Pyramids to Petra with Cruise - 15 days

Arrive Cairo and included transfer to hotel. Welcome to Egypt and the start of your holiday! Our welcome meeting is at 7pm this evening.

Our first stop for today is the magnificent Pyramids of Giza and iconic Sphinx, before continuing to Saqqara to see Zhoser’s step pyramid.

Cairo - Aswan. This morning we join our guided tour of the incredible new Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza. This vast 490,000 sq.m complex showcases an astonishing collection of artefacts from nearly every period of ancient Egyptian history. Among the highlights are treasures of King Tutankhamun, with plans for his famous solid gold funerary mask to eventually be showcased here, alongside many items being exhibited for the first time. Later, we make our way to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which remains home to a vast collection of statues, jewellery, and sarcophagi. Here, we’ll see the well-preserved mummies of Yuya and Thuyu, high-ranking nobles and the great-grandparents of King Tutankhamun. Some mummies are so well preserved they still have thick locks of hair and visible fingernails. After our excursion, we return to the hotel to enjoy some free time by the pool before boarding the overnight sleeper train to Aswan.

Arrival and enjoy a leisurely boat trip to Agilika Island for Philae Temple and our final stop is a traditional perfume oil emporium. Check-in on board our cruiser and as the sun sets, there is free time to shop in the colourful souqs and markets.

Opt to join the excursion to the famous rock cut temple of Abu Simbel (best pre booked prior to arrival in Egypt). Our cruiser then sets sail along the river to Kom Ombo, where we enjoy a short stop to explore this site.

Chill out on deck and watch the locals going about their daily lives. Enjoy a swim and let your troubles melt away as we cruise the River Nile to Luxor. Home of the legendary Valley of the Kings! Arrival late this afternoon and free time is offered to independently explore.

Disembark and then check into our hotel. Relax by the pool or head out and shop up a storm, explore more of Luxor's histry or or find a cafe' to sit and watch the world go by. Tonight, an optional visit is available to the Temple of Luxor (booked locally).

Today we venture to the West Bank to explore the tomb strewn Valley of the Kings. We'll also visit the Colossi of Memnon, the Valleys of the Kings and the awesome colonnaded Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. This afternoon we explore the colossal Temple of Karnak, before boarding our overnight sleeper train to Cairo.

Arrive Cairo and hotel check in, the rest of the day is at leisure, relax by the hotel pool, independently explore or perhaps head to the famous Khan el Khalili bazaar.

Hotel check out and included onward departure transfer to Cairo Airport for your flight to Amman (FLIGHT NOT INCLUDED - enquire with your consultant for further information). Arrival Amman Airport and included transfer to the hotel. The rest of the day is free for you to relax or head out and explore the city of Amman.

Amman - Madaba - Mount Nebo - Umm ar Rasas - Petra. Today we tour the citadel and Archaeological Museum of Amman before we take a walk through the bustling local souk to enjoy typical Jordanian street treats of falafel and hummus at the country’s most popular local street stand. As the pictures on the wall will prove, the unglamorous food stand was a great favourite of the late King Hussein. Departing Amman, we’ll stop at Mt. Nebo - the site from which Moses saw the Promised Land. Having led the Israelites for 40 years through the wilderness, Moses finally saw them from this awesome vantage point. This amazing panorama includes the Jordan River Valley, the Dead Sea, Jericho and the spires and domes of the Mt. of Olives and Bethlehem on the Judean hills just across the wide valley. Later we visit Madaba en route to Petra where we see the Church of St George, the Madaba Archaeological Park, Apostles Church and Madaba Museum. Continue onto one of Jordan’s World Heritage sites, Um ar-Rasas, once an important stop on the busy caravan routes. The impressive mosaic floor of the St. Stephen Church features medallions commemorating all the early Christian pilgrimage sites of the region, and the extensive ruins also include one of the area’s earliest Stylite towers, where a Byzantine hermit lived atop the tower and preached to the pilgrimage visitors. Our final stop of the day is Petra. Tonight, consider doing a Petra by Night excursion (payable locally, approx USD$45) for a tantalizing candlelight stroll through Petra’s Siq…. a romantic preview of things to come.

This morning we walk through the mysterious mile-long Siq, to explore the Khazneh (the temple of Indiana Jones fame), Theatre, Colonnaded Street and Museum. After lunch, we climb to ad-Deir (the Monastery) and this evening, why not try your hand at Jordanian cooking, see the details for the optional Petra Kitchen add-on (best pre booked).

This morning offers the opportunity to return to Petra. We then stop at the Wadi Musa souk to pick up lunch before making the scenic drive to Wadi Rum. Afternoon jeep tour to our remote camp site deep in the heart of the Wadi Rum.

After breakfast at the campsite, we head north along the Desert Highway and visit Shobak Crusader Castle. We drive on and arrive at the Dead Sea where we can bob in the mineral rich waters. Later, we trek the Siq Trail of Wadi Mujib before returning to our resort by the Dead Sea.

Onward departure transfer to Amman's Queen Alia Airport. Departure transfers are offered at 04:00, 07:00 and 12:00 today. If you would like a departure transfer at any other time or a transfer with post tour accommodation this can be arranged at an additional cost.