NextTribe Discovery Call: Questions about this or any other trip? Click here to schedule a phone call with Jeannie Edmunds, COO of NextTribe.
Here’s the thing about Egypt: you think you know it. You’ve seen the pyramids in every documentary, on every screensaver, in the background of approximately 400 million Instagram posts. And then you actually stand at the base of one, with an Egyptologist telling you things that no caption has ever prepared you for, and the whole country cracks open in a completely new way.
This 10-day adventure lands you in the world’s oldest living culture — the same one that produced Cleopatra, who didn’t just rule Egypt but spoke nine languages and outmaneuvered Rome for decades. This trip, though, is not just about standing in the long shadow of the ancients but also spending real time with the women who live there now. Women who run food businesses out of Cairo apartments, who weave in workshops along the Nile, who bake bread in rural kitchens and invite strangers in to learn. That version of Egypt doesn’t make it onto screensavers. It’s what this trip is built around.
We have easy, interest-free payment options.
This is a journey designed from the ground up as a women-led, women-focused experience — our Egyptologist guide is a woman, our Cairo hotel is women-owned, and the encounters we’ve woven through the itinerary aren’t touristy performances. They’re real.
You’ll sit in a Nubian woman’s home on Soheil Island, eat lunch she cooked. You’ll taste your way through downtown Cairo with a food tour run by women, stopping at spots where the stories behind the food are as good as the food itself. You’ll visit Fair Trade cooperatives, artisan markets, and weaving workshops where women are running actual businesses, not posing for photos.
And then there’s the Nile.
Six of our nine nights are spent aboard the Fatima, a traditional dahabiya — the slow, sail-powered wooden vessels that wealthy Egyptians and 19th-century travelers used long before the age of the massive floating hotel cruise ship. From the Fatima, which carries just 15 guests, we'll witness the Nile doing what it has done for 5,000 years.
Please note that this is a sample itinerary. Accommodations and activities may change but we will always replace them with something of equal or better value.
Activity Level 3:
Walking tours of temples and ancient sites. Must be comfortable on your feet for large parts of the day. Expect to walk 10,000 to 15,000 steps a day. You need to be able to manage your own luggage.
1. Ancient Monuments, Seen Through a Woman’s Eyes
Egypt’s most iconic sites weren’t built by faceless pharaohs — they were built by a civilization that worshipped powerful female deities. Isis, the goddess of magic and healing, was one of the most revered figures in the ancient world. Our female Egyptologist will make sure you’re seeing all of this with full context — not just as spectacle, but as story.
2. The Dahabiya: The Nile, the Way It Was Meant to Be Seen
Forget the floating apartment buildings you see clogging the river on most Nile cruises. Our home for six nights is the Fatima, a traditional wooden dahabiya — a graceful craft carrying just 15 guests. Think charming sundeck, personal cabins, and the Nile unspooling past you at a pace that actually lets you see it. This is the kind of vessel featured in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile. We do it without the death.
3. Pyramids. Pyramids. Pyramids.
Nothing can prepare you for what it feels like to stand in front of the pyramids at Giza. They are preposterous. They are magnificent. We’ll arrange an animal-friendly camel photo with the pyramids as your backdrop — a shot you’ll still be smiling over years from now. Come for the history, stay for the bragging rights.
4. Abu Simbel: The Elusive Monument
Most travelers never make it to Abu Simbel, and that’s their loss. The twin temples are so extraordinary that when the Aswan Dam threatened to submerge them in the 1960s, the entire world pitched in to dismantle and relocate them, block by carved block. Getting there requires a short flight from Aswan.We’ve built it into the itinerary so you don’t miss out on anything.
5. Egypt Beyond the Monuments: The Women You’ll Meet
The guides and drivers will be wonderful. But what will really stay with you are the women who aren’t on any official itinerary. The entrepreneur who built a food business out of a Cairo kitchen. The Nubian woman on Soheil Island who’ll cook you lunch and tell you about her life. The artisans in the weaving workshop who’ve turned a traditional craft into a modern livelihood. You'll have real conversations with real women — the kind that tend to come up again and again when you’re trying to explain what Egypt was actually like.
Jeannie Ralston visited Egypt in March 2011—during the Arab Spring uprising. She has a long story of how she ended up there on vacation—with her children!—at that moment in history, but you’ll have to wait to hear it over dinner in Cairo.
Despite the distractions in Tahir Square, the family trip to Egypt was remarkable, and she has dreamed of returning when the country isn’t in the middle of a revolution. She and her family followed a very similar schedule—Cairo, Luxor, a cruise down the Nile in a dahabiya, Aswan.
However, she did not get to Abul Simbel, which she is particularly looking forward to seeing. Another important element that’s different on this trip: we’ll be interacting with a lot of Egyptian women—in true NextTribe style.
"I’m amazed how on each of my NextTribe trips, a bond is created immediately among a dozen women who have joined for a new experience and an adventure. It never feels as if you’re on a tour, but instead traveling the world with new friends."
--Sherry T.
"I was totally shocked by how much I enjoyed my trip with this wonderful group of ladies. We all came from various parts of the country and various backgrounds, yet we bonded like old friends. This was my first trip with the group and I will definitely be doing it again!! I'm pretty much a loner but I felt right at home. Truly a great time every minute."
--Christine B.
You’re met at Cairo International Airport and transferred to Villa Belle Epoque, a women-owned boutique hotel in Maadi. Settle in, shake off the flight, and if you have the energy, take a walk in the leafy Maadi or Zamalek neighborhoods. Welcome dinner together tonight.
Early breakfast, then off to Giza with our female Egyptologist — and yes, the Sphinx is still inexplicably moving in person. Lunch at 9 Lounge, which affords stunning views of the world’s most famous geometric shapes. This afternoon, we'll visit to the Grand Egyptian Museum, followed by a stop at Fair Trade Egypt in Maadi, showcasing the work of women-led cooperatives.
Breakfast at the hotel, then we join the acclaimed Women of Egypt Downtown Food Tour with Bellies En-Route: five or more dishes at women-run restaurants and food stalls, with the stories of the entrepreneurs behind them. This afternoon, we visit Khan Misr Touloun, a women-run artisan market with work worth lingering over.
We’ll catch an early domestic flight to Luxor. Upon arrival, a guided visit to the staggering Karnak Temple complex — the largest religious building ever constructed. Then we board the gorgeous Fatima. Lunch on board. Time to settle into your cabin before an evening that doesn’t disappoint: a private guided visit to Luxor Temple after dark, followed by dinner at Sofra Restaurant, a beloved local address known for traditional Egyptian food in a rooftop setting.
Breakfast on board, then a guided West Bank tour: Valley of the Queens, the Temple of Hatshepsut, and for those who want it, the Tomb of Queen Nefertari. Then something that will stay with you: a visit to a rural Egyptian woman’s home, where you’ll learn to bake bread, share a meal, and hear her story. Back on board for lunch as the Fatima begins sailing south toward Esna — Nile life, the real kind, visible from the deck. Dinner on board.
Wake up to breakfast as we cross the Esna Lock — a spectacle in itself. The lock was started during the Ptolemaic era (305 BC to 30 BC) and has been modified and updated over time to be the engineering marvel it is today. We continue south toward Edfu, with an optional visit to the remarkably preserved Temple of Edfu. This afternoon, a visit to a women’s weaving workshop or artisan village before we moor beside Al Ramady Island for the night. Dinner on board.
Breakfast while sailing toward Kom Ombo, with an optional guided tour of the unusual double temple dedicated to both Horus and Sobek (the crocodile god — yes, really). Lunch on board as we pass Sheikh Fadl Island, with a swim stop in what is reportedly the purest, cleanest water of the Nile. Afternoon sailing toward Aswan, scenic enough to make you forget you have a phone. Dinner on board.
A full day in Aswan, where we’ll explore the ethereal Philae Temple— an island sanctuary dedicated to Isis, the goddess ancient Egyptians called the Great Mother and who was still being worshipped here centuries after the rest of Egypt had moved on — then the Aswan High Dam. On Soheil Island, our lunch is hosted by a Nubian woman in her home, with henna art by a local female artist and a conversation about Nubian women’s traditions that most visitors never get close to. Farewell dinner on the island.
Up early for a short flight to Abu Simbel, built by Ramses II in the 13th century BCE and relocated, stone by stone, in the 1960s to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser (formed by the Aswan dam). A guided visit to both the temples of Ramesses II and Queen Nefertari, then a flight back to Aswan. The rest of the day is yours.
Ma'a Salama is Arabic for good-bye. Breakfast on board, disembark, transfer to Aswan Airport, and fly to Cairo for your connection home. Safe travels — and may Shai (the Egyptian god for good luck) be with you.
After booking the trip, you will recieve a travel guide with more detailed logistics and information.
It's tempting to book flights right away to get the best deal. We advise you wait until the trip has filled and is confirmed to book your flights. If you want to do it sooner, make sure you have good cancellation terms or trip protection insurance.
Arrival: Cairo (CAI) International Airport Wednesday April 14th before 5:00pm
Depart: We will be taken as a group to Aswan airport to catch flights to Cairo. There are a handful of flights that head to the U.S. later in the day. Or get a room at a Cairo airport hotel (maybe with another traveler) because many flights back to the States leave in the middle of the night. Around 2-4 am. Aswan to Cairo flights and room at Cairo Airport are not included.
A suggestion for your stay at the Cario Airport. Le Meridien is connected to the International Terminal by a pedestrian bridge Plus, there's a pool! And prices are not exorbitant.
Passport: Please make sure your passport is valid for at least 6 months beyond the end of the trip and at least one blank page for visa stamp.
Visa: US citizens will need a Visa to travel in Egypt.
If you have any questions, you can contact our travel manager, Marcy, at travel@nexttribe.com
Inclusions
9 Nights Lodging
7 Dinners
7 Lunches
9 Breakfasts
Domestic flights--Cairo to Luxor, round trip Aswan to Abu Simbel.
Ground Transportation
All activities in the itinerary
Airport Transfers -Included if you arrive and depart on the first and last day, respectively, of the NextTribe tour.
Exclusions
Roundtrip International Airfare
Domestic flight Aswan to Cairo
Passport & Visa Fees
Alcohol not mentioned in itinerary
Travel Insurance (required for international trips)
Gratuities to local guides, drivers, maids and hotel staff
This video will tell you if you’re a good fit for a NextTribe trip. We are proud that we’ve become known for how quickly and deeply our groups of women bond on our trips. One of our rules: No divas, please.
For more information, please contact our travel manager at travel@nexttribe.com