Egypt and Jordan a La Indiana Jones
The Dahabiya Edition

A Grand 14 -day tour in Egypt and Jordan, Including Petra , the Red Sea , Sharm El-Sheikh and a Cruise the Nile onboard an air Conditioned Dahabiya

Compare with the larger Nile Cruise Version

Indiana Jones himself couldn't squeeze more adventure into this journey: Cairo and the Pyramids, and a dream cruise on the Nile on board a Dahabiya , the fabled temples and tombs of Luxor and Thebes, diving in the Red Sea, the mountains of Sinai, and a trek to the mysterious ruins of Petra in Jordan . Departures are weekly year round. Add Syria Magic of the Arabian Empire : Syria, Jordan & Egypt . Compare with the 12-Day , Add Alexandria and Abu Simbel , compare with the 17 days version, or the 7-Day Version . Compare with the Alexandria version : 9 Days ?

Egypt and Jordan, A La Indiana Jones :
Itinerary - The Dahabiya Version

DAY 1 - CAIRO - Thursday
Our Egypt-based staff greets you in bustling Cairo airport and escorts you to your hotel . Complimentary Egyptian visa fee (valid only for American & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival).

Visa will be issued upon arrival. As you exit the gate, you will pass through a door or two , down some stairs , then walk for 2-5 minutes , until you pass the duty free shops, at the end of a wide corridor , you will see the security officers. There you will be met by a local representative, who will be holding a sign with the name you prefer to use for the sign .
Our local representative will then take your passport to obtain a stamp from the cashier / bank window and escort you to speak with the passport officer. He will escort you through another last check on your passport as you exit the passport control, into customs area, he will assist you in collecting your luggage and clearing customs . After exiting the terminal, our local representative will escort you (private vehicle) to the hotel

DAY 2 - CAIRO- Friday (BL)
Your exploration of the ancient world begins today! First stop is the Egyptian Museum, with its treasures of the ancient pharaohs: mummies, statuary, precious stones and metals. We'll also stop at the Citadel of Saladin and the Alabaster Mosque. Then it's on to Giza and the mysteries of the Pyramids and Sphinx. Lunch is included at a local restaurant . Return to your hotel late afternoon.

DAY 3 - Board your Nile Cruise - Saturday (BLD)
Early breakfast at your hotel, before we head for the airport to board your flight o Aswan and your deluxe Dahabiya Nile cruise . Boarding Luxor or Aswan
Embarkation in Luxor for a relaxing week sailing the Nile on a luxuriously appointed Dahabbiya.

After lunch, excursion to the West Bank for visits to the burial places of the Pharaohs - the Valley of the Kings - where Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. Continue to the adjacent Valley of the Queens, the temple of Medinet Habu and the Colossi of Memnon.

Overnight moored on the Nile banks of Luxor.

Day 4 - On board your deluxe Dahabiya - Sunday - (BLD)
You will visit the magnificent temple complex of Amon-Ra at Karnak, with its vast hypostyle hall of 137 columns, followed by the imposing 28 th Dynasty Luxor Temple.

Overnight moored in Luxor.

Day 5 - On board your deluxe Dahabiya - Monday - (BLD)
Today will be a leisurely day. After breakfast, commence sailing to Esna where your dahabiyya will moor overnight.

Day 6- On board your deluxe Dahabiya - Tuesday - (BLD)
This morning you will sail to Edfu to visit the wonderfully preserved Temple of Edfu.

Overnight moored beside a Nile island.

Day 7- On board your deluxe Dahabiya - Wednesday- (BLD)
Today you will sail to Kom Ombo visit see the Ptolemaic temple dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon-headed Horus, god of the morning sun. Overnight moored beside a Nile island.

Day 8- On board your deluxe Dahabiya - Thursday - (BLD)
A leisurely day sailing to Aswan where the dahabiyya moors overnight.

Day 9 - On board your deluxe Dahabiya - Friday - (BLD)
Today you will visit the Aswan High Dam (completed in 1971); the Old Dam (completed in 1902) and the ' unfinished obelisk', lying in situ since the days of the pharaohs. You will also visit the Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis, a structure rescued from the rising waters of Lake Nasser at the time of the High Dam's construction.

DAY 10 - SHARM EL SHEIK - RED SEA Saturday (B)
Now that you've seen the best of the Egypt of the Pharaohs, our guides escort you to the airport. You'll fly over to Cairo , where we connect on ward and fly over the Sinai Peninsula and land at historic Sharm El Sheik on the Red Sea. You're at the beach and free to swim, or explore under the waters. If you prefer to skip the stay in Sharm El-Sheikh , please click here

DAY 11 - SHARM EL SHEIK Sunday (B)
Relax! Today is set aside as a strategic mid-journey break. Spend some time in the sun, but don't miss your chance to snorkel or dive under Red Sea waters for an array of coral and glittering tropical fish. 

DAY 12 - Sharm El -Sheikh , PETRA Tuesday (BLD)
We'll fly to Amman , non-stop or via Cairo , our Jordan-based representative waits to greet you. Your private guide will be escorting you from the Airport in Amman to Petra. Lunch is included enroute. You'll drive north under a towering ridge of mountains, and arrive at your hotel in Petra for the night. Complimentary Jordanian visa fee (valid only for American & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival).

In the evening we will call on you for a unique experience :
Dine as a local : The Petra Kitchen is a delightful way to round out your Jordan travel experiences. Like any home kitchen, The Petra Kitchen is a relaxed, informal atmosphere where you’ll gather to prepare an evening meal, working alongside local women under the supervision of our chef.

Each evening meal includes soup, cold and hot mezza ( appetizers ) and salads, and a main course—all typical Jordanian dishes. You will have get an inside glimpse of the secrets behind the famous regional cuisine of the Levant.

The Petra Kitchen offers an evening of learning, fun and a very special dining experience, with each dish gaining the special flavor of a reward well-earned. Great care has been taken to make The Petra Kitchen a truly Jordanian experience—right down to the furnishings, all crafted in Jordan, the tableware, all produced by the Iraq al Amir Women’s Co-operative, and the aprons and table linens, all hand-embroidered by the Jordan River Foundation.

Tour experience tonight includes the cuisine course, meal and all non-alcoholic beverages as well as take-home recipes for all dishes prepared that evening.

DAY 13 - PETRA- Amman (BL)
We'll spend the entire day at Petra, the stunning desert city hewn by the Nabateans from solid cliffs of pink and violet sandstone. Petra was known in the bible as Sela, and rediscovered only in 1812. You'll feel like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark as you penetrate into the city through a narrow sandstone gorge, the Siq, and wander among the Temple of the Winged Lion, tombs, Roman theater, and the imposing Treasury.  Late afternoon, drive back to Amman , and your hotel. Lunch is included enroute.

DAY 14 - DEPARTURE FOR HOME
Thursday (B) Our staff escorts you to the airport of Amman for your flight home.

RATES per person in USD:

Easter, Christmas, New Year's : 15 % supplement will apply.

Prices include:

• All transfers in Egypt and Jordan, always on a private basis.
  
  
• Air fare between Egypt and Jordan in economy class , tax included
  
• Air-conditioned hotel accommodations with tax and service charges
  
• Sightseeing with professional local guides and entrance fees as indicated
  
• Meals as indicated, with pre-set menu (B = Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner)
  
• Jordanian and Egyptian visa fee (valid only for American, Canadians, EU & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival).
  
• Jordanian departure tax.
  
• Dahabiya Nile Cruise with all meals and shore excursions
  

Not included:

• Personal expenses and beverages

• Additional meals and services

• Trip interruption and cancellation insurance

• Air fare from/ to your home country .
  
• Tips

More choices :

• Compare with the Alexandria version : 9 Days ?

• Add Syria Magic of the Arabian Empire : Syria, Jordan & Egypt

• Egypt and Jordan in a Week : 7-Day Version

• Add Abu Simbel Temples in Nubia .

Daily Telegraph
Peter Hughes
Saturday 13 May 2006

'Going with the flow'

...'The riad I found was not in the city but on the Nile. It's a dahabiya, a traditional, two-masted Nile sailing cruiser. Anywhere else it would be called a yacht. King Farouk had several. So if a riad is a small princely palace on land - now given over to holidaymaking - a dahabiya is a riad on the river...'

...'Mahogany panelled and with two faux-glass oil lamps swinging from the beams - a perfect touch for a sailing ship - the look was of a colonial club. Hercule Poirot could have popped up at any moment. There were button-back leather sofa and chairs, an antique bookcase and Scrabble, and tables where we ate when the weather was too chilly for the deck. The food was outstandingly good...'

...' While the big ships charged by as if permanently late, the El Bey moved at the same courtly pace as the Nile - slow enough to enable us to smell woodsmoke from the villages and watch the kingfishers hover. Under our isosceles sails we were as much a curiosity as the boys laying fishing nets and the women doing laundry, the donkey carts and buffalo. But it was the sight of some 40 huge cruise boats, moored in ranks, cheek by gunwale up to 10 deep, at the pretty little temple of Kom Ombo that made the greatest sense of dahabiya travel. The dahabiyas dont take you to sites different from the norm, but they do take you in irresistibly different style...'

...'The greatest compliment to the El Bey was that, for all the wonders of ancient Egypt, shown to us by our own guide, the part of the week my fellow passengers enjoyed most was the time on the river...'