From Pharaohs to Prophets | 21 Days

Breakfast at hotel. Meet your guide at the hotel for departure on a full day tour of Cairo. You will visit Memphis & Sakkara following which you will have lunch at one of Cairo’s restaurants. After lunch, visit the Pyramids of Giza and the famous Sphinx. Overnight Cairo.

Meals Included:

Breakfast, Lunch

Breakfast at hotel. Meet your guide at the hotel for departure on a full day tour of Cairo. You will visit the Egyptian Museum. Then you will visit The Citadel of Salah Din and the Alabaster Mosque of Mohamed Ali. Your tour will end with a visit to Khan El Khalili, the oldest bazaar in Cairo, where you can shop for souvenirs. Overnight Cairo.

Meals Included:

Breakfast

Transfer to Cairo airport for your flight to Luxor. Upon arrival, a representative will be there to meet and escort you to your 4 nights Cruise. Embarkation and check in before lunch. Lunch on board. After lunch you will visit Luxor and Karnak Temples. Overnight on board in Luxor.

Meals Included:

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast on board then visit the West Bank including the Valley of the Kings, Temple of Queen Hatchepsut and the Colossi of Memnon. Back to cruise, enjoy sailing across the river Nile, reach Esna Lock, cross the lock and continue sailing to Edfu. Overnight on board.

Meals Included:

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast on board. In Edfu, take a tour by horse-drawn carriage to visit the Temple of Horus. Back to cruise, sail to Kom Ombo and visit the temples of Sobek and Horarios. Back to cruise and sail to Aswan. Overnight on board.

Meals Included:

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast on board. Start the visit of Aswan with The High Dam and Philae Temple. After that you will experience the short adventure trip on the Nile by a Felucca (small boat) sailing around the islands where you will view Elephantine Island and the Aga Khan Mausoleum with a visit to the Botanical Garden. Overnight on board in Aswan.

Meals Included:

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Check out after having breakfast on board. Transfer to Aswan airport for your departure flight to Cairo. Arrive and transfer to Alexandria. Overnight in Alexandria.

Meals Included:

Breakfast

Depart from hotel for a full day tour beginning with Pompey’s pillar and The Catacomb of Kom Al Shukafa which is the largest Roman cemetery. After that you will view Fort Qaitbey which has the most visible location in Alexandria, located at the spot of the famous lighthouse of Pharos. After lunch, visit The National Museum, then you will enjoy driving by the Corniche viewing The Montazah Gardens concluding your day with a visit to Alexandria Library, the major library and cultural centre located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Overnight in Alexandria.

Meals Included:

Breakfast, Lunch

After breakfast transfer from Alexandria to Cairo airport for your flight to Amman. Upon arrival at Amman airport, transfer to your hotel. Overnight in Amman.

Meals Included:

Breakfast, Dinner

After breakfast, transfer to Petra en-route visiting Mababa, Mount Nebo and Kerak (Kings Highway). The trip south from the dead sea takes us to the 5,000-year-old King’s Highway, one of the most memorable journeys in the Holy Land, passing through a string of ancient sites. The first city you come upon is Mababa, “the City of Mosaics”. Madaba’s chief attraction, in the contemporary Greek Orthodox Church of St. Georg, is a wonderfully vivid, sixth-century Byzantine mosaic map showing Jerusalem and other holy sites. Ten minutes to the west is the most revered site in Jordan: Mount Nebo, the memorial of Moses, the presumed site of the prophet’s death and burial place. A small, square church was built on the spot by early Byzantine Christians and later expanded into a vast complex. Later proceed further south to Kerak. Kerak lies about 150 Km south of Amman. It is famous of its crusader fortress in the center of underground galleries, rooms and secret passageways and its thick defensive walls pierced by narrow arrow slits where crusader archers held out bravely but in vain for over 100 years. It was the crusaders who made Kerak famous. The fortress was built in 1142 by Payen Le Boutellier, the lord of Montreal. He made Kerak the new capital of the province because it was situated on the king’s highway, where it could control all traffic from north and south. After the tours, proceed to Petra for check in and overnight. Overnight in Petra.

Meals Included:

Breakfast, Dinner

After breakfast, enjoy a guided tour of the many sites of Petra. Petra was carved into the rose-red Sharah Mountains by the Nabateans and lost to Civilization until re-discovered by the Swiss Burkhardt. Around 11,000 BC Stone Age man was already exploiting the abundant natural resources of the Petra region, particularly wild goats and by 7000 BC some of the world’s earliest farmers were living in a walled village at Beidha, cultivating cereals and collecting nuts and fruits.  But Petra really came to prominence in the 7C BC when the Edomites settled on Umm al-Biyara and other mountain strongholds and built a town at Tawilan above ’Ain Musa, in the hills to the north.  Subject to Assyria, Babylonia, and then Persia, Edom in the 3C BC became the nucleus of an Arab state, the Nabateans kingdom and its capital at Petra. Originally from North Arabia, the Nabateans are first mentioned by the 1C BC historian Diodorus, who relates that in 312 BC Antigonus, the One-Eyed sent his general Athenaeus against ‘the land of the Arabs who are called Nabateans’, at that time a nomadic people who raised cattle and sheep and could survive for long periods in the desert, where they created a network of secret underground reservoirs.  Athenaeus attacked a certain strong, though un-walled rock, perhaps the great massif of Umm al-Biyara at Petra, where the Nabateans had left their valuables, elders, women, and children while celebrating a festival, killed some of the Arabs there and made off with vast quantities of frankincense, myrrh and silver.  Some 150 years later the Nabateans had settled, and Petra was the capital of an organized state, walk through the Siq, a narrow and winding fissure between the cliffs, to reach the Treasury, the Roman Theatre, the Courts, Qasr Bint Pharaoun, Temple of the Winged Lion and other monuments. Overnight in Petra.

Meals Included:

Breakfast, Dinner

After breakfast, drive to the desert of Wadi Rum. Enjoy 02 hours 4×4 jeep tour of Wadi Rum, following in the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia then drive to Amman hotel for overnight. Overnight in Amman.

Meals Included:

Breakfast, Dinner

After breakfast check out and transfer to the border. Cross to Israel where you be met and transferred to your hotel. Overnight in Tel Aviv.

Meals Included:

Breakfast

Visit the sites on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, the stage for many of the events in Jesus’ life. Drive along the shore of the sea to Capernaum – known as “His Town”, the centre of Jesus ministry where he spent much time healing the sick and performing miracles. On to Tabgha, the site of Christ’s miracle of feeding the 5,000, visiting the Church of Multiplication, where the mosaic floor depicts a basket with loaves and two fishes, and the Church of the Primacy of St Peter, commemorating Jesus’ reinstatement of Peter as chief among the Apostles. Continue to the Mount of Beatitudes overlooking the sea, where Jesus preached the “Sermon on the Mount”, and it is believed that he picked his 12 apostles. Ascend to the Golan Heights to view the panoramic view of the peaks of Mt. Hermon and the rugged Golan plateau. Visit Banias (Caesarea Philippi), one of the sources of the River Jordan, where Jesus took his disciples, revealing his purpose and His Church before his last trip to Jerusalem and where Simon identified Jesus as the Messiah. Drive to the southern part of the Sea of Galilee to visit the Yardenit Baptismal Site. Return to Tiberias for another night in town. Overnight in Tiberias.

Meals Included:

Breakfast

Visit the sites on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, the stage for many of the events in Jesus’ life. Drive along the shore of the sea to Capernaum – known as “His Town”, the centre of Jesus ministry where he spent much time healing the sick and performing miracles. On to Tabgha, the site of Christ’s miracle of feeding the 5,000, visiting the Church of Multiplication, where the mosaic floor depicts a basket with loaves and two fishes, and the Church of the Primacy of St Peter, commemorating Jesus’ reinstatement of Peter as chief among the Apostles. Continue to the Mount of Beatitudes overlooking the sea, where Jesus preached the “Sermon on the Mount”, and it is believed that he picked his 12 apostles. Ascend to the Golan Heights to view the panoramic view of the peaks of Mt. Hermon and the rugged Golan plateau. Visit Banias (Caesarea Philippi), one of the sources of the River Jordan, where Jesus took his disciples, revealing his purpose and His Church before his last trip to Jerusalem and where Simon identified Jesus as the Messiah. Drive to the southern part of the Sea of Galilee to visit the Yardenit Baptismal Site. Overnight in Tiberias.

Meals Included:

Breakfast

Sail on a boat on the Sea of Galilee to experience the tranquility and scenery little changed during the past 2000 years (subject to conditions and fee). Travel through the Galilee to Nazareth, where Jesus spent his childhood, and the Church of Annunciation, built on the site where archaeologists believe the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary. You will also see Mary’s Well and Joseph’s Church. Visit the ancient synagogue at Beit Alpha, located at the foot of the northern slopes of the Gilboa Mountains, which has one of most preserved and beautiful mosaics in Israel. Drive through the Jordan Valley, passing by Jericho, before ascending through the Judean Mountains to Jerusalem. Overnight in Jerusalem.

Meals Included:

Breakfast

Through remarkable scenery of the Dead Sea we travel to Masada which is situated on an isolated cliff in the Judean Desert. The site was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. Ascend by cable car to the fortress, which was the last stronghold of the Jewish Zealots in their war against the Romans. Visit the excavations, King Herod’s palace, the synagogue, bathhouse and much more. Enjoy the breathtaking view of the Roman camps and the Dead Sea below. Visit the site of the Qumran Caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Nearly 1,300 feet below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on the earth’s surface. Bring your swimsuit as if weather permits it’s possible to “float” on the salty, mineral rich, water. Return to Jerusalem. Overnight in Jerusalem.

Meals Included:

Breakfast

Start the day at the Israel Museum’s Shrine of the Book with the famous Dead Sea scrolls, then a visit to the beautifully renovated model of the Herodian city of Jerusalem, dating back to the time of the Second Temple. Enjoy Ein Karem; a picturesque village in the south western outskirts of Jerusalem. This small village has great significance in Christian traditions, since this is where according to tradition John the Baptist was born. Visit Yad Vashem the official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953, located at the foot of Mt. Hertzl. Visit Bethlehem* – the birthplace of Jesus at the Church of the Nativity and Manger Square. Return to your Jerusalem hotel. Overnight in Jerusalem.

*Site under the Palestinian Authority Jurisdiction, subject to security conditions on day of visit.

Meals Included:

Breakfast

Enter the Old City of Jerusalem where you will see the Western Wall and the actual site of the Second Temple, the Temple Mount. Walk the Way of the Cross, the Via Dolorosa, to Calvary and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, housing both the traditional site of Crucifixion and the Tomb of the Resurrection. To the southwest, just outside the Old City, is Mount Zion, with the traditional tomb of King David and the Room of the Last Supper. Visit the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus spent his last night and was betrayed by Judas. Enjoy the spectacular panoramic view of Jerusalem – the holy city for each of the world’s three great religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam, from atop the Mount of Olives. Overnight in Jerusalem.

Meals Included:

Breakfast

Transfer to Ben Gurion airport for departure. End of services at Tel Aviv Airport.

Meals Included:

Breakfast

Licensed English speaking guide

All guides on Sun Island Tours Egypt Tours are qualified Egyptologists

Tours as per itinerary

20 Breakfasts, 6 Lunches, 8 Dinners

Transportation by air conditioned vehicle

Nile Cruise Luxor to Aswan

Flight from Cairo to Luxor

Flight from Aswan to Cairo

Flight from Cairo to Amman

Entry into the Great Pyramid in Giza

Entry into Unfinished Obelisk, Sound & Light show, East Bank, Botanical Gardens

Abu Simbel Tour from Aswan by air or land

Entrance fees to sites listed in the itinerary

Local taxes

Passport or entry visa into Jordan, Egypt & Israel

Any beverages or food not listed in itinerary

Baggage and personal insurance of any kind

Hotel taxes, service charges and tips of any kind

Beverages during meals and any meal not expressly listed above

Any items of a personal nature