Luxor Highlights: 3-Day Trip from Marsa Alam

Early in the morning we'll collect you from your hotel in Marsa Alam aboard a private A.C. car for the transfer to Luxor , part of an overnight trip from Marsa Alam . On arrival you'll meet your private tour guide, who will accompany you to: The Valley of Kings, the final resting place of Egypt's rulers from the 18th to 20th dynasty, home to tombs including the great pharaoh Ramses II and the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun . The tombs were once stocked with everything a ruler might need in the afterlife, and much of the decoration inside remains well preserved. Hatshepsut Temple ranks among the most beautiful and best-preserved of all Ancient Egyptian temples, rising across three levels joined by two broad central ramps. Madinat Habu temple was known in ancient times as Djanet, believed by the ancients to be where Amun first appeared. Both Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III raised a temple to Amun here, and Rameses III later added his larger memorial temple on the same site - the First Pylon, the temple of Rameses III. Under his reign Djanet became the administrative center of Western Thebes. A massive fortified wall enclosed the whole complex, with an unusual gateway at the eastern entrance known as the pavilion gate - a copy of Syrian migdol fortresses, hardly what you'd expect to find in Egypt. As a military man, Rameses III likely saw the value in such a design, and probably lodged here from time to time, since a royal palace stood attached to the south of the temple's open forecourt while priests' quarters and administrative buildings flanked either side. A canal with a harbor once linked the temple to the Nile, though the desert swallowed it long ago. The Valley of the Nobles holds close to 500 tombs of Theban nobles and high officials. While the royal tombs were tucked away in an isolated valley, the Nobles' tombs were cut into the mountainside overlooking the Nile, since they never held anything close to royal treasure. Given how many remarkable tombs sit in the area, a few key stops are well worth prioritizing - among them the Tomb of Sennefer. As mayor of Thebes and overseer of Amun's gardens under Amenhotep II (1427-1400 BC), Sennefer's tomb stands as one of the most beautiful and best-preserved burial chambers around, its walls and ceiling filled with colorful scenes of Sennefer with his family alongside everyday life scenes. Lunch is served during the tour, and after some downtime at your hotel, an unforgettable sound and light show awaits at Karnak . The Karnak Sound and Light Show opens with a historical introduction to the birth of great Thebes and the rise of the Karnak Temple, narrating the achievements of legendary pharaohs through a poetic description of the artistic treasures and towering legacy held within the Karnak temple walls.
Overnight at a 5-star hotel

Optional add-on: a balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings, 100 $ per person. Have your camera ready for a breathtaking flight above the historic town of Luxor , catching the early morning sun as it lights up the city and surrounding mountains. From your basket you'll get a bird's-eye view over Luxor 's ancient sites before continuing on to the temples. At Edfu temple , a large, remarkably well-preserved sanctuary dedicated to the hawk god Horus dominates the Upper Egyptian site - the Ptolemaic temple was built over the remains of a far older one, dating from around the reign of Ptolemy the Third (246 B.C.), with wall carvings depicting the myth of the contest between Horus and Seth, likely re-enacted annually as a religious drama. Kom Ombo temple , along with its associated settlement, sits 40 km north of Aswan; dedicated jointly to the deities Sobek and Horus, it dates mainly from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods (332 B.C.-395 A.D).
Transfer back to Luxor and overnight at a 5-star hotel

After breakfast at your hotel, head to Luxor Temple, largely raised by the New Kingdom Pharaoh Amenhotep III and finished under King Tutankhamun and the great Ramses II, whose First Pylon he built and decorated with scenes from his military campaign at Kadesh. Lunch follows, then a horse-carriage city tour of Luxor offers a wonderfully different perspective on daily life and the Egyptian market, taking in downtown streets and hidden corners along the way - an atmosphere that will have you feeling like a true local. You'll then be transferred back to your hotel in Marsa Alam