Schools trip to Egypt

country:	Egypt
location:	Sinai Desert, Red Sea, Nile Cruises, Pyramids, Luxor
departures:	This trip can be tailormade for schools with departures throughout the year
price:	From £995 (10 days) including flights from the UK. This trip can also be booked without flights

Egypt holidays

School trips abroad

the amazing things you'll be doing

The treasures of Egypt were ancient to the Ancients themselves, yet the country's potential to thrill appears truly inexhaustible.

This classic tour includes visits to all the main historic sites but does it in style, incorporating travel by boat, bus, felucca, train, camel, calesh, even donkey!

From Cairo we travel by comfortable overnight train to Aswan. As well as visiting the main sites we'll also have the opportunity to visit a Nubian village and enjoy an authentic home cooked meal. From here we travel northwards once more aboard our 'felucca' - a traditional sailboat - to experience life on the Nile.

Luxor brings us the treasures of the New Kingdom. Finally we see some of the world's most extensive coral reefs on the Red Sea.

Highlights include:

Cairo, full day tour of the Pyramids, Sphinx and Egyptian museum

Luxor, take a calesh to Karnak and visit Valley of the Kings by donkey. Visit the Sunshine Orphanage

Aswan, witness the engineering feats of the Aswan High Dam and the temples of Abu Simbel

Felucca sail trek, sail for 2 days from Aswan to Kom Ombo

Coral reefs, witness the wonders of the Red Sea reefs on a snorkelling trip

If you prefer to focus on expedition and desert exploration, a trek in the Sinai (October to April) is a challenge and a great team building experience.

day-by-day itinerary

Day 1:	Fly from the UK to Cairo. Departing London today we will arrive in Cairo and transfer the short distance to our hotel.
Day 2:	Tour Giza Pyramids, Sphinx and Egyptian Museum; overnight train to Aswan. Today we get a chance visit the last remaining wonder of the ancient world, the Pyramids of Giza. Here, you can opt to venture inside a pyramid, or visit the Solar Boat, designed to transport the Pharaoh’s soul to the afterlife (both optional). Afterwards we will visit the Egyptian Museum, encompassing all aspects of the world of the Ancient Egyptians containing, as it does, some 120,000 items, from ornate jewellery to towering granite statues and, of course, the treasures of Tutankhamun himself. Later this evening we will transfer to the station to catch the overnight sleeper train to Aswan.
Day 3:	Arrive Aswan; camel trek to St Simeon’s Monastery & Nubian dinner. Arriving in Aswan this morning we transfer to our hotel to freshen up and relax before our camel trek to St Simeon’s Monastery. Later today we transfer by launch to the west bank of the Nile to be transported to St Simeon’s by our very own ‘ships of the desert’. St Simeon’s now sits in splendid isolation at the end of a desert valley, an impressive sight and what better way to approach this desert fortress than on the back of a camel! After the visit we transfer back to the east bank, where we’ll take a short walking tour through the streets of this fascinating town and explore the excellent souq, before a traditional Nubian dinner at a local village with friends we have known for years – a highlight for teachers and students alike.
Day 4:	Visit Abu Simbel; embark felucca. Very early this morning we set off by road through the desert to the fabulous rock-hewn temple of Abu Simbel, a major highlight for many who visit Aswan. Cut into the rock face, this enormous structure was raised 61m to save it from inundation by the artificial lake created by the Aswan High Dam. Returning to Aswan we visit the incredible High Dam before we board our feluccas and set sail downstream, travelling through the timeless landscape of the Nile Valley, in the time honoured fashion of the ancient Egyptians themselves. As we sail we see at first hand the intensive cultivation of the Nile Valley and at intermittent points are small villages that depend upon the river for their livelihood. As the golden colours of the late afternoon cast their glow over the land of the Pharaohs we will pull in and set up camp by the banks of the river. Sleeping on the deck of the feluccas, beneath a blanket of stars, we are rocked to sleep by the gentle waters of the Nile lapping against our boats.
Day 5:	Sail towards Kom Ombo; drive to Luxor. This morning we leave early and continue our journey down river, following the fertile green ribbon of the Nile Valley, as it winds through parched desert lands. Disembarking we transfer by road to the magnificent ruins of the Ptolemaic temple at Kom Ombo. After our visit we say goodbye to our feluccas and continue our journey by bus, transferring up to Edfu, where we visit the temple, the largest after Karnak, and built, according to legend, on the site where the god Horus met and vanquished his father Osiris’s murderer Seth. Departing in convoy we then head for Luxor, site of the ancient city of Thebes, the city of a hundred gates and the sacred home of Amun-Re, the supreme god of the Pharaohs.
Day 6:	Donkey trek into the Valley of the Kings and visit Karnak Temple. Rising very early we enjoy a donkey trek at sunrise to the Valley of the Kings. Making our way to the top of the site by donkey rather than by road we appreciate all the more the grandeur and mystery of this setting, where more than 60 pharaohs were entombed. Whilst in the Valley of the Kings we will visit the tombs of three Pharaohs and there is the option to also visit the tomb of Tutankhamen himself (optional). Then we make our way into the next valley to discover the extraordinary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Egypt’s only female Pharaoh. Heading back on our trusty steeds we return to our hotel before our afternoon’s excursion to the stunning Temple of Karnak, by horse drawn calesh. We will enjoy a guided tour of the principal sites of the temple before returning to our hotel.
Day 7:	Drive to Hurghada. Leaving the Nile Valley behind, we head east today, to the shores of the Red Sea. Crossing the barren mountains of the Eastern Desert we head for the resort of Hurghada where we will enjoy the delights of a marine wonderland in stark contrast to the desert scenery that surrounds it.
Day 8:	Full day boat trip on Red Sea. With over 400 varieties of coral and 1500 species of fish, the Red Sea is a hard act for anyone to follow. There are reef fish of every shade and hue living amongst the corals, and turtles, rays and small sharks abound in these rich waters. We include a full day’s boat trip today, to the islands and coral reefs around Hurghada – it’s just like swimming in a tropical fish tank! With a light lunch taken onboard, we will enjoy some leisurely hours swimming, snorkelling or just relaxing, before returning to Hurghada for the evening.
Day 9:	Fly to Cairo; visit Coptic and Islamic Cairo Transferring to Hurghada airport today we take a short flight back to Cairo. exploration of this thriving and enigmatic city. We include a tour of old Islamic & Coptic Cairo, including the Hanging Church and magnificent Citadel, and end in Khan el Khalili, with its narrow alleys full to overflowing with shops and bazaars. Should you prefer to visit the pyramid complexes at Dashur and Saqqara, one of the richest archaeological sites in Egypt and site of the world’s oldest stone building, the Stepped Pyramid of Zoser, this may be arranged.
Day 10:	Transfer to the airport and fly to the UK

how this holiday makes a difference

On this exciting tour to Egypt we have chosen many more interesting and lower impact means of travelling around than just the bus. Where possible we use the train on longer distances. For sightseeing you could be travelling by felucca sailboat, horse drawn carriage (calesh), camel or even donkey! Not only does these have a lesser environmental impact - they are a lot of fun!

Key to our ethos is to ensure that we are an economic benefit to the communities we visit. By using locally owned hotels and transport, eating in a variety of local restaurants and employing local guides in the sites, we spread the economic benefit to as wide a circle as possible and that money stays in country. It is also a great way to get closer to the local culture.

Egypt offers many opportunities to meet local people; all our leaders are Egyptian and on the felucca there is a real chance to get to know the crew. We also take dinner in a Nubian village to see at close quarters how people live.

As well as the above, we support a variety of charities and projects worldwide which support vulnerable communities and habitats including Friends of Conservation, Hope Worldwide and Send A Cow. We are also actively engaged with UK travel industry bodies which promote best practice in responsible tourism, such as Tourism Concern, The Travel Foundation and AITO. Our commitment to responsible tourism is not limited to our overseas operation and we have measures to ensure our UK office operates according to our responsible tourism policy. Carbon offsets for all flights booked with us are included in the tour cost.

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