Hurghada: 4-Day Private Luxor Getaway

Early in the morning, we collect you from your hotel in Hurghada aboard a private A.C. car bound for Luxor , an overnight excursion to Luxor from Hurghada . On arrival you'll meet your private guide, who joins you to visit: Karnak Temple: no site in Egypt impresses more than Karnak . It stands as the largest temple complex ever raised by human hands, embodying the combined achievement of countless generations of ancient builders and pharaohs. The Temple of Karnak is in fact three main temples along with smaller enclosed temples and several outer temples spread over 247 acres. Luxor Temple: the Temple of Luxor served as the hub of the most important festival, the festival of Opet. Largely built by Amenhotep III and Rameses II, the temple provided the setting for the festival's rituals, aimed at reconciling the ruler's human side with his divine office. Lunch is served at a local restaurant in Luxor . In the evening you can enjoy an optional Sound and Light Show at Karnak : the show opens with a historical introduction covering the birth of the great city of Thebes and the raising of the Karnak Temple. It narrates the glorious achievements of several great Pharaohs while you listen to a magnificent, poetic description of the artistic treasures and great legacy the Karnak temple encloses.
Overnight at Nile Palace Luxor or Sonesta St George

Breakfast at your hotel, followed by your private guide and a private air-conditioned vehicle taking you to visit: 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 boy pharaoh Tutankhamen. The tombs were richly stocked with all the material goods a ruler might need in the next world, and most of the interior decoration remains well preserved. Hatshepsut Temple: one of the most beautiful & best preserved of all the temples of Ancient Egypt. Built on three levels with two wide ramps joining them at a central position. Colossi of Memnon: two massive stone statues of king Amenhotep III, the only remains of a complete mortuary temple.
The statues are carved from blocks of quartzite sandstone quarried in Cairo and moved 700 KM to Luxor . The valley of The Queens: also known as Biban el-Harim, Biban el-Sultanate, and Wadi el-Melikat, this Egyptian site was where Pharaohs' wives were buried in ancient times. In antiquity it was called Ta-Set-Neferu, meaning 'the place of the Children of the Pharaoh', since alongside Queens of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties (1550-1070 BCE), numerous princes and princesses were buried there together with various nobles. Among the best-known tombs is that of Nefertari, the most cherished of Ramesses II's many wives, in whose honor he built a beautiful temple at Abu Simbel. Lunch is served at a local restaurant in Luxor , with an overnight stay in Luxor

Early in the morning, we collect you from your hotel in Hurghada aboard a private A.C. car bound for Luxor , an overnight excursion to Luxor from Hurghada . On arrival you'll meet your private guide, who joins you to visit: Madinat Habu temple: in ancient times Madinat Habu was known as Djanet and, per ancient belief, was where Amun first appeared. Both Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III built a temple dedicated to Amun here, and Rameses III later raised his larger memorial temple on the site. Ramesseum: the funerary temple of Ramses II (1279–13 BC), erected on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes in Upper Egypt. Famous for its 57-foot (17-meter) seated statue of Ramses II, of which only fragments survive, it was dedicated to the god Amon and the deceased king. Only about half preserved, the Ramesseum's walls carry reliefs depicting the Battle of Kadesh, the Syrian wars, and the Festival of Min. Deir El Madina: the main cemetery of the royal workmen at Deir el-Medina lies west of the village, on the slope of the Theban hills. Most tombs date to the 19th dynasty, some impressive in decoration and size. By the 20th dynasty they had become family tombs holding descendants of the original owners, with little altered beyond an added subterranean burial chamber. The lower slopes of the eastern hill of Qurnet Murai held burials of babies and children - over a hundred were laid in ordinary domestic pottery jars or amphorae, in baskets (even fish baskets), chests, boxes, or proper coffins. The poorest burials, those of stillborn babies, held no jewelry or amulets, only small vessels of food for the afterlife, while adults' graves sat higher up, many dating from the 18th dynasty.
Lunch during the tour. Overnight in Luxor

Collection from your hotel in Luxor and drive to Dendera temple Dendera temple The Temple of Hathor was largely raised during the Late Ptolemaic period, especially under Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra VII, with later additions during Roman times. Though built by a dynasty of non-native rulers, its design matches other classical Egyptian temples, save for the front of the hypostyle hall, which an inscription above the entrance credits to Emperor Tiberius. The temple complex also depicts scenes of Ptolemaic rulers - for instance, carved onto an external wall is a huge relief of Cleopatra VII and her son by Julius Caesar and co-ruler, Ptolemy XV (better known as Caesarion), both shown in Egyptian dress offering sacrifices. Hathor was likewise regarded as a healing goddess, evident from a sanatorium within the complex, where pilgrims came seeking a cure; sacred water (made holy by pouring it over statues inscribed with sacred texts) was used for bathing, unguents were dispensed by Hathor's priests, and sleeping quarters were provided for those hoping the goddess would appear in their dreams to help them. Drive to Abydos temple from Dendera temple Abydos temple: considered among the most important archaeological sites of Ancient Egypt, the sacred city of Abydos held many ancient temples, including Umm el-Qa'ab, a royal necropolis where early pharaohs were entombed. These tombs came to be seen as highly significant burial sites, and in later times burial in the area grew desirable, boosting the town's importance as a cult site. Today Abydos is notable for the memorial temple of Seti I, bearing an inscription from the nineteenth dynasty known to the modern world as the Abydos King List - a chronological record of cartouches for most dynastic pharaohs of Egypt from Menes to Ramesses I, Seti's father. The Great Temple and most of the ancient town lie buried beneath modern buildings north of the Seti temple, and many original structures and their artifacts are thought irretrievably lost, some possibly destroyed by newer construction. Abydos temple sits roughly 2.5 hours by car north of Luxor and was one of the most important religious sites to ancient Egyptians. Much as modern Muslims hope to complete a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once, ancient Egyptians hoped to visit Abydos, strongly linked for them with the entrance into the afterlife. Several temples were built here, but the largest and most significant is the Temple of Seti I. Seti I, father of the great Ramesses II, saw his son complete most of the temple's construction after his death.
Coming to power just 30 years after the upheaval of Akhenaten's heretical rule, known as the Amarna Period, Seti I focused on restoring faith in the pantheon of Pre-Amarna gods that Akhenaten had sought to destroy. As a result, his temple contains small chapels dedicated to each of the major gods: Ptah, Re-Harakhte, Amun-Re, Osiris, Isis, Horus, and one to Seti himself. Much of the temple complex no longer survives, including the pylon and first two courtyards, so visitors enter through a doorway straight into the hypostyle hall. Many interior wall reliefs remain well preserved, and those toward the rear of the temple, completed during Seti's reign, rank among the finest found in any Egyptian temple. Drive to your hotel in Hurghada