Dakhla Oasis Holiday Planner. Tailor-made Holidays to Dakhla Oasis in Egypt

Day 1: Cairo

Welcome to Egypt and the start of your Egyptian adventure! Arrive Cairo, included airport transfer to hotel - we will pick you up from the airport for your flight arriving on 15 October very early and check you straight into your hotel room

Day 2: Cairo

You will have a free morning today and in the afternoon you will have a guided visit to the Egyptian Museum with free time to browse and explore the famed treasures of King Tutankhamen.

Day 3: Cairo - Aswan

Today, we visit Giza Plateau, where we explore the pyramids and Sphinx. It is estimated Cheops (the largest of the pyramids) was constructed from no less than 2.5million quarried limestone blocks, weighing around 6 million tonnes. Later we explore Saqqara - an ancient necropolis with many half-buried tombs and the famous Zhoser's step pyramid. We will transfer you to the train station for the overnight train to Aswan.

Day 4: Aswan - Dahabeya cruise

Today you will visit the Aswan High Dam (completed in 1971); the Old Dam (completed in 1902). You will also visit the Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis, a structure rescued from the rising waters of Lake Nasser at the time of the High Dam's construction. This afternoon we will check you onto the Dahabeya.

Day 5: Dahabeya cruise

This morning fly to the Temple of Abu Simbel - its an early flight! Abu Simbel is one of the greatest Egyptian monuments ever built. The entire temple was moved from the banks of Nile when Lake Nasser was formed. Evening Sound and Light show at Philae Temple. Overnight moored in Aswan.

Day 6: Dahabeya cruise

Morning sail to Kom Ombo to see the Ptolemaic temple dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon-headed Horus, god of the morning sun. Overnight moored beside a Nile island.

Day 7: Dahabeya cruise

This morning you will sail to Edfu, visit the wonderfully preserved Temple of Edfu. Overnight moored beside a Nile Island.

Day 8: Dahabeya cruise

Today will be a leisurely day. After breakfast, sail to Esna and go through Esna Locks .

Day 9: Dahabeya cruise

Excursion to the West Bank to the great burial places of the Pharaohs - the Valley of the Kings, where Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. Continue to the Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu Temple, the Ramesseum Temple and the Colossi of Memnon, then on to Deir El Medinah on Luxor's west bank - you get a totally different perspective on ancient Egyptian life. Evening Sound and Light show at Karnak.

Day 10: Dahabeya cruise

You will visit the magnificent temple complex of Amon-Ra at Karnak, with its vast hypostyle hall of 137 columns, followed by the imposing 28 th Dynasty Luxor Temple, and Luxor Museum . In the evening your guide will call on you for a horse-drawn carriage ride throughout Luxor souks and water front. Overnight moored in Luxor.

Day 11: Dahabeya cruise - Luxor

Breakfast aboard the dahabiyya followed by disembarkation. Overnight in Luxor.

Day 12: Luxor - Dakhla Oasis

We drive out to Kharga Oasis, visiting the Temple of Hibis (exterior only) and the rambling 4th century necropolis of el-Bagawat built entirely of mudbrick. We travel on to Dakhla Oasis for the night.

Day 13: Dakhla Oasis - White Desert

We see the true highlight of Dakhla Oasis, the medieval city of Al Qasr. Only recently abandoned, we wander through the eerie high walled city. Many of the houses here have acacia wood lintels above the doorways. We continue onto Deir al-Haggar, the Roman Temple dedicated to the Theban Triad. We travel on to Farafra Oasis, the smallest oasis in the Western desert before heading on to our desert camp.

Day 14: White Desert - Bahariyya Oasis

An early morning show the striking desert and its unusual wind-eroded limestone formations. Continuing by 4x4, we visit some temples, tombs and the Black Desert - a region full of black volcanoshaped mountains. We head on to Bahariyya - an ancient oasis dating back to the Middle Kingdom.