8-Day Egypt Best Sightseeing Private Tour: Cairo, Luxor & Aswan

Highly recommended

It was an absolute pleasure to travel with Your Egypt Tours - special shoutout to Hatem, Ashraf, Mehdi - our fantastic, passionate and empathetic guides who ensured our comfort right from the airport arrival to departure. However the star of our trip was Menna - who ensured that Egypt and her people will forever be etched in our memories. If you are travelling to egypt, I would highly recommend Your Egypt Tours on all aspects - safety, customisation, and the most passionate, knowledgeable egyptologists.

Response from the operator: Thank you so much for your wonderful review and recommendation. We are truly delighted to hear that you had such a memorable experience with Your Egypt Tours. Your kind words about Hatem, Ashraf, and Mehdi mean a lot to us, and we are very happy to know they made your journey comfortable and enjoyable from arrival to departure. A very special thank you as well for your heartfelt words about Menna. We could not be happier to hear that she made such a lasting impact on your trip and helped create memories of Egypt and its people that you will cherish forever. Your appreciation for our focus on safety, customization, and passionate Egyptologists is incredibly rewarding for our entire team. Thank you once again for choosing Your Egypt Tours. We hope to welcome you back to Egypt for another unforgettable adventure in the future.

via Tripadvisor

This was an amazing trip and we credit Your Egypt Tours for taking great care of us.

Long story short: if you want a seamless, well handled, tour o Egypt from Cairo to Aswan and back to Cairo, then this tour via Your Egypt Tours is THE BEST way to do so. More details: Egypt is on your bucket list. You know you need to see these wonders and certainly want your children to see them as well. Planning a DIY trip to this massive number of sites over an entire country is just overwhelming. What to do? Contact Your Egypt Tours. From the beginning, the customer service responsiveness is top notch . Ask them anything, change your itinerary 50 times, present them with alternatives: no matter, they will accommodate. Just before you depart, they will email you a complete itinerary in PDF format, including tickets for trains and intra-country flights if need be. You feel well cared or even before setting food in country. While there, let me give high marks to their representatives on the ground: Peter in Cairo, Peter T in Aswan, Ali In Cairo, Mohammed in Cairo. These guys spoke perfect English and took us around to everything you would want to see on a bucket list tour of the marvels of Egypt. We felt safe 100% of the time. The private driver in the van made all travel seamless, easy and convenient . The guides knew we live for post-worthy photos and showed us the proper places to take our photos of us. We saw everything we wanted to see. We were not overwhelmed by massive itineraries. We had sufficient down time. Some notes: the overnight train from Cairo to Aswan was a fun, one time experience. The train itself is old. The food is pre packaged, the staff is super nice. In American parlance, we would call this experience “rustic.” If you have a princely or princess disposition, you will be challenged to enjoy this. We are glad we did it and glad we only did it one way. If there is one thing to skip, this train ride would be it. The Nile River Cruise aboard the M/S Premium was excellent. Food was good, and most people would liken the quality and flavor to that offered at all-inclusive resorts in Cancun. The rooms were clean and the size appropriate. The stops were fascinating and Peter T from Aswan expertly narrated everything. He is fantastic and should be asked for by name as your guide in Aswan, plus he travels with you Luxor via the cruise. Peter T is very accommodating and flexible and with excellent English skills. We sailed from Aswan to Luxor with several stops for site seeing. No complaints here. After touring Luxor for the day, we flew Nile Air from Luxor to Cairo. Your Egypt Tours will arrange your domestic flight from Luxor to Cairo. I recommend you pick a flight about 5 or 6 PM that day. You really don’t need to wait until 8pm departure time unless you really think your (slower) sightseeing pace requires a flight that time of the evening. Our tour guide Ali S in Cairo is a highly educated, friendly, and no nonsense guide who we were blessed to work with. He helped us avoid pushy peddlers, and kept us on track, seeing things “worthy” of a bucket list tour . He did not take us to places where would might think he was getting a kickback for stopping by. If you have even taken a tour before, you know what I am referring to . He is excellent and you all should ask Salma Yousof , our contact pre travel, for Ali by name. He will not steer you wrong. Note: he is a true Egyptologist and archeologist. His command of history and timelines and multiple religious perspectives made this our most memorable trip ever. Some reminders: 1. Bring no less than $500 cold hard American dollars for tipping when you go on a trip that lasts 5 days. You will want to have a bunch of small bills for tipping as everyone, esp attendants in restrooms, want a tip. 2. No problem using credit cards overall, but some establishments really want you to pay in cash. The solution: use your credit cards whenever you can, and save your American dollars for tipping and for establishments that want that cash and not merchant fees. 3. Weather in Cairo in December is cool, comfortable and dry during the day, and surprisingly cold at night. You don’t need to pack any shorts and you will not likely be doing any outdoor swimming. You need that lightweight North Face puffy coat nearby you all day long. 4. Cell phone batteries drain when you take these many photos. Bring cords and battery banks. 5. The cross body bag worn under your travel vest or coat allows you to travel with your pockets empty and your valuables literally close and safe. This is a great thing to have. 6. You need sunglasses, so don’t forget yours and for your kids. 7. A private tour like this one is the BEST way to see everything. Convenient, safe, and allows you to follow your own pace. Pacing yourself by telling your guide what you can/cannot handle saves you and your kids from burnout. 8 WhatsApp is the messaging app of choice, no surprise here. 9. They don’t use PayPal or Venmo on the ground, so again, have cash and credit cards on the ready. Bring an ATM card if you are worried about falling short on cash. ATM’s are plentiful. Overall, we are super pleased with Your Egypt Tours and recommend them 100% to make your bucket list tour of Egypt smooth, memorable, cost effective, and convenient .

Response from the operator: Thank you very much for such a thoughtful, detailed, and generous review. We are truly honored that you chose Your Egypt Tours for your family’s journey through Egypt and delighted to know that the experience exceeded your expectations. Your kind words about our pre-trip planning, flexibility, and communication mean a great deal to us. Designing a seamless itinerary across Egypt can indeed feel overwhelming, and we are glad we could make the process smooth and reassuring from the very beginning. We are especially grateful for your recognition of our on-the-ground team—Peter, Peter T, Ali, Mohammed, and Salma—who work passionately to ensure our guests feel safe, comfortable, and fully immersed in Egypt’s history and culture. Your feedback on Ali’s professionalism, knowledge, and integrity as an Egyptologist is particularly appreciated, and we are proud to have such dedicated experts representing our company. Thank you as well for your honest and balanced insights regarding the overnight train and your detailed comments on the Nile cruise and domestic flights. Feedback like yours is invaluable to future travelers and helps us continue to refine our services. It was a pleasure to be part of your “bucket list” journey, and we are thrilled that Egypt left such a lasting impression on you and your family. We sincerely hope to welcome you back again—there is always more to discover.

via Tripadvisor

We were treated like VIPs

We arrived in Egypt one day before the start our 8-day tour. We received correspondence from the Co-founder of Your Egypt Tours assuring us that they would help us make all our transfers once we arrived in Egypt. Hadem greeted us and escorted us through the airport as well as to and from our hotels. He helped us through the Egypt visa process at the airport. He and our driver (Johnny) took us safely around Cairo. On the 1st day of the package, we stayed at the Fairmont Nile City hotel. While in the hotel, Youseph (hotel staff) assisted us with our needs. The Fairmont is a 5-star hotel in every way. It is luxurious, has delicious food, and has attentive staff that provide excellent service. The next day, we met our tour guide in the lobby. Mamdouh is a very knowledgeable Egyptologist and a wonderful tour guide. He took us to see the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. We took the camel ride to get to the vantage point where we could easily see all 7 pyramids. Later, Mamdouh gave us a guided tour of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (opened in 1901). The new Grand Egyptian Museum did not officially opened until July 2025. We were lucky because they had not yet moved the Tutankhamun (King Tut) exhibit from this museum to the new one. The itinerary we paid for included an overnight sleeper train ride to and from Cairo. DO NOT TAKE THIS METHOD OF TRAVEL the sleeper train are HORRIBLE! Pay extra for flights to and from the port cities of Aswan or Luxor. Your Egypt Tours will accommodate you if you choose to fly. We were met at the train station by Badawy (Eedo), our personal tour guide for the cruise part of our trip’s itinerary. He took us to the 5-star Nile cruise ship named Le Fayan. It was exceptional in every way. Most of the staff spoke several languages including English which many of them spoke very well. Breakfast, lunch, and dinners were included with this portion of the tour. The breakfasts and lunches were all served buffet style and there was a good variety of items to choose from. The dinners were either ordered from a menu or served buffet style. Either way, the service was very attentive, and the food was delicious. Eedo gave us a guided tour of the granite quarry and the unfinished obelisk in Aswan. Then, we went to the High Dam. He also took us to visit the Philae Temple which is on an island in the Nile River. On our tour, the ship sailed from Aswan to Luxor. Other tours go back upriver from Luxor to Aswan, so the order of the tours included in the package is reversed. At each temple, our guide gave us detailed information about the history of the temple, the hieroglyphs, and the Egyptian gods worshiped. He told us about excavations and preservations of the temples. He also gave us free time to roam around and take pictures. In Kom Ombo, we toured the Temple of Sobek and Horus (Egyptian Gods). In Edfu, we toured the Temple of Horus. While we were in Luxor, we took several tours including Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, Valley of the Kings, and Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple. The Valley of the Kings portion of this package includes tours of 3 tombs. If you want to see other tombs, there is an additional charge. The ones we visited are all decorated with colorful paintings and hieroglyphs. Guides are not allowed to narrate inside the tombs so Eedo talked with us about the tombs and what we would see inside. We went inside Merenptah (KV-8), Ramesses V & VI (KV-9), Ramesses III (KV-11), and Siptah (KV-47). There is quite a bit of walking to get to some of the tombs and there are stairways and hallways inside the tombs. Wear comfortable and sturdy walking shoes. NOTE: Throughout this portion of the 8-day tour, guides will offer several optional tours. The cost of these optional tours is not included in the price of the 8-day tour package. When we first read the itinerary for this 8-day tour package, we believed that our days would be very busy. It turned out that there is quite a bit of ‘down’ time. We listened to the offers and decided to take two of the optional tours: The first optional tour was inexpensive. You are taken on a small motorboat for a ride on the Nile River. You will stop for a tour of a Nubian village and then taken to a sandy beach where you can swim in the Nile River. The small boat ride around this part of the Nile River was relaxing. If you really want to say that you went swimming in the Nile River, then take this tour. Other than that, we don’t recommend it. To us, the Nubian village was depressing. The second optional tour we took was fabulous! The hot air balloon ride is a bit expensive but well worth the money. This early morning hot-air balloon ride tour takes you near the Valley of the Kings to watch the sun come up over the Nile River. You will see dozens of balloons being filled with hot air. Once in the air, our captain piloted the balloon over cultivated fields on the west bank of the Nile. We floated over the Colossi of Memnon. We could see the roads leading into the mountains to the Valley of the Kings & Queens. We were in the air for approximately an hour. It was quiet and peaceful. The captain maneuvered the balloon so that we rotated to see the mountains as well as the Nile River. We have taken hot air balloon rides before. This one was the best we ever had. We got back to the ship in time to eat breakfast and disembark at the given time. All the guides and escorts went above and beyond what we could have expected. They all spoke English very well. We were always treated like VIPs. They were pleasant and attentive. Eedo and Mamdouh both took us to pharmacies to get medications. Hadem and Eedo helped us with ATMs. When I became sick in Luxor, Eedo and the people at Your Egypt Tours arranged for us to check in at a local hotel for the afternoon so that we could rest before our trip back to Cairo. Once back in Cairo, we were taken to the Fairmont Nile City Hotel. The tour package includes tours of 3 more sites while in Cairo. We did not go on any of those tours. The people at Your Egypt Tours arranged for us to get a very early check-in at the hotel so that we could rest and get well. Mamdouh even offered to take us on some of the tours the following morning before we went to the airport. We highly recommend this tour company.

Response from the operator: Thank you so much for taking the time to share such a detailed and insightful review of your 8-day journey through Egypt with Your Egypt Tours. Reading your feedback truly warmed our hearts—it means the world to our entire team. We’re thrilled to know that you felt like VIPs from the moment you arrived! Providing seamless, personal care throughout every step of your journey is exactly what we strive for. We're especially glad to hear that Hadem, Johnny, Mamdouh, and Eedo all made such a meaningful impression—each of them is deeply committed to making every guest’s experience informative, smooth, and memorable. Your praise for the Fairmont Nile City and Le Fayan cruise, as well as the incredible hot air balloon experience, is much appreciated—and we’re glad you enjoyed the beauty and comfort these settings provide. Thank you also for your candid feedback on the sleeper train; we always encourage guests to choose the option that best suits their comfort and appreciate you helping future travelers make informed decisions. We're so grateful that even in moments of illness, you felt supported and cared for. It's truly important to us that our guests feel safe, seen, and looked after—and your kind words confirm that we’re achieving that goal. Thank you again for your heartfelt recommendation and for trusting us with such an important journey. We hope to welcome you back one day to explore even more of Egypt’s wonders—this time, hopefully with perfect health and even more unforgettable memories.

via Tripadvisor

A Honeymoon For the Books!

My husband and I booked this trip as our honeymoon, and it was amazing! The booking process was a breeze, we just had to book our flights to and from Egypt and Your Egypt Tours took care of the rest! We started and ended our time in Cairo with our guide Mamdouh and spent our time in southern Egypt with Ashraf. Both guides were kind, personable, and incredibly knowledgeable. Both of them were able to answer every question we had. Walking around the cities and the cites, there was never a time when we felt unsafe, and everyone was kind and welcoming towards us. Thanks to Your Egypt Tours, our honeymoon was everything we wanted it to be and so much more. We can’t wait to come back!

via Tripadvisor