6 Days Cairo and the White Desert Adventure

Your Aten Tours representative meets you at Cairo International Airport, holding a signboard with your name so there's no confusion picking you out from the crowd.

From there, a private air-conditioned vehicle takes you straight to your Cairo hotel.

Check-in is handled for you, and your representative walks you through the full 6-day itinerary before you settle in.

Feeling up for more? An optional Cairo tour can be arranged for the afternoon on request.

• Overnight in Cairo, with a welcome drink on arrival.

After breakfast, your licensed Egyptologist guide meets you for a full day around Cairo in your private, air-conditioned vehicle.

You'll start at the Giza Plateau, seeing the Great Pyramid of Cheops, the Pyramid of Chephren, and the Pyramid of Mykerinus, along with the Great Sphinx that guards them.

From there, you'll spend time at the Grand Egyptian Museum, home to the newly displayed Tutankhamun collection.

By afternoon you're in Coptic Cairo, moving between the Hanging Church, the Ben Ezra Synagogue, and St. Sergius Church, a site tradition links to the Holy Family's stay in Egypt.

A local Egyptian lunch is included along the way, followed by a stop at Khan El Khalili bazaar before your driver takes you back to the hotel for the night.

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast, your guide and private vehicle take you west out of Cairo for the four-hour drive to Bahariya Oasis, crossing open desert most of the way.

Once there, you'll tour the oasis itself: its salt lakes, palm groves, and scattered archaeological sites.

Late afternoon is spent at the English House, the oasis's best viewpoint, timed for sunset over the surrounding landscape.

In the evening, you'll walk through the local village and market for a feel of everyday Oaxacan life, away from any tourist strip.

• Dinner and overnight are at a hotel in Bahariya Oasis.

After breakfast, you'll visit the Museum of the Golden Mummies, where Greco-Roman-era mummies remain in remarkable condition, and then the Tombs of the Nobles, the resting place of Bahariya's 26th-dynasty rulers.

From there, your private 4x4 crosses the volcanic Black Desert, stopping at the Valley of El Haize to enjoy its natural hot spring, with a lunch break along the way.

A stop at Crystal Mountain follows, along with the volcanic rock formations of Agabat Valley. By the time you reach the White Desert, its chalk-white towers are already catching the late afternoon light.

The night is spent camping among them, with a Bedouin dinner, music, and a sky dark enough to see the Milky Way clearly.

• Overnight in a Bedouin tent in the White Desert.
• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After a simple breakfast at the camp, you'll have time to relax and swim at a nearby natural hot spring before setting out with your guide to see more of the White Desert by daylight.

Wind and sand have carved the chalk here into distinct shapes over thousands of years, including a formation locals call the Rabbit, one known as the Mushroom, and the best-known of all, the Sphinx rock, said to be one of the desert's most photographed spots.

From there, your private guide and vehicle retrace the route through Bahariya Oasis back to Cairo. The rest of the day is free once you're checked into your hotel, with an optional Cairo tour available if you'd rather keep exploring than rest.

• Stay overnight in Cairo.
• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

After breakfast and checkout, your driver picks you up for the transfer to Cairo International Airport, timed to your flight.

An Aten Tours representative stays with you through the check-in and boarding process, so there's nothing to sort out alone at the airport on your way home.

This closes out the 6-day loop that started here: Cairo, out to Bahariya Oasis and the White Desert, and back again, all with the same private guide and vehicle for every leg of the trip.

• Meals: Breakfast