Egypt day tours by city: what you can do from each base

Each base has its own set of day tours. Cairo & Giza has 27 tours, built around the pyramids, the museums and old Cairo; Luxor and Aswan have 10 tours each, built around the temples and the Nile; Alexandria has 5; the Red Sea resorts of Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada, Marsa Alam and Dahab have 21 tours between them: reefs, desert, Mount Sinai, and Cairo or Luxor in a day.

All bases at a glance

Egypt Day Tours (egyptdaytours.net) is a site dedicated to day tours in Egypt. Every tour starts and ends at your hotel, so the city you sleep in decides which tours you can take. The table maps all 73 tours by base.

In Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and Alexandria you can also book a guide only, in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French or Italian, for the sites and hours you choose; see a guide only in Alexandria.

Cairo & Giza

Several Cairo tours start at the Giza pyramids and the Sphinx: full days that go on to Saqqara and Memphis, to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, to the Grand Egyptian Museum, where the Tutankhamun galleries are, or to both museums, and one stays there for a half day. Each museum also has a half day of its own, such as the Grand Egyptian Museum with a guide, and Saqqara, Dahshur and Memphis is a full day at the Step Pyramid, the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid. Old Cairo comes as half days (the Citadel, Coptic Cairo, Islamic Cairo and Al-Muizz Street), as Coptic and Islamic Cairo in a day, or paired with the Egyptian Museum. The rest are shorter: a felucca, a traditional Nile sailboat; a quad bike ride in the desert with the pyramids in view; a Khan El Khalili walk, a street food tour and a cooking class; and three evenings, the pyramids sound and light show with dinner, the Maxim dinner cruise and the Tanoura show night. Further out, Alexandria in a day from Cairo is 216.1 km to its first stop, about 2 h 26 min without traffic, Fayoum 143.2 km to the Wadi El Rayan waterfalls, about 1 h 48 min without traffic, and Luxor is a day by plane. Between two flights, the layover tour goes from Cairo airport to the pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum and back. All of them are on the Cairo page.

Luxor

The Luxor tours split the temples by bank: both banks in one day, the West Bank as a full day, or the East Bank as a morning, back after lunch. Two shorter mornings take Karnak alone or the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut with the Colossi of Memnon. A hot-air balloon flies at sunrise, and the Karnak sound and light show is an evening tour. Further out, Abydos is 171.2 km from a Luxor hotel, about 2 h 13 min without traffic, and Edfu is 111.8 km, about 84 min without traffic. See the Luxor page.

Aswan

The short Aswan tours stay near the city: the High Dam and Philae Temple, reached by motorboat; the Nubian Museum, 2.6 km from your hotel, about 3 min without traffic; the Nubian village of Gharb Soheil by boat; Philae Temple by boat on its own; and a felucca sail around Elephantine Island. The long ones run on the road: Abu Simbel is 283.4 km away, about 3 h 26 min without traffic, and the Luxor day reaches the Valley of the Kings after 225.2 km, about 2 h 52 min without traffic. See the Aswan page.

Alexandria

The Alexandria city tour covers seven stops in one day, from the Kom El Shoqafa catacombs to Qaitbay and the Montaza gardens; our Alexandria guide walks through it. The other four drive out of the city: El Alamein's War Museum is 107.6 km from your hotel, Deir al-Baramus at Wadi El Natrun 133.7 km and the Giza pyramids 214.5 km, about 1 h 35 min, 1 h 46 min and 2 h 26 min without traffic. The Grand Egyptian Museum is a separate day.

The Red Sea resorts

Each of the four resorts has at least one sea or desert day and a Cairo day by plane; domestic flights are not included in the tour price. All of them are on the Red Sea page.

• Sharm El Sheikh: a snorkeling boat into the Gulf of Aqaba toward Tiran Island, a boat to Ras Mohammed National Park and White Island, a quad and camel safari, an evening in Old Sharm, Mount Sinai at night for sunrise, 215.6 km from your hotel, about 3 h 10 min without traffic, and Luxor by plane.
• Hurghada: two snorkeling stops around Giftun Island, a boat to the Dolphin House reef, the Sindbad submarine down to 22 meters below the surface, a desert safari by jeep with a barbecue dinner, and Luxor by road, 289.7 km to Karnak, about 3 h 43 min without traffic.
• Marsa Alam: snorkeling from Port Ghalib, a boat to Samadai reef, a sunset quad safari, and Luxor by road, 355 km to Karnak, about 4 h 11 min without traffic. The Cairo flight leaves from Hurghada, 281 km from your hotel, about 3 h 23 min without traffic.
• Dahab: the Blue Hole, 9.7 km from your hotel, about 14 min without traffic, with a quad and a camel ride; Mount Sinai, 129 km away, about 2 h 6 min without traffic; and Cairo, flying from Sharm El Sheikh.

How the flying days run is in Egypt day trips by plane, and combining bases is in planning several day tours.