Egypt — The Land of the Pharaohs

Why Egypt

I work with Egypt because it’s still one of the most extraordinary places on the planet to see — five thousand years of pharaonic civilization, the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing, and a Nile river that’s been an unbroken story since the beginning of recorded history. The honest part first: same-sex relationships are not legal under Egyptian law, and the legal context is stricter in practice than in some North African neighbors. What this means for the trip we design is straightforward — we don’t recommend public displays of affection, and we work only with DMC partners and hotels we’ve vetted personally for discretion and welcome. The five-star Nile cruise ships, the Cairo hotels we book, and the desert camps we use have hosted LGBTQ+ travelers for years; behind those doors, the experience is yours alone. The Egypt we design for our clients is curated, paced for adults, and routed away from the package-tour scrum at the major sites — the pyramids at six in the morning before the buses arrive, the Valley of the Kings at the right hour, Abu Simbel at sunrise.

When to go

October — April

Ideal length

10 — 11 nights

Price

From $8,400 pp (flights not included) (based on double occupancy)

The trip in a nutshell

Eleven days that fold three of the great Egypts together. You start in Cairo and the Giza necropolis — the pyramids and the Sphinx, but also the new Grand Egyptian Museum (the largest archaeological museum in the world, opened in 2024) where the entire Tutankhamun collection is now displayed for the first time. Then a private detour into the western desert — Bahariya Oasis, the salt lake, the Black Desert, the White Desert with its chalk formations like ice cream sculptures, a night camped under the stars in proper Bedouin tents. Back to Cairo, then a flight south to Luxor for the spine of the trip: a five-star Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan, with the Temple of Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s funerary temple, Edfu, Kom Ombo, and Philae unfolding from the deck of the ship at the right hour each day. From Aswan, a flight south at dawn to Abu Simbel — Ramesses II’s mountain of sandstone moved here in the 1960s — then back to Cairo for the Egyptian Museum, Islamic Cairo, and the Khan el-Khalili bazaar.

This is not a backpacker’s Egypt. The hotels are five-star, the cruise ship is one of the better ones on the river, the guides are Egyptologists with formal training in the periods you’re visiting. The pacing is calibrated to give you the great sites at the right time of day — early, before the heat and the crowds — and to give you proper rest in between. The thread that runs through is the architecture of time: a civilization that built monuments for an afterlife it took entirely seriously, the Christian and Islamic layers built on top, and the modern country threading itself through the same Nile valley that has been the geography of Egypt for the entirety of recorded history.

What we take care of

A tailor-made itinerary, built around your pace

Handpicked hotels in the right neighborhoods

Local experts, guides and key reservations

Private door-to-door transfers

Experiences designed around you, never a checklist

24/7 support — before and during your trip

Who this is for

This trip is for the gay traveler who’s wanted to see Egypt for a long time and wants to do it properly, once, in comfort. The kind of traveler who’d rather walk the Valley of the Kings at seven in the morning with their own Egyptologist than queue at ten with three coachloads of cruise-passengers. Who finds five thousand years of monumental architecture more interesting than a Red Sea resort. Who knows that the right way to see Karnak is the morning visit, the right way to see Philae is the afternoon ferry, and the right way to see Abu Simbel is the early flight from Aswan.

It’s not a beach trip — though we can add a few days at a private Red Sea property at the end if you’d like a soft landing before flying home. It’s also not a budget trip. The hotels and the cruise we book sit in the upper tier of what’s available in the country, and the guides we use are the most experienced ones we’ve worked with — which is what allows the trip to feel calm rather than chaotic. The pyramids, the Nile, Abu Simbel — these are once-in-a-lifetime sites, and we design the trip around making them feel that way.

Sample itinerary

A representative eleven-day flow from Cairo to Cairo, with the Nile cruise as the centerpiece. Every itinerary is rebuilt around your dates, pace, and whether you want to add the western desert, an extended cruise, or a Red Sea finale.

DAY 1 — Arrival in Cairo | Welcome to the land of the Pharaohs

Your driver meets you at Cairo airport — the visa is handled on arrival, the formalities streamlined, and you’re at the hotel in Giza within the hour. Check-in at a five-star property with views of the pyramids from the rooftop. Welcome meeting with your trip host, then dinner on the terrace as the sun sets behind the Great Pyramid. A soft landing into a country that doesn’t ease into anything else.

DAY 2 — Giza, Saqqara, and Memphis | The pyramid complex in depth

A full day with your private Egyptologist guide, starting before the buses arrive. The Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Khafre with its remaining limestone cap, the Pyramid of Menkaure, the Valley Temple, and the Sphinx — walked properly, with the time to actually understand what you’re looking at. Optional camel ride across the dunes for the classic panoramic view. Lunch at a quality restaurant nearby. Afternoon at Saqqara — the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest stone monument of its scale in the world, predating the Great Pyramid by a century — and Memphis, the ancient capital, with its enormous fallen statue of Ramesses II.

DAY 3 — Cairo to Bahariya | The road to the western desert

Drive west out of Cairo, four hours through the Sahara to Bahariya Oasis — a small green island in the desert with hot springs, date palms, and the entrance to the desert circuits we’ll do tomorrow. Lunch in the oasis. Afternoon visit to the Golden Mummies Museum and the local temples (Ain El Muftella and the temple of Alexander the Great). Overnight at a quiet desert property in Bahariya.

DAY 4 — Black Desert, White Desert, and a night under the stars

Set off in 4x4s with our desert guide. The Salt Lake first, then the Black Desert with its volcanic-looking conical hills, El Haiz Valley, Crystal Mountain (a small ridge of quartz crystals embedded in the desert floor), and then the White Desert — chalk-white limestone formations sculpted by wind into mushroom shapes and overhangs that look like ice cream. Camp in the White Desert for the night, with a proper Bedouin-style camp, dinner under the sky, and stargazing that ranks among the best in the world.

DAY 5 — Return to Cairo

Sunrise breakfast in the White Desert, then drive back across the desert to Cairo. Afternoon arrival, hotel check-in, the evening yours — perhaps dinner at one of Cairo’s older restaurants in the Zamalek district.

DAY 6 — Cairo to Luxor | Karnak and Luxor Temple

Morning flight to Luxor — under an hour. Met at the airport by your Luxor Egyptologist guide, then directly to the temple complex of Karnak — the largest religious building ever constructed, with its avenue of sphinxes, the great hypostyle hall, and the sacred lake. Lunch on board the Nile cruise ship as you set off downriver. Late afternoon visit to Luxor Temple in the soft light, when the temple is at its most photogenic. Welcome cocktail and dinner on board, overnight moored in Luxor.

DAY 7 — Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut, and Edfu

Early breakfast on board, then across the river to the West Bank. The Valley of the Kings — three royal tombs at minimum, including (when accessible) the tomb of Tutankhamun. Hatshepsut’s funerary temple at Deir el-Bahri, cut into the cliff face, one of the most architecturally beautiful sites in the country. The Colossi of Memnon on the way back to the ship. Lunch on board, then a slow afternoon sailing south through the lock at Esna toward Edfu. Optional sunrise hot air balloon ride over the West Bank tomorrow morning, for the early risers.

DAY 8 — Edfu and Kom Ombo

Morning visit to the Temple of Horus at Edfu — the best-preserved temple in Egypt, reached by traditional horse-drawn carriage from the dock. Lunch on board as the ship continues to Kom Ombo. Afternoon visit to the unusual double Temple of Kom Ombo, dedicated jointly to Sobek (the crocodile god) and Horus, with the temple architecture mirrored down a central axis. Evening sail to Aswan, with dinner and a traditional galabia evening on board.

DAY 9 — Aswan and Philae

Morning visit to the Aswan High Dam and the Unfinished Obelisk in the ancient granite quarries. Then a small boat to the Temple of Philae — relocated to its current island in the 1960s when the original site was flooded by Lake Nasser. Afternoon felucca ride around Elephantine Island for the slow rhythm of the upper Nile. Evening on board with a Nubian music and dance performance. Overnight in Aswan.

DAY 10 — Abu Simbel | The mountain of Ramesses II

A very early morning. Disembark the cruise, transfer to Aswan airport, fly south for under an hour to Abu Simbel — Ramesses II’s monumental temples carved into a sandstone cliff in the 13th century BC, themselves moved 65 meters higher and 200 meters back in the 1960s to escape the rising waters of Lake Nasser. Two hours at the site with your guide, then fly back to Aswan and onward to Cairo. Overnight at the Cairo hotel.

DAY 11 — Egyptian Museum, Islamic Cairo, Khan el-Khalili | Departure

The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square — the older one, where most of the collection still lives, including a significant portion of the Tutankhamun finds. (Alternative: the Grand Egyptian Museum near the pyramids, where the Tutankhamun collection in its entirety is now exhibited together for the first time — we choose based on what’s currently on view.) Then Islamic Cairo: the Citadel of Saladin, the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, a walk down El-Muizz street through the medieval city, and the Khan el-Khalili bazaar for the inevitable last-day shopping. Late lunch at El Fishawy, the oldest café in Cairo, dating to the late 18th century. Transfer to the airport for your evening flight home, or stay one extra night for the soft finale.

DAY 12 — Optional extension | Red Sea, oasis, or extra cruise nights

If you’d rather not fly home immediately, we can add an extension: three nights at a private boutique property in El Gouna or the southern Red Sea for the beach finale; a longer cruise (some itineraries go all the way from Luxor to Lake Nasser); or an extra desert circuit through the Siwa Oasis on the Libyan border for the most remote stretch of the country.

Hotels we love

Cairo and the Nile both have specific properties we use repeatedly — chosen for view, for discretion, and for staff who know exactly what to do when checking in two men together. We adjust the cruise ship and the hotels based on your trip and your style.

Nile cruise ship · Five-star

We use one or two specific five-star cruise ships running the Luxor-to-Aswan route. The ships are smaller than the typical river-cruise model — 30 to 50 cabins rather than 100+ — with proper interior design, a quiet sundeck, and a kitchen we trust. We match the ship to your travel dates and the season.

Cairo hotel · Downtown or Zamalek

For the final two nights in Cairo we move from Giza to either a heritage hotel in downtown Cairo or a boutique stay in Zamalek (the leafy island in the Nile, the right neighborhood for the city at the human-scale level). The choice depends on what you’d like to do on your final day.

Make this itinerary yours

Tell us your dates, pace, and any preferences — Red Sea extension, longer cruise, dietary requirements for the cruise kitchen — and within 48 hours we’ll come back with a tailored version of this itinerary, calibrated for the season, the moon phase if you care about the desert night, and the kind of finale you want.

PLAN YOUR TRIP

Gay Up Travel

Travel as you are.