Unique, exotic, dazzling, informative, memorable are all adjectives that are used when describing the exceptional Egypt tours offered by Elegant Cruises and Tours, Inc. Your search for Egypt tours brings you to ElegantCruises.com. We provide splendid cultural and expedition cruises aboard small, elegant ships or riverboats that ply the Red Sea, travel along picturesque European rivers and waterways, explore the exquisite Mediterranean Sea, amble along the coastline of South America, wander through the tropical Caribbean, and embark for the mysterious distant Antarctica continent.

Our Egypt Tours Will Open Your Eyes
Embarking on one of our Egypt tours will open your eyes to not only the ancient land of the Pharaohs, but also to the archaeological legacies of the Greeks, Romans and early Christians, and the plentitude of architecture and art amassed from centuries of successive Islamic dynasties. With a history that spans thousands of years, it's impossible to see everything that Egypt and its surrounding areas have to offer in just one visit. But ElegantCruises.com Egypt tours strive to make the most of your Egypt travel experience by offering a land tour and cruise itinerary accompanied with knowledgeable guest-lecturers of Pharaonic and early Christian art and architecture.

Memorable Egypt Tours: Traveling on Land and by Water
"Monasteries of the Lonely Desert", the name of our Egypt tours has both water and land travel components. For part of your Egypt tours adventure, ElegantCruises.com transports you to the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea where you will travel by cruise ship to a number of scenic and archaeological significant ruins. Embarking on your cruise ship in the lovely resort town of Ein El Sokhna, known for its pristine beaches and crystal clear coastal waters, you will have a full-day excursion to the oldest inhabited monasteries in Egypt, the Coptic Christian monasteries of St. Anthony and St. Paul, hidden deep in the Red Sea Mountains. These fortress style monasteries contain exceptional wall paintings and handwritten manuscripts.
No Egypt tours are complete without a visit to Luxor, a fabulous open-air museum of grand proportions that has been drawing tourists to its awe-inspiring monuments of ancient Pharaonic Egypt since the late dynasties of the Greek and Roman periods. Spending two days in the area, you will visit with your ElegantCruises.com's tour guides all the major great temples at Luxor, the magnificent Karnak Temple complex, the Valley of the Kings, where some 65 tombs including Tutankhamen's have been excavated, the Valley of the Queens, which includes the tomb of Nefertiti and the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon.

Leaving the verdant Nile River, your Egypt tours continue by cruise ship, the m/s Monet, where your next port of call is Sharm El Sheikh on the Sinai peninsula. Several days will allow you to relax in an extraordinary area surrounded by endless desert landscape, white sandy beaches, and the crystal clear blue waters that makes this one of the world's most exceptional diving destinations in the Red Sea. Close by is the slender, dramatically arid peninsula which the Ras Mohammed National Park occupies. A beautiful, natural area that rises to a dramatic promontory of fossilized coral reef overlooking the Red Sea, this park offers a variety of stunning geological features both underwater and on land as well as a breeding area and habitat for both migrating and resident birds.

Elegant Cruises' Egypt tours make sure there will be ample opportunities for swimming, snorkeling, beach combing, and exploring in the national park. In addition, you will take an excursion to The Monastery of the Seven Nuns located at the desert oasis of Wadi Feiran, often called the "Pearl of the Sinai". In this spectacular natural setting you will be able to view priceless works of art, including Arab mosaics, Greek and Russian icons, Western oil paintings, and the second largest collection of illuminated manuscripts. After each day of exploring these ancient historical and natural marvels, you arrive back at your floating "home away from home" to relax and enjoy the amenities offered aboard the intimate and yacht-like expedition ship, the m/s Monet.

During the cruise portion of your Egypt tours, you will delight in this exquisite turquoise blue tinted corridor bordered by the stunning mineral rich red mountains inspired ancient mariners to name the sea Mare Rostrum, or the Red Sea, spectacular beaches and coral reefs, and dotted with ancient trading ports. We encourage you to soak up the sun while enjoying visits to some of Jordan and Egypt's breathtaking historical treasures. In the evenings, after savoring one of the freshly prepared meals that are served in a single easy-paced sitting in the window-lined Nymphea Restaurant, you will have opportunities to make new acquaintances, and enjoy cocktails and light piano entertainment in the Giverny Lounge. Or, if you prefer, you may listen to one of our Egypt tour guest lecturers offering insights into the next days activities. During the land portions of our memorable Egypt tours, you will travel by motor coach, jeep and for the adventurous, horseback. Experience the amazing and dramatic desert landscapes, forested highlands, open farmland plateaus, and deep ravines of Jordan as you travel along the famous ancient trading route known as the King's Highway winding its way through the country's different ecological zones.

You may have seen pictures of Petra, but nothing will prepare you for this most majestic and imposing ancient city that is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of "The New 7 Wonders of the World". Continuing through historically rich Jordan, our Egypt tours itinerary includes such engaging sites as the magnificent 12th-century crusader castle of Kerak, the Byzantine Church of Mount Nebo, which is believed to be the mountain from which Moses saw the Promised Land, and in Amman, Jordan, the Roman ruins of Citadel Hill and its impressive second-century Roman theater. Our varied itinerary and modes of transportation make for a very memorable Egypt tours adventure that will become the centerpiece of dinner conversations for many years.

Our Egypt Tours Offer Optional Pre or Post Cruise Extensions
Exhaustively exploring the city of Cairo and its surrounding areas could easily involve two weeks or more. The two days optional pre or post Egypt tours extension offered by ElegantCruises.com is certainly not enough time to see everything thoroughly, but this condensed visit gives an engrossing glimpse into what this captivating city has to offer. The sheer intensity of Cairo leaves a memorable impression of a chaotic, noisy, colorful, exotic urban metropolis jammed with million of Egyptian, Arab, and African peoples. The ElegantCruises.com Egypt tours extension offers an English-speaking Egyptologist and guide who will take you on a full-day excursion with lunch to Memphis, Sakkara, the Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx. A second full-day excursion to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities and the Khan El-Khalili Bazaar, a colorful, famous souk largely unchanged since the 14th century will conclude this mini-extension. It's an incredible amount of Pharaonic antiquities to experience, but is more than well worth the time. Many visitors to Egypt return again and again for additional Egypt tours. There is just so much to see!

Arriving For Your Egypt Tours
ElegantCruises.com does not include airfare in our Egypt tours rates nor do we book airfare. However we know the importance of reasonable international air rates in the overall convenience and ultimate enjoyment of your Egypt tours vacation and have partnered with reputable travel agents who specialize in finding the best route and airfares. Elegant Cruises & Tours, Inc. design these Egypt Tours programs so they commence and end either in Cairo, Egypt or Amman, Jordan, two intriguing cities that offer unique contrasts of old and new. If you would like assistance in air ticketing, please let us know when you make a reservation. We will provide recommendations. Since the areas surrounding these vibrant cities, Cairo or Amman, offer many excellent site-seeing opportunities if you would like to spend some extra days exploring on your own, our travel partners will help to arrange any additional hotel bookings you would require.

Our Specialty: Culturally Focused Cruise and Tour Programs
After more than 20 years experience in creating culturally focused cruise and tour programs for the enterprising, intellectually curious American traveler, Elegant Cruises & Tours Inc. continues to improve its adventurous vacation programs every year. We believe that Elegantcruises.com Egypt Tours program offers many exciting, fulfilling and unforgettable memories for every one of our intrepid passengers. Welcome aboard to a most memorable Egypt Tours adventure.