1 month in Egypt 🇪🇬 — Family Vagabonders

Egypt had been on our bucket list for a while. Our kids are really into history and, undoubtedly, history and Egypt go hand in hand!

It was truly fascinating to see all the amazing artifacts, mummies, temples, tombs and pyramids that date back 3000 A.D. (which means they are 5000 years old!!!). It was unforgettable to be able to see the famous golden Tutankhamen burial mask and the Royal mummies as well as the famous Valley of the Kings, Djoser (the oldest pyramid in the world), ancient limestone and granite quarries (and so much more).

Here was our itinerary:

Day 1: arrival in Cairo, jetlag..
Day 2: a guided day trip to Saqqara. You can find more information on our day trip HERE.
Day 3: Early flight to Aswan. Internal flights are easy and convenient. (The most popular airline companies are: Nile Air, Egypt Air and Alexandria Air). Once in Aswan, we arrived at our bed & breakfast around noon. We stayed at the Nubian Lotus and highly recommend them!! We decided to stay on Elephantine Island, a laid back island on the Nile. It’s a quick ferry ride to the mainland and definitely quiet and less hectic then the Aswan. There are restaurants and some small stores, but a perfect place to walk around and see the Egyptian village life.
Day 4: Aswan: we took the ferry to the tombs of the nobels. This was a great spot to walk around, hike up the hill and get a good view of Aswan, the Nile and the Nubian village. From here we went to the east bank of Aswan, the souks here are touristy and you have to be careful not to get scammed. Definitely ask for the price, price check in different stalls or stores and ALWAYS negotiate (like anywhere in Egypt!)
Day 5 - 8: Nile cruise: There are many cruise options, from big and luxurious to the smaller more authentic cruises (and everywhere in between). You can also choose the duration, some are 10 days and some can be a quick overnight cruise. We chose a 3 night cruise that friends had recommended. You can read more about our cruise experience HERE.
Day 8 - 16: Luxor: we picked an airbnb on the West Bank of the Nile (Like in Aswan, the east bank is more developed and hectic, the west side has a much more country vibe with many farms and villages). On the West Bank you will find the famous Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Valley of the Nobles, Hatshepsut mortuary temple, Medinet Habu, Colossi of Mennonite, the sunrise hot air balloons, horse back riding and much more. On the East bank you will find Karnak Temple, The avenue of the Sphinxes, Luxor temple, the souks, etc. Personally we really loved the West bank and highly recommend it. Our Airbnb was walking distance to many of the sites and was in the middle of the sugar cane fields and a small village where locals went about their daily life’s of tending the fields, making sun breads, caring for their animals and kids run towards us saying “HELOOOOO” and asking for bombones (sweets). We highly recommend staying at this airbnb. The host is amazing, the house is modern and big, the location is unique and offers a spacious garden, rooftop with views and perfect for stargazing, admiring the views and seeing the hot airballoons all around at sunrise!
Day 18: bus to Hurghada: there are many options to get around in Egypt: airplane, bus, train and private driver. The train runs from north to south. For example: going from Cairo to Aswan or Luxor (or back). These are long distances and take time. From everything we heard, they are always delayed and tend to be dirty and not well kept, hence we did not use the train. Another popular transportation method in Egypt are the busses. They are about 1/4 of the price of hiring a driver (hiring a private driver is also a good and cheap option, compared to american prices). The bus drive from Luxor to Hurghada is 4 hrs and our bus ride was smooth, comfortable and on time. We used GObus.
Day 18 - 21: Hurghada. This town, by the Red Sea, is known to attract many tourists due to the all inclusive hotels, beaches, diving, snorkeling and other water sports. We stayed 5 days in a half board resort. It was perfect as Kaio got to get his deep sea diving scuba certificate (he had received the basic certificate in Mexico, you can read more about that experience HERE). While Kaio was diving in the Red Sea, we enjoyed pool time and exploring the surrounding area in Hurghada.
Day 21: Bus to Cairo: Again, we had several options to get back to Cairo and decided to go with the most cost effective. This time we used HighJet as the GObus hours to Cairo were very early or very late during the day. Highjet was also a great option and the drive was uneventful and on time. We left Hurghada at 9am and arrive in Cairo at 3pm.
Day 21 - 29: Cairo: We really liked having 1 week in Cairo at the end of our trip. After seeing important regions in Egypt and leaning about the history, it was a perfect wrap to see artifacts and mummies from these regions in the Egyptian Museum and Civilization museum. And the cherry on the cake was spending our last full day in Egypt admiring the world famous and only surviving ancient wonder of the world: the Giza Pyramids! More details about our week in Cairo can be found HERE.