Egypt and Jordan tours

country:	Egypt, Jordan
departures:	2008: 29 Nov, 13 Dec, 14 Dec, 20 Dec, 27 Dec 2009: 10 Jan, 11 Jan, 24 Jan, 7 Feb, 9 Feb, 14 Feb, 28 Feb, 14 Mar, 28 Mar, 4 Apr, 18 Apr, 1 May, 2 May, 23 May, 6 Jun, 20 Jun, 4 Jul, 18 Jul, 1 Aug, 15 Aug, 29 Aug, 12 Sep, 17 Oct, 24 Oct
price:	From £795 - £880 (16 days) excluding flights. From £855 - £945 for private group departures. Price includes accommodation, transport, including transfers and some meals

Egypt holidays here

Jordan holidays here

Small group cultural holidays here

the amazing things you'll be doing

Throughout history Egypt’s vast array of breathtaking monuments has proved an irresistible draw to travellers from all over the world. Jordan's treasures are different, and newer to the world's tourists, but equally impressive and interesting in their own right. Combined with warm and friendly people, Egypt and Jordan are countries you cannot afford to miss. So, let us take you on a journey back in time to some of the most amazing sites of the ancient world, and leave you with memories you will treasure for a lifetime.

Starting in Cairo we visit the Pyramids & Sphinx and allow time for a city tour to visit the Egyptian Museum, mosques and bazaar. Next stop is Aswan and the peaceful beauty of the Nile where we visit the island Temple of Philae and the High Dam, before boarding feluccas to sail down the Nile. En-route to Luxor, we visit Komombo & Edfu temples, while in Luxor we see the temples of Luxor & Karnak, the tombs in the Valleys of the Kings, and the temples of Queen Hatchepsut and Medinat Habu.

From Luxor we return to Cairo before saying farewell to the Nile Valley and heading for the coast and the wonderfully laidback beach resort of Dahab where we relax and enjoy some snorkelling at the Blue Hole and can visit Mt. Sinai. Next we head by ferry into Jordan for a jeep safari amidst the stunning desert and mountain scenery of Wadi Rum. We spend the night at a Bedouin camp here before heading to Petra, where we have a full day tour of this world famous Nabatean city.

From Petra we head north up the scenic King's Highway to Amman, with stops to see the crusader castle of Kerak, the intricate Byzantine mosaics at Madaba, and the peaks, churches and distant views at Mt. Nebo. Finally we take a day trip out from Amman to bathe in the Dead Sea, and visit the Roman Ruins at Jerash. The tour finishes in Amman.

day-by-day itinerary

Day 1:	Arrive in Cairo. Transfer from airport to hotel.
Day 2:	Cairo - Pyramids, Sphinx & Saqqara tour (B).
Day 3:	Cairo - free (Museum & City Tour option). Overnight train to Aswan (B).
Day 4:	Aswan - afternoon tour to Philae temple & High Dam.
Day 5:	Aswan. (Abu Simbel option). Island boat trip. Start felucca sailboat cruise (luxury cruise upgrade option) (B,L,D).
Day 6:	Nile felucca cruise (B,L,D).
Day 7:	Finish on felucca. Tour Komombo & Edfu temples. Luxor - east bank temples of Luxor & Karnak (B).
Day 8:	Luxor - west bank sites (Valleys of the Kings, Queen Hatchepsut & Medinat Habu temples). Overnight train to Cairo (B).
Day 9:	Cairo. Free day (optional Alexandria, or Wadi Rayan & Valley of the Whales day trips).
Day 10:	Early morning drive to Dahab - free time (B).
Day 11:	Dahab - Snorkelling at the Blue Hole. Drive to Taba.
Day 12:	Ferry to Jordan. Wadi Rum jeep safari. Bedouin camp (B,L,D).
Day 13:	Drive to Petra and tour (B,L).
Day 14:	Petra. Drive the King's Highway to Amman via Kerak, Madaba, Mt. Nebo (B).
Day 15:	Tours to swim in the Dead Sea, Roman ruins at Jerash (B).
Day 16:	Amman - free time. Transfer to airport for flight home (B).

how this holiday makes a difference

As well as visiting some of the most important sites and learning about Egyptian and Jordanian history, this tour is designed to introduce our travellers to the people and culture of the countries, and not cocoon them from it. This is helped by keeping our group sizes small (max 18, normally 8-14) and also running the tour privately for families, couples or groups of friends.

We take responsible travel very seriously, and have given some details below of how this is implemented on this tour.

Local people:

We started our operations in Egypt jointly with a new local supplier and have been working and growing with them ever since, creating many new jobs in the process.
We use fully-trained local Egyptians and Jordanians as our guides, reps and tour leaders, rather than flying in Western leaders whose knowledge and love of the country will never be as full or passionate.
We use locally owned and operated hotels wherever possible, and one of the highlights of the tour is finding and enjoying a wide range of small local restaurants and snack shops.
The Egyptian felucca sailing boats and Jordanian Bedouin camp that we use on this tour are owned and operated by local people, not large companies, and their use is an essential support to this community, as well as reducing pollution and energy use.
We give information and advice to our travellers on how to respect local customs and religious practices, giving them a greater understanding of the local people and culture.

Environment:

The longer journeys in Egypt are done using public transport, including overnight trains and public tourist coaches, so reducing extra vehicle miles and resulting pollution and energy use. Speed limiters are fitted to the vehicles we use for safety and reduced fuel consumption.
We use a public ferry to cross into Jordan, rather than driving or flying all the way, which again conserves fuel resources.
Using felucca sailboats instead of Nile cruise boats also reduces pollution and energy use and damage to the river banks. While on board, we explain the importance of keeping the river environment clean to all our travellers and ensure any waste produced while we are on the river is either buried (if suitable) or taken away with us.
Explanations are given in Dahab of how to protect the fragile coral reef environment while snorkelling or scuba-diving.
We have a recycling policy in our UK and local offices and re-use or recycle the information booklets we provide to every client on arrival wherever possible.
We do not produce a glossy brochure, concentrating on a comprehensive website, and providing as much information to our travellers as possible electronically, reducing the use of paper and inks.

Local projects & charity support:

We donate £2 for every person travelling on this tour towards local projects – one supporting a small orphanage in Cairo, and another in which we arrange desert clean up trips and promote responsible use of fragile desert environments, particularly in Wadi Rayan and the Valley of the Whales, an important protected area and World Heritage site.
Our travellers are welcome to visit either of these projects and support them personally if they wish.
The company also supports further projects and charities internationally.

Responsible tourism: We send all our travellers a copy of our responsible tourism policy before their holiday, and encourage them to read it and join us in following the ideas and suggestions contained within it.

Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people.

We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel.

'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left).

We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays.

We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism.

This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards.