Why take a tour of Egypt
Egypt is a place where a guide changes what you actually see. The pyramids, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings are staggering on their own, but without an Egyptologist to read the hieroglyphs and set out who built what and why, a lot of it stays old stone. A tour also handles the logistics, which in Egypt are not trivial. The classic sights are strung along the Nile from Cairo down to Aswan, and the neat way to link them is a cruise, with internal flights closing the longer gaps. Add the everyday friction of heat, touts at the gates and fares to haggle; having the transfers, tickets and a boat reserveed in advance takes the effort out of it. One trip can run from the Giza plateau through a felucca on the Nile to the temples of Luxor, all arranged before you land.