the United Nations to their current location when the creation of Lake Nasser threatened their existence.
Transfer: Transfer by air-conditioned vehicle to Sanctuary Zein Nile Chateau, our privately chartered historic yacht.
Check-in on board the Sanctuary Zein Nile Chateau followed by lunch on board.
Today we will see the following sites:
1. Philae Temple
According to the Ancient Egyptians, the goddess Isis traveled all over Egypt gathering her husband Osiris’s remains after he was cut to pieces by his evil brother. On Philae Island, where she found his heart, the Egyptians built a sacred temple to Isis, goddess of purity, sexuality, nature and protection. During the building of the High Dam, Philae Island was submerged by water, so UNESCO helped transport the temple complex to nearby Agilika Island, where you see it today.
2. Unfinished Obelisk
Visit this massive obelisk, which was abandoned in Aswan’s Northern Quarry when a crack was found as it was being carved from the red granite. Tools left behind show how builders accomplished such great work.
Sail to Kom Ombo
Afternoon visit to Kom Ombo Temple
In this Ptolemaic temple shared by two gods, Sobek and Horus the Elder, everything is duplicated symmetrically, with double hallways, doors and chambers.
Afternoon tea and dinner on board
Overnight in Kom Ombo
Accommodations: Sanctuary Zein Nile Chateau exclusive charter
Meals Included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 5
Breakfast onboard
Edfu temple
Breakfast on board while sailing to Temple of Horus and then on to Edfu.
Afternoon visit to Edfu temple
Explore the largest and most completely preserved Pharaonic – albeit Greek-built – temple in Egypt, the extraordinary Temple of Horus at Edfu.
Afternoon tea and dinner on board
Overnight in Esna
Accommodations: Sanctuary Zein Nile Chateau exclusive charter
Meals Included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 6
Esna and Luxor temple
Breakfast onboard
Morning visit to Esna Temple
Visit the Greco-Roman Temple of Khnum at Esna. The beautifully preserved Great Hypostyle Hall was built during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius; it was excavated from the silt that had accumulated through centuries of annual Nile floods and is about nine meters below present-day street level.
Lunch on board while sailing to Luxor
Afternoon visit to Luxor Temple
Visit the strikingly graceful Temple of Luxor dedicated to the god Amun. Proceed to the Temple of Luxor, once connected to Karnak via the Avenue of Sphinxes, almost 3 kilometers in length. Built by Amenhotep III in 1380 BC, the site was added to by later pharaohs. The temple enjoyed many celebrations, the most important being the Festival of Opet which lasted almost a month.
Optional visit
Dinner on board
Accommodations: Sanctuary Zein Nile Chateau exclusive charter
Meals Included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 7
Luxor
Optional Hot Air Balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings
Breakfast on board
Morning visit to the Valley of the Kings
Explore the Valley of the Kings, a vast City of the Dead where magnificent tombs were carved into the desert rocks, decorated richly, and filled with treasures for the afterlife by generations of Pharaohs.
Visit to the West Bank, with a choice of three from the below:
1. Valley of the Queens
There are between 75 and 80 tombs in the Valley of the Queens, or Biban al-Harim. These belong to Queens of the 18th, 19th and 20th Dynasties. It is called “Place of Beauty” by the Egyptians, where the pharaohs’ wives and children were buried.
2. Hatshepsut Temple
Rising out of the desert plain in a series of terraces, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Ancient Egypt’s only female Pharaoh) merges with the sheer limestone cliffs that surround it, as if nature herself had built this extraordinary monument.
3. Valley of Workers (Deir El Medina)
Visit the remains of the self-contained village on the West Bank where the workmen who built the kings’ and queens’ tombs lived in mud brick houses with their families. The site gives archeologists a view of how urban people lived in ancient Egypt. You can also visit the tombs that the workmen created for themselves, to admire the art in ordinary people’s tombs. Nearby is the Temple of Deir El Medina, from Ptolemaic times.
4. Tombs of the Nobles
On the West Bank sit 400 tombs of Theban aristocrats, some of which you can enter. The tomb walls were white-washed and painted with murals of the nobles’ daily lives, making them quite different from royal tombs, where relief work focused on judgment and resurrection. Since the tombs were not sealed, some have deteriorated.
5. Medinet Habu
The magnificent Medinet Habu is a series of temples built by the Pharaoh Ramses III (1182-1151 BC) and second only to Karnak Temple in size and complexity. The most impressive is the Mortuary Temple of Ramses III, decorated with relief work depicting his many military victories. With its massive mud brick enclosure that held storehouses, workshops, administrative offices, and residences of priests and officials, Medinet Habu grew into a city that maintained its population well into Coptic times.
6. Ramesseum Temple
The Ramesseum, the Mortuary Temple of Ramses II, was built early in the great pharaoh’s reign and was 20 years in the making. Here you’ll see the broken, awesome Colossus of Ramses II, a 1000 ton statue in which the fingers alone are over 1 meter long; it inspired the famous poem “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. This great temple reportedly rivaled the wonders of Ramses II’s temple at Abu Simbel.
Afternoon visit to the Karnak Temple
Visit the Temple of Karnak, built over more than a thousand years by generations of Pharaohs. The great Hypostyle Hall is an incredible forest of giant pillars, covering an area larger than the whole of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Afternoon tea and dinner on board
Overnight in Luxor
Accommodations: Sanctuary Zein Nile Chateau exclusive charter
Meals Included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 8
Breakfast buffet on board and check out at 8:00 AM.
Transfer by air-conditioned vehicle to Luxor Airport to board you flight to Cairo
Arrival: At Cairo International Airport, where your Tour Coordinator will meet and escort you to your hotel in Giza.
Accommodations: Mena House Hotel – Deluxe, with a view of the Pyramids
Meals Included: Breakfast
Day 9
Breakfast, included at our hotel
Memphis, Sakkara, Great Pyramids, and the Sphinx
Memphis: The legendary city of Memphis was founded in 3100 BC by Menes, the Pharaoh who united Upper and Lower Egypt. It became the capital of the Old Kingdom, a center for religion with a huge temple to the god Ptah, and the heart of Egypt’s busy import-export activity, with traders from around the world giving it a cosmopolitan atmosphere.
Sakkara: Sakkara was the necropolis (cemetery) for the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis and the place where the very first pyramids were built as tombs for kings, not with smooth sides, but with six steps on the outside representing the pharaoh’s stepladder to heaven. Here you’ll see the famous Step Pyramid of King Zoser, the first pyramid ever built and the world’s oldest freestanding stone structure. You will also admire the beautiful tomb art at Sakkara, which gives great insight into the lives of the ancient Egyptians.
Lunch overlooking the Great Pyramids of Egypt.
Pyramids and Sphinx: The Great Pyramids of Giza are the only present-day survivors of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, built about 4500 years ago as giant tombs for the mummies of the pharaohs Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, who were a father, son and grandson. (Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus are the Greek forms of their names.) In the ancient Egyptian religion, the sides of the pyramids were likened to sun rays on which the Pharaoh ascended to heaven. The pyramids are truly monumental in scale, with the largest, Khufu’s, made of over 2 million blocks. The pyramids were not built by slaves but by Egyptian peasants who paid their taxes to the Pharaoh through this labor, and were fed, clothed and housed by him.
Nearby sits the enigmatic Sphinx with the body of a lion and the face of a man wearing a royal head cloth, which workers may have based on King Khafre to guard his enormous funerary monument. About a thousand years after the Sphinx was built it was covered in sand until a young prince had a dream in which the Sphinx told him that if he cleared the sand away, he would become Pharaoh. This story is told on the “Dream Stela” that was placed between the Sphinx’s paws by King Tuthmose IV.
Until next time dinner
Accommodations: Mena House Hotel – Deluxe, with a view of the Pyramids
Meals Included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 10
Breakfast, included at our hotel
Departure
Transfer: Your Tour Coordinator will escort you to Cairo International Airport by air-conditioned Vehicle.
Meals Included: Breakfast
Luxury, History, and Discovery.