Cairo and Sharm El Sheikh Xmas Vacation

Start your day with a buffet breakfast at your Cairo hotel before heading out for your guided day tour. Your accredited tour guide will pick you up to explore the Great Pyramids of Giza, beginning with the Pyramid of King Cheops, the largest Egyptian pyramid, which required about 100,000 workers for its construction.

The next stop includes the Pyramid of King Chephren, whose construction started approximately 20 years after Cheops’ pyramid, built with hundreds of limestone blocks. The construction methods used by ancient civilizations to build these enormous structures will be explained to you.

From the Giza Plateau, visitors can see the entire necropolis system and can choose to ride camels to the pyramids, taking photographs while accompanied by a local Bedouin.

Visitors can descend to observe the Sphinx, an extraordinary statue with a human face and lioness body, displaying its original artistic form and showing its name meaning from the ancient term “Shipses-ankh,” which translates to “the living image of a deity.”

The Valley Temple of Chephren, the last valley temple at Giza, served as a location for pharaoh mummification. Visitors can take panoramic photographs of all the pyramids and view the Solar Boat Museum, which requires an extra ticket for entry.

Dine on a tasty lunch at a neighborhood eatery before visiting Saqqara Necropolis, including the Step Pyramid Complex, noble tombs from the Old Kingdom, and intricate artworks depicting daily life. Visitors can enter the pyramid of King Teti or King Unas to see the interior of the tombs.

Your last destination is Memphis, the main Egyptian capital for almost one thousand years. The Memphis Museum displays valuable artifacts, including the alabaster Sphinx and the massive statue of King Ramses II.

Return to your Cairo hotel for an overnight stay.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Your Egyptologist guide and private driver will take you to the Egyptian Museum which the world considers to be the most famous museum in Egypt after you finish breakfast at your Cairo hotel. The museum displays an extraordinary collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts which includes the renowned gold mask of King Tutankhamun.

The Citadel of Saladin which the 12th century built to defend Cairo stands as your next destination. The Alabaster Mosque of Mohamed Ali Pasha represents an exceptional architectural achievement which originated as a 17th-century mosque built by an Egyptian king who had Albanian ancestry. The citadel provides visitors with an expansive panorama of Islamic Cairo which displays its stunning mosques and majestic minarets and unique domes.

Coptic Cairo will be explored after we have lunch at a high-end restaurant which serves excellent food. The Babylon Fortress exists alongside the Hanging Church and the Church of Abu Serga which people also refer to as the Church of the Holy Family. The Synagogue of Ben Ezra which exists as one of the oldest synagogues in Egypt and the Middle East serves as the final stop for this tour.

You will discover Islamic Cairo while walking through its streets and visiting the lively medieval marketplace at Khan El Khalili which ends with your driver taking you back to your Cairo hotel.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch