Egypt Itinerary: How to Plan 7, 10 and 14 Days

Flight, Train and Road Times at a Glance

Two facts shape the whole plan. First, the classic route runs north to south: Cairo, then Luxor or Aswan, with Abu Simbel as an out-and-back from Aswan. Second, Egypt is bigger than it looks on a map, with Cairo to Aswan 848.4 km by road, so flying or sleeping on the train saves whole days. Where two sources give different times for the same leg, both appear. A flight figure of "not stated" means no fetched source gave one, not that no flight exists: EgyptAir Express does connect Cairo with Luxor, Aswan, Hurghada, Abu Simbel and Alexandria.

Read the legs against the ticket prices too, because the ministry list's Giza plateau ticket at EGP 700 and Valley of the Kings ticket at EGP 750 are small money next to a wasted travel day. The full site comparison of luxury Egypt tours shows which itineraries fly and which put you on the sleeper.

Flying or Taking the Sleeper Train

The sleeper train is the itinerary choice that splits travelers. It departs Giza at 20:00 and 20:30, taking about 9 hours to Luxor and 12 to Aswan, with one-berth or two-berth compartments and dinner on board. Rome2Rio's timetable listing is less generous, at 10h45m to Luxor and 14h15m to Aswan, so give both figures weight when you plan. Rough Guides gives 8 to 10 hours overnight. You save a hotel night, and tours such as the 8-Day Egypt Package with Cruise at $2,200 per person build two train nights into the plan.

Flying wins on daylight. Cairo to Luxor is about 1.5 hours in the air, and Cairo to Aswan about 1h25m in the air. A day-train fare on the Cairo to Aswan route is listed at US$80 in AC1 and US$65 in AC2 for foreigners. The 9-Day Egypt Sleeper Train Tour pairs the overnight rail leg south with a flight back from Hurghada, which is the sensible hybrid: sleep south, fly north.

One more constraint: the desert road from Aswan to Abu Simbel is closed to tourists between 17:00 and 5:00, which is why standard group tours leave Aswan at about 4:00. Flying to Abu Simbel takes about 45 minutes and skips that alarm entirely.

What the Extra Days Buy You

In Your Pocket says 10 days fits Cairo, a four-night Nile cruise and two to three days on the Red Sea coast. That is the core split. The distance from Luxor to Hurghada is about 282 km by road, around 4 hours, so the sea is a simple overland add-on after the cruise. Cairo to Hurghada by bus takes about 7 hours, and EgyptAir Express flies the route. EgyptAir Express connects Cairo with Hurghada, Luxor, Aswan, Alexandria and Abu Simbel, which makes an open-jaw shape easy.

Abu Simbel is the other common use of the extra time. The road trip from Aswan takes 3.5 to 4 hours each way, and group departures leave Aswan around 4:00 in the morning because the desert highway is closed to tourists from 17:00 to 5:00. Flights from Aswan take about 45 minutes. The ministry price list shows EGP 750 for foreign adults and opening hours of 6:00 to 17:00.

• Abu Simbel: a 3.5 to 4 hour drive each way from Aswan, or a 45 minute flight, ministry list ticket EGP 750
• Alexandria: about 220 km from Cairo, trains in around 3h50m, Qaitbay Citadel and Pompey's Pillar each EGP 200
• Saqqara: a half day south of Cairo, the ministry lists the Saqqara Area ticket at EGP 600
• Red Sea: Luxor to Hurghada is 282 km, about 4 hours by road

A 10-Day Private Tour That Covers It

The 10-Day Ultimate Egypt Nile Cruise from Look at Egypt Tours is a private archaeology trip at $4,700 per person, rated 4.8 from 41 reviews. It runs Cairo, Saqqara, Luxor, Dendera, Aswan and Abu Simbel, with 5-star hotels, all domestic flights included, a qualified Egyptologist guide and a 4-night full-board Nile cruise ending at Abu Simbel. Note two honest caveats. The booking platform adds $25 of extra charges at checkout on top of the $4,700 price, and the listing does not explain them. Entrance fees read only "for the mentioned places", so confirm the ticket list before booking. Free cancellation runs to 6 full days before departure, with a 50% refund between 2 and 6 days.

Dendera is the stop a 7-day trip usually drops. The ministry lists the Temple of Dendera at EGP 300 for foreign adults, and In Your Pocket names Abydos and Dendera as half-day trips that fit a 10-day plan. See the Nile river cruise page for how the sailing days work lock by lock.

Building 10 Days Yourself

The same shape works without a package. Give Cairo and Giza three days, fly to Luxor in about 1.5 hours, add a four-night cruise to Aswan, then decide between Abu Simbel by road and Hurghada by bus. The Luxor to Hurghada bus takes 4 to 5 hours according to Wikivoyage, and EgyptAir Express flies Luxor to Cairo for the return.

The grand stair version adds Alexandria by train at around 3h50m each way, so most 10-day plans pick between Alexandria and the sea, not both.

What Two Weeks Unlocks

In Your Pocket says 14 days allows a seven-night cruise plus Alexandria or Abu Simbel. That either/or is worth respecting. Alexandria sits about 220 km from Cairo with express trains at about 3 hours each way.

Abu Simbel costs a long morning from Aswan. Trying both plus a seven-night cruise plus Cairo is possible but tight. Rough Guides sketches a 14-day route of Cairo, Luxor, a flight to Sharm el-Sheikh for the Red Sea and a return to Cairo for Saqqara, which shows how flexible the frame is.

Deeper desert travel, Siwa and the White and Black Deserts, belongs to trips of 21 days or more according to In Your Pocket. Siwa sits 560 km from Cairo and Rough Guides puts the road there at 9 to 10 hours of driving.

The 12-Day Tour That Shows the Shape

The 12-Day Luxury Egypt Nile Tour from Egypt For Americans is the longest private trip in the catalog at $6,527 per person, rated 5 from 16 reviews. Its route reads Cairo, Fayoum, Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel, Cairo and Alexandria. It includes 11 nights in 5-star stays, domestic flights from Cairo to Luxor and Aswan to Cairo, a licensed English-speaking Egyptologist at all included sightseeing, a Nile cruise reaching Abu Simbel, and 30 sightseeing and entrance fees. All three meals are included plus bottled water during sightseeing. Two warnings from the listing: it is the most expensive tour here, and cancellation is no refund, all sales are final. It also skips the Red Sea, which is what frees the days for Fayoum and Alexandria.

If the sea matters more than Alexandria, swap that block. Luxor to Hurghada is 282 km, about 4 hours by road, and Hurghada draws over 9 million visitors a year. The 9-Day Egypt Sleeper Train Tour shows that Red Sea version in miniature, with two beach days in Hurghada and the overnight sleeper to Aswan instead of a flight.

Pacing a Two-Week Trip

A workable private split for 14 days is three nights in Cairo, seven nights on the river, and the remainder split between Abu Simbel from Aswan and one coast or delta block. The long cruise version adds southern temples and slower sailing. Season still rules the plan, and the month-by-month trade-offs live on the best time to visit Egypt page.

Luxor averages above 41 C at its summer peak, while October to February is the preferred Nile cruise season. Two weeks also absorbs a weather day, a flight delay or a lock wait at Esna without cutting a temple.

Four Lengths, Four Prices

The table below lines up one tour per length. Each price is the per-person card price in US dollars. The 10-day tour adds a $25 charge at checkout on top of its card price.

Read the inclusions carefully, because the cheapest headline is not the cheapest trip: the 7-day tour charges its Cairo hotel and both domestic flights separately, while the 12-day tour bundles them and still costs the most. Full breakdowns live on each tour page. For a wider view of what changes at each price level, see the homepage's comparison of luxury Egypt tours.

What Each Length Hides

The 7-Day Private Egyptologist Tour at $1,500 is a base price. Its Cairo hotel and the Cairo to Aswan and Luxor to Cairo flights are not included, though the operator can book them for an extra cost, and the amounts are not stated. Abu Simbel is an optional extra too. The 8-Day Cairo Aswan Luxor Private Tour at $1,800 is the fuller mid-length package, with a 5-star deluxe hotel, a 3-night full-board cruise on a 5-star deluxe ship, both domestic flights, an Egyptologist and entrance fees to all itinerary sites. Abu Simbel is optional and a peak supplement of $200 per person applies from December 20 to January 2. The 10-day and 12-day tours above include Abu Simbel in the price.

A practical rule falls out of the table: each step up in days buys a different thing. Seven to eight days buys the core Cairo plus cruise route. Ten days buys Dendera, Saqqara and Abu Simbel. Twelve days buys Alexandria and Fayoum. None of the four is a Red Sea trip, so beach time means a different tour or a self-built plan.