Travel Date: December 2023 to January 2024
Egypt was a whirlwind trip in every sense of the word. With over 5,000 years of continuous civilization, Egypt is ancient - in every sense of the word. Nearly everything here traces back to the Nile River; It is a lifeline so dependable that entire belief systems, calendars, and political power structures were built around its annual flooding. To travel through Egypt is to move through one of humanity’s longest uninterrupted stories.
This fact, overwhelming - in the best way possible. Standing in Luxor or the Valley of the Kings, unreal; these tombs were never meant to be discovered, let alone visited but rather to be sealed spaces in time, guiding the soul of pharros to the afterlife. The decor of their tombs still vibrant from mineral pigments mined thousands of years ago, materials that have outlasted empires. Seeing King Tutankhamun’s tomb, it's solid gold casing inlaid with precious stones, felt, dare I say, god like. It was one of those "pinch-me" moments. Nearby mummified animals, including alligators, were preserved as offerings to gods tied to the Nile, a reminder of how religion shaped every aspect of life and death.
One of the most striking moments (in my opinion) of the trip came in Cairo’s “Garbage City” (Manshiyat Naser). Home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, dating back to the 1st century, it was a stark contrast to see coptic crosses and towering churches juxtaposed against some of the most ornate and jaw-dropping mosques I've ever seen.
Beyond that, Cairo itself is immense. Filled with skyscrapers, highways, and nonstop movement, ancient ruins, medieval mosques, informal neighborhoods, and contemporary life all exist side by side. Different centuries are stacked on top of one another. The trip swung between chaos and calm. The stillness of the Nile followed by a stay on the red sea, offered a completely different Egypt. Drifting past temples, villages, and farmland made me understand the common saying, the nile is (one of) the cradle(s) of civilization.
There were moments that felt straight out of a movie. Walking through Philae temple, I noticed carvings and graffiti left behind by members of Napoleon’s French expedition in the late 18th century. It was jarring, and a reminder that these monuments, too, have been shaped by conquest, time, and war. There were moments that genuinely felt like I was in an Indiana Jones film, except the history was real, and the scale...far larger than fiction.
Egypt I say with honestly, doesn’t gently introduce itself. It overwhelms you, challenges you, suprises you, and demands your full attention. And that is exactly why it stays with you.
Egypt Itinerary: Exploring Ancient Civilization with My Mom
My trip to Egypt was especially meaningful because I had the chance to experience it with my amazing mom! Traveling together was beyond special.
We booked a guided tour through TourRadar about six months in advance, and for Egypt, this approach made all the difference. We loved the packed itinerary with our knowledgeable guide, Meena . We did not have worry about logistics, meals, transportation, or meals. It also gave us the space to ask questions and fully engage with Egypt’s history and culture.
Our favorite bonus was our group! We met the most incredible fellow travelers who quickly became lifelong friends and made the journey even more memorable (and hilarious).
You can click the link to view the full itinerary and cost breakdown for this exact tour.
My mom and I paid $1,200 for the full two weeks which included everything, accomation, transportation, entry fees, our guide, food etc.
My mom and I arrived at Cairo International Airport a day early, where we were met by a TourRadar representative who assisted us through customs. We each paid $25 USD for a visa, and the process was quick and straightforward. From there, we took about a 45-minute transfer to The Oasis Hotel, which we absolutely loved. It was clean, spacious, and had everything we needed after a long travel day.
The next morning, we had a slow start. Our hotel offered a breakfast buffet, and we took our time before heading into downtown Cairo to visit the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. We used Uber, which we found to be safe, reliable, and very cost-effective. The ride took about 30 minutes and cost roughly $3 USD, and we tipped generously. For comparison, our hotel offered a private car and driver for $150 USD. Ultimately, it comes down to what makes you most comfortable and fits within your budget.
The museum exceeded our expectations. Admission was about 500 EGP for adults and 250 EGP for students, roughly $10 USD and $5 USD respectively. Looking back, this is one place where I would have loved to do a guided or tour-style visit to gain even more context.
One of the things we loved most was that the museum is organized chronologically, taking you from prehistoric Egypt all the way to the present day. It walks you through daily life, religion, art, and architecture across different eras. For me, the highlight was the Royal Mummies Hall, where remarkably well-preserved kings and queens are displayed, offering an intimate glimpse into ancient burial practices and royal life. The museum also features Nubian and Islamic art, which became even more meaningful later in the trip when we traveled south toward Abu Simbel in Nubian territory.
Afterwards, we grabbed a coffee and pastry in the Garden of Civilizations, a calm and beautiful way to end the afternoon before heading back to the hotel.
The funerary baldachin of Princess Isetemkheb (c. 1000 BCE), made entirely of leather. The winged scarab symbolizes rebirth and the rising sun, and has survived for over 3,000 years.
Admiring a granite statue of Khonsu, the god of the moon, likely dating to around 3,300 years ago, during the reign of Tutankhamun, whose youthful features the statue appears to reflect.
In the Garden Cafe after touring the museum. We ordered some coffee, of course! Popped into the gift store too- but the best view was of the nile and the city outside!
Top: My beautiful mom by the pool at the Oasis Hotel. Sadly, the water was way too cold for a swim, but still a perfect place to relax.
Above: My mom and me outside the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, which opened in 2021 and famously received Egypt’s royal mummies during a nationally televised parade through Cairo.
Bottom Left: The golden coffin of Nedjemankh, a priest from the Ptolemaic Period. Crafted from cartonnage and covered in gold, it’s inscribed with spells from the Book of the Dead and lined with silver to protect him in the afterlife. Returned to Egypt in 2019, it’s now displayed at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.
After breakfast, we headed straight to the Giza Plateau, home to the most iconic symbols of ancient Egypt. I’ve seen dozens of pictures throughout my life (textbooks, Nat Geo, you name it), but there is nothing that compares to seeing the Great Pyramids with your naked eye. Built around 2600 BCE (about 4,500 years ago), they are a testament to time and to unrivaled engineering and ingenuity.
Our guide explained how the pyramids were constructed by skilled laborers, not slaves (not sure I fully believe this…), and how the tombs were once covered in smooth limestone that would have glistened in the sun, with the tops capped in gold.
Nearby, we visited the Sphinx, gazing “watchfully” as it has for millennia, its weathered face guarding the plateau.
From Giza, we continued south to Saqqara, a place that feels quieter but arguably even more important. Here stands the Step Pyramid of Djoser, built around 2650 BCE, considered the first completed pyramid in Egypt and the blueprint for everything that followed. Unlike Giza, Saqqara is sprawling and layered, filled with tombs that tell stories not just of kings, but of officials, craftsmen, and daily life.
What struck me most was learning how burial practices evolved. After the pyramids of Giza were repeatedly looted, later pharaohs abandoned monumental tombs altogether, choosing instead to hide their burials deep underground… cue the Valley of the Kings, another stop later on our epic journey.
By the time we returned to our hotel in Cairo, we were pooped, but also buzzing with excitement from everything we had witnessed and learned.
Top Left: Saqqara was used as a burial ground for over 3,000 years, making it one of the longest-used necropolises in the world! Kinda cool, right? Beneath the Step Pyramid lies a vast underground network of corridors and chambers stretching nearly 6 kilometers, originally lined with blue faience tiles meant to mimic the reeds of the primordial waters of creation.
Bottom Left: The Sphinx has been buried in sand multiple times throughout history, sometimes up to its neck. Evidence shows it was already partially buried by the New Kingdom, and it was cleared repeatedly, including during the reign of Thutmose IV, who credited the Sphinx with granting him kingship in a dream, commemorated on the famous Dream Stele between its paws.
Above: The three pyramids are aligned with true north to within a fraction of a degree -- an accuracy that still challenges modern surveying. Their placement mirrors a carefully planned sacred landscape tied to solar worship, with causeways oriented toward the rising and setting sun -- reinforcing the pharaoh’s role as a divine ruler meant to ascend and join the gods.
An early morning flight carried us south from Cairo to Aswan, where the pace of Egypt immediately shifted. We visited Philae Temple, one of the most remarkable survival stories in Egyptian archaeology. Philae Temple temple does not stand in its original location. When the Aswan High Dam was built in the 20th century, Philae was at risk of being permanently submerged. In a massive UNESCO-led rescue operation, the entire temple complex was dismantled and rebuilt stone by stone on higher ground, preserving its alignment and carvings.
The temple, dedicated primarily to Isis, the goddess of magic, healing, motherhood, and protection, and was believed to be powerful enough to revive the dead. Philae remained an active religious site long after most ancient temples had fallen out of use. In fact, some of the last known hieroglyphic inscriptions in Egypt were carved in the 6th century CE, centuries after Christianity had spread through the region! Arriving by small motorboat, approaching the island as ancient pilgrims once did, made it easy to understand why this place retained spiritual significance for so long.
That evening, we boarded our Nile cruise...
Top Left: Standing in front of the most important temple of the Philae complex, dedicated to Isis. Isis' worship spread far beyond Egypt. Seen as a protector of sailors, her cult traveled along Mediterranean trade routes with merchants and seafarers, and was later embraced by Greek and Roman rulers after Alexander the Great’s conquest of Egypt. Blended into Greco-Roman tradition, Isis became one of the ancient world’s first truly global deities, with temples as far away as Rome, Britain, and the Black Sea.
Above: A view of Philae — built on an island by design and where you can only arrive by boat. Because of its location, the temple was partially submerged for parts of the year, following the Nile’s seasonal floods. Remarkably, Philae remained a center of ancient Egyptian religious practice nearly 4,000 years after the pyramids were built, yes, still active after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Today, its walls carry hieroglyphs, Roman inscriptions, and early Christian carvings side by side!
Bottom Left: My mom and I on our boat approaching Philae. The island was intentionally designed to be reached by water, and the dark staining on the rock marks former Nile water levels, a visible reminder of the river’s seasonal rise and fall before modern dams.
We were up at an ungodly hour (pun intended) to reach Abu Simbel. Driving through a flat, seemingly endless desert as the sun slowly rose, we tried to squeeze in whatever sleep we could. The remoteness of the journey only adds to the impact of the site itself. Carved directly into sandstone in the 13th century BCE, the Sun Temple of Ramses II is a display of power, with four colossal, no really, colossal statues guarding the entrance and staring straight out across what was once Egypt’s southern frontier.
What makes Abu Simbel even more incredible is that the entire complex, much like Philae, was dismantled and relocated block by block in the 1960s to save it from flooding caused by the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Standing there, it’s hard to decide what’s more impressive: the ancient ambition that built it or the modern engineering that preserved it.
After returning from Abu Simbel, we stopped at Kom Ombo. Our guide warned us not to fall into the water here, explaining that this stretch of the river was once home to tens of thousands of crocodiles, which explains why half the temple is dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile god. Kom Ombo is one of Egypt’s most unusual temples, perfectly symmetrical and honoring two gods at once. Carvings on the walls even depict ancient surgical instruments, offering rare insight into early Egyptian medicine.
As the sun set, we continued sailing north toward Luxor, often called the world’s greatest open-air museum. Watching villages and farmland drift past from the deck made it clear how little life along the Nile has changed over thousands of years...
Continuing along the Nile toward Karnak, we passed palm-lined banks and quiet stretches of river. We layed out on the upper deck chatting and coctails. Along the way, small boats pulled up beside us, with men balancing effortlessly as they sold towels and other goods directly from the river. They would toss the items up onto our boat, letting us inspect them at our leisure, and if we decided to buy, we’d send payment back down in weighted plastic bags.
Eventually, we arrived at Karnak Temple, the largest religious complex ever built, expanded over nearly 2,000 years by successive pharaohs and once the spiritual and political heart of ancient Egypt.
From there, we continued on to Luxor Temple, historically connected to Karnak by the Avenue of Sphinxes, a ceremonial route used for royal festivals and royal processions thousands of years ago.
Top: The nile and view of the shore from the top deck of our boat. Did you know the nile flows north? Fewer than 10% of the rivers in the world do.
Middle: Boat of vendor on the nile - was such a cool experience, since ancient times 90% of all commerce has traveled by the river.
Bottom: Selfie action of me and mommy in our cabin room on the cruise; We can't recommend the tour enough!
Top: Standing in front of the Avenue of Sphinxes, a processional road stretching nearly 3 kilometers between Karnak and Luxor Temples, flanked by more than 1,000 sphinx statues. Originally built to connect the two temples, this sacred path was used for major religious festivals.
Bottom: Luxor temple, constructed by Amenhotep III and later expanded by Ramses II around 1400 BCE, played a central role in royal coronations and the annual Opet Festival.
Top: Our tour learning about Karnak... as the largest religious complex ever constructed it was so big that its builders often dismantled older monuments to reuse the stone for new expansions.
Bottom: Karnak once held multiple giant obelisks, including those commissioned by Hatshepsut, one of Egypt’s few female pharaohs, who used them to legitimize her rule and associate herself directly with the sun god Amun
Our first stop of the day was Colossi of Memnon — two enormous statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III once guarding the entrance to his mortuary temple complex. It was a quite and chilly moring and the sky was littered with brilliant hot air ballons. For those who wanted to do the hot air balloon you got a sunrise view of the Nile, farmland, and the desert cliffs where the royal necropolis begins. Ang and I opted for more sleep...
We then headed deep into the desert -- to the Valley of the Kings. This was one of my favorite highlights of the trip. Chosen for its isolation and hidden wadis, it became the New Kingdom burial ground for pharaohs. Remebered, as I mentioned that as tomb raiding became... the new kigdon tured to more hidden...More than 60 tombs have been discovered here, including those of Ramses II and Seti I; the valley’s most famous find was Tutankhamun’s tomb, uncovered by Howard Carter in 1922.
Finally, we visited the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri.