1^st Day: Cairo – Al Bahariya Oasis

Darb Siwa – In the early morning we will pick you up at the reception of your hotel in Cairo and you will travel to the Al Bahariya Oasis. If you stay in any other part of Egypt such as Luxor or the Red Sea we can of course organize the transfer to Cairo for you.

Al Bahariya is one of the biggest and most important oases in the Western Desert. Visit the town of Al-Bawiti where you can see the oasis’ fruit-growing and lifestyle, and discover remains of the region’s history. Lunch will be served in a local restaurant. A necropolis of the Greco-Roman contained countless different mummies, among them numerous gold-plated ones, the so-called ‘Golden Mummies’. You will see some of them here in the museum. Further you can see the remains of Ain Al-Tibniya, a temple dating back to the reign of Alexander the Great who is said to have passed by this oasis, the tomb of Banentiu where you can see well preserved colored hieroglyphs and paintings, and the temple area of Ain Al-Muftella with four around 2,600 years old chapels whose walls are preserved up to a height of around two meters, showing various beautiful decorations. The evening will be at your own disposal. You will have dinner in your hotel.

Lunch and dinner included. Overnight in a hotel in the Bahariya Oasis.

2^nd Day: Black & White Desert

In the early morning you will enter a 4×4 jeep and drive into the Black Desert with its countless rock formations and witness buttes covered by black basalt. Lunch will be served as a picnic. Then you will travel to the White Desert National Park. Once the seabed of an ocean it features myriads of white chalk sediments, formed by the rough desert weather to spectacular shapes. Enjoy this unique landscape, see the famous Crystal Mountain, a ridge laced with sparkling crystal, and the scenic Valley of Al-Agabat where white cliffs meet sand dunes and yellow limestone rocks. In the late afternoon you will arrive to your first camp. After a tasty dinner you will sleep in a tent – or under the starlit desert sky.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in a camp in the White Desert.

3^th to 5^th Day: White Desert Trekking

During great trekking tours with experienced guides you will discover the miracles of the White Desert, the enchanting landscape with its countless amazing rock formations and the endless desert sands. You will spend the nights in camps. In the evening of the last day you will be transferred back to the Bahariya Oasis where you will spend the night and have dinner in a hotel.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in a camp in the White Desert and in the last night in a hotel in Al Bahariya.

6^th– 8^th Day: Trekking Tour to the Siwa Oasis along the Darb Siwa

The famous Darb Siwa is an old caravan route connecting the two oases Al Bahariya and Siwa. You will enjoy hiking in the great desert landscape and sleeping under the starlit sky. But there are not only sand and stones around you – on the way you will have a lot more to see; natural treasures such as lakes, dunes and cliffs as well as witnesses of ancient populations! You will first of all pass by the beautiful Sitra depression where you can find the largest salt lake along the way which is more than 20 kilometers long, embedded in sand dunes and surrounded by steep cliffs. Then you will discover the Al Nuwaymisa depression with smaller lakes, shallow dunes and the graves of former caravan travelers who dies en route. Further you will visit the Al Bahrain depression; today it is abandoned, but once there was a settlement; dozens of rock cut tombs served as a burial place. The last station before we arrive to Siwa will be the Al Arag depression; it was inhabited from the Pharaonic until the Christian era; numerous tombs are preserved, a few of them with ancient wall paintings. The desert sand here is laced with various limestone buttes. Finally you will arrive to the great Siwa Oasis where you will have dinner and spend the night in a hotel. Of course you will not have to walk all the way; you will partly hike, party be transferred in 4×4 jeeps which will allow you to watch a part of the fantastic landscape in a less exhausting way.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in the Western Desert and in the last night in a hotel in Siwa.

9^th Day: Siwa Oasis

After breakfast in your hotel you will visit the rock cut tombs on the Mountain of the Dead, containing beautiful paintings as well as well preserved mummies. Then you will be transferred to Aghurmi, the oldest settlement in the oasis, where you can see Siwa’s greatest historical treasure – the Temple of Amun and its famous oracle, once even consulted by Alexander the Great himself. Besides you can swim in Cleopatra’s Bath, a rock pool fed by a natural hot spring. Here you will also have lunch. Then you will leave the oasis to enjoy a 4×4 jeep tour through the Great Sand Sea surrounding Siwa, with its great sand dunes created by wind. Also you can find numerous fossils and petrified trees. On the way back you will stop at the Bir Wahid, an idyllic hot spring surrounded by palms where you can have a bath. Only some meters away you can further see a small lake embedded in the desert’s sand dunes. In the evening you will be back in your hotel where you will have dinner and spend the night.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in a hotel in Siwa Oasis.

10^th Day: Siwa – Cairo

After breakfast you will leave the oasis and bring you to your hotel in Cairo. We will make a stop for lunch. This concludes our program and services.

Breakfast and lunch included.

Included:

• All mentioned transfers in high-class air-conditioned vehicles
• Guided tours in your language
• Entrance fees for the above mentioned sights
• Hotel accommodations in the oases with half-board
• Accommodation in camps in the White Desert during the trekking tour
• Tents for the nights during your hike along the Darb Siwa
• Meals, mineral water and soft drinks during the excursions and tours

Not included:

• Gratuity (tips) for drivers, tour guides
• Personal items, meals, drinks or services not mentioned
• Listed optional activities
• International and domestic flights
• Visa