From Cairo to Bahariya, the White Desert, Minya and Meidum 6 days / 5 nights

Departure in the morning from your hotel in Cairo, direction the Bahariya Oasis (about 330 km about 4 hours drive).

The Bahariya Oasis is one of the five oases that dot the Western Desert. It is located 330 km from Cairo, in a natural depression of 2000 km2. It is a region that has been renowned since the time of the pharaohs for its wine production. Today date palms, olive trees, fruit trees, vegetables and cereals are grown there. The Bahariya Oasis contains a wide range of natural resources, hot water and important ancient monuments.

Check into your hotel and have lunch in a typical restaurant.

Walk through the oasis to admire its traditional clay-brick dwellings and date palm forests.

A swim in one of the many natural hot springs of the oasis.

Ascent of the Montagne Noir (the Montagne des Anglais). The top of this mountain is a highlight of the oasis, which allows you to admire a magnificent view of its strange landscape and enjoy a splendid sunset

Dinner and overnight at the hotel

Breakfast at the hotel.

Departure for the discovery of ancient sites of the Bahariya oasis:

The Museum of Golden Mummies which contains some of the famous golden mummies, discovered in the spectacular necropolis of the oasis in 2004. Mummies artfully wrapped in bandages are equipped with very beautiful masks-breastplates in stucco and gilded cardboard, characteristic of the Greco-Roman period.

The temple of Alexander the Great, which was built by the very famous Alexander the Great, at 4^Th century BC, when this conqueror passed through here on his way back from the oracle of Amun-Zeus to the oasis of Siwa

The Chapels of Ain El-Muftalah which date from the 26th^Th Pharaonic dynasty, about 7^Th century BC. They are dedicated to the god Bes, god of fertility. These chapels were carved into the rock and then painted.

Qaret Qasr Selim: an archaeological site containing two tombs surprising for their colorful frescoes, dating from the 25th^Th Pharaonic dynasty.

Qaret El-Halwa; contains the oldest tomb in the oasis of Bahariya; that of Amenhotep Hui, a local governor under the new Pharaonic empire and a native of the Bahariya oasis. Dating from the 19th^Th dynasty

Lunch in a typical restaurant

Departure to theWhite Desert (about 80 km), en route you will discover:

Crystal Mountain: which is one of the most beautiful attractions of the Egyptian desert. An arch-shaped mountain of rock streaked with quartz veins. Consisting of a small natural arch in the rock and gleaming walls made of calcite crystal. The crystals are oblong in shape, either clear or opaque white. When the sun's rays hit the crystals, it's a dazzling sight.

Aqabat: a spectacular and truly sumptuous landscape. A huge cirque framed by mountains where you can admire the famous desert flowers; a kind of black pyrite stones shaped by the wind and sand that take the shape of flowers.

We'll take the road back to the White Desert to arrive there at the end of the day.

The White Desert is a magical place that has no equal on the whole planet. It is a kind of vast depression that was covered by the sea millions of years ago. Composed today of chalk rock long sculpted by wind erosion and characterized by dazzling white stone formations, hence the name of the white desert...! We admire mysterious and also fanciful natural forms: mushrooms, pyramids, Sphinxes, towers, etc.

Barbecue dinner and night in a bivouac in the middle of the white desert.

You will enjoy the soft light when you wake up that highlights this grandiose landscape and sublime sunrise in the middle of this unreal landscape.

After breakfast you can still enjoy one last moment at this otherworldly place.

Departure to the Black Desert which is a vast expanse of small black volcanic mountains of conical shape hence the name of the Black Desert given to this geological jewel. You can climb one of these mountains (Mount el-Zogag) to enjoy a beautiful view of the entire Black Desert and admire this rather special and not very lunar landscape.

You will take the road to Minya (180 km) in the Nile
Valley Arrive in Minya in the early afternoon and have lunch in a typical restaurant.
Check-in in your hotel

Minya is located about 240 km south of Cairo. This region has a delightful landscape that stands out for its authenticity and important historical heritage. Suffice it to say that this was the region chosen by the very famous pharaoh Akhenaten to set up his political and religious capital to understand this. It is a truly unusual destination, long abandoned by tour operators while its assets can put it at the top of many other destinations in Egypt.

Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel and departure (with a packed lunch for lunch) for a day of sightseeing:

The Necropolis of Beni-Hassan which is located about 20 km south of Minya on the west bank of the Nile. It houses 39 tombs dating from the Pharaonic Middle Kingdom. This necropolis is located high up and aligns the facades of its tombs on a terrace about a hundred meters long, which dominates the Nile Valley. All the tombs in this necropolis are rock and dug into the limestone cliffs. Many of these large, spectacular tombs are exceptional for the quality and originality of their wall decoration. Some scenes retrace episodes from the daily life of the time, violent sports such as wrestling or armed conflicts

Temple of Istabl Antar: a small temple erected by the famous Queen Hatshepsut, located right next to the Necropolis of Beni-Hassan, about two km away. It is characterized by scenes telling stories about the Hyksos invasion

Lunch break and resumption of the road to Amarna about 25 km further south of the previous visits.

Amarna (the city of Akhetaten) is about 25 km further south (45 km south of Minya) on the west bank of the Nile.
This place contains the remains of the city of Akhetate (the horizon of Aten) founded by the mythical pharaoh Akhenaten who established the god Aten as the sole god of all Egypt. It is in this mythical place that an exceptional episode in the pharaonic history of Egypt was played out. The Amarna historical site is very extensive, it runs along the Nile for about 3km. It consisted of a huge royal palace, two temples and many houses. It also contains a vast necropolis consisting of 25 tombs for high officials, all carved into the rock.

Return at the end of the day, to your hotel in Minya.

Note: These routes also allow you to enjoy the alternation of fantastic and varied landscapes, city landscape, agricultural landscape and desert landscape.

Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel and departure (with a packed lunch for lunch) for a day of sightseeing:

Tounah el-Gebel located about 50 km south of Minya on the east bank of the Nile, in the desert area that runs along the foot of the cliff of the Western Desert. It is a spectacular city of the dead containing several tombs, the most important of which are:

- The tomb of Petosiris, characterized by painted reliefs wonderfully illustrating the composite art of the period, where purely Egyptian motifs are associated with the Greek style, which highlights the fluidity of gestures and the diversity of forms, more natural than those of the classical canon.
- Isadora's tomb which dates from the year 120 AD and which still preserves her mummy in good condition. According to tradition, it is the grave of a young girl (Isadora) drowned in the Nile, victim of a romantic and dramatic love story!
- Neith's tomb: It dates from the Roman period, in the first century BC. In which we admire the realism of the painted scenes and clearly Hellenistic.

The historic site of Tounah el-Gebel also features the animal catacombs. it is a spectacular underground necropolis of mummies of Ibis and baboons which are the sacred animals of the god Thoth to whom the site is dedicated. There is a four-metre-wide staircase, which leads to the three main galleries which contain cavities housing the mummified animals in stone and pottery sarcophagi

Lunch break and take the road back to Achmounien.

Achmounien is located two km from the previous site of Tounah el-Gebel. This archaeological site houses the remains of the ancient city of Hermopolis which was one of the great religious centers of Pharaonic Egypt. Dedicated to the god Thoth, the god of wisdom.

You can admire the remains of the city, once fortified and delimited by a 15m thick wall, surrounding the large temple dedicated to Thoth. Two colossal statues of baboons stand at the entrance to the site, symbolizing the god Thoth.

The archaeological site of Achmunian also presents the remains of a Roman basilica and its covered market (Agora) with beautiful columns with Corinthian capitals, as well as the remains of two small temples of Seti 1^er and Ramesses 2, built of limestone blocks with original reliefs on the monuments of Akhenaten.

You will take the road back at the end of the afternoon

Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel and departure (with the packed lunch for lunch) for a day of sightseeing:

Deir el-Adra (the Monastery of the Virgin) located about 20 km north of Minya. This monastery is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Built on the cliff overlooking the west bank of the Nile. It is located in a square enclosure of Roman architecture. The chapel is partly excavated in the rock. This monastery was founded in the 4th^Th century by Saint Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, at the site of one of the stages of the Holy Family during its flight into Egypt. The church contains some beautiful icons from the 16th^Th century. Many pilgrims set up camp in the vicinity of the monastery during the great annual feast of the Virgin Mary, which takes place in August each year

Lunch break and take the road to the pyramid of Meidum to visit:

The Pyramid of Meidum is located about 90 km south of Cairo. Designed by Pharaoh Sneferu during the 4th^Th Pharaonic dynasty, about 24^Th century BC. It is certainly the most curious of the pyramids because its architecture is a transition between those with steps and those of smooth slopes. The entrance to the pyramid is 15m above the ground.

We took the road back to Cairo, arriving at the end of the day.

Based on 2 to 4 people: 980 $per person