Egypt 6 Day Itinerary

The Rosetta Stone has not been in Rosetta since Napoleon’s army dug it up there in 1799. It has sat in the British Museum in London since 1801, and no itinerary that sends you to the town of Rosetta to see it is describing anything you can actually do. What you can see in Rosetta instead are Ottoman-era merchant houses and the excavation site itself, which is its own kind of interesting, just not the one most guides imply.

Day 1: Cairo

As of March 2026, both the eVisa and visa on arrival cost 30 US dollars for a single entry, and the eVisa is the better choice since it clears you before you land rather than adding a queue at immigration. Pay in cash US dollars or by card at the bank window before passport control if you’re doing it on arrival; Cairo, Hurghada, Luxor and Marsa Alam airports all offer this option.

Once through, the single biggest change to a Cairo itinerary in years opened on the Giza plateau in November 2025: the Grand Egyptian Museum, a decade behind schedule and finally open with timed entry only, booked in advance through the official portal since walk-up tickets no longer exist at the gate. Foreign adult tickets run about 1,700 EGP, roughly 31 US dollars, with the complex open until 10pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays for anyone wanting to avoid the midday heat and crowds. The old Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square still holds pieces that haven’t moved to GEM yet, so if time allows, a shorter visit there is worth it for anyone chasing the full picture of what’s transferred and what hasn’t.

In the afternoon, Khan el-Khalili bazaar is the obvious call for spices, textiles, and genuinely aggressive haggling; treat the first quoted price as a starting offer, not a number anyone expects you to pay. Cairo traffic is chaotic on a scale that’s hard to explain until you’re stuck in it, so build in more transfer time than google maps suggests, always.

Day 2: Giza and Saqqara

Go to the Giza pyramids first thing, ideally at opening, both to beat the heat and to get photos before the tour buses arrive en masse. The Sphinx and the Solar Boat Museum round out the plateau visit, and a driver or small group tour makes more sense than self-navigating, since ticket lines and site logistics here are genuinely confusing on a first visit.

Saqqara’s Step Pyramid of Djoser, built around 2670 BCE, predates Giza’s pyramids by decades and is arguably the more important site historically, since it’s the first monumental stone building in human history. It draws a fraction of the crowd Giza does, which alone makes the detour worth it.

Day 3: Alexandria

The drive or train to Alexandria takes about three hours from Cairo. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a modern reconstruction rather than a surviving ancient structure, anchors the day, alongside Pompey’s Pillar and the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, a genuinely eerie Greco-Roman burial complex carved into rock. Alexandria’s Mediterranean climate is noticeably milder than Cairo’s desert heat, and the Corniche waterfront is a pleasant place to end the day with the sea breeze doing what Cairo’s traffic never lets you forget you’re missing.

Day 4: Rosetta and El Alamein

Rosetta, about two and a half hours from Alexandria, is worth the detour for the excavation site and the old Ottoman merchant quarter, not for a stone that left the country over two centuries ago. El Alamein carries real weight for anyone interested in World War II history, with the war cemetery and museum marking one of the pivotal Allied victories of the North African campaign. Bring water regardless of season; the coastal heat here is deceptive because the sea breeze masks how much you’re sweating.

Day 5: Luxor

The Cairo to Luxor sleeper train now departs from Bashtil station rather than the old Ramses station, a change worth knowing before you show up at the wrong building with a train to catch. The journey runs 10 to 12 hours overnight, with fares around 90 to 150 US dollars for a double cabin including dinner and breakfast, and honestly the experience of watching the Nile valley wake up through the window is worth doing once regardless of comfort level.

Karnak and Luxor temples anchor the east bank, while the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, and the Temple of Hatshepsut cover the west bank’s necropolis. Go early, both banks bake by midday, and a licensed guide adds real context here that a self-guided walk misses entirely, particularly inside the tombs where unlabeled hieroglyphs otherwise mean nothing.

Day 6: Edfu and Aswan

The Temple of Horus at Edfu is one of the best-preserved temple complexes in Egypt precisely because it was buried under sand and silt for centuries, which paradoxically protected it. In Aswan, the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk, still attached to bedrock and abandoned mid-carving after a crack appeared, and Philae Temple round out the day, with a short boat crossing to Agilkia island for Philae itself. If your schedule and budget stretch further, Abu Simbel needs a dedicated extra day given the distance from Aswan, and it’s worth it, but don’t try to squeeze it into this trip as an afterthought.

Practical notes

Egyptian pounds are the local currency and cards work in hotels and major restaurants, but small vendors and tips run on cash. Arabic is the official language, and English coverage is solid in tourism-heavy areas but thin elsewhere. A Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan is a popular alternative to the point-to-point approach here, and it’s genuinely worth considering if you’d rather unpack once and let the boat do the moving.