Egypt, home to the last remaining Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, is a bucket list destination for many travelers. However, given geopolitical turmoil in recent years coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s not necessarily the easiest country to navigate currently. A silver lining for non-rev travelers, right now may be the best time to snag an open seat to see the Great Pyramid and all Egypt’s many ancient delights with the smallest crowds we may see for a long time to come. To help you plan your adventure, we have shared the one week Egypt itinerary we followed, and a handful of helpful tips and recommendations to make your trip as safe and enjoyable as possible.
Our dating and wedding anniversaries are only one day apart, and in this special year we were celebrating 12 years in love, 6 years in marriage. We were excited to be vaccinated, to see borders slowly opening back up, and to be celebrating a fun (albeit totally made up) milestone in our relationship. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to do something truly unique and special, and as we started brainstorming places to go we started seeing glowing reviews of Egypt on our airline’s non-rev traveler Facebook group*. We swapped stories of our childhood dreams of visiting the Great Pyramid, and upon realizing the current dip in tourism to Egypt may not be seen again for a very long time, we committed to taking advantage of this atypical time in tourism.
After some research, we decided to contact a guide who was highly recommended by the employees who had visited recently. We worked together to develop a one week Egypt itinerary to fit our schedule and allow for all the activities and sites we wanted to fit in. (Read more on hiring a guide versus self-guide in the Sojourn Information section below.)
*I have touted the many benefits of joining online non-rev forums in earlier posts. We might not have considered Egypt had it not been for a couple of key posts on that page, and those posts also helped us navigate tricky COVID regulations. I’m so glad to have this resource to help us navigate non-rev travel, and highly recommend seeking out groups and forums like this for every airline employee and their pass riders.
Days 1-2: Giza and Cairo
Pyramids
Day 1 begins in the heart of ancient Egypt – Memphis, the first ancient capital. The open air museum is small, so you’ll only spend a few minutes learning the 5,000 year old history and exploring the grounds before moving nearby to the first of two incredible pyramid complexes – Saqqara.
Saqqara, the necropolis for ancient Memphis, is home to the oldest known step pyramid in the world – the Pyramid of Djoser. However, the entire complex features 5 pyramids, dozens of tombs and monuments, and is one of the most popular active excavation sites in Egypt. Archeologists believe there could be hundreds or more tombs left in the area to discover.
After exploring the grounds and entering one tomb at Saqqara, it’s time for what you’ve been waiting your whole life to see in person – the Pyramids of Giza, which were the burial grounds of the Fourth Dynasty. The largest of the pyramids at this complex, known all over the world as the Great Pyramid, held the record as the tallest man-made structure in the world for 3,800 years.
The complex can be explored on foot, but by far the best way to get both panoramic and up-close-and-personal views is by camel*. There are different options for camel services – from 10 minutes near the base just for photos to over an hour trekking the nearby dunes and around the base. We opted for the latter, and it was worth every single Egyptian pound. We were given as much time as we wanted to enjoy the views from up high, learn how to work with the camels, and take in the breathtaking grandeur of the Great Pyramid from standing at the base.
Round out the evening with a delicious candlelight dinner on the patio of 139 Restaurant, with a spectacular view of the pyramids.
Cairo
Day 2 can be spent exploring Cairo at your leisure. Begin the day at the Egyptian Museum, where the highlight is the sarcophagus and other treasures of the boy King Tutankhamen. The new Grand Egyptian Museum is slated to open summer 2021 at the Giza complex, and many of the original museum’s exhibits have already been moved to the new site. The original museum will remain in Old Cairo, so after summer 2021 you will have both options to explore.
Spend the rest of the afternoon exploring Old Cairo, where you can visit the first mosque in Egypt and shop the bustling street markets. We opted for a more leisurely stroll in the Al Azhar botanical garden, taking in 180 degree views of the “City of 1,000 Minarets”.
Later in the day, head back to Giza for ATV rides over the sand dunes – taking in your last views of the pyramids before departure to the Red Sea.
Pro tip: Whatever you do, do not take a “Nile dinner cruise” in Cairo. The better option is a sunset felucca ride in Luxor. Trust me on this one.
Days 3-5: Diving the Red Sea in Hurghada
On Day 3 travel to Hurghada from Cairo. There are flight options, but Rufio didn’t want to test the Egypt Air safety record more than once this trip, so we arranged for a private car. Arrive early afternoon and spend the rest of the day lounging on the beach enjoying the cool sea breeze – a perfect respite after two long days in the hot Giza sun.
The first dive day with Blue Paradise Dive Center will start out with a shallow reef dive to check gear and weights. I’m usually disappointed by check dives, but as I soon learned the reefs around Hurghada can never disappoint. As soon as we were on the reef, it became obvious what a flourishing ecosystem we had entered.
Over the next two days we would see hard and soft corals in every color of the rainbow, thriving healthy populations of various reef fishes, the biggest eels we’ve ever seen, and more nudibranchs than we could count! As an added bonus, we got to observe a pod of mating dolphins on our last boat ride.
Diving in Hurghada felt like being submerged in an aquarium. Each dive seemed to be better than the last, and I found my heart exploding with pure bliss at several points. After months of “languishing” amid the pandemic, I felt for the first time in a long time like I was flourishing again!
Days 6-7: Luxor
Valley of the Kings
Day 6 begins on the west bank of the Nile. Stop by the Clossie of Menmon en route to the first site, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. Queen Hatshepsut was one of the few female pharaohs, and her reign was considered one of the great ones. Her temple is notable as the only structure belonging to a female in the Valley of the Kings.
Next move fully into the Valley of the Kings, where your admission ticket grants you entrance to 3 of any tombs that are currently open to visitors. The tombs that are open change periodically for preservation purposes; there are also a few tombs that can be entered for an added price. During our visit, our guide recommended the tombs of King Ramses I, King Ramses IX, and King Ramses III (all included in the standard admission ticket) so we could see varying types of tomb structures and some of the best preserved wall paintings in the valley.
End the day with a sunset felucca ride on the Nile. Feluccas, which are traditional wooden sail boats with no motor, have been used for centuries for transporting goods and people down the Nile. They are still used today for fishing and other commerce purposes, but can be hired for a few hours to drift lazily down the river as the sun sets over the Valley of the Kings. You are welcome to bring food and beverages onboard, and we even negotiated a special shisha (hookah) delivery while on the water!
Tip: If you have some extra time, add a tour of Valley of the Queens to your itinerary.
Karnak and Luxor Temples
Your 7th and final day in Egypt is promised to be just as breathtaking as your first. End with a half day spent wandering the expansive Karnak Temple followed by the smaller, but historically and culturally important Luxor Temple.
Both temples were incredibly important religious and cultural sites from the Middle Kingdom through the New Kingdom. Luxor Temple has been an important site for multiple religions over the centuries and is one of the oldest nearly continuously operating religious sites in the world – young couples still sign their marriage certificates in the mosque that was added to the complex in 640 AD.
Tours of Karnak and Luxor only fill up the morning, so if you have time before your departure, take some time to enjoy the very reasonably priced spa services at the Hilton Luxor. Your tired feet will thank you after a week of trekking miles across the many amazing sites in Cairo and Luxor!
Sojourn Information
Tour Guide vs. Self Guide
We were hesitant to hire a guide, because we rarely use organized tours and are quite proud of the many self-navigated itineraries we have devised for ourselves over the years. We did end up hiring a guide, which offered us many advantages over not having one, but there were a few things I would have changed in retrospect.
As I started my normal pre-trip research it became obvious that reliable information on traveling Egypt was harder to come by than most destinations. Additionally, countless other airline employees posted time and again their recommendation to hire a guide for Egypt – the recommendation was consistent, which isn’t typical among this spontaneous, adventure-junkie type population and indicated to us it was probably for a good reason. Once I realized we were going to need a private car hire to get us to and from our dive site in order to have the best flexibility in our travel times, having a trustworthy contact on the ground to help us at least with our transportation seemed like a good idea. At that point, I reached out to the guide most recommended on our non-rev Facebook page, and he happened to be available to help us the week of our travel.
Ahmed Mido was an absolute pleasure to work with, and even better to have as company as we visited the sites in Giza. He was super flexible with our schedule – adding, rescheduling, and removing activities as we wished – and most importantly ensured we had transportation at every step along the way. He also set us up with his counterpart in Luxor, who seamlessly took over as soon as we arrived and made sure we had everything we needed until the moment of departure.
Do you need a tour guide for Egypt? For Giza, I would say without a doubt we would not have had the rich experience that we did without Ahmed. He filled our brains with all the pertinent history we needed to know to fully appreciate the pyramids and surrounding sites, and even the sites we visited in Luxor. The sites around Giza and Cairo are a good distance apart and driving in this area is a nightmare, so having arranged transportation was a huge burden lifted.
I think Luxor could potentially be done on your own – you do lose out on the rich history lessons the well-versed guides provide, but if you started with Ahmed or someone as knowledgeable in Giza then much of what you learn on the front end is repeated when you get to Luxor. Luxor is also much smaller and easier to navigate – we could have possibly gotten away with renting a car here, as the aggressive driving isn’t nearly as bad as the Cairo/Giza area.
One downside of hiring a guide is you are obligated to visit several handcraft markets during your tour days. The good news is licensed guides will only take you to licensed shops, so you are guaranteed by the government to be purchasing authentic goods. You are not obligated to buy anything at these stops, but Rufio and I always did because we know these families have been struggling economically for years since the Arab Spring, which was only further punctuated by the pandemic. I had buyer’s remorse only on one of our purchases, but am incredibly satisfied with everything else we brought home.
Non-Rev Tips
There are a handful of cities you can connect through to Cairo; international flights to Luxor are less attainable at the moment, but may be coming back online soon as international travel starts back up. As of this writing, American citizens still need a confirmed flight out to transit through the EU. We relied on credit card rewards points and miles to book our confirmed roundtrip FRA-CAI flights on Lufthansa and one-way LXR-CAI on Egypt Air while in country.
Where to Stay
You may never have a better view than that from the Marriot Mena House Cairo. The hotel has a storied history – hosting dignitaries, artists, celebrities, and even peace treaties over its 150 years as a lodge – and you can even swim in Egypt’s first pool! More than the view, the hospitality is some of the best we’ve ever experienced, and the interior design is beautiful.
In Hurghada, Hilton Hurghada Plaza is a beautiful place to relax on the shores of the Red Sea. Given our diving schedule and the fact it was Ramadan – so most local businesses were shuttered for the week – we opted-in to their very affordable all-inclusive package on arrival, and definitely were able to eat and drink more than our money’s worth during our stay.
The pyramid view at Mena House is only rivaled by the view of the Valley of the Kings from the Hilton Luxor Resort and Spa. Nestled right on the shore of the Nile, the property is beautiful and the spa was the perfect retreat to relax our tired muscles before our long flight home.
Safety
General
There have been terror attacks at high profile sites in Cairo and other regions in recent years, resulting in many countries still issuing travel advisories for Egypt. While terror attacks are still possible, it is reassuring to see high levels of security at the resorts and most of the historic sites.
Hassling and various types of scams on the streets are common, but easily avoided with a stern and uncompromising “no” to any unsolicited “help” in most cases. I did find it surprising that the “guards” at most of the sites will try to give you access to off-limit areas, give you an unsolicited “tour”, or offer to take photos (again, in areas where photos are allegedly “prohibited”)…of course always for a price. They are a little more relentless than some of the folks on the streets or outside the gates of the sites, so you’ll have to stick to your guns, unless you want to offload all your Egyptian pounds.
That’s a lot of air quotes. I have little patience for hasslers.
We didn’t experience this ourselves, but were warned several times that taxi drivers will also agree to one price before you get in and then demand a higher fare at the end of the ride – just anecdotal, but be prepared if you do find yourself in need of a taxi ride.
COVID-19
There wasn’t a high affinity for mask-wearing among the general public, but masks were required indoors at all the hotels and at the Egyptian Museum. Vaccination coverage isn’t high yet, but we did learn that the hospitality industry was prioritized right after the elderly and healthcare workers. Many of the folks we interacted with closely were already fully or partially vaccinated, as were we. As an added bonus, nearly all of our activities were outdoors and as noted crowds are incredibly thin at the moment.
Egypt required a negative PCR test, preferably with 72 hours of arrival but they would allow 96 hours for travelers from North America and other regions with long travel periods. When we departed, Frankfurt was requiring a negative test (PCR or rapid) within 48 hours of arrival into country. We mistakenly thought the rule was 48 hours from departure, and realized our PCR test would be expired by the time we landed. We (luckily) were able to scramble and get a rapid test on site at ATL (actually the site was set up for Rome and Amsterdam passengers, but a number of Frankfurt passengers were in the same boat we were – we all made it with only a few minutes to spare, as boarding was wrapping up when we all got our results and were cleared to board).
By the time we returned to FRA the next week, the rule had changed to allow negative tests or proof of vaccination or immunity for some travelers. Since we needed a negative test for re-entry to the U.S., we had the Hilton Luxor schedule an on-site test for us the day before departure. The cost was around $130, which is $10-20 more than testing at local hospitals or other approved sites – but no transportation was required and results were guaranteed within 24 hours.
Note COVID-19 entry regulations can change and revert day to day, so be constantly monitoring airport, airline, and country websites before heading to the airport. Read my post on non-rev in the time of COVID for more tips on travel during the pandemic.
What to Pack
Egypt is a conservative religious country, so to be respectful and avoid unwanted stares or catcalls it is best to cover shoulders and past your knees. Despite the heat, I put light leggings under two tunic dresses I packed, just to feel covered. You will surely see many tourists wearing shorts, tanks, bare midriffs – but always best to observe local customs to the best of your ability. The exception would be at resort pools – everyone we saw were wearing Western swimsuits.
We took all our new dive gear to test out in Hurghada, which was one of the reasons we wanted to hire a car instead of rely on public transportation. The checked bag carrying our gear was large, so we didn’t want to deal with crowded train or bus stations with our hands so full.
See our Essential Travel Gear page for all of the items we depend on for our non-rev travels.
We think right now is the perfect time to visit Egypt! As you can see from our photos, we had all these amazing sites and our huge dive boat almost entirely to ourselves. We had all the time and space we needed to wander around and take everything in, which could have been overwhelming with throngs of tourists in our way. Hire a reputable and knowledgeable guide, get a COVID-19 vaccine, take a pre-departure COVID-19 test, pin this one week Egypt itinerary to help you plan, and GET OUT THERE!
Disclaimer: Some links may be affiliates. That means if you make a purchase using the link, I’ll earn a small commission to help me run this blog, at no cost to you! As always, the opinions and recommendations presented in this post are mine, and always an honest reflection on our experiences. Thank you for reading!
*Ethical considerations on camel rides in Giza
The subject of whether camel riding in Egypt is ethical is complicated. For owners who employ ethical training and care standards, it can be a good and sustainable source of income for families living in an economically depressed region – but it can also easily turn into a breeding ground for animal abuse. In general, I oppose utilizing animal services and associated touristy gimmicks around the world – in most cases animals are simply abused for the sake of tourism dollars. In fact, on this trip I refused to include a horse carriage ride as part of our Luxor itinerary, and I would highly advise against using any of the assorted horse-drawn carriage or horseback riding services offered at the Giza complex. Horses aren’t as well suited for the environment as camels AND rampant abuse and malnourishment was evident among the majority of horses I witnessed in the area. The major considerations for ethical camel hire in Giza is whether the trainer uses abusive training tactics, like whipping, and whether the animal is fed, watered, and vetted appropriately. In Giza, the care of the camels runs the gamut from highly ethical treatment and care to obvious abuse and neglect – and it’s impossible to know which operators are good and which are abhorrent until you are physically present. In this case, I weighed the decision to ride based on a few factors. First from an animal safety perspective, this is their natural habitat and these animals are evolutionarily suited for the harsh climate and traversing the desert sands, so the environmental stressors were less of a concern than for the horses working in the heat. Further, a single rider doesn’t pose a physical safety risk for the camel. Next, I trusted our highly-recommended guide to only hire reputable operators for our various activities, and he never let us down. The camels we met appeared healthy – well-fed, no obvious signs of physical abuse or neglect, and the trainer took them to a water source between each ride to rest and rehydrate. Further, our trainer used only verbal commands – even when the camels acted rambunctious – not whippings or other physical punishment, and in general seemed to be very calm and caring with them. The decision to ride a camel should always be given these thoughtful considerations, but you won’t necessarily have the ability to make a decision until you meet the camels and the trainer in person, so keep your expectations realistic. You should always refuse a ride if a camel looks malnourished, sick, hurt or if the trainer engages in physical punishment.
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