Tour type: Small Group
Group size: Min: 2 | Max: 14
Accommodation: 3 & 4-star hotels & Bedouin camp
Meals:
Transport: A/C minibus
Highlights: Pyramids, Sphinx, Cairo, Saqqara, Dead Sea swim, Dana Biosphere Reserve, Shobak crusader castle, Petra, Wadi Rum jeep safari, Bedouin desert camp
This short but comprehensive tour of Egypt and Jordan packs in many of the highlights these two countries have to offer.
The tour begins with a guided sightseeing tour to Egypt's most well-known landmark - the Great Pyramids of Giza and the enigmatic Sphinx. We also visit the unique Step Pyramid at Saqqara to learn about the history and evolution of pyramid building. Next we take a fully-guided city tour of Cairo to visit the sprawling Egyptian Museum of antiquities, the imposing Citadel, several mosques (or alternatively Coptic Cairo) and the bustling Khan-el-Khalili bazaar.
Leaving Egypt behind you'll take a short flight to the Capital of Jordan, Amman. After leaving the airport we descend towards the Dead Sea for a night in a 4-star resort and a swim, or float in the amazing salty waters. From the Dead Sea our next short hike takes us around the restored Dana Village in the Dana Biosphere Reserve, Jordan's largest nature reserve. A visit to the Crusader Castle at Shobak then follows before we explore Jordan's main highlight, the amazing lost city of Petra. We have time for a guided tour here, as well as free time to hike up to the Monastery and High Place of Sacrifice for some amazing views. Finally we head to the beautiful desert scenery of Wadi Rum where we'll spend the night in a comfortable Bedouin camp against the towering cliffs. The next morning we take a jeep safari through the sand dunes and past amazing rock bridges before spending some time with a local Bedouin shepherd, learning about their nomadic way of life and how they look after their animals in the desert. After a tasty lunch in the desert, we head back north to Amman for a final evening in a coffee shop, perhaps enjoying a sheesha and game of backgammon while looking back over our time in this amazing country.
This tour connects well with our Israel and Lebanon tours, and can also be run privately at any time if our group departures don't work for you or you would like to customise the itinerary a little, perhaps adding on some time by the Red Sea in Aqaba.
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Regular small-group departures run throughout the year and the tour can also be booked privately on any other date and customised to fit your personal requirements.
The hotels and accommodations listed below are the ones we most often use on this tour. From time to time we may exchange these for similar properties at the same level. In general, specific hotels cannot be guaranteed on our group tours, but you may select your preferred options if you are booking a tailor-made trip.
Our tours are designed to include all that you need to enjoy a really special time in the destination youre visiting. However, we do also offer some extra options to complement the tour and add some additional sightseeing or activities, or some extra time at either end of the tour.
All accommodation based options (e.g. Single supplements, extra nights, cruise upgrades) should be booked and paid for in advance so that we can make the appropriate arrangements. Other options may either be booked and paid for in advance or while you are on the tour, though we recommend booking in advance to ensure there are no issues with availability.
Many options are priced the same throughout the year, but some may incur single or high season supplements - full details are given on the tour reservation form or on request.
The detailed Tour Notes below have been written to give you some more detailed information about how the tour runs, what to expect, and how to prepare for your holiday. We recommend downloading an up to date copy of these shortly before you travel in case of any changes.
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