9 Days Exploring EGYPT – Highlights from an Epic Trip

January 2, 2026 Austin

Having a solid local planner made this Egypt trip feel surprisingly smooth, even though the itinerary covered a lot of ground in not much time. I’m sure those with an abundance of time can absolutely travel Egypt DIY, but handing logistics to someone like Ibrahim Eldeeb at Egypt Tours Planner meant airport transfers, guides, tickets, and long drives all just quietly worked in the background while we focused on being present. Overall this was a trip of epic proportions – a bucket list adventure and well worth it.

Itinerary at a glance

9 days in October, 2025
Route: Cairo → Western Desert (Bahariya, Black & White Deserts) → Cairo → Luxor → Hurghada → Cairo.
Transport Modes: Private car/van, 4×4 in the desert, domestic flight, and boat on the Red Sea.

Ibrahim coordinated all transfers, booked hotels in Cairo, Luxor, and Hurghada, arranged local Egyptologist guides, and stitched these pieces into a realistic day‑by‑day plan. What follows is how it played out, and where having an in‑country logistics person made a noticeable difference.

Cairo and Giza

Arrival in Cairo involved meeting a representative inside the airport, help with customs, and a private transfer to the hotel near the pyramids. On a short trip, not starting the week haggling with taxis and SIM cards was a gift.

Our first full day in Cairo included:

Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), with the main galleries spanning from prehistory through the Roman era. So much beauty, wonder, and information – yes my brain kinda exploded.
Citadel of Saladin and the Mosque of Muhammad Ali on the hill above Cairo.
Evening Nile dinner cruise with a simple two‑hour sail, dinner, and the usual entertainment.

The Giza day was its own dedicated block:

Giza Plateau with the three pyramids and the Sphinx.
Memphis, one of the ancient capitals and cult center of Ptah.
Saqqara, with Djoser’s Step Pyramid and surrounding complex.
A short camel ride at the pyramids, organized up front so there was no price discussion on the sand.

Having a private guide here meant skipping a lot of the “where do we go next?” friction and walking straight into the ticket windows and sites. For a first visit, that structure helped keep the day from turning into a heat‑and‑traffic slog.

Western Desert: Bahariya, Black & White Deserts

The Western Desert section started early: a long drive from Cairo to Bahariya Oasis, about five hours, in a private car. From there, a jeep driver took over for the off‑road portion.

The desert circuit included:

Black Desert, with its dark volcanic hills.
El‑Heiz, a small oasis stop with a natural spring and lunch.
Crystal Mountain, a quartz‑rich outcrop along the track.
Agabat Mountain, with it’s fingerlike basalt columns
The valley of “wonders” with dramatic formations and the softest sand I have ever felt
White Desert, where the desert tour concluded for the night with a simple camp among chalk pinnacles.

Camp was basic but comfortable: Bedouin dinner, tea, and snacks around a small fire, and a night under a sky full of stars, followed by breakfast in the quiet morning.

The next day was a reverse of the route back to Bahariya and then on to Cairo, with a late‑day wander through Khan el‑Khalili bazaar before returning to the hotel. That’s a long two‑day push; pre‑arranged drivers and timings kept it from eating more of the itinerary.

Luxor: East and West Banks

From Cairo, Ibrahim arranged an early transfer to the airport and a domestic flight to Luxor, where we met our local guides, Azza and Amir. Having specific people waiting at the airport and hotel took the edge off arriving in a new city or having to haggle with porters and taxi drivers.

The West Bank day started very early with a group hot‑air balloon ride:

Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple, with its terraced architecture and wall scenes.
Valley of the Kings, visiting several tombs from the New Kingdom, including big names like Ramses II.
(honestly, this was my least favorite part of our time in Egypt. Crowded and hot!)

On the East Bank:

Karnak Temple, with its forest of columns and long building history from the Middle Kingdom through the Ptolemaic period.
Luxor Temple, including the mosque of Abu al‑Haggag integrated into the ancient structure and chapels added by Thutmose III and Alexander.
A felucca (sailboat) ride on the Nile in the afternoon was a lovely way to wind down, but unfortunately, the wind didn’t cooperate.

Overland to Hurghada and the Red Sea

From Luxor, Ibrahim set up a private transfer to Hurghada, roughly a four‑hour drive across the Eastern Desert. Hurghada itself was a change of pace: now on the warm water coast, it was beach time on the Red Sea!

We went out with Diamond Red Sea on their boat, the “Isabella,” for two days of reef dives. Our dive guide, Neggar, ran small groups with relaxed but clear briefings and kept the mood fun and us safe. That combination—equipment, boat crew, and guide who all knew the local sites well—turned what could have been a generic day boat into a highlight of the trip.

Marine life was surprising and breathtaking: dense reef fish, some larger visitors like rays, eels, and turtles. Can you spot the crocodile fish?

Return and departure

The last day in Hurghada was intentionally light: open time, then a late‑evening transfer to Hurghada airport, a flight back to Cairo, and onward travel home. All of the airport runs—beginning to end—were covered by Egypt Tours Planner, which removed the usual “do we have the right terminal and timing?” stress from the final hours of the trip.

A Final Plug for Egypt Tours Planner

No, we did not get paid or any kind of special deal from Ibrahim for writing this up (though, i thought the value of the itinerary we did get was pretty great!). But I do want to applaud Ibrahim and his team for making our trip so incredibly wonderous and absolutely completely painless. He really is a master of his trade…

Coherent pacing: Balancing big museum days, pyramid time, a desert overnight, temple‑heavy Luxor days, and Red Sea downtime without burning out halfway through.
Integrated logistics: Airport meet‑and‑greet, private transfers, domestic flights, and long overland legs all coordinated by one point of contact.
Local guides: Matching us with people like Azza and Amir in Luxor and a trusted dive operation in Hurghada, rather than leaving it to last‑minute guesses.

If you have limited time and want to see both the classic sites and the desert and the Red Sea, having a local planner and on‑the‑ground guides made a noticeable difference in how much we could comfortably fit into nine days.