How to See Egypt in a Week in 2022

Good news guys, Egypt is not only  safe to travel in right now, but you can also see all of the highlights in just a week while the crowds are low! I wanted to emphasize both of those points, because I know many of you have been asking if Egypt is safe to travel to, and also because I know one week may seem a little short to see a whole country.

But! I did it, and I even traveled to Egypt solo! So I have tons of insight and tips for anyone who has been dreaming of traveling to Egypt like I was! I must first and foremost disclose that I did take a tour while I was in Egypt since I too was not completely sure what the current safety situation was over there. It ended up being really awesome, and therefore would highly recommend the Egyptian Legacy tour by Lady Egypt Tours to anyone considering going!

***Mention “EgyptAlyssa” for 10% Off!!!***

Ok! Now on to the important stuff! Is Egypt safe?

YES! Please, for the love of God (whichever one(s) you might believe in), TURN OFF FOX NEWS AND CNN! I want to vomit and throw my phone at the TV every time I hear BS news about other countries being unsafe! Please realize that negative news and fear mongering are what drive ratings!!! This makes my job extra hard since I’m just a little solo female travel blogger against the big bad mainstream media. But trust me when I say that the Egyptians told me whole-heartedly numerous times that they were counting on me, and all the trust-worthy travel bloggers/influencers, to experience what Egypt is really like, and bring the news back home to America that Egypt is safe.

Check out my Huffington Post article: “I Traveled Solo to Egypt, and Yes it Was Safe”

So let’s make their dreams and your dreams come true! Since many people aren’t going to Egypt right now, you have an advantage; you can go when it’s less crowded! Since tourism is so down right now, that means you can see the highlights of Egypt a lot faster than normal. Even in as little as a week!

Tourism being low also means that prices are low, especially for tours like the one I did with Lady Egypt! That means you might as well just let someone else plan everything for you, and give your parents the peace of mind that you’ll be safe with other people! I also met some really rad people on my tour, including two other awesome solo female travelers!

Oh and one more thing! I’ve already been seeing the press releases for travel trends in 2017, and Egypt is on everyone’s hot-list! AKA, you should for realz try to get there ASAP before it gets crowded again!

Now on to the seriously fun stuff! The itinerary of the tour plus what I did on my own with my spare days! Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!

Day 0: Go Solo to the Great Pyramids of Giza

I’m calling this Day 0 because I went to Egypt a day earlier than the tour started on purpose so that I could experience what it was like doing things solo there. I stayed at Le Meridian Pyramids which is within walking distance to the Great Pyramids in Giza, and had no problem walking there or walking around inside the pyramid area on my own.

You will get hassled to buy things non-stop, but please don’t let that scare you or give you a negative experience! That type of thing happens in every country with a touristic area, and here the need for tourism is dire so the hassling is a little bit increased.

All you have to do though is say “la’a shukran” which means “no thank you” in Arabic, and they’ll leave you alone.

A few other tips for traveling solo to the pyramids:

• Don’t chit-chat with people selling stuff – it’s nice to say hi, but ultimately they’re trying to suck you into accidentally buying something
• Camel rides should not be more than 100 EGY ($10)
• Kids are going to ask to take photos with you, it’s Ok to do that, but don’t be afraid to say no once it turns into a swarm
• Don’t try anything on, or let anyone take your picture unless you’re willing to pay for it
• Don’t just go see the main entrance of the Great Pyramid and Sphinx…it’s less crowded on the sides

Day 1: Tour of Pyramids & Egypt Museum

This is the first official day of the tour, which means you’ll be meeting your new “family” for the next week, and you also won’t have to worry about pretty much lifting a finger anymore as well. You’ll go back to the pyramids, but since you’re with a group, you won’t have as much time to wander off on your own to get cool non-crowded photos like I did.

Perks of going to the pyramids on a tour though is that you’ll actually have someone to explain the history of them, and to protect you from the people trying to sell stuff. They’ll also help you arrange a safe camel ride if you’re interested.

After the pyramids you’ll head into downtown Cairo by private bus, to go to the Egyptian Museum. There’s a lot of uh…stuff in there, and your guide will explain all about it. But for those of you with short attention spans like me, the highlights of the museum are King Tut’s mask, his burial boxes, and using Snapchat to Face Swap with statues.

You can pay 100 EGY (about $10) for an additional ticket to go into the Mummy Room, where yes, you can see real mummies of ancient Egyptian Kings and Queens. It’s interesting, but for some reason it made me feel a bit uneasy, because for some reason I just don’t think that mummies were ever meant to be unwrapped and put on display in a museum.

2021 UPDATE: The new Gem Museum is opening soon, and all of the artifacts in the old museum will be transferred there!

*Overnight Train to Aswan*

If you haven’t slept on a sleeper train before, this is a pretty cool experience. If you have…it’s basically exactly like any sleeper train experience you’ve ever had, except probably way less crowded. You get your own cabin, and they feed you some dinner and breakfast, and the views as you arrive in Aswan in the morning are amazing.

Just maybe make sure you have your tooth brush, tooth paste, and some wet wipes with you in your carry on…

Day 2: Aswan Temples and the Nile River

After de-boarding the sleeper train, you’ll head to Philae Temple in Aswan before checking into the magnificent Movenpick Hotel. Here you’ll have your first glorious view of the Nile River from this beautiful five star resort that’s included in the tour! Later your tour guide will give you some options for activities to do, like go to the markets, or go have a traditional Nubian dinner in a village nearby.

Nubians are a small population of southern Egyptians who are known for being super clean, having delicious food, and for keeping crocodiles in their homes because they believe a similar-looking God will protect them if they do. Little do they know, it’s probably the actual crocodile that’s keeping their home safe…

Day 3: Abu Simbel in South Egypt and Overnight on the Felucca

If you haven’t already heard of Abu Simbel, it’s a very famous temple all the way down at the southernmost part of Egypt, that’s supposedly built by/for Ramesses II. It’s a super early start since it takes two hours just to get to Abu Simbel from Aswan, but it’s a really cool site to see, and you might as well since you’re already close to it.

Photo tip: Avoid getting a ton of people in your photos here by choosing a side angle of the temple, or going for the “less-popular” temple of Ramesses II’s “favorite wife”. For more photo tips on getting pics with no people in them, check out: 10 Tips for Getting Travel Photos with No People in Them.

After Abu Simbel you’ll ride back to the Movenpick, where you’ll have some down time until it’s time to board the Felucca.

What’s a Felucca, you ask?

It’s a cool Egyptian sailboat, that’s what. You’ll set sail directly from the front of the Movenpick, just in time for lunch on board and a beautiful sunset. Hopefully by now you’ll have gotten to know your fellow tour family members a little bit, because you’ll be sleeping right next to all of them on the deck of the Felucca for the night.

Day 4: Ancient Egypt Temples en Route to Luxor

Luxor is just fun to say, isn’t it? Luxor. Anyway, in the morning you’ll have breakfast on the Felucca before you de-board the boat and board back onto a bus that will take you to Luxor. On the way you’ll stop at a couple more cool temples, including Edfu Temple  and Komombo Temple. Edfu Temple is dedicated to a bird-looking God named Horus, whose eye you may recognize from popular Egyptian artwork and jewelry.

Then you’ll check into another 5 star resort, the Steigenberger, which is also right on the Nile River and in the city center of Luxor. You’ll have the option to go see the infamous Luxor Temple lit up at night, which I heard was amazing, but I was too tired so I stayed in and worked instead. Oh and the Italian restaurant at the Steigenberger has some BOMB seafood pasta BTW!

Day 5: Hot Air Balloon, Valley of the Kings, and Karnack Temple

This was probably the most epic day of my entire trip…and also the most deathly exhausting. Now though of course I’d say it’s totally worth it. You have to wake up early AF, around 4am, in order to get on the hot air balloons to see sunrise over Luxor. I don’t even know what else to say besides it’s f*cking awesome.

After you land your hot air balloon in a field, your tour guide will come find you and take you to the Valley of the Kings. This is the valley where the most notorious ancient Egyptian kings were buried, in underground tombs that reminded me of the opening scene of Aladdin.

King Tut’s tomb is there, which obv costs more to go in (100 EGY or $10 US), but it’s no where near as impressive as all of the other King’s tombs. Why? Well, not to be a bitch, but King Tut wasn’t really that big of a deal when he was alive. I mean, I’m sure he was a cool kid, but he was only King for a couple years before he died from health reasons at the age of 20. The reason why he’s so famous though, is because his little mini-tomb was the first (and currently the only) Egyptian king’s tomb to be found fully intact.

AKA, Tomb Raider and Aladdin must have missed this one when they were busy stealing stuff from all of the bigger ones.

OH, and also, King Tut is still in his tomb…it’s kind of creepy…in a good way. By the way, the reason why there are no photos of the tombs, is because they are strictly forbidden. I do have a couple, but after a guard asked me to show him my phone gallery (I showed my Snapchat instead), I’m going to go ahead and not post them.

After the Valley of the Kings, you’ll be beyond tired, and possibly given the option to go back to the hotel, but don’t. I almost did/tried to, but am really glad I got dragged to Karnak Temple, because it was the biggest and coolest one I saw all trip. Karnak Temple looks similar to Luxor Temple, except it’s twice its size, and currently expanding due to new ruins that have been found.

You should be done with ALL of that by 2pm, which means you’ll have free time to relax at the hotel, OR you can be an overachiever like me and go see Luxor Temple during the day. Later you’ll get back on your beloved bus, for a super fun four hour drive to the coastal city of Hurghada!

Day 6: Relax at the All-Inclusive Resort in Hurghada

You heard me correctly. ALL. INCLUSIVE. RESORT. This is basically like the wind-down portion of the Egyptian Legacy tour, but also super cool to be able to see the Red Sea. Hurghada is essentially a city just for tourists, and you’ll stay in a beach front area with about nine massive resorts in it.

Ours was called the Jaz Makadi Oasis, and it literally made me feel like I was in Palm Springs. Except, I wasn’t spending a ton of money of food and wine because it was ALL INCLUSIVE! Can you tell I was really happy about that? Totally was.

Anyway, you’ll have a full day to relax by one of the many pools, or go splash around in the warm, clear, Red Sea. They have several water activities you can do as well; like snorkeling, parasailing, or even riding a camel on the beach. Of course I had to go choose the most intense water activity, which also required me to stay an extra day/night in Hurghada…scuba diving!

Day 7: Stay in Hurghada or Head Back to Cairo

You get options on this tour, or at least you will if you just ask. I wanted to go scuba diving in the Red Sea, which required an extra night since you can’t fly 24 hours after flying, so that’s what I did on my last day instead of flying back to Cairo. You can arrange to go diving through your tour guide or book yourself a trip online.

The diving was great, especially because the dive boat is a mega yacht, with a mega hot crew, and some seriously incredible ocean views. I also got super lucky and saw a baby whale shark from the boat, which are actually quite common to see during the summer there! Underwater there was really good visibility, tons of coral, and plenty of fish. But no sunken Egyptian treasure. Yes, that’s what I was looking for.

If you head back to Cairo instead, you’ll have have the option of doing the Cairo City Tour. You’ll also have the option to go to the local market which has souvenirs that were actually made in Egypt…not China.

Day 8: Leave Egypt…or Stay…

Just because the tour ends, doesn’t mean you have to leave Egypt! I stayed a couple extra days in Cairo after my Egyptian Legacy tour ended to do some things that were recommended by locals! I even took a day trip all the way out to the Valley of the Whales, where I saw 50 million year old whale bones, went sand boarding, and even chased a waterfall at a real life oasis!

Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and I also truly hope that Egypt leaves as powerful of an impression on you as it did for me! Travel on, my friends!

Please help me spread the word that Egypt is awesome by sharing this post!

Disclaimer: My trip and this post is in collaboration with Lady Egypt Tours, and if you book this tour through my blog, I get a little bit of money that goes towards my travel funds, and keeping my blog afloat! I really would honestly recommend this tour for anyone who has always wanted to see Egypt; it was incredibly organized, fun, safe, and showed me everything I could have possibly ever imagined seeing in Egypt!

Travel Gear I’d Recommend for Egypt:

               

                            

             

          

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