In February 2026 we ran an eleven-day private trip for a couple from Iceland - Cairo, Aswan, Abu Simbel, Luxor and Alexandria. Here is the route they took, why it runs in that order, and the two days they added partway through.
In February 2026 we ran an eleven-day private trip for a couple from Iceland. Five cities, a different guide in each one, and two days that were not in the original plan at all.
They wrote about it afterwards on TripAdvisor. Rather than let that sit on someone else's website, we have written up what they actually did — the route, the order, the timings, and the one change they asked for mid-trip. If you are weighing up how long you need in Egypt and in what order to take it, this is a real answer rather than a brochure one.
The route, in one line
Cairo → Aswan → Abu Simbel → Luxor → Alexandria
Eleven days. Domestic flights between the far-apart legs, private car and guide in each city.
Why this order and not another
Three decisions shape a trip like this, and each one is worth understanding before you book anything.
Aswan before Luxor, not the other way round. Going south first and working back north means the long travel day happens while you are fresh, and Luxor — which has the densest sightseeing of the whole trip — lands when you have already found your rhythm. Doing it in reverse tends to put the heaviest days at the end, when people are tired.
Alexandria at the end, not the beginning. Alexandria is Mediterranean, not pharaonic. Putting it after the temples gives the trip a change of scene to finish on rather than a confusing start.
A different guide in every city. This surprises people who expect one guide for the whole trip. It is deliberate. A Cairo Egyptologist and a Luxor Egyptologist know different things in real depth, and the local one always wins. What makes it work is that the office stays the same throughout — daily contact on WhatsApp, so the handover between cities is not your problem to manage.
Day by day
Days 1–3 — Cairo and Giza
Arrival, then the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, then a second Cairo day for the museum collections and the older parts of the city. Three days here is the right number: two feels rushed once you have added a museum, and four starts to repeat itself.
Day 4 — Aswan: Philae and the Nubian village
Fly to Aswan in the morning. The Temple of Philae sits on an island and is reached by boat, which makes it one of the more memorable arrivals in Egypt. The afternoon goes to the Nubian village — a genuine change of pace after three days of monuments, and the part of the trip guests most often say they did not expect to enjoy as much as they did.
Day 5 — Abu Simbel and the High Dam
An early start — this is the earliest morning of the trip, and worth it. Abu Simbel is close to the Sudanese border, and the two temples were cut from the rock and then moved, block by block, when the High Dam flooded their original site. The dam itself is on the way back.
Day 6 — Luxor, east bank
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Karnak is the largest religious building ever constructed, and the hypostyle hall is the moment most people remember from the whole of Egypt. Luxor Temple in the late afternoon, when the light is better and the crowds have thinned.
Day 7 — Luxor, west bank
The Valley of the Kings in the morning while it is still cool, then the Temple of Hatshepsut built into the cliff face opposite. This is the heaviest sightseeing day of the trip, which is exactly why it belongs here rather than at the start.
Days 8–9 — the two days that were not in the plan
This is the part worth reading carefully, because it is the part you cannot plan in advance.
Partway through the trip our guests asked for a free afternoon and two additions: a sunrise hot-air balloon over the west bank, and the evening sound-and-light show at Karnak. Their description of how that went was all seamlessly organized with one short text message
— you can read their full review on TripAdvisor.
The balloon goes up before dawn and lands about an hour later, over the same west bank you walked the day before. Doing it after the Valley of the Kings rather than before is the better order — you recognise what you are looking at.
Days 10–11 — Alexandria, then home
Alexandria is three hours from Cairo by road and feels like a different country: sea air, a corniche, Graeco-Roman rather than pharaonic history. It works best as a full day rather than a rushed half. Departure the following morning.
Nine days or eleven?
The route above is our standard nine-day itinerary. Our Icelandic guests ran it over eleven, and the two extra days went entirely to Luxor — the balloon, the light show, and an afternoon with nothing scheduled.
Our honest view: if you have the time, the two extra days are better spent in Luxor than anywhere else on this route. Luxor has more to see than any other stop and is the place people most often say they left too early. If you only have nine days, the itinerary works as it stands — you simply do not get the free afternoon.
What this trip involves
Private throughout: your own guide, your own driver, your own car. Domestic flights between Cairo, Aswan and Luxor. Entrance fees and hotels included; international flights, visa and tips are not. The balloon and the Karnak show are add-ons, arranged during the trip rather than booked in advance.
Prices depend on the season and the hotel tier, so we quote rather than publish a fixed figure.
Book this route
This is the itinerary described above, as a nine-day trip you can extend: the 9-Day Package from North to South, Nile & Mediterranean. Tell us how many days you actually have and we will shape it around that — which is, in the end, what happened here.
