Insider's Cairo Overnight Tour (Single Accommodation)
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Port
Port Said, Egypt
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Activity Level
Moderate
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Excursion Type
All
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Wheelchair Accessible
No
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Starting At
$1979
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Minimum Age
Information Not Currently Available
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Duration
2 days/1 night
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Meals Included
Meals included
Day 1 (L, D)
Drive from the port of Port Said to the outskirts of Cairo. Upon arrival in Cairo, you will visit the fabulous Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. The museum exhibits more than 120,000 objects in its 107 halls, comprising the world's greatest collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts. Two grand halls contain countless artifacts, and one room is reserved for the golden treasures from the legendary tomb of the boy-king Tutankhamon. These treasures tend to astound and delight visitors and attract more than two million people each year.
After your visit to the museum, you will head to the riverbank of the Nile and board the authentic sailing boats, the feluccas, where you will enjoy your lunch while sailing down the River Nile (weather permitting).
After lunch, you will head to your luxurious hotel of accommodation for check in and freshen up before evening activities. Next you will drive to the Old Cairo area and make your way to Moez street. Your unique cultural walking tour will tour take you from one end of the Khan El-Khalili Bazaar to the other, and you find hints of a time when the area was the heart of the old walled city of Cairo. The ancient thoroughfare will lead you along some of the most traditional parts of the bazaar where life has hardly changed for centuries. It runs from the massive fortified Fotouh Gate to the beautifully designed Zuweila Gate. This stretch contains more listed buildings per meter than any other street in the world. In this part of the bazaar Egyptians themselves go to bargain for everyday items and you will be enthralled by the guide's explanations of passing licorice-teasellers, spice markets with obscure roots and magical powders, black-swathed women, and brightly painted donkey-carts overflowing with watermelons and mangos. Your dinner will be served at one of the local restaurants located at this authentic ambiance.
Day 2 (B, L)
After breakfast, check out of your hotel and drive to Memphis, the legendary city of Memphis was founded in 3100 BC by Menes, the Pharaoh who united Upper and Lower Egypt. It became the capital of the Old Kingdom, a center for religion with a huge temple to the god Ptah and the heart of Egypt's busy import-export activity. Then you will visit Sakkara which was the necropolis (cemetery) for the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis and the place where the very first pyramids were built as tombs for kings, not with smooth sides, but with six steps on the outside representing the pharaoh's stepladder to heaven. Here you'll see the famous Step Pyramid of King Zoser, the first pyramid ever built and the world's oldest freestanding stone structure. You will also admire the beautiful tomb art at Sakkara, which gives great insight into the lives of the ancient Egyptians. Leaving Sakkara, you will drive to a local souvenir shop. After this brief shopping stop, you will enjoy an unforgettable tour of the Great Pyramids of Giza, built for the Pharaohs Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus. They were constructed around 2500 BC with blocks of limestone from the plateau and from the Turah hills on the outskirts of Cairo. The Great Pyramid of Cheops alone-the only present-day survivor of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World-required more than 2,300,000 blocks of stone, each weighing about 2½ tons. At its base, it covers 13 acres of land. Millions of visitors come each year to ponder the fascinating mystery of their existence and to explore the ancient burial chambers within. Finally, you will visit the Sphinx and the Valley Temple which houses this mysterious creature that is half lion and half man. The Sphinx is in what was once a quarry to the east of Chephren's pyramid. One theory suggests this Pharaoh's workers shaped the body into a lion and gave it their king's face as a guardian of the necropolis. Almost a thousand years after its construction, King Thutmose IV placed a stele between the front paws. It describes how the Sphinx had spoken to him in a dream, promising him kingship if he cleared away the desert sand that was choking the Sphinx. Explore this and the many other legends surrounding this timeless regal figure.
After your visit, head to one of the leading hotels in Giza where lunch will be served. After your time in Cairo, you will relax in your modern air-conditioned vehicle and join the drive to the port where you will join your vessel (approximately 3 hours and half).
Notes:
Those who wish to enter one of the pyramids can do so upon request (cost included); however, this is not recommended for anyone who suffers from claustrophobia, limited mobility, a heart condition or circulatory and breathing problems. It is very hot and stuffy inside the pyramid, and you must be able to bend over and crouch down at times while you are inside. Important: It is each guest’s sole responsibility to obtain (before traveling) any visas, vaccinations or tourist cards that are required for participating in mid-cruise adventures or overnight journeys, unless noted otherwise in the description. Please be aware that you may need a visa for any and/or all countries that you will depart from and travel through as part of your mid-cruise adventure or overnight journey, and for the country in which you will re-join the ship.
Due to site regulations and preservation considerations, no service animals are allowed at the Pyramids. There are already many stray dogs in the area which may lead to potential conflicts. At the Museum, service animals are restricted by the management.