Go for a cruise on the Nile and explore, in complete peace of mind, the greatest treasures of ancient Egypt.
From the timeless treasures of Cairo, a vibrant capital with an effervescent rhythm, to Luxor, once ancient Thebes, a true jewel of majestic temples and unparalleled remains, let yourself be enchanted by the incredible wealth of Egypt.
From the majestic temples of Upper Egypt to the legendary pyramids of Giza, set off on a fascinating journey to the heart of Pharaonic wonders.
Discover Egypt differently with our exclusive offer combining a cruise on the Nile and a seaside stay on the Red Sea.
Enjoy a 5-day city break in Cairo, Egypt - an unforgettable weekend that will introduce you to the ancient and modern wonders of the city.
Straight answer first. A day trip in Egypt makes sense in four situations, and only just in a fifth:
Guide prices for 2026, per person, covering an English-speaking guide, transport and temple tickets (lunch optional and not included):
With us the cost seldom goes beyond these brackets, since our English-speaking guides are managed in-house. Hotel-desk agencies layer on a middleman mark-up of 30 to 60%.
In brief: 8 to 10 hours from your Cairo hotel. Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinos, the Sphinx, the viewpoint over all nine pyramids, usually the desert-side panorama of Giza too. Lunch as you prefer: local place or restaurant with a view.
Included at no additional charge whenever we arrange the pyramids day: a stop at the village of Saqqara for Djoser's step pyramid (2,630 BC, the earliest pyramid anywhere), and Memphis, the old pharaonic capital, more often than not. Giza to Saqqara is 25 km by road, around 45 minutes outside the rush hour. Read on: our hands-on guide to the Giza pyramids and our page on Saqqara and Memphis.
Points we keep an eye on for our clients: going inside Cheops is an optional extra at 900 EGP (around £10) in 2026. Worth it if you have never stood in a burial chamber, rather airless if Saqqara is already ticked off. The combined ticket for Giza, the panorama and the Sphinx costs 750 EGP (£10). The Grand Egyptian Museum, which opened in November 2025, needs 3 hours at the very least and usually deserves a day of its own: read our Grand Egyptian Museum guide.
The timing that works: leave the hotel at 7.30am, be at the pyramids by 8.30am ahead of the coaches, panorama at 10.30am, Sphinx at 11am, Saqqara at 1pm once you have eaten, back by 5pm. Steer clear of a 9am start: by 10.30am the light has gone flat and the tour buses are photographing from every angle.
Worth knowing first: Hurghada to Luxor is 290 km, so 5 hours by road or 1 hour by air. How you travel changes your fatigue enormously, and the bill a little.
The flying version of the Hurghada to Luxor day runs to 14 hours: wheels up from Hurghada at 6.30am, touchdown in Luxor at 7.30am, Karnak from 8.30am, lunch at midday, Valley of the Kings at 2pm, Colossi of Memnon at 4pm, back to the airport for 5pm, departure at 6pm, Hurghada by 7pm. You still sleep in your own hotel bed. Fully inclusive with an English-speaking guide: £260 to £320 a head, according to season.
By coach it is a 5-hour convoy drive out (leaving Safaga or Hurghada at 4am under police escort), 7 hours in Luxor across the west and east banks, then 5 hours home. Around 16 hours door to door, though the price falls to £70-£110. We will arrange it for anyone wanting a taste of Luxor on a tight budget, with one warning: it is gruelling.
A single day in Luxor covers Karnak, the town itself, the Valley of the Kings (the standard ticket admits you to 3 tombs, with Tutankhamun and Seti I charged separately), Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el Bahari and the Colossi of Memnon. For more than the headline list, read our full Luxor guide and our close look at Karnak temple. With a spare night, the dawn balloon flight over Luxor is something we recommend wholeheartedly: £140 per person.
Guide and group size? What we will not do: coach parties of 40 with a guide whose English is an afterthought. What we do: an English-speaking guide, no more than 8 guests, a 16-seat air-conditioned minibus.
A question about an excursion?
Message us on WhatsApp and you will hear back inside 1 hour. Our team speaks English, we work from Cairo, and nobody is ever bounced to a call centre.
With Hurghada as base you head out after breakfast and are back for dinner. A day out from Hurghada (a Hurghada excursion, if you like) has six destinations worth it:
Best-selling from Hurghada: Luxor plus Cairo over 2 days (2 domestic flights, your 2 Hurghada nights kept) at £520-£650 a head. Nothing on hotel noticeboards matches it, since resort desks sell each day separately and take a margin twice.
For the wider picture, read our Hurghada and Red Sea guide. To pair the Nile with the coast: the 2026 Nile cruise and Hurghada combination.
Cairo is 1 hour by air from Sharm, and in practice quicker to reach than from Hurghada (the distance is similar, the flights more frequent). A day out from Sharm (or Sharm el Sheikh excursion, if you prefer) comes down to four choices:
A pattern among our Sharm guests: Cairo and St Catherine's together over 2 days. £550-£690 a head, taking in the domestic flight to Cairo, a night in Dahab and the run back to Sharm. Full-on, but hard to beat for anyone with 10 days on the Red Sea and a single weekend to spare for the culture.
More on Sharm in our 2026 guide to Sharm el Sheikh, and on Dahab in Dahab for backpackers.
Staying in Cairo for 5 to 10 days and wondering which days out justify the effort? Every day trip from Cairo suits a different sort of visitor.
Alexandria: 2h30 up the motorway, then the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Kom el Choqafa catacombs, Qaitbay's citadel and the corniche as the light fades. Back in Cairo at 9pm. Allow £60-£100 a head as a private tour. Our full Alexandria guide lists opening times for every museum.
Saqqara, Dahshur and Memphis: 30 km south of the capital, home to Djoser's step pyramid (-2,630), Snefrou's red pyramid and the bent pyramid. One combined ticket costs 300 EGP. You learn more about pharaonic history here than at Giza on its own. Read the red pyramid and Dahshur.
Fayoum, Wadi el Rayan and Wadi el Hitan: oasis 2 hours south-west of Cairo, Fayoum waterfalls, UNESCO Valley of the Whales. Perfect once the big sites are ticked off. £90-£140 a head. Read the Fayoum oasis and the Valley of the Whales.
Bahariya and the White Desert: strictly speaking not a day trip at all, but 2 days and 1 night by 4x4 with a camp under the stars. It sits on this list because most people who ask for it assume it fits into a single day. It does not. Budget £220-£290 a head, leaving Cairo at 7am and returning at 7pm the next day. Read Bahariya and the White Desert.
On Cairo proper: seeing Cairo in 2026 and three days in Cairo.
With 2 nights in Aswan (better still, a cruise that ends there), the trip to Abu Simbel is still the most memorable day Egypt offers. You have two ways of doing it:
A detail few people realise: the day from Aswan can take in Kalabsha temple on Lake Nasser (relocated by UNESCO, just as Abu Simbel was), and occasionally Philae as well if you stretch the timings. Read our full Abu Simbel guide and our page on Philae temple.
Travelling as a couple? An evening at the Philae sound and light show rounds off the Abu Simbel day beautifully. Read Egypt's sound and light shows.
Why do two day trips in Egypt to the same site cost £30 or £90? Four variables:
What we provide as standard: an English-speaking guide, a private 16-seat minibus, meals included on the long days, every main ticket covered bar the extras we flag. Your WhatsApp quote arrives within 24 hours, itemised line by line.
Rule of thumb: October through April suits every cultural day out. May through September is oppressive at the temples after lunch, but fine on the Red Sea.
Luxor and the pyramids are hard going in July and August (45°C at Giza by 2pm, 48°C in the Valley of the Kings). In those months we set off at 5am and have you back by 1pm, ahead of the worst of it. By contrast a snorkelling day at Hurghada or Giftun Island is at its finest from May to September: 28°C water and 30 m of visibility.
During cruise season (October to April), watch the busiest weeks. The Christmas break and the Easter holidays fill the Hurghada-Luxor flights and the Abu Simbel slots. Reserve 45 days ahead. To line this up with the country as a whole, read our 2026 guide to when to visit Egypt.
In 2026 Ramadan falls between 17 February and 18 March. For days out that means shorter opening (a few museums shut at 3pm) and fewer local restaurants serving during daylight. Read travelling to Egypt during Ramadan.
Fancy stringing 2 to 3 days out together from your hotel?
Within 24 hours we put together a bespoke programme. Whether you are in Hurghada, Sharm, Marsa Alam or Cairo, we fine-tune the tempo, the domestic flights and the English-speaking guides.
| Basis | Best day trip | Door to door duration | Price / person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cairo | Pyramids + Saqqara + Memphis | 9am | £40-£70 |
| Cairo | Alexandria (day) | 12 p.m. | £60-£100 |
| Hurghada | Luxor by plane | 2 p.m. | £260-£320 |
| Hurghada | Cairo by plane | 3 p.m. | £290-£370 |
| Sharm el Sheikh | Cairo by plane | 3 p.m. | £280-£350 |
| Sharm el Sheikh | Mount Sinai dawn | 10 a.m. night | £60-£100 |
| Aswan | Abu Simbel plane | 6am | £220-£260 |
For longer overland itineraries, browse our bespoke Egypt tours. Prefer the water? Our Nile cruise range. And on safety: is Egypt safe in 2026.
Whether you search for Egypt excursion, Egypt day trip or excursion to Egypt, you are after the same thing: a well-paced day, an English-speaking guide, private transport, tickets covered, and back at the hotel or the ship on schedule. We cost it all out for you on WhatsApp within 24 hours.
Ready-made itineraries from the SEV team, booked on a WhatsApp quotation, with an English-speaking adviser replying inside 1 hour.
Karnak, Luxor and the Valley of the Kings as day trips, English-speaking guide.
Focused excursions to Philae, the High Dam, Kalabsha and Abu Simbel.
A compact 4-day mini-tour: Cairo, the pyramids and the museum.
5 guided days exploring Giza and Cairo.
From Luxor, a cultural day devoted to the temples at Dendera and Abydos.
First visit? The Giza pyramids with Saqqara from Cairo (9 hours, 55-40). Staying in Hurghada? Luxor by air (14 hours, £260-£320). Staying in Aswan? Abu Simbel by air (6 hours, £220-£260). On the ratio of discovery to tiredness, nothing beats these three.
It is. Flying is comfortable (14 hours door to door, £260-£320); the coach is wearing (16 hours, £70-£110, with the early-morning police convoy). Unless money is really tight we suggest the flight, above all in summer.
Privately, with an English-speaking guide, air-conditioned minibus, Saqqara and Memphis: £40 to £70 a head for 2 travellers, and less per person from 4 upwards. On a standard English-language group tour: £30. Tickets are covered apart from the optional Cheops interior (£10).
Only if you fly. Away at 5.30am, 1 hour in the air, 8 hours in Cairo (pyramids plus the museum or the Grand Egyptian Museum), home for 8pm. £280-£350 a head. By road it is 9 hours each way: not something we would put anyone through.
From Marsa Alam: Luxor by bus (3h30 - shorter than from Hurghada, £50-£90), Port Ghalib Dolphin House (£50-£70), desert quad (£30-£50), and Abu Simbel by 4x4 group (long, £140-£180). To dig: Marsa Alam guide.
At Alexandria and Safaga, yes. Escorted cruise groups can sometimes be waived under a collective exemption, though that rests with your cruise line. The standard 30 USD visa on arrival works in every situation. Read the 2026 Egypt visa for British passport holders.
From about 9-10 years old, yes, as long as a 4am alarm is acceptable. Younger than that, the 14-hour day and the heat at Karnak are simply too much. Instead we suggest 2 nights in Luxor, reached by air or by sleeper train: dearer, but far kinder. Read Egypt for families.
On our packages: included on the long days (Hurghada to Luxor, Sharm to Cairo, Abu Simbel). Not included on the shorter ones (pyramids 9 hours, Saqqara 6 hours), where we let guests decide. Adding lunch costs £10 to £20, restaurant depending.
A party of 40 with an English-speaking guide: £30-£50, set tempo, no photo stops of your own, and you hit each temple alongside every other coach. Private with an English-speaking guide: £70-£140, tempo to suit you, early start to dodge the crowds. Nearly all our guests travelling as a pair go private.
Cultural days out: October to April (20-28°C). Red Sea days out: May to September (sea at 28°C, 30 m visibility). Give Luxor and the pyramids a miss on July and August afternoons, when the temples hit 45°C.
It can, and in 2026 it is our most popular combination: a 7-night Luxor-Aswan cruise followed by 5 nights in Hurghada, with 1 day in Cairo by air from the coast. Set aside 10 to 14 days overall. Read Nile cruise plus Hurghada.
The Sem Élégant Voyage standard: return transfers from your hotel, an English-speaking guide, tickets for the main temples and bottled water in the minibus. We can also book your internal Egyptian flights (Cairo-Aswan, Aswan-Luxor, Cairo-Hurghada) so the country's highlights link up without fuss. Not covered: your flights from the UK, the Egyptian visa, tips, lunch on the shorter days, and the optional tickets (Tutankhamun, Nefertari, inside Khufu's pyramid).
Set to reserve your Egypt day trip?
Message us on WhatsApp today and we will hold your dates before they go. Reply inside 1 hour from our English-speaking team in Cairo, and a firm, itemised quotation within 24 hours.