Domestic flight from Hurghada to Cairo International Airport (for guests starting in Hurghada) — approximately 1 hour. Private vehicle meets you at arrivals. Alternatively: international arrivals to Cairo directly. Your Egyptologist guide meets you at the airport and accompanies you throughout Day 1.

Full morning at Giza Plateau — arriving at 08:00 before all group tours. Great Pyramid of Khufu (optional interior entrance ~€20 extra, pre-book), Pyramid of Khafre , Pyramid of Menkaure , panoramic viewpoint from the southern plateau, Great Sphinx , Valley Temple of Khafre . Your Egyptologist dedicates 4 full hours exclusively to your group.

Lunch at the GEM restaurant, then 2 focused hours in the world’s largest archaeological museum: Tutankhamun’s complete 5,000-object collection (golden death mask, golden throne, ceremonial chariots), the Royal Mummies Hall (22 pharaohs and queens), the 11-metre Colossus of Ramesses II .

Guided walk through Khan el-Khalili — authentic spice lanes, copper workshops, El-Fishawi café (open since 1773). Optional: Nile dinner cruise with folkloric entertainment (~€35 extra). Hotel check-in Cairo. Overnight Cairo.

Saqqara — the world’s oldest complete stone structure (c. 2650 BC). Step Pyramid of Djoser — the architectural predecessor of the Giza Pyramids, built by the genius architect Imhotep. Pyramid of Unas — containing the oldest religious writing on Earth ( Pyramid Texts , c. 2350 BC). Serapeum — underground catacombs where sacred Apis bulls were mummified and entombed in 70-tonne granite sarcophagi.

Dahshur pyramids of Pharaoh Sneferu (Khufu’s father) — the Bent Pyramid (the engineering failure that led to the perfection of Giza) and the Red Pyramid (the world’s first successful true smooth-sided pyramid, c. 2600 BC). Both are open for interior exploration and have almost no visitors.

120,000 artefacts in Cairo’s original museum (founded 1901) — focused visit on collections not yet transferred to the GEM: Middle Kingdom jewellery, Old Kingdom painted limestone statues, extraordinary wooden models from Beni Hassan, and the collection of papyri and shabti figurines.

Hanging Church of the Virgin (5th century, built over a Roman gatehouse), Ben Ezra Synagogue (where Moses was said to have been found), and the extraordinary Coptic Museum — the finest collection of early Christian art in the world. Evening: rest at hotel. Early preparation for Day 3 departure. Overnight Cairo.

Early start from Cairo — private vehicle taking the Fayoum Desert Road southwest. The Fayoum Oasis is Egypt’s largest natural oasis, a lush agricultural depression 90 minutes from Cairo with ancient ruins, natural lakes, and one of Egypt’s finest local markets.

Brief stop in Fayoum — local market, traditional Fayoumi bread and white cheese breakfast, and optional visit to Karanis (a remarkably well-preserved Greco-Roman city from the 3rd century BC, with excavated streets, two temples, and a fascinating on-site museum). Transfer to 4×4 vehicles for the desert approach to Wadi Al Hitan.

Follow the UNESCO-protected fossil trail through an extraordinary prehistoric seascape, where the skeletons of early whales reveal their evolution from land-dwelling mammals.

Return to the Wadi El Rayan Protected Area — Egypt’s only natural waterfalls, where a series of interconnected desert lakes cascade over rocky outcrops. The combination of turquoise water, white desert sand, and migrating birds creates an extraordinary landscape entirely unlike anything else in Egypt. Swimming is possible in the lower lake. Lunch picnic by the water.

Private vehicle from Fayoum/Wadi El Rayan northwest to Bahariya Oasis — the gateway to the Western Desert’s most dramatic landscapes. Check in to a quality Bahariya eco-lodge. Dinner under the desert stars. Tomorrow the adventure begins in earnest.

The Museum of the Golden Mummies — discovered accidentally in 1996 when a donkey stumbled into an underground tomb, revealing Egypt’s largest single burial site. Over 250 gilded mummies from the Greco-Roman period (332 BC–395 AD) now displayed in a remarkable museum in central Bahariya. Unique in Egypt for the quantity and quality of gilded funerary masks.

Transfer to your private 4×4 Jeep with experienced Bedouin desert guide. Enter the Black Desert — ancient volcanic landscape where dark basalt rocks coat the surface of cone-shaped mountains. The colour contrast between the black-coated peaks and the golden desert sand is extraordinary. Black Mountains viewpoint (Gebel Gula) — 360-degree panorama over the volcanic landscape.

Crystal Mountain (Gebel el-Izzaz) — a rocky arch composed almost entirely of calcite and quartz crystals , one of the rarest geological formations in the world. When direct sunlight hits the crystals, light scatters across the surrounding desert in miniature rainbows. Accessible only by 4×4. Lunch in the desert.

Arrive at White Desert National Park in the warm afternoon light. Valley of Agabat — densest concentration of wind-sculpted chalk formations. Mushroom Valley — formations 10–15 metres tall shaped like giant mushrooms. Sunset as chalk turns gold then coral then deep violet. Bedouin camp setup among the formations. Campfire dinner. Zero light pollution — Milky Way visible to the naked eye over the silver-white chalk landscape. Overnight in the White Desert.

Wake before dawn for the single most praised photographic experience of the entire 7-day itinerary. As the first light touches the chalk formations at 06:00–06:30, they transition from silver to pale gold to blazing white in absolute silence. The only sound is the desert wind. Breakfast at camp — fresh bread, eggs, Egyptian cheese, honey, desert tea.

A full morning walking among the formations with your Bedouin guide — formations named for their uncanny resemblance to animals and objects: Sphinx Rock, Chicken Rock, Rabbit, Camel, Mushroom . The scale and variety of the formations across different areas of the park take hours to appreciate properly. This is the second of two nights in the White Desert — allowing both the sunset experience and the sunrise.

Afternoon at leisure in the desert — read, rest, photograph, explore. Second sunset from a different viewpoint selected by your Bedouin guide. Second night of desert stargazing — in two nights, meteor showers are frequently visible and the Milky Way’s detail increases as eyes adjust to the absolute darkness.

Third morning sunrise from the chalk formations. The morning light on Day 6 is the most golden of all three — experienced observers note the subtle difference between the first and third morning in the White Desert. Breakfast prepared by your Bedouin guide.

Bir Sigam hot springs — natural geothermal springs 7 km from Bahariya where hot mineral water (consistently high temperature year-round) bubbles from the desert rock. Bathing in a natural hot spring in the Western Desert after two nights under the stars is an unexpectedly beautiful experience. Available October–April (too hot in summer months).

Private vehicle from Bahariya to Cairo — approximately 4 hours. Arrive Cairo for a final lunch. Optional: brief stop at the Pyramid plateau at sunset for a last view of Giza from the road.

Domestic flight from Cairo to Hurghada International Airport — approximately 50–60 minutes. Private vehicle to your Hurghada Red Sea resort . Arrive by approximately 18:30. First evening on the Red Sea after five extraordinary days in the desert.

Private vehicle to Hurghada International Airport for your international flight. The 7 days in Egypt complete — having covered the ancient world’s greatest monuments, the prehistoric world’s greatest fossil site, the most extraordinary desert landscape in Africa, and the Red Sea’s coral paradise.