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.
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
