Welcome to Egypt, the birthplace of history where the grand legacy of the Pharaohs leaves the history books and stands proudly before you under the golden desert sun.
Egypt • 9 Days • Exclusively Private
Clients who want Egypt without compromise. A journey that moves between Cairo, the Nile, and Upper Egypt in full depth, combining the iconic monuments with rare private access, living culture, and moments that most travelers never reach. Built for those with 9 days who understand that the best experiences are never the obvious ones.
Upon arrival in Cairo, you will be met inside the terminal by your Solaya representative who will assist with immigration procedures, luggage collection, and airport formalities through a personalized meet and greet service.
Afterwards, transfer by private air-conditioned vehicle to your hotel for check-in and time to rest after your journey. Depending on your arrival time, the remainder of the day is at leisure.
Some places earn their reputation. The Giza Plateau is one of them. As you approach, the scale of the Great Pyramid asserts itself slowly and then all at once, three million blocks of limestone rising from the desert floor with a precision that still confounds modern engineers.
Your private Egyptologist guides you through the complex, bringing context to every stone. You will stand before the Sphinx as the city hums behind it, one of the great juxtapositions of the ancient and the modern, and climb to the panoramic viewpoint where all three pyramids align in a single frame that no photograph has ever fully captured.
Lunch follows at a restaurant positioned directly facing the Pyramids, one of Cairo's great dining vantage points.
The afternoon moves to the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest archaeological museum in the world. Your Egyptologist continues the story through the most complete collection of Tutankhamun artifacts ever assembled in one place.
A morning flight south to Luxor, where the concentration of ancient monuments is unlike anywhere else on earth.
The day begins in the Valley of the Kings, hidden behind the mountains of the West Bank, its location a deliberate secret kept for three thousand years. You enter the tomb of Tutankhamun and stand in the presence of his mummy, one of the most affecting moments available anywhere in Egypt. Your visit also includes Ramses VI, among the most vividly painted tombs in the entire valley, its astronomical ceiling a masterpiece of ancient Egyptian art.
Beyond the main valley, an off-beaten-track visit to Dra Abu el Naga brings you to the tombs of Roy and Shuroy, two New Kingdom officials whose burial chambers are decorated with a precision and intimacy that the royal tombs rarely match. Almost no standard itinerary reaches this far. Yours doe
Medinet Habu follows, the vast mortuary temple of Ramesses III, one of the most undervisited and best-preserved temple complexes in Egypt. A photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon, the two enormous seated figures that have watched over the Luxor floodplain for over three thousand years.
You check into your Nile cruise over lunch aboard, your floating home for the next four nights. A full board experience on the river, with the West Bank monuments still visible from the deck as the afternoon light shifts across the cliffs.
Morning at Karnak Temple, the largest religious complex ever built, expanded by successive pharaohs across thirteen centuries. Your Egyptologist gives you the thread that connects it all, the names, the rivalries, the ambitions etched into every column and obelisk.
Luxor Temple follows, best understood after Karnak, the two complexes connected in antiquity by the Avenue of Sphinxes. Your Egyptologist traces that connection across three thousand years of ritual and transformation.
You return to the cruise as it begins its sail north. The river moves slowly. The West Bank recedes. The afternoon belongs entirely to the Nile.
An early morning departure by private vehicle to Edfu, home to the Temple of Horus, the best-preserved ancient temple in Egypt. Arriving before the crowds, you move through its towering pylons and darkened inner chambers with your Egyptologist, the air cool and still, the carvings impossibly detailed.
You return to the cruise as it continues its sail south along the Nile.
The evening brings a stop at Kom Ombo, a rare double temple dedicated simultaneously to Sobek the crocodile god and Horus the falcon god. Visited as the sun drops and the temple illuminates against the darkening sky, it is one of those quiet, unhurried moments that stays with you long after the trip ends.
The cruise continues sailing through the night.
Aswan, where the desert meets the Nile in shades of gold and amber and the pace of the river slows to something closer to stillness.
Your first stop is the Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis and relocated stone by stone to its current island to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. Your Egyptologist brings its mythology to life against the backdrop of the water surrounding it on all sides.
A visit to the High Dam follows, one of the great engineering achievements of the 20th century and the structure that transformed modern Egypt.
The afternoon moves onto the Nile aboard a traditional felucca, drifting toward a Nubian village on the riverbank. Nubian culture is one of the oldest living cultures in Africa, and a visit to the village, its brightly painted houses, its people, and its traditions, offers a glimpse into a way of life that exists entirely on its own terms. The sunset over the water on the return is one of the finest views in Egypt.
An early flight south to Abu Simbel, short, comfortable, and direct over the vast stillness of Lake Nasser. The twin temples of Ramesses II and Nefertari were carved directly into the mountainside over three thousand years ago and relocated in their entirety in the 1960s to save them from the rising waters. The scale is staggering. The craftsmanship is humbling. The silence, at this hour, is complete.
Lunch in Aswan before an afternoon flight back to Cairo.
The evening holds something that very few travelers ever experience. Through a private arrangement, you enter the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square after hours. One of the great repositories of human history, home to thousands of artifacts spanning five thousand years of Egyptian civilization, and tonight it belongs entirely to you. No crowds, no time pressure, just you, your Egyptologist, and the accumulated weight of one of the world's greatest collections.
Morning in Coptic Cairo. You will visit the Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus, Abu Serga, built over the cave where the Holy Family sheltered during their flight into Egypt, a space that carries the kind of stillness that only centuries of devotion can produce. Nearby, the Ben Ezra Synagogue stands as one of the oldest in Egypt, its worn interior holding layers of history that stretch back long before Cairo was Cairo.
From there, Al Azhar Park, one of the finest urban gardens in the Middle East, its terraced lawns and fountains offering panoramic views over the medieval city below. Lunch is taken inside the park, with the minarets of old Cairo rising on every side.
The afternoon moves into the heart of Islamic Cairo. Sultan Hassan Mosque and the Rifai Mosque stand facing each other across one of Cairo's most dramatic squares, one a masterpiece of Mamluk architecture, the other the resting place of Egypt's modern royal family.
For clients with any feeling for art and the meditative, an Arabic calligraphy workshop awaits. An hour spent learning the script that has given visual form to the Islamic world for fourteen centuries. To sit with a master calligrapher, to feel the weight of the reed pen, to understand that every letter is also a gesture, is one of those experiences that surprises even the most traveled clients.
This morning belongs to you. A late breakfast, a slow coffee, a last look at the city.
When the time comes, your Solaya team handles everything. Luggage, transfer, and airport assistance that takes the friction out of leaving.
Egypt will do the rest of the work of staying with you.
Egypt • 5 Days • Exclusively Private
Clients experiencing Egypt for the first time who want depth over breadth. Travelers with 5 days available who respond to cultural immersion, living history, and off-the-beaten-path experiences alongside the iconic. Also strong for clients who have done a Nile cruise before and want a Cairo-focused return visit.
Your journey begins the moment you land. A Solaya representative meets you airside, handling arrivals and your private transfer so that your first hours in Egypt are effortless.
After settling in, your guide takes you into Downtown Cairo on foot. The route moves through grand squares, past art galleries, crumbling cinema facades, and heritage coffee houses that have anchored this neighborhood for over a century. The oldest auction house in Cairo is still open, still trading, still extraordinary.
Your guide reads your pace throughout. This is a conversation with the city, not a checklist.
Food is woven into the walk. Koshari, falafel, shawarma, sugar cane juice, basbousa, konafa, and a quiet mint tea at a heritage coffee house.
For those with energy to spare, the evening can end at one of Downtown Cairo's most electrifying open secrets, an intimate underground performance space where the city's contemporary arts scene comes alive after dark.
Some places earn their reputation. The Giza Plateau is one of them. As you approach, the scale of the Great Pyramid asserts itself slowly and then all at once, three million blocks of limestone rising from the desert floor with a precision that still confounds modern engineers.
Your private Egyptologist, with you throughout both the Plateau and the Grand Egyptian Museum, gives you the layer beneath the surface. The names, the decisions, the ambitions of a civilization that built for eternity and very nearly achieved it.
You will stand before the Sphinx as the city hums behind it, one of the great juxtapositions of the ancient and the modern, and climb to the panoramic viewpoint above the Plateau where all three pyramids align in a single frame that no photograph has ever fully captured.
Lunch follows at a restaurant positioned directly facing the Pyramids, one of Cairo's great dining vantage points.
The afternoon moves to the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest archaeological museum in the world, where your Egyptologist continues the story through the most complete collection of Tutankhamun artifacts ever assembled in one place.
The evening ends at a curated riverside dining venue along the Nile, chosen for its atmosphere, its kitchen, and a view that the city has been gathering around for five thousand years.
Today takes you south of Cairo into Egypt's oldest landscapes, a part of the country that most visitors never reach and that your clients will not forget.
The morning begins at Saqqara, home to the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest stone structure in the world, built four and a half thousand years ago by an architect named Imhotep who essentially invented monumental architecture from scratch. The surrounding necropolis is vast, layered, and extraordinarily well preserved. Your Egyptologist brings it to life with the kind of detail that no audio guide can replicate.
From Saqqara you visit a local carpet school where master weavers demonstrate techniques passed down across generations. You will learn about the history of this craft in the region, watch the process from raw material to finished piece, and have the option to purchase directly from the artisans. The visit is immersive and unhurried, with no pressure and no performance.
Dahshur follows, home to the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid, two of Egypt's most undervisited and architecturally fascinating monuments. The Bent Pyramid is unique in the world, its angle shifts halfway up, a visible record of an ancient engineering correction that tells you more about how the Egyptians learned to build than any perfectly finished structure could. The Red Pyramid, Egypt's first true pyramid, can be entered, and the descent into its chamber is one of the most visceral archaeological experiences available anywhere in the country.
The day closes at a curated farm setting in the Egyptian countryside. Lunch is home-style, prepared with local ingredients, and you will have the chance to make bread the traditional way, an experience that is simple, warm, and genuinely hard to forget.
Cairo has always been a city of many faiths living within the same walls. Nowhere is that more quietly apparent than in the ancient religious quarter you explore this morning.
Within a single complex you will visit the Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus, Abu Serga, built over the cave where the Holy Family sheltered during their flight into Egypt. It carries the kind of stillness that only centuries of devotion can produce.
Nearby, the Ben Ezra Synagogue stands as one of the oldest in Egypt. Its worn interior holds layers of history that stretch back long before Cairo was Cairo.
Your guide gives you the theological and historical context that makes these spaces far more than beautiful buildings.
From there you ascend to the Citadel, the medieval fortress that has commanded Cairo's skyline since Saladin raised its walls in the 12th century. The mosque at its summit catches the light differently at every hour. Its interior opens onto panoramic views over a city that stretches further than the eye can follow.
Lunch follows at a restaurant in the heart of Old Cairo, chosen for its food and its position in one of the most atmospheric corners of the city.
The afternoon moves into Islamic Cairo, where the streets narrow and the pace slows to something more human.
If your client has any feeling for art and the meditative, an Arabic calligraphy session awaits. An hour spent learning the script that has given visual form to the Islamic world for fourteen centuries. To sit with a master calligrapher, to feel the weight of the reed pen, to understand that every letter is also a gesture, is one of those experiences that surprises even the most traveled clients.
The day ends in Khan el Khalili, a bazaar trading continuously since the 14th century. Loud, alive, and entirely itself.
This morning belongs to you. A late breakfast, a slow coffee, a last look at the city from your window.
When the time comes, your Solaya team handles everything. Luggage, transfer, and a smooth airport assistance service that takes the friction out of leaving.
Egypt will do the rest of the work of staying with you.
Subject to departure time, the morning can include a final stop at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization to visit the Royal Mummies Hall, where the preserved faces of Egypt's greatest pharaohs are displayed with the gravity and care they deserve.
Egypt • 8 Days • Exclusively Private
Clients who want Egypt's greatest experiences without compromise. Cairo's ancient monuments and living Islamic city, the Nile from Aswan to Luxor, and the temples of Upper Egypt, all in eight days withprivate accessthat most operators cannot offer. Built for first-time visitors who want depth over speed and the iconic alongside the exclusive.
Upon arrival in Cairo, you will be met inside the terminal by your Solaya representative who will assist with immigration procedures, luggage collection, and airport formalities through a personalized meet and greet service.
Afterwards, transfer by private air-conditioned vehicle to your hotel for check-in and time to rest after your journey. Depending on your arrival time, the remainder of the day is at leisure.
Some places earn their reputation. The Giza Plateau is one of them. As you approach, the scale of the Great Pyramid asserts itself slowly and then all at once, three million blocks of limestone rising from the desert floor with a precision that still confounds modern engineers.
Your private Egyptologist guides you through the complex, bringing context to every stone. You will stand before the Sphinx as the city hums behind it, one of the great juxtapositions of the ancient and the modern, and climb to the panoramic viewpoint where all three pyramids align in a single frame that no photograph has ever fully captured.
Lunch follows at a restaurant positioned directly facing the Pyramids, one of Cairo's great dining vantage points.
The afternoon moves to the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest archaeological museum in the world. Your Egyptologist continues the story through the most complete collection of Tutankhamun artifacts ever assembled in one place.
The morning begins at Saqqara, home to the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest stone structure in the world, built four and a half thousand years ago by the architect Imhotep who invented monumental architecture from scratch. The surrounding necropolis is vast, layered, and extraordinarily well preserved.
The afternoon moves into the heart of Islamic Cairo. Sultan Hassan Mosque and the Rifai Mosque stand facing each other across one of Cairo's most dramatic squares, one a masterpiece of Mamluk architecture, the other the resting place of Egypt's modern royal family. Your Egyptologist gives you the centuries that connect them.
Lunch in the heart of Old Cairo, at a restaurant chosen for its food and its position in one of the most atmospheric corners of the city.
An Arabic calligraphy workshop follows. An hour spent learning the script that has given visual form to the Islamic world for fourteen centuries. To sit with a master calligrapher, to feel the weight of the reed pen, to understand that every letter is also a gesture, is one of those experiences that surprises even the most traveled clients.
The day ends in Khan el Khalili, a bazaar trading continuously since the 14th century. Loud, alive, and entirely itself.
A morning flight south to Aswan, one of Egypt's most quietly beautiful cities, where the desert meets the Nile in shades of gold and amber.
Your first stop is the Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis and relocated stone by stone to its current island to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. Your Egyptologist brings its mythology to life against the backdrop of the water surrounding it on all sides.
As the afternoon light softens, you board a traditional felucca for a sunset sail on the Nile. No motorboat, no commentary, no agenda. Just the river, the wind, and the light fading slowly over Aswan.
You check into your Nile cruise as the evening settles, your floating home for the next three nights. Full board from this point, with the river moving quietly beneath you.
The cruise sails north through one of the most ancient landscapes on earth. The day belongs to the river.
The evening brings a stop at Kom Ombo, the rare double temple dedicated simultaneously to Sobek the crocodile god and Horus the falcon god. Visited as the sun drops and the temple illuminates against the darkening sky, it is one of those quiet, unhurried moments on the Nile that stays with you long after the trip ends.
An early morning departure by private vehicle to Edfu, home to the Temple of Horus, the best-preserved ancient temple in Egypt. Arriving before the crowds, you move through its towering pylons and darkened inner chambers with your Egyptologist, the air cool and still, the carvings impossibly detailed.
You return to the cruise as it continues its sail toward Luxor through the afternoon.
Morning at Karnak Temple, the largest religious complex ever built, expanded by successive pharaohs across thirteen centuries. Your Egyptologist gives you the thread that connects it all, the names, the rivalries, the ambitions etched into every column and obelisk.
The evening is reserved for Luxor Temple, and this is the right way to see it. Illuminated after dark, the columns rise from the ground like a forest frozen in stone, the hieroglyphs catching the light in ways that daylight never reveals. One of the great night experiences in Egypt and one that most visitors miss entirely.
The West Bank of Luxor in the morning light.
The Valley of the Kings lies hidden behind the mountains, its location a deliberate secret kept for three thousand years. You enter the tomb of Tutankhamun and stand in the presence of his mummy, one of the most affecting moments available anywhere in Egypt. Your visit also includes Ramesses VI, among the most vividly painted tombs in the entire valley, its astronomical ceiling a masterpiece of ancient Egyptian art.
Medinet Habu follows, the vast mortuary temple of Ramesses III, one of the most undervisited and best-preserved temple complexes in Egypt. A photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon, the two enormous seated figures that have watched over the Luxor floodplain for over three thousand years.
An afternoon flight back to Cairo and check-in at your hotel.
This morning belongs to you. A late breakfast, a slow coffee, a last look at the city.
When the time comes, your Solaya team handles everything. Luggage, transfer, and airport assistance that takes the friction out of leaving.
Egypt will do the rest of the work of staying with you.
Egypt • 10 Days • Exclusively Private
Clients who want Egypt complete, the monuments, the Nile, and the Red Sea, without compromise. A journey that moves from the ancient world into one of the finest coastlines on earth. Ideal for travelers who want culture and adventureina single trip, or couples where one wants history and the other wants sun and sea.
Upon arrival in Cairo, you will be met inside the terminal by your Solaya representative who will assist with immigration procedures, luggage collection, and airport formalities through a personalized meet and greet service.
Afterwards, transfer by private air-conditioned vehicle to your hotel for check-in and time to rest after your journey. Depending on your arrival time, the remainder of the day is at leisure.
Some places earn their reputation. The Giza Plateau is one of them. As you approach, the scale of the Great Pyramid asserts itself slowly and then all at once, three million blocks of limestone rising from the desert floor with a precision that still confounds modern engineers.
Your private Egyptologist guides you through the complex, bringing context to every stone. You will stand before the Sphinx as the city hums behind it, one of the great juxtapositions of the ancient and the modern, and climb to the panoramic viewpoint where all three pyramids align in a single frame that no photograph has ever fully captured.
Lunch follows at a restaurant positioned directly facing the Pyramids, one of Cairo's great dining vantage points.
The afternoon moves to the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest archaeological museum in the world. Your Egyptologist continues the story through the most complete collection of Tutankhamun artifacts ever assembled in one place.
A morning flight south to Aswan, one of Egypt's most quietly beautiful cities, where the desert meets the Nile in shades of gold and amber.
Your first stop is the Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis and relocated stone by stone to its current island to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. Your Egyptologist brings its mythology to life against the backdrop of the water surrounding it on all sides.
As the afternoon light softens, you board a traditional felucca for a sunset sail on the Nile. No motorboat, no commentary, no agenda. Just the river, the wind, and the light fading slowly over Aswan.
You check into your Nile cruise as the evening settles, your floating home for the next three nights. Full board from this point, with the river moving quietly beneath you.
Today the river sets the agenda. The cruise sails north through one of the most ancient landscapes on earth, and there is nothing required of you except to be present.
For those who want to go further, an optional early morning flight to Abu Simbel is available. The twin temples of Ramesses II and Nefertari, carved directly into the mountainside over three thousand years ago and relocated in their entirety in the 1960s, are among the most extraordinary monuments in the ancient world. A short and comfortable flight south over Lake Nasser, and you are standing before them as the morning light hits the facade. Those who make the journey never regret it.
The evening brings a stop at Kom Ombo, a rare double temple dedicated simultaneously to Sobek the crocodile god and Horus the falcon god. Visited as the sun drops and the temple illuminates against the darkening sky, it is one of those quiet, unhurried moments on the Nile that stays with you long after the trip ends.
An early morning departure by private vehicle to Edfu, home to the Temple of Horus, the best-preserved ancient temple in Egypt. Arriving before the crowds, you move through its towering pylons and darkened inner chambers with your Egyptologist, the air cool and still, the carvings impossibly detailed.
You return to the cruise as it continues its sail toward Luxor through the afternoon.
The evening is reserved for Luxor Temple, and this is the right way to see it. Illuminated after dark, the columns rise from the ground like a forest frozen in stone, the hieroglyphs catching the light in ways that daylight never reveals. One of the great night experiences in Egypt and one that most visitors miss entirely.
The West Bank of Luxor in the morning light, the most concentrated collection of ancient monuments anywhere on earth.
Karnak Temple first, the largest religious complex ever built, expanded by successive pharaohs across thirteen centuries. Your Egyptologist gives you the thread that connects it all.
The Valley of the Kings follows, where Egypt's greatest rulers were buried deep in the limestone cliffs. Then Medinet Habu, the vast and undervisited mortuary temple of Ramesses III, and a photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon, the two enormous seated figures that have watched over the floodplain for over three thousand years.
Midday brings one of the most quietly memorable moments of the journey. You are welcomed into a local West Bank family home for lunch, a curated experience that offers a glimpse into daily life on this side of the Nile that no monument can give you. Simple food, genuine hospitality, a table that feels entirely removed from the tourist trail.
A private drive east through the desert toward Hurghada, where the landscape shifts from ancient stone to open coastline and the Red Sea appears on the horizon in shades of turquoise that feel almost impossible after days among the monuments. Check into your resort as the sun sets over the water. Dinner at the resort.
The morning is yours. The Red Sea at your doorstep, a sun lounger, a coffee, and no agenda.
The afternoon moves into the Eastern Desert for a quad bike safari across the dunes, the silence of the landscape broken only by the engine and the wind. The desert here is a different world from the Nile Valley, raw, open, and entirely its own.
The evening gathers around a dinner under the desert sky, with an oriental show that draws on Egypt's rich musical and folkloric traditions. A fitting close to a day that moved between two of Egypt's most elemental landscapes.
Today belongs entirely to the water.
A morning boat trip out onto the Red Sea, one of the world's great diving and snorkeling destinations, its coral reefs home to an extraordinary density of marine life. You drift above a world of color and movement that feels entirely removed from everything that came before it on this journey.
The afternoon is yours to spend as you choose. The resort, the beach, a last swim in water this clear and this warm.
An early morning flight back to Cairo.
Morning in Coptic Cairo, where you will visit the Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus, Abu Serga, built over the cave where the Holy Family sheltered during their flight into Egypt. Nearby the Ben Ezra Synagogue, one of the oldest in Egypt, its worn interior holding layers of history that stretch back long before Cairo was Cairo.
The afternoon opens with a guided walk through Al Muizz Street, one of the most remarkable stretches of medieval Islamic architecture in the world, a living corridor of mosques, mausoleums, and merchant houses that has barely changed in five hundred years.
Lunch is taken at a rooftop restaurant above the street, with the minarets of old Cairo rising on every side and the city spreading out below in every direction. One of the great Cairo lunch positions.
The day ends in Khan el Khalili, a bazaar trading continuously since the 14th century. Loud, alive, and entirely itself.
This morning belongs to you. A late breakfast, a slow coffee, a last look at the city.
When the time comes, your Solaya team handles everything. Luggage, transfer, and airport assistance that takes the friction out of leaving.
Egypt will do the rest of the work of staying with you.
Egypt • 7 Days • Exclusively Private
Clients who want the complete Egypt experience in one week. The iconic monuments, the Nile, the temples, and the bazaars, all without rushing. Ideal for first-time visitors with limited time who refuse to compromise on depth.
Upon arrival in Cairo, you will be met inside the terminal by our representative who will assist with immigration procedures, luggage collection, and airport formalities through a personalized meet & greet service.
Afterwards, transfer by private air-conditioned vehicle to your hotel for check-in and time to rest after your journey. Depending on your arrival time, the remainder of the day is at leisure.
Some places earn their reputation. The Giza Plateau is one of them. As you approach, the scale of the Great Pyramid asserts itself slowly and then all at once, three million blocks of limestone rising from the desert floor with a precision that still confounds modern engineers.
Your private Egyptologist guides you through the complex, bringing context to every stone. You will stand before the Sphinx as the city hums behind it, one of the great juxtapositions of the ancient and the modern, and climb to the panoramic viewpoint where all three pyramids align in a single frame that no photograph has ever fully captured.
Lunch follows at a restaurant positioned directly facing the Pyramids, one of Cairo's great dining vantage points.
The afternoon moves to the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest archaeological museum in the world. Your Egyptologist continues the story through the most complete collection of Tutankhamun artifacts ever assembled in one place.
The evening belongs to Khan el Khalili, a bazaar trading continuously since the 14th century. Loud, alive, and entirely itself.
A morning flight south to Aswan, one of Egypt's most beautiful cities, where the desert meets the Nile in shades of gold and amber.
Your first stop is the Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis and relocated stone by stone to its current island to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. Your Egyptologist brings its mythology to life against the backdrop of the water surrounding it on all sides.
A visit to the High Dam follows, one of the great engineering achievements of the 20th century and the structure that transformed modern Egypt.
You check in to your Nile cruise over lunch aboard, your floating home for the next three nights.
As the afternoon light softens, you board a traditional felucca for a sunset sail on the Nile. The pace drops to something entirely unhurried. The river does the rest.
An early flight south to Abu Simbel, short, comfortable, and direct over the vast stillness of Lake Nasser. The twin temples of Ramesses II and Nefertari were carved directly into the mountainside over three thousand years ago and relocated in their entirety in the 1960s to save them from the rising waters. The scale is staggering. The craftsmanship is humbling.
You return to the cruise by midday as it begins its sail north along the Nile.
The evening brings a stop at Kom Ombo, a rare double temple dedicated simultaneously to Sobek the crocodile god and Horus the falcon god. Visited as the sun drops and the temple illuminates, it is one of those quiet, unhurried moments that stays with you long after the trip ends.
The cruise continues sailing through the night.
Morning arrival at Edfu, home to the Temple of Horus, the best-preserved ancient temple in Egypt.
The cruise continues toward Luxor through the afternoon.
The evening is reserved for Luxor Temple, and this is the right way to see it. Illuminated after dark, the columns rise from the ground like a forest frozen in stone, the hieroglyphs catching the light in ways that daylight never reveals. One of the great night experiences in Egypt and one that most visitors miss entirely.
The West Bank and East Bank of Luxor in a single day, the most concentrated collection of ancient monuments anywhere on earth.
Karnak Temple first, the largest religious complex ever built, expanded by successive pharaohs across thirteen centuries. Your Egyptologist gives you the thread that connects it all.
Across the river to the West Bank. The Valley of the Kings, where the tombs of Egypt's greatest rulers were cut deep into the limestone cliffs. Hatshepsut's mortuary temple next, its colonnaded terraces rising against the cliffs in a design that feels startlingly modern.
Midday brings one of the most quietly memorable moments of the journey. You are welcomed into a local West Bank family home for lunch, a curated experience that offers a glimpse into daily life on this side of the Nile that no monument can give you. Simple food, genuine hospitality, a table that feels entirely removed from the tourist trail.
Solaya Signature Experience Lunch at a West Bank Family Home Most travelers cross the West Bank to see what the ancient Egyptians left behind. We take you to meet the people who still live among it. Lunch in a curated local home, prepared by the family who welcomes you, is the kind of moment that reframes an entire trip. No menu, no performance, just a table, a family, and the real West Bank.
A photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon, the two enormous seated figures that have watched over the floodplain for over three thousand years, before an afternoon flight back to Cairo and check-in at your hotel.
This morning belongs to you. A late breakfast, a slow coffee, a last look at the city.
When the time comes, your Solaya team handles everything. Luggage, transfer, and airport assistance that takes the friction out of leaving.
Egypt will do the rest of the work of staying with you.
Egypt • 14 Days • Exclusively Private
Clients who want Egypt in its entirety. The pyramids, the Nile, the temples of Upper Egypt, the Red Sea, and the desert oasis of Siwa, one of the most remote and beautiful corners of North Africa. Built for travelers with the time and the appetite to go beyond the expected and return home having seen a country that most people only scratch the surface of.
Upon arrival in Cairo, you will be met inside the terminal by your Solaya representative who will assist with immigration procedures, luggage collection, and airport formalities through a personalized meet and greet service.
Afterwards, transfer by private air-conditioned vehicle to your hotel for check-in and time to rest after your journey. Depending on your arrival time, the remainder of the day is at leisure.
Some places earn their reputation. The Giza Plateau is one of them. As you approach, the scale of the Great Pyramid asserts itself slowly and then all at once, three million blocks of limestone rising from the desert floor with a precision that still confounds modern engineers.
Your private Egyptologist guides you through the complex, bringing context to every stone. You will stand before the Sphinx as the city hums behind it, one of the great juxtapositions of the ancient and the modern, and climb to the panoramic viewpoint where all three pyramids align in a single frame that no photograph has ever fully captured.
Lunch follows at a restaurant positioned directly facing the Pyramids, one of Cairo's great dining vantage points.
The afternoon moves to the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest archaeological museum in the world. Your Egyptologist continues the story through the most complete collection of Tutankhamun artifacts ever assembled in one place.
A morning flight south to Aswan, one of Egypt's most quietly beautiful cities, where the desert meets the Nile in shades of gold and amber.
Your first stop is the Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis and relocated stone by stone to its current island to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. Your Egyptologist brings its mythology to life against the backdrop of the water surrounding it on all sides.
As the afternoon light softens, you board a traditional felucca for a sunset sail on the Nile. No motorboat, no commentary, no agenda. Just the river, the wind, and the light fading slowly over Aswan.
You check into your Nile cruise as the evening settles, your floating home for the next three nights. Full board from this point, with the river moving quietly beneath you.
Today the river sets the agenda. The cruise sails north through one of the most ancient landscapes on earth, and there is nothing required of you except to be present.
For those who want to go further, an optional early morning flight to Abu Simbel is available. The twin temples of Ramesses II and Nefertari, carved directly into the mountainside over three thousand years ago and relocated in their entirety in the 1960s, are among the most extraordinary monuments in the ancient world. A short and comfortable flight south over Lake Nasser, and you are standing before them as the morning light hits the facade. Those who make the journey never regret it.
The evening brings a stop at Kom Ombo, a rare double temple dedicated simultaneously to Sobek the crocodile god and Horus the falcon god. Visited as the sun drops and the temple illuminates against the darkening sky, it is one of those quiet, unhurried moments on the Nile that stays with you long after the trip ends.
An early morning departure by private vehicle to Edfu, home to the Temple of Horus, the best-preserved ancient temple in Egypt. Arriving before the crowds, you move through its towering pylons and darkened inner chambers with your Egyptologist, the air cool and still, the carvings impossibly detailed.
You return to the cruise as it continues its sail toward Luxor through the afternoon.
The evening is reserved for Luxor Temple, and this is the right way to see it. Illuminated after dark, the columns rise from the ground like a forest frozen in stone, the hieroglyphs catching the light in ways that daylight never reveals. One of the great night experiences in Egypt and one that most visitors miss entirely.
The West Bank of Luxor in the morning light, the most concentrated collection of ancient monuments anywhere on earth.
Karnak Temple first, the largest religious complex ever built, expanded by successive pharaohs across thirteen centuries. Your Egyptologist gives you the thread that connects it all.
The Valley of the Kings follows, where Egypt's greatest rulers were buried deep in the limestone cliffs. Then Medinet Habu, the vast and undervisited mortuary temple of Ramesses III, and a photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon, the two enormous seated figures that have watched over the floodplain for over three thousand years.
Midday brings one of the most quietly memorable moments of the journey. You are welcomed into a local West Bank family home for lunch, a curated experience that offers a glimpse into daily life on this side of the Nile that no monument can give you. Simple food, genuine hospitality, a table that feels entirely removed from the tourist trail.
A private drive east through the desert toward Hurghada, where the landscape shifts from ancient stone to open coastline and the Red Sea appears on the horizon in shades of turquoise that feel almost impossible after days among the monuments. Check into your resort as the sun sets over the water. Dinner at the resort.
The morning is yours. The Red Sea at your doorstep, a sun lounger, a coffee, and no agenda.
The afternoon moves into the Eastern Desert for a quad bike safari across the dunes, the silence of the landscape broken only by the engine and the wind. The desert here is a different world from the Nile Valley, raw, open, and entirely its own.
The evening gathers around a dinner under the desert sky, with an oriental show that draws on Egypt's rich musical and folkloric traditions. A fitting close to a day that moved between two of Egypt's most elemental landscapes.
Today belongs entirely to the water.
A morning boat trip out onto the Red Sea, one of the world's great diving and snorkeling destinations, its coral reefs home to an extraordinary density of marine life. You drift above a world of color and movement that feels entirely removed from everything that came before it on this journey.
The afternoon is yours to spend as you choose. The resort, the beach, a last swim in water this clear and this warm.
An early morning flight back to Cairo.
Morning in Coptic Cairo, where you will visit the Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus, Abu Serga, built over the cave where the Holy Family sheltered during their flight into Egypt. Nearby the Ben Ezra Synagogue, one of the oldest in Egypt, its worn interior holding layers of history that stretch back long before Cairo was Cairo.
The afternoon opens with a guided walk through Al Muizz Street, one of the most remarkable stretches of medieval Islamic architecture in the world, a living corridor of mosques, mausoleums, and merchant houses that has barely changed in five hundred years.
Lunch is taken at a rooftop restaurant above the street, with the minarets of old Cairo rising on every side and the city spreading out below in every direction. One of the great Cairo lunch positions.
The day ends in Khan el Khalili, a bazaar trading continuously since the 14th century. Loud, alive, and entirely itself.
A chartered flight west from Cairo into one of Egypt's most extraordinary landscapes. Siwa Oasis sits deep in the Sahara, closer to Libya than to Cairo, a world of date palms, mud brick ruins, and salt lakes that has been sheltering travelers and oracles for thousands of years. Alexander the Great made the journey here. So did the Oracle of Amun. So will you.
On arrival, transfer to your ecolodge, a property built from the landscape itself, kershef and palm wood rising from the desert floor in the traditional Siwan way.
Lunch at the lodge.
The afternoon moves to the salt lakes, where the water sits so still and so reflective that the sky doubles itself in the surface. Refreshments and snacks as the light shifts toward evening and the desert turns every shade of gold and amber it knows.
You return to the lodge as darkness settles. The hot spring awaits, thermal water under an open sky filled with more stars than most people have ever seen in one place. Dinner at the lodge.
After breakfast, a guided walk through the ruins of Shali Fortress, the ancient mud brick citadel that was the heart of Siwa for centuries, dissolving slowly back into the earth after a devastating rainstorm in 1926. Your guide gives you the history of a city that existed in almost complete isolation from the rest of Egypt for most of its life.
The Mountain of the Dead follows, a limestone hill riddled with rock-cut tombs from the 26th Dynasty and the Greco-Roman period, its walls painted with scenes that feel entirely removed from the grand temples of the Nile Valley.
The Temple of Amun comes next, where Alexander the Great was declared the son of the god in 331 BC, one of the pivotal moments in ancient history played out in this quiet corner of the Sahara. A walk through the local market, where Siwan women's silver jewelry, hand-woven baskets, and embroidered textiles are among the finest craft traditions in Egypt.
Lunch at a local restaurant in the heart of Siwa.
The afternoon is yours to rest at the lodge.
As the sun begins to drop, your guide takes you to a hidden vantage point above the lake, a spot known to very few visitors, where the sunset over the water and the date palm groves below is one of the most quietly extraordinary views in Egypt.
Candlelight dinner at the lodge.
A relaxed morning at the lodge. For those who want to move, an optional bicycle tour through the city and its surrounding palm groves is available, a gentle ride through one of the most peaceful landscapes in North Africa.
Lunch at the lodge.
The afternoon belongs to the Great Sand Sea, one of the largest sand dune fields on earth. A 4x4 safari deep into the dunes, the scale of the landscape almost impossible to process from inside a vehicle. Sandboarding follows on slopes that drop steeply into the valleys between the dunes, a genuinely exhilarating close to the afternoon.
As darkness falls, a private camp appears in the desert, lanterns lit, a table set, dinner prepared under an open sky with no light pollution for hundreds of kilometers in any direction. One of those evenings that is very difficult to describe and very easy to remember.
You return to the lodge after dinner.
A final morning in Siwa. Time for a last walk through the market, picking up the silver, the textiles, and the olive oil that Siwa is known for throughout Egypt.
A chartered flight back to Cairo and transfer to your hotel.
The evening is yours. A last dinner in Cairo, at a table of your choosing.
This morning belongs to you. A late breakfast, a slow coffee, a last look at the city.
When the time comes, your Solaya team handles everything. Luggage, transfer, and airport assistance that takes the friction out of leaving.
Egypt will do the rest of the work of staying with you.
Egypt • 11 Days • Private Dahabeya
Clients who want Egypt at a different pace. Not the grand circuit, not the checklist, but a journey that moves slowly enough toactually feelthe country beneath it. Three days of depth in Cairo followed by six days sailing the Nile on a privatedahabeya, stopping at villages, quarries, and riverbanks that the large cruise ships never reach. Built for travelers who understand that the best experiences on the Nile are the ones that cannot be scheduled.
Upon arrival in Cairo, you will be met inside the terminal by our representative who will assist with immigration procedures, luggage collection, and airport formalities through a personalized meet & greet service.
Afterwards, transfer by private air-conditioned vehicle to your hotel for check-in and time to rest after your journey. Depending on your arrival time, the remainder of the day is at leisure.
The morning begins at Saqqara, home to the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest stone structure in the world, built four and a half thousand years ago by the architect Imhotep who invented monumental architecture from scratch. The surrounding necropolis is vast, layered, and extraordinarily well preserved. Your Egyptologist brings it to life with the kind of detail that no audio guide can replicate.
Beyond the main complex, Saqqara holds a side of ancient Egypt that almost no visitor ever sees. The Tomb of Mihu, the Tomb of the Butchers, and the Tomb of the Two Brothers are among the most extraordinary and least visited burial sites in the country, their walls painted with scenes of daily life, trade, and ritual that feel entirely unlike the grand royal tombs. Detailed, intimate, and completely off the tourist trail, these are the kind of discoveries that change how a traveler understands Egypt.
From Saqqara, you continue to the Giza Plateau, where the Great Pyramid asserts itself slowly and then all at once, three million blocks of limestone rising from the desert floor with a precision that still confounds modern engineers. You will stand before the Sphinx as the city hums behind it, and climb to the panoramic viewpoint where all three pyramids align in a single frame that no photograph has ever fully captured.
Lunch at a restaurant positioned directly facing the Pyramids, one of Cairo's great dining vantage points.
A morning drive west along the desert road to Alexandria, Egypt's second city and one of the great Mediterranean capitals of the ancient world.
The day begins at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the modern reincarnation of one of the greatest libraries in human history, its architecture alone worth the journey, a vast tilted disc of Aswan granite engraved with the scripts of every human language, rising from the edge of the Mediterranean.
The Roman Amphitheatre follows, the only one of its kind discovered in Egypt, its marble seats still intact after nearly two thousand years beneath the city.
A walk along the Corniche, Alexandria's sweeping seafront boulevard, before lunch at a seafood restaurant on the water. Alexandria's relationship with the Mediterranean is most honestly expressed through its fish, and a long, unhurried seafood lunch here is one of the great pleasures of an Egyptian journey.
The afternoon moves to Qaitbay Citadel, the 15th century fortress built on the exact site where the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, once stood. The views over the Mediterranean from its ramparts are extraordinary.
A drive back to Cairo as the evening settles.
Morning in Coptic Cairo. You will visit the Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus, Abu Serga, built over the cave where the Holy Family sheltered during their flight into Egypt, a space that carries the kind of stillness that only centuries of devotion can produce. Nearby, the Ben Ezra Synagogue stands as one of the oldest in Egypt, its worn interior holding layers of history that stretch back long before Cairo was Cairo.
The afternoon moves into Islamic Cairo, where Sultan Hassan Mosque and the Rifai Mosque stand facing each other across one of Cairo's most dramatic squares, one a masterpiece of Mamluk architecture, the other the resting place of Egypt's modern royal family.
Lunch is taken at a heritage restaurant deep inside Khan el Khalili, one of the oldest continuously operating bazaars in the world. To eat here is to sit inside a trading house that has barely changed in six centuries, the wooden mashrabiya screens filtering the light, the smell of coffee and spices drifting in from the lanes outside. It is the kind of lunch that reminds you that Egypt is not only its monuments. It is its living rooms too.
The afternoon closes with an Arabic calligraphy workshop. An hour spent learning the script that has given visual form to the Islamic world for fourteen centuries. To sit with a master calligrapher, to feel the weight of the reed pen, to understand that every letter is also a gesture, is one of those experiences that surprises even the most traveled clients.
The day ends with a walk through Khan el Khalili itself. Loud, alive, and entirely itself.
A morning flight south to Luxor.
The day begins in the Valley of the Kings, the sacred ground where Egypt's greatest rulers were buried deep in the limestone cliffs of the West Bank. Your Egyptologist opens the narrative of each tomb with the kind of detail that transforms painted walls into living stories.
A drive south to Esna, where your dahabeya awaits. There is a particular feeling that comes with stepping aboard a twin-masted sailing vessel on the Nile for the first time, the wood, the water, the scale of the river suddenly apparent from its surface rather than its banks. This is your home for the next five nights.
The dahabeya sails as the evening light falls across the water. Dinner on the upper deck as the Nile moves quietly beneath you and the sky fills with stars.
The dahabeya anchors at El Kab in the morning. A rarely visited site and one of the most rewarding on the entire Nile, El Kab holds the rock-cut tombs of local governors from the New Kingdom, their walls painted with scenes of daily life, agriculture, and hunting that feel intimate in a way the grand royal tombs never quite do. Your Egyptologist brings their stories to life with the kind of detail that only comes from genuine knowledge of the site.
Back aboard, the dahabeya continues south toward Edfu.
The afternoon brings a visit to the Temple of Horus at Edfu, the best-preserved ancient temple in Egypt, by private vehicle. You move through its towering pylons and darkened inner chambers with your Egyptologist, the carvings impossibly detailed, the air cool and still.
The dahabeya anchors at a riverbank island as darkness falls. First, a bread making experience with a local family, flour, fire, and dough worked by hands that have done this for generations, the warm bread eaten as it comes off the clay oven. Then a candlelit barbecue on the riverbank, the river on one side, the desert on the other, the sky entirely to yourselves.
A slow morning cruise, the dahabeya moving at the pace the river sets rather than any schedule. The landscape south of Edfu is one of the most unchanged stretches of the Nile, date palms, feluccas, and mud brick villages lining both banks.
The dahabeya stops at Bassaw, a small Nile fishing village that mass tourism has never reached. A walk through its lanes, a conversation through your guide, a glimpse into a way of life that the pharaohs would have recognized.
The afternoon brings Djebel Silsila, the ancient sandstone quarries that supplied the raw material for many of Egypt's greatest temples. Rock-cut chapels overlook the water from the cliff face, their inscriptions recording the names of the workers and officials who passed through here over thousands of years. It is one of those sites that archaeologists love and tourists rarely find.
Back aboard as the dahabeya moors for the evening, the onboard chef invites you into the galley for an Egyptian cooking class. The dishes are classics of the Nile valley table, koshari, mulukhiyah, stuffed vine leaves, flatbread from the clay oven. Recipes that have fed this river for centuries, taught by the hands that know them best. Dinner is the meal you made together.
Morning at Kom Ombo, the rare double temple dedicated simultaneously to Sobek the crocodile god and Horus the falcon god. Approached from the water by the dahabeya's tender boat, it looks entirely different from this angle, the way the ancients intended it to be seen.
The dahabeya anchors at a remote riverbank in the late afternoon, one of the cleanest and most sheltered stretches of the Nile. The invitation is simple. Swim. The water is warm, the current gentle, the bank empty in every direction.
Dinner on the beach as the last light leaves the sky.
The final sailing day brings Aswan into view, the city rising from the desert alongside the Nile with a beauty that is entirely its own.
Morning in Gharb Aswan, a traditional Nubian village on the west bank accessible only by boat. The houses are painted in colors that have no equivalent in the rest of Egypt, vivid blues and yellows and greens that reflect centuries of Nubian artistic tradition. You are welcomed into the community with the kind of genuine hospitality that comes from a place accustomed to receiving travelers on its own terms, not on theirs.
The afternoon moves to Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis and relocated stone by stone to its current island to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. Approached by small motorboat across the water, its setting is among the most romantic of any temple in Egypt.
A farewell dinner aboard the dahabeya as it moors in Aswan for the last time. The river has taken you from Luxor to Aswan over five nights and the distance covered feels both enormous and entirely unhurried.
A final breakfast on the river. Disembarkation in Aswan and a flight back to Cairo.
The evening holds one of the most extraordinary museum experiences available anywhere in Egypt. Through a private arrangement, you enter the Grand Egyptian Museum after hours, when the crowds have gone and the vast halls belong entirely to you. Five thousand years of Egyptian civilization, the most complete collection of Tutankhamun artifacts ever assembled, and a building that is itself a statement about modern Egypt. Your Egyptologist guides you through the highlights as the museum settles into its nighttime silence.
Dinner follows at a restaurant facing the Pyramids, the three silhouettes visible against the night sky, a farewell to Egypt that is difficult to improve upon.
This morning belongs to you. A late breakfast, a slow coffee, a last look at the city.
When the time comes, your Solaya team handles everything. Luggage, transfer, and airport assistance that takes the friction out of leaving.
Egypt will do the rest of the work of staying with you.
There are many incredible places to stay in Egypt. Here are some of our favorites.
The Valley of the Kings, Beyond the Surface
After-Hours Egyptian Museum
Abu Simbel at First Light
Nubian Village on the Nile
Downtown Cairo, The Living Archive
Egyptian Countryside Farm Lunch
Private Access to the Sphinx
Luxor Temple After Dark
Siwa by Chartered Flight
