15 Day Israel and Egypt Private Tour

Arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport Tel Aviv. Meet Noah Tours’ representative after the passport control and transfer to hotel in an overnight.

After breakfast drive through Jaffa, an ancient port city and the oldest part of Tel Aviv. Continue on to the ancient city of Caesarea that was built by King Herod the Great while driving along the beautiful Mediterranean coast. We will then proceed to Haifa, passing by Mt. Carmel to see the famous Bahai Gardens. From Haifa, we will drive to Nazareth and the Church of Annunciation. Drive to Cana, where the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine took place, and visit the “Wedding Church”. End the day with an overnight in Tiberias / Sea of Galilee.

Start the day with an exciting boat ride on the Galilee Sea. Continue to visit Biblical Magdala and its most recent excavations and discoveries. See the Ancient Synagogue, mentioned in the Bible, from the Period of Jesus. Ascend up to Mt. Beatitudes, where Jesus gave the “Sermon on the Mount”. Continue the day in Capernaum, known as “The Town of Jesus”, visit the synagogue and Peter’s house. Take a lunch break with a delicious St. Peters fish lunch. Next, we will visit Tabgha, the place where the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes took place. You will also have the amazing opportunity to see the famous mosaic under the altar of the ancient church of Tabgha. Proceed to the Golan Heights and have an overview from above. End the day at your hotel in the Galilee Sea for your overnight.

Begin the morning driving along the Jordan River to Yardenit Baptismal Site. Visit Qumran and see the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Travel on to Masada where you will take a cable car up to the fortress. The history of the famous Jewish fortification will unfold before your eyes; the palaces built by King Herod, the synagogue, and bathhouses used by the Jews. Descend Masada by cable car and drive to the Dead Sea for some relaxation and a dip in the water. Overnight at a Dead Sea hotel and spa where you will be able to take advantage of the spa facilities.

Take advantage of some extra sleep or an early spa treatment. Then drive to Jerusalem going up to the Mt. of Olives, a cemetery that once was covered in olive groves, where you will have a magnificent panoramic view of Jerusalem. Depart for Bethlehem to see the Church of Nativity located at Manger Square. Overview of the Judean Desert and Shepherd’s Field. Finish the day back in Jerusalem for your overnight.

The morning will begin with a visit to Israel’s official memorial to the Holocaust, Yad Vashem, located on Mt. Herzl. Drive past The Knesset and the Israeli Supreme Court, on your way to the Israel Museum, Israel’s national museum, where you will see the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as a model of the Second Temple. Continue the day with an exciting tour of the Mahane Yehuda Marketplace (Shuk) and experience life as an Israeli. Overnight in Jerusalem.

Today will begin with a tour of the Garden of Gethsemane, the place where Jesus prayed and his disciples slept the night before his crucifixion. Make your way to Mt. Zion where you will visit David’s Tomb and the site of the Last Supper, also known as the “Upper Room”. We continue to the Christian Quarter where you will enter the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Jesus was crucified. From there, walk where Jesus walked and make your way down Via Dolorosa (Stations of the Cross). The day will continue with a trip to The Cardo, what used to be a main street in the Old City during the time when Judea was under Roman rule. Go down to the Western Wall and spend some time in reflection and/or prayer. End the day with an overnight in Tel Aviv.

Transfer to Ben Gurion International Airport Tel Aviv for a flight to Egypt. Upon arrival at Cairo airport meet our representative and transfer to your hotel in Cairo overnight.

After breakfast flight to Luxor and transfer to a 5 stars Nile Cruise. Lunch on the ship. In the afternoon visit the temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor. A vast open-air museum of ruined temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, notably the Great Temple of Amen. Dinner and overnight on a cruise boat. We are using luxury Nile cruise boats, operating on European standards that have acquired an excellent reputation with our travelers. Our staff is available throughout the cruise and will guide you on the land tours.

Immediately opposite Luxor, across the River Nile, lie the monuments, temples, and tombs of the Theban Necropolis, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens. The archeological remains of Thebes offer a striking testimony to Egyptian civilization at its height. Among others, we shall view the Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, a famous female Pharaoh who during her 22 year-long reigns became known for her extensive expeditions and fostering of trade relations. From Luxor, we sail to Esna. Two barrage bridges straddle the Nile at this point: one built by the British in 1906, and the “Electricity Bridge” built in the 1990s. If time permits we will visit the temple of Esna and the market of Esna. Our boat will negotiate its way through the lock system and sail on the Nile to Edfu overnight.

Edfu is known for the major Ptolemaic temple, built between 237 BCE and 57 BCE. The Temple of Horus also known as Apollonopolis Magna, after the chief god Horus-Apollo, is the second-largest temple in Egypt after Karnak and one of the best-preserved. The inscriptions on its walls provide important information on language, myth, and religion during the Greco-Roman period in ancient Egypt. We continue our sail on the Nile to the town of Kom Ombo to visit the Temple of Kom Ombo, an unusual double temple built during the Ptolemaic dynasty. The building is unique because everything is perfectly symmetrical along the main axis and there were courts, halls, sanctuaries, and rooms duplicated for two sets of gods. The southern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world. The northern part of the temple was dedicated to the falcon god Horus the Elder. A few of the three-hundred crocodile mummies discovered in the vicinity are displayed inside the temple. Sail on the Nile to Aswan overnight.

After breakfast, disembark and at leisure in Aswan evening travel by a Sleeper Train to Cairo. Dinner and breakfast on Train.

Arrive in Cairo. Full-Day tour, visiting the Pyramids, Sphinx, Memphis / Sakkara. Overnight at a hotel in Cairo.

Full day tour, visiting the national Egyptian Museum, Citadel (or Synagogue), Mohamed Ali Mosque, Old Cairo, and famous Khan El Khalil Bazaar.

After breakfast transfer to the International Cairo Airport.