SEPTEMBER 2025 TRIP - 14 DAYS/ 13 NIGHTS IN EGYPT

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Day 1 - Sunday, September 14th  

Departure from USA

Day 2 -Monday, September 15th , Arrival to Cairo, Egypt. 

Arrive at Cairo airport. Meet and assist, then transfer to hotel. 

Dinner & overnight at hotel

Day 3 -Tuesday, September 16th, Cairo, Full Day Tour Giza Pyramids 

Breakfast 

Transfer to visit Saqqara, the Step Pyramid of King Zoser, the Mastaba Tomb of Teti, Tomb of Ptahotep, and the Serapeum. (Only opened sites).

Lunch at Local Restaurant

In the afternoon visits to the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, an archaeological site on the Giza Plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. This complex of ancient monuments includes the three pyramid complexes known as the Great Pyramids, the massive sculpture known as the Great Sphinx, several cemeteries, a workers' village and an industrial complex.

Dinner & overnight at hotel.

Day 4 - Wednesday, September 17th, Cairo - Old Cairo 

Whole area is a world-famous destination for Pilgrims and Cave Church 

Breakfast 

Transfer to Visit Cairo’s religious landmarks. A private tour of the city’s Coptic most important locations visited by the Holy Family, where there are several churches and a convent: Abu Serga, the Synagogue Ben Ezra, Saint Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church, also known as the Hanging Church,

Then Visit Cairo’s Coptic Museum houses, one of the world’s biggest collections of Egyptian Christian art. The displays trace the history of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church—one of Christianity’s oldest denominations, and how it was shaped by pharaonic, Roman, and other influences from the second century,

Lunch

Proceed to Moqatem for a chance to visit the magnificent Saint Simon Church (Cave Church), which is dedicated to the renowned shoemaker. While you admire the church's design and art-works, the professional Egyptologist will enlighten you about how Saint Simon played a vital role in moving the Mokattam Mountain. Apart from the architectural masterpieces, the heavenly vibes are sure to uplift you. 

Dinner & overnight at hotel.

Day 5 - Thursday, September 18th,  The Holy Family at Wadi Al Natrun:

Breakfast

The Holy Family crossed the western branch of the river Nile (Rosetta branch) to the west of the Delta and they moved after that to the south to Wadi AI-Natrun. According to tradition, the Virgin Mary and her son the child Jesus Christ blessed the four directions of the valley the desert of Shehiet. Nowadays there are about four monasteries dating back to the 4th C. teeming with monks at Wadi Al Natrun.

1. The Monastery of St. Bishoy. It belongs to the oldest monastic settlements in Wadi Al Natrun. It has suffered from the numerous Berber raids. It's the monastery where Pope Shenouda the third (117) is buried.

2. The Monastery of St. Macarius, 92 kilometers from Cairo on the western side of the desert road to Alexandria. It was founded in 360 A.D. by St. Macarius the Egyptian, who was the spiritual father to more than four thousand monks of different nationalities: Egyptians, Greeks, Ethiopians, Armenians, Nubians, Asians, Palestinians, Italians, and Spaniards. There were among them men of letters and philosophers, and members of the aristocracy of the time, along with simple illiterate peasants. From the 4th C up to the present day, the monastery has been continuously inhabited by monks.

Lunch during the visits.

Dinner & overnight at hotel.

Day 6 - Friday, September 19th, Cairo - National Museum of Egyptian Civilization NEMC & EI-Maadi District

Breakfast

Visit the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.  The NEMC is large museum in the ancient city of Fustat, now part of Cairo, Egypt. The museum partially opened in February 2017 and will display a collection of 50,000 artifacts, presenting Egyptian civilization from prehistoric times to the present day. 

Lunch at Local Restaurant 

Proceed to El-Maadi District: 

The Holy Family left Old Cairo towards the south, where they reached El Maadi district the plural of meaadeia (ferry). Here lays a beautiful church built after the name of St Mary. One of the incidents which happened at that church was that on Friday the third of Paramhat - the twelfth of March 1976, those who attended the Holy Mass, on their going out of the church and while they were still at the outside courtyard by the Nile shore, they saw a big open book on the surface of the water going up and down. Taken out of the water (from an ancient staircase), it was found to be a copy of the Holy Bible, and it was opened to the book of Isaiah, chapter 19, on the verse of "Blessed be Egypt My People" Isaiah 19:25. This Holy Bible is exhibited in a glass closet opened on the same page it was found in a small museum inside the church. This incident happened when some scholars asked pope Shenouda for scientific evidence to the visit of the holy family to this place.

Dinner & overnight at hotel.

Day 7 - Saturday, September 20th, Assuit (The Holy Family at The Monastery of Al- Muharraq & the Monastery of Saint Mary (Deir Drunka)

Breakfast. Transfer to Assuit,

Visit The monastery of Al – Muharraq near the mountains of Qusqam, where according to tradition, the Holy family stayed there for more than six months in an old abandoned house on the edge of the desert, where was consecrated the first church in Egypt, fulfilling Isaiah's prophesy, "on that day there will be a church in the center of the land of Egypt" (Isaiah 19:19)

Lunch during the visits.

Progressing upon the journey we reach our last visit, the monastery of Saint Mary (Deir Drunka). After they had lived six months in the place that was to become the monastery of Al- Muharraq, an angel brought the Holy family the message that Herod had died and that it was safe to return back to Israel. According to recent oral tradition, in order to go home, the Holy family had to journey some 50 km farther to present-day Assiut, the closest to the main Nile port. They found a cave to the southwest of the city where they lodged before finding a boat to take them north which became the monastery of the Holy virgin at Durunka.

Dinner & overnight at the hotel.

Day 8 - Sunday, September 21st, Assiut - Abydos - Denderah - Luxor

Breakfast

Start tour through the historic temple complex at Abydos, which was the center of the worship of Osiris, God of the dead. Although there were shrines dedicated to the parts of Osiris throughout Egypt, the Abydos temple used to be the most important of them. So, the area of Abydos was used as a cemetery dating to predynastic times Christian (4000 BC-600 AD). The pharaohs of the first dynasty were buried in Abydos, including Narmer,   the founder of the first dynasty. Nine or ten temples were built here in Abydos in the first Dynasty to the twenty-sixth dynasty. The array of temples including the great temple of Osiris, the temple of Seti I and the Temple of Ramses II, of which the temple of Seti I is the best preserved. Then we will visit the Temple of Dendera, which contains the Temple of Hathor which belongs to the best-preserved ancient temples throughout Egypt. The entire   complex covers about 40,000 square meters and is surrounded by a wall of mud brick. The present building dates back to the Ptolemaic dynasty and was completed by the Roman emperor Tiberius, but it rests on the foundations of earlier buildings dating back to the 4th dynasty [c. 2613-c. 2494 BC].

Lunch during the visits.

Proceed to Luxor. 

Dinner & overnight at the hotel.

Day 9 - Monday September 22nd, Nile Cruise for 4 nights from Luxor to Aswan

Breakfast. 

Transfer by private bus on board to the Nile cruise.

Lunch on board.

In the afternoon, visit the Monumental Complex of Karnak and Luxor Temple. Luxor is the modern name of the ancient Uaset called Thebes by the Greeks, the beautiful capital during the New Kingdom and the seat of the two temples of Luxor and Karnak. The temple of Luxor, a jewel of Egypt, built by Amenhotep III and completed by Ramses II, surprised by the harmony of proportions and the elegance of its findings; Karnak temple is fascinating for its grandeur and complexity, many details of great interest, from the huge Hypostyle Hall, a forest of 136 columns towering over 20 meters, the elegant obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut, the "Ballroom". At the end of the tour return on board.

Dinner & overnight on board.

Day 10 - Tuesday, September 23rd, Luxor - Esna- Edfu (sailing)

Breakfast. Full Board on Cruise. 

In the morning visit the Valley of the Kings on the west bank of the Nile; proceed to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, and on the way back, the last stop at the Colossi of Memnon, the two famous statues at the entrance of the temple of Amenhotep III. The west bank of Luxor is the area dedicated to funerary structures, because it sits on the West where the sun sets. It was considered the land of the dead and the entrance to the afterlife. Here the pharaohs of the New Kingdom were made to dig their graves in the rock and decorated it with beautiful paintings. Here Queen Hatshepsut built his mortuary temple, the Sublime of the Sublime, extremely bold architectural and disconcerting modernity and the Colossi of Memnon, lonely sentinels, witness the glory and splendor of the distant past. At the end of the visit back on board and start sailing to Esna, where you can watch the passage of the Dam.

Dinner & overnight on board.

Day 11 - Wednesday, September 24th, Edfu - Kom Ombo - Aswan (Sailing)

Breakfast. Full board on Cruise.

In the morning start sailing to Edfu. Upon arrival in Edfu visit the Temple of Edfu dedicated to the god Horus. Built during the Ptolemaic temple of Edfu, it is the best preserved in all of Egypt, and it is the classic example of the Egyptian temple, where all the components, from the pylon at the entrance to the sanctuary, are perfectly legible. The reliefs on the walls depict important moments in the religious life of the ancient Egyptians, the ritual foundation of the struggle of Horus, the god to whom the temple is dedicated, against Seth, the murderer of Osiris god and symbol of the forces of chaos and disorder. At the end of the visits, return on board to continue sailing until Kom Ombo. In the afternoon visit the Temple of the two Gods' Horus and Sobek at Kom Ombo. The temple of Kom Ombo dedicated to two gods, Horus the falcon and Sobek the crocodile, and has the special feature of the duplication of all parts of the temple itself: double entry, double sanctuary, and so on. In both temples, pads, in excellent condition, offering a beautiful example of Ptolemy, where lost the classical era pharaonic Egyptian art is open to new solutions, derived from the encounter with Greek civilization, which produce results of great beauty. At the end of the visit back on board and start sailing to Aswan. 

Dinner & overnight on board. 

Day 12 - Thursday, September 25th, Aswan

Breakfast. Full Board on Cruise

In the early morning, (there is a possibility of an optional excursion to Abu Simbel.)

In the afternoon visit the Temple of Philae and the High Dam of Aswan. Built by 

Ramses II as a testimony of his power in the Nubian land, the cave temples of Abu Simbel are all unique in Egyptian architecture. Facades are decorated with colossal statues of the king, and in the case of the Great Temple, they are more than 20 meters in height. Threatened by the waters of Lake Nasser, the temples, thanks to a campaign by UNESCO, were dismantled and reconstructed 60 meters higher. They were saved from the waters of the Nile that would have made them completely submerged after the construction of the High Dam in Aswan. The beauty of the place and the harmony of the buildings have inspired writers and artists and have attached to them, the nickname "Pearl of the Nile."  

Dinner & overnight on board.

Day 13 - Friday, September 26th, Aswan to Cairo- 

Breakfast on board & check out.  Then Transfer to the airport for domestic flight from Aswan to Cairo,

Lunch on your own.

Dinner & overnight at hotel in Cairo.

Day 14 - Saturday, September 27h, Cairo- Tour of grand Egyptian museum, GEM

Breakfast

Excursion to Explore the Grand Egyptian Museum, as it is considered one of the largest civilizational and archaeological projects in the world. And the largest museum in the world dedicated to one civilization, which is the ancient Egyptian civilization.

Lunch on your own.

Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Day 15 - Sunday, September 28th, Final Departure

Breakfast at the hotel & check out.

Transfer to Cairo international airport & assistance for final departure.