Egypt tour operator, that’s us! All the answers you need to sell Egypt are just a phone call, email, or yallatours.com visit away. But knowing the basics about Egypt right up front when your clients make the request is a big confidence booster both for you and them and might just help you nail the sale.
IS EGYPT SAFE?
At the time of this posting, January 2024, the first thing you should know about traveling in Egypt is that it is safe.
We welcomed guests to Egypt and toured with them as usual throughout the fall and until today, despite the war in Gaza.
The closest any of our published tours comes to Gaza is in Cairo, more than 200 miles away.
Here is one of the videos from our recent guests in Egypt:
WHERE IS EGYPT?
Egypt is in North Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Red Sea and Israel to the east, Libya to the west and Sudan to the south.
HOW TO GET TO EGYPT?
There are a number of international airports in Egypt but all of our tours begin in Cairo and the vast majority of tourists coming from North America will fly in and out of Cairo.
Many international carriers fly into Cairo, located in the north of the country and one of the largest cities in Africa.
WHY VISIT EGYPT?
We’re going to concentrate on the TOP SITES here (based on our 30 years of experience as an Egypt tour operator) but there’s plenty more to see.
GIZA PYRAMIDS
Giza is a city in the greater Cairo area and home to the Giza Plateau, site of the Giza Necropolis (burial place), which includes the most famous pyramids (pharaonic tombs) and sphinx in Egypt (there are many other pyramids and sphinxes in Egypt). Two-three hours is usually enough time to experience this site. The visit typically involves walking around the plateau to view the three large pyramids, the sphinx and multiple smaller pyramids, tombs and temples.
VALLEY OF THE KINGS
Located near Luxor, the Valley of the Kings is another necropolis, the Theban Necropolis, for pharaohs and nobility. Luxor is the modern name of the great ancient city of Thebes and there is a lot to see in the area. Luxor is in southern Egypt, about an hour’s flight from Cairo. Unlike the pyramid tombs of the Giza Necropolis, the tombs in the Valley of the Kings were hidden deep inside mountains. To date, 63 tombs have been discovered there. A visit to the Valley of the Kings typically includes entrance to three tombs and takes about 1/2 day. The tombs are entered through long, vividly painted corridors leading to vividly painted burial chambers. The contents of most of the tombs were long ago removed by tomb robbers. One exception is the tomb of Tutankhamun (King Tut), which was discovered in 1922 largely intact. The contents of that tomb are displayed in the new Grand Egyptian Museum, which is projected to open in 2024, after multiple delays.
TEMPLE OF HATSHEPSUT
This mortuary temple of one of the very few female pharaohs is located just outside Luxor, at Deir el-Bahari, very near the Valley of the Kings. This sprawling, terraced temple sits in a dramatic spot at the base of high desert cliffs. The site is typically combined with the Valley of the Kings. Visitors usually spend about an hour here.
KARNAK TEMPLE
Located in Luxor, Karnak Temple is probably the most famous ancient Egyptian temple. It’s actually a complex of multiple temples built over a time span of nearly 1,000 years. An average visit here takes about 2 hours.
NILE CRUISE
Most Nile cruises are 3 or 4 nights traveling one-way between Luxor and Aswan (in the far south of Egypt) or vice versa. Cruise vessels are river boats, typically with 50-70 cabins, all outside. Usually there is a small gift shop, a dining room and lounge, a sun deck and a small pool. Cruises include three daily meals and daily shore excursions. Shore excursions from a typical Nile cruise include Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hatshepsut, Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple in Luxor, the temples at Edfu and Kom Ombo along the Nile, and the Philae Temple, the Aswan High Dam and a felucca ride (traditional sailboat) on the Nile at Aswan.
ABU SIMBEL
Abu Simbel is the site of two temples built by Ramses the Great, one for himself and one for his queen Nefertari. The temples are in a remote location overlooking Lake Nasser, which is the massive reservoir formed when the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s. The temples were moved to their present location to save them from inundation. Frome Aswan, Abu Simbel is reached by air, 45 minutes one way, or by land, about 3 hours one way. We include the Abu Simbel visit, usually by air, in most of our tours, not as an optional add-on. This inclusion is unusual among Egypt tour operators.
There you have it, Egypt in a nutshell. Contact us for more in-depth information: 800.644.1595 or information@yallatours.com.
Click to browse our published Egypt tours or contact us, your favorite Egypt tour operator, for help designing a custom program for your clients.
YA’LLA SERVICES IN EGYPT:
private touring
small-group touring on Nile cruises
shore excursions
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