Day 0
If you have chosen us to arrange your international air travel, you will depart New York on EgyptAir at 6:30 pm for your overnight flight to Egypt.
 
Day 1
Upon your noon arrival in Cairo you will be met by a Museum Tours representative. Your private limousine will then take you through Cairo and across the Nile river to the five-star hotel, Mena House (where you will have a room with a pyramid view), located at the base of the pyramids. The rest of the day is free to relax and get over your jet lag.
B, L - in flight
D - Mena House
Hotel - Mena House (see sidebar) 

Day 2
After breakfast, a short ride will
take you from the hotel to the
pyramids. You will visit the
Pyramids at Giza. Explore in-
side the Great Pyramid of Khufu,
visit the Solar Boat Museum,
and the agelessSphinx of Khafra
with its valley temple. After
lunch, at the hotel, you can
relax for the afternoon, or,
if you have the energy, join
your guide for a return to the
Giza Plateau for a walking tour,
to visit the Pyramids of Khafra
and Menkara, with the remains
of their mortuary temples, and 
the Tombs of Qar and Idu.
B, D - Mena House
L - Local restaurant
Hotel - Mena House
 
Day 3
You will visit the ancient necropolis at Saqqara for the entire morning. Sites include the Step Pyramid of Djoser (the world's first pyramid), the Pyramid of Teti with its pyramid texts, the causeway of Unis, the Tomb of the Brothers and the Mastaba tomb of Meruka. After a late lunch you will be driven to the ancient capital of Memphis with its beautiful Colossus of Ramses, before heading to the airport to catch your evening flight to Luxor, where you will transfer to the deluxe and historic, five-star Old Winter Palace Hotel .
B - Mena House Hotel
L - Saqqara Palm Club Restaurant
D - Winter Palace Hotel
Hotel - Old Winter Palace
 
Day 4
After an early breakfast you will cross the Nile to visit the West Bank. You will begin your day by visiting the workers village at Dier el Medina and the Tomb of Sennedjem, one of the best preserved tombs in all of Egypt. While you might choose to take the bus, if you are truly ambitious you will have the opportunity to hike over the hills, following a 3,500 year old workers trail, to the Valley of the Kings where you will visit several of the most interesting tombs open to the public, including the Tombs of Thutmose III, Rameses VI and Tutankhamen. You will finish your day with a visit to Dier El Bahri and the Temple of Hatshepsut , and the Colossi of Memnon , the giant statues of Amenhotep III.  After returning to your hotel the remainder of the day is free to enjoy the sights and sounds of Luxor.
B, D - Winter Palace
L - Africa Restaurant
Hotel - Old Winter Palace 

Day 5
After a drive through town you will  visit Karnak Temple, the largest temple complex in the world. We've allowed allowing ample time for a guided tour and just wandering around. This will be followed by a visit to the small but magnificant Luxor Museum .  The afternoon is free to explore the town, visit the bazaar or just relax.  After an early dinner you will go to Luxor Temple for a spectacular after-dark tour. 
B, L, D - Winter Palace
Hotel - Old Winter Palace
 
Day 6
Today you will return to the West bank to catch the sights missed two days ago. Your schedule will include the Valley of the Queens, including the beautiful and touching tomb of Khaemwaset, a son of Rameses III, who died in childhood. you will also have time to visit the Ramesseum, the mortuary temple of Rameses II (known as Rameses the Great), and Medinet Habu, the best preserved of the New Kingdom temples. About mid afternoon you will be driven to Esna where you will see the temple before boarding the historic dahabeyah, NeferuRa, your home for the next four nights.
B, L - Winter Palace
D - NeferuRa
Hotel - NeferuRa

Grand Odyssey by Museum Tours

Departing New York any day of the year, this tour offers the best of Egypt in Victorian Luxury, including Sailing the Nile on our historic dahabeyah, the NeferuRa.

Photo - Kmt/Forbes
Day 7
This morning you will begin sailing toward Aswan, arriving at Edfu around dusk.
B, L, D - NeferuRa
Hotel - NeferuRa
 
Day 8
Horse drawn carriages will take you from the dock to the stupendous, Ptolemaic Temple of Horus, the best preserved temple on the Nile. After visiting the temple you will set sail once again.  Our boat should reach Gebel Silsila , the ancient sandstone quarries, with its many, fascinating rock cut chapels, late this afternoon.
B, L, D - NeferuRa
Hotel - NeferuRa

                                Day 9
                                After sailing all day,
                                you will visit the twin
                                Temples of Horus , the
                                falcon headed god, and
                                Sobek , the crocodile
                                god, at Kom Ombo.
                                B, L, D - NeferuRa
                                Hotel - NeferuRa
 
                                Day 10
                                This morning you will
                                disembark and your
                                van will take you to
                                Aswan where you will
                                board a falucca to visit
                                the Botanical Gardens
                                on Kitchener's Island
                                and the archaeological
digs on Elephantine Island. You will return in time for a late lunch and transfer to the grand Victorian Old Cateract Hotel. Your afternoon is free.
B - NeferuRa
L, D - Old Cararact Hotel
Hotel - Old Cataract Hotel
   (see sidebar) 

Day 11
After an early breakfast, you will
fly to visit the fabled temples at
Abu Simbel built by Ramses II,
for himself and his favorite wife,
Nefertari. In the afternoon you 
can relax while you sail in a
falucca to visit and explore the
6th and 12th dynasty nobles
tombs on the West Bank before
returning to your hotel in
time for afternoon tea.
B, L, D - Old Cararact Hotel
Hotel - Old Cataract Hotel
        
Day 12
You will begin the day with a short drive to visit the New Nubia Museum, one of Egypt's newest and finest. You will then visit the ancient granite quarry with its Unfinished Obelisk of the female Pharaoh, Hatshepsut. Finally you will take a short motorboat ride to Agilika Island, new site of the Temple of Isis at Philae, considered by many to be the most beautiful temple in all Egypt.
B, L - Old Cataract Hotel
D - Aswan Moon
Hotel - Old Cataract Hotel

Day 13 
Today is free until you are taken to the airport to catch your plane back to Cairo where you will check into the Nile Hilton Hotel, located next to the Egyptian Museum.  Dinner in the famed Khan el Khalili bazaar will complete your day.  
B, L - Old Cataract Hotel
D - Khan el Khalili
Hotel - Nile Hilton Hotel  (see sidebar) 
 
Day 14
The entire morning will be spent at the Egyptian Museum with the Treasures of Tutankhamen and the Royal Mummy Room . After lunch you will explore Old Cairo and learn about its Christian (Coptic) and Jewish past. A visit to the Citadel of Saladin and the Alabaster Mosque will complete your day.
B, L, D - Nile Hilton
Hotel - Nile Hilton Hotel

Day 15
You leave Cairo and return to New York and then home.
B - Nile Hilton Hotel
 
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NOTES: B=Breakfast,  L=Lunch,  D=Dinner
The right is reserved to substitute carriers or hotels (see side bar at right for current hotel status) should it be deemed necessary or desirable to do so. Items in the itinerary are subject to schedule changes. Specific activities are subject to availability at the time of the tour and we cannot be held responsible for monuments that are closed or otherwise unavailable. In this case, substitute activities will be made available whenever possible.
 
About Grand Odyssey
Grand Odyssey - Itinerary
Notes
This very special private tour is offered at a very fair price. It has been designed primarily for the first or second time visitor to Egypt, who has the time and desire to gain an in-depth appreciation for this ancient culture, yet wants to experiance Egypt in a grand style on a private tour.
 
Through a unique confluence of circumstances we have been able to secure a limited number or rooms in the finest hotels in Egypt, along with the best possible experience for traveling on the Nile, for a very special, once in a lifetime experience. An experience in which the accommodations will contribute as much to your enjoyment as the sites we'll visit.
 
Grand Odyssey is a 15 day, 14 night, trip which includes visits to the most important and famous pharonic monuments in Egypt as well as a number of impressive, but lesser visited places. There are also brief visits to the most important Islamic, Coptic and Jewish sites in Cairo. The highest standard of quality is maintained throughout, including stays in the most historic five-star Victorian hotels in Egypt; the Mena House and the Old Winter Palace Hotel in Luxor. And it includes a cruise aboard the historic dahabeyah, NeferuRa.
Additional Information
For a FREE color brochure, email us and leave your name and address and indicate the tour you are interested in, Grand Odyssey. Please include the word "Egypt" in the subject line.

If, in addition, you would like to reserve space on this trip, just let us know your desired travel dates and we will sent you information, plus save you a place for 30 days. Then if you should decide to participate, you will be sure of having a spot. Of course, you are under no obligation.
Thutmose III
The golden mask of King Tutankhamun.
Cairo Museum
The historic dahabeyah, NeferuRa, on the Nile.
Current Hotel Status
There is a considerable amount of renovation going on in Egypt at the present time.  This work is affecting some of the hotels we normally use.