Egypt
Pyramids, a 4-night Nile cruise and the Red Sea, bucket-list Egypt for under half what a package costs.
Premium without the price tag.
Forget the €2,500 package. I built my own: Cairo flight (€220 from Thessaloniki (often via Bucharest)), 2 nights at a Giza hotel with pyramid-view rooftop (€60/night), domestic flight Cairo→Luxor (€55), a 4-night Nile cruise Luxor→Aswan booked at the dock the day before (€280 all-inclusive, same boat the agencies sell for €900), and 2 final days in Hurghada by bus (€15) for the Red Sea. Hired a private Egyptologist guide for the Valley of the Kings (€40 for the day, makes everything click). Seven days, €1,150 total. Premium Egypt = bypass the middleman.
What to do, where to go.
- 01Pyramids of Giza + Sphinx (€20)
- 02Egyptian Museum or new GEM (€16)
- 03Nile cruise Luxor → Aswan (4 nights)
- 04Valley of the Kings + Hatshepsut
- 05Abu Simbel dawn flight from Aswan
Places most tourists never see.
Khan el-Khalili at midnight
Cairo's 14th-c. bazaar minus the tourists. Locals drink mint tea, smoke shisha, no haggling pressure.
Felucca sailboat at sunset, Aswan
€10/hour. Captain sings, sun melts into the Sahara, no engines. The best hour in Egypt.
Coptic Cairo & Hanging Church
Christian Egypt most tourists skip. Quiet, free, 4th-century churches inside Roman walls.
Honest numbers, no hidden fees.
- Flights from Thessaloniki€220
- Hotels Cairo + Hurghada (4 nights)€240
- Nile cruise (4 nights all-incl)€280
- Domestic flights + buses€110
- Guides, entries, food€300
