Egypt & Jordan: Wonders of the World

Arrive in Egypt
Egypt is one of the most intoxicating destinations in the world, unequaled in its prodigious contributions to world culture. Jordan’s cultural treasures shine as early examples of human ingenuity. From hieroglyphs and temples to the ruins of Petra, walk with wonder among artifacts created by two of the world’s oldest societies, from 2,500 BC to Year One.

During your adventure, you’ll get to know your expert Egyptologist and Jordanian guides, who will help you learn about the history, culture, and ancient buildings of the region. You are also accompanied by an AdventureWomen Ambassador, committed to helping make your experience a fun and personally rewarding adventure, and cheering you on as you reach beyond your comfort zone to take on new challenges in your own unique way!

You will be met at the Cairo Airport and transferred to your hotel. One group transfer is included (time TBD); private transfers at other times are available for an additional fee.

Enjoy dinner on your own this evening.
Meals on your own

Overnight: Marriott Mena House

Cairo
Visit the Grand Egyptian Museum, also known as the Giza Museum, is home to artifacts of ancient Egypt. Explore the museum to learn about the history of the area.

Visit the Great Pyramids of Giza, the only present-day survivors of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, built over 4,500 years ago. These giant tombs were built to house the mummies of the Pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. Khufu’s is the largest, made out of more than two million blocks.

Enjoy lunch at your hotel, complete with views of the pyramids.

No trip to Egypt is complete without a ride on a “ship of the desert”. Hop on a camel and ride across the sands of Giza to visit the Sphinx. The enigmatic Sphinx sits nearby the pyramids. It has the body of a lion and the face of a man wearing a royal head cloth. About a thousand years after the Sphinx was built, it was covered in sand, until a young prince had a dream in which the Sphinx told him if he cleared the sand away, he would become Pharaoh.

Enjoy a lively welcome dinner as you get to know your fellow travelers this evening. Share stories and learn about why each woman in your trip is excited to explore Egypt & Jordan!
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Overnight: Marriott Mena House

Cairo to the Nile River
Transfer to the airport for your short flight from Cairo to Luxor. Board the Sanctuary Nile Adventurer, your home for the next four nights on the Nile. Settle into your cabin.

Explore the striking and graceful Temple of Luxor, which is dedicated to the God Amun. Your guide will explain the details of the temple. Enjoy lunch on the boat.

Visit the West Bank of Luxor to explore the Valley of the Kings, a vast City of the Dead where magnificent tombs were carved into the desert rocks, decorated richly, and filled with treasures for the afterlife by generations of Pharaohs. You’ll have the chance to visit at least one tomb in the Valley of the Queens, as well as the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut.

Rising out of the desert plain in a series of terraces, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Ancient Egypt’s only female Pharaoh) merges with the sheer limestone cliffs that surround it, as if nature herself had built this extraordinary monument.

On the way back to the river Nile, the road passes by the famed Colossi of Memnon, known in Ancient Greek times for their haunting voices at dawn. This is a great photo stop.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Overnight: Sanctuary Nile Adventurer

The Nile River
Start your day on the East Bank by visiting the Temple of Karnak, built over a period of more than a thousand years by generations of Pharaohs. The great “Hypostyle Hall” is an incredible forest of giant pillars, covering an area larger than the whole of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Relax on board as you cruise along the Nile. Enjoy a swim in the pool, or just watch the scenery as you pass by the banks. Have lunch on the way.

Later today, your Egyptologist will guide you around the Greco-Roman Temple of Khnum at Esna. The beautifully preserved Great Hypostyle Hall was built during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius. It was excavated from the silt that had accumulated through centuries of annual Nile floods and is about nine meters below present-day street level.

Enjoy afternoon tea on board as you cruise to Edfu. Have a delicious dinner on board this evening.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Overnight: Sanctuary Nile Adventurer

The Nile River
Enjoy lunch on board as you cruise to Kom Ombo.

Visit the Temple of Kom Ombo, a lovely Greco-Roman temple uniquely double-dedicated to Haroeris, the sun god, and Sobek, the crocodile god. Here the ancient pharaohs kept a chamber of mummified crocodiles. The temple stands at a bend in the Nile where in ancient times sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the riverbank.

Take an Egyptian cooking class on board while the boat cruises to Aswan. You’ll learn to make three authentic dishes.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Overnight: Sanctuary Nile Adventurer

The Nile River
Enjoy a morning to relax on the boat. Take a dip, read a book on the deck, or sip coffee and enjoy the view!

Visit the romantic and majestic Philae Temple on the Island of Agilka. Philae Temple was dismantled and reassembled (on Agilika Island about 550 meters from its original home on Philae Island) in the wake of the High Dam. The temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis, is in a beautiful setting which has been landscaped to match its original site.

Head to the granite quarries where the pink-colored granite used in building pyramids and temples in ancient Egypt came from. The quarries still hold a huge unfinished obelisk that the guides can use to give a lesson in the methods used by ancient engineers to create the monuments you have viewed.

If the weather cooperates, take a felucca (a typical Egyptian sailboat) around Elephantine Island, Lord Kitchener’s Botanical Gardens, and the Agha Khan Mausoleum.

Celebrate your last evening on the boat with a gala dinner, complete with white-gloved waiters serving gourmet cuisine. Enjoy a folkloric and Dervish show after dinner.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Overnight: Sanctuary Nile Adventurer

The Nile River to Cairo
Transfer to the Aswan airport for a short flight to the magnificent temples of Abu Simbel. Carved directly into the face of a cliff, Ramses II Temple is guarded by four enormous 65-foot figures of the pharaoh and depicts his most celebrated triumphs in battle. Nearby is the graceful Temple of Hathor, dedicated to the cow-headed goddess of love and built in honor of Ramses’ favorite wife, Queen Nefertari. An international rescue effort from 1966-68 saved the temples from the rising waters of the Nile caused by the building of the great Aswan Dam. UNESCO organized the campaign, with the temples being cut into blocks, raised piece-by-piece, and reassembled in a new position higher up the hillside. However, even with modern technology, the engineers were unable to duplicate the efforts of the ancient Egyptians. The temple was originally built so the sun’s rays would penetrate deep into the temple to illuminate the Holy of Holies on the morning of Ramses II name day. In repositioning the temple, the modern-day engineers missed this event by one day.

Fly back to Cairo and enjoy lunch on your own.

Enjoy an evening visit to the Khan El-Khalili Bazaar, reputed to be the largest bazaar in the Middle East. Originally founded as a watering stop for caravans in the 14th century, the bazaar has now grown to vast proportions. Wander through the labyrinth of narrow streets, stopping to look in workshops and stalls that sell everything from woodwork, glassware, and leather goods to perfumes, fabrics, and Pharaonic curiosities. Remember to bargain hard!
Breakfast

Overnight: Le Meridien Cairo Airport Hotel

Cairo to Amman
Transfer to the airport in Cairo and board your flight to Amman, Jordan.

When you arrive in Amman, you will be met and transferred to your hotel. Explore the area around your hotel this afternoon and enjoy lunch and the afternoon on your own.

Enjoy dinner with the group tonight at a local restaurant.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Overnight: Fairmont Hotel Amman

Amman
Take a city tour of Amman that includes the Citadel, the Archaeological Museum, the Roman Theater, the Folklore Museum, and then a walk downtown through the bazaars and the Gold Market. High above the city, at the ancient Citadel, study the traces of Amman’s many lives: the regal columns of a Roman temple in silhouette against the sky; the elegant capitals of a Byzantine church; endlessly inventive carvings in the Umayyad Palace; fascinating displays in the Archaeological Museum; and digs and ruins everywhere you step. At the foot of the Citadel is the Roman Theater, a deep-sided bowl carved into the hill and still used for cultural events.

Drive to Jerash, where you will have lunch in a local restaurant. After lunch, take some time to explore Jerash. Second only to Petra in tourist appeal, the ancient Roman city of Jerash is an archaeological masterpiece, and remarkable for its long chain of human occupation. Here at a well-watered site framed by the hills of Gilead, remains from Neolithic times have been found, as well as ruins from other civilizations: Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Umayyad. Today, it is acknowledged as one of the best-preserved province cities of the Roman Empire.

Enjoy a Jordanian wine tasting this evening.

Head back to Amman and have dinner on your own this evening.
Breakfast, Lunch

Overnight: Fairmont Hotel Amman

Amman to Petra
Today you will drive to the Royal Stables for an exclusive visit and breakfast. Enjoy breakfast in the gardens of the Royal Stables and watch a show of the thoroughbred Arabian horses, which belong to the Jordanian royal family.

Mount Nebo is the mountain where Moses was allowed to see the Holy Land and not allowed to enter it. Nowadays the mountain is a memorial site, where you can find the “Church of Moses” which was built by the first Christians. Enjoy a great view over Jordan, the Dead Sea, and Israel. When the weather is clear, you should even be able to see Jerusalem, which is about 35 miles away.

Travel to Madaba, known as the City of Mosaics. The main attraction is a vivid, 6th century mosaic map showing Jerusalem and other holy sites. With two million pieces of colored stone and measuring 25×25 meters in its original state (most of which can still be seen today), the map depicts hills, valleys, villages, and towns as far away as the Nile Delta.

Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant. Drive to Petra this afternoon.

Learn how to prepare every detail of an authentic Jordanian three-course meal. The chef will introduce you to the special elements of local cuisine by explaining the culinary traditions and ingredients.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Overnight: Mövenpick Petra Resort

Petra
Start the morning with a walk or an optional horse ride from the main gate of Petra to the entrance of the old city. At the entrance, head along the “Siq” on foot until you reach the rose-red city.

The ancient city of Petra was carved from solid red sandstone in the 3rd century BC. In this era, Petra was a fortress, carved out of craggy rocks, in an area that was virtually inaccessible. It was the capital of the Nabataens, a nomadic Arabian tribe who ruled the Trans-Jordan area in pre-Roman times and derived their great wealth and power from the passing trade caravans. Enjoy lunch inside Petra with your group.

Take some time to rest at your hotel this afternoon.

The special aura of the ancient Nabatean trading empire comes to life as you enjoy a stroll through the mysterious Siq of Petra at night.
Breakfast, Lunch

Overnight: Mövenpick Petra Resort

Petra to Wadi Rum
Visit Little Petra, or Al Beidha, a smaller version of Petra literally hidden away in the center of a mountain. The miniature version of Petra contains several notable tombs.

Bedouin camps are evident in the Wadi and are still home to a number of Bedouin families who welcome visitors with the hospitality and generosity that Bedouins are so famous for. Explore the desert with a 4×4 driven by a local Bedouin for two hours. Enjoy lunch under a Bedouin tent.

Transfer to your desert camp for a unique overnight.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Overnight: Memories Aicha Camp

Wadi Rum to the Dead Sea
Leave your camp and drive about four hours to the Dead Sea.

Enjoy a free afternoon to explore the area. Take advantage of the pools, make an appointment at the spa, or just relax today.

Have a farewell dinner with your new AdventureWomen friends. Reminisce over all of the memories you have made and celebrate the end of an amazing journey through this truly spectacular country.
Breakfast, Dinner

Overnight: Kempinski Hotel Ishtar Dead Sea

Depart Jordan
Enjoy one last morning in Jordan before heading home. Say goodbye to your new AdventureWomen friends as you transfer to the airport for your flights home. One group transfer is included; private transfers at other times can be arranged for an additional fee.
Breakfast

Please note: AdventureWomen will attempt to adhere to the itinerary as much as possible. However, certain conditions (political, climatic, environmental, and cultural) may necessitate changes in the itinerary. AdventureWomen reserves the right to alter any itinerary at any time, if necessary. We will attempt to notify participants of changes as far in advance as possible. Costs incurred by such changes will be the responsibility of the participants.