Best Things to Do in Egypt

Egypt is a destination filled with experiences that are difficult to find anywhere else. Ancient temples, enormous pyramids, the River Nile, colourful Nubian culture and the Red Sea are all part of Egypt. Together, they offer an extraordinary variety of things to see and do.

Many of the best things to do in Egypt are connected to its remarkable history. But there’s much more to experience than archaeological sites alone.

You can sail the Nile on a traditional felucca or cruise between Aswan and Luxor. You can spend time beside the Red Sea or head into the Sinai Peninsula for a completely different side of Egypt.

Whether you’re visiting for the Pyramids, the temples or something completely different, try to mix up your experiences. It can make for a much more varied journey through Egypt.

Why Visit Egypt?

Egypt had been somewhere we’d heard about for most of our lives. History lessons and Bible classes at school regularly brought us back to Egypt. The River Nile and the Pyramids of Giza seemed to feature time and again.

Then there were all the documentaries about the Pyramids. How were they built? How did people move those enormous blocks of stone thousands of years ago? Over the years, we’ve watched plenty of theories and explanations about how the Pyramids might have been built. It’s always been an intriguing subject.

Beyond the Pyramids, the Nile and the ancient history we’d learned about growing up, we didn’t know a great deal about Egypt.

That was part of the appeal. We wanted to finally see the places we’d heard about for so many years. We also wanted to discover what the rest of Egypt was actually like.

Our Experience Exploring Egypt

Our journey began in Cairo and Giza before taking us south to Aswan, where we stayed on Elephantine Island and explored the Nile by felucca.

From there, we joined a Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor, visiting temples and historic sites along the way. We then continued to Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh before finishing our journey with an overnight climb of Mount Sinai.

Not every part of travelling through Egypt was easy, but the experiences themselves gave us some incredible memories. These are the places and experiences that stood out most from our journey.

Table of Contents

• Why Did We Want to Visit Egypt?
• Our Experience Exploring Egypt
• Best Things to Do in Egypt
• 1. See the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx
• 2. Visit the Step Pyramid of Saqqara
• 3. Explore Ancient Memphis
• 4. Slow Down in Aswan
• 5. Sail the Nile on a Felucca at Sunset
• 6. Take a Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor
• 7. Spend Some Time in Hurghada
• 8. Relax in Sharm El Sheikh
• 9. Discover Egyptian Food
• 10. Climb Mount Sinai for Sunrise
• Final Thoughts on Our Time in Egypt

Best Things to Do in Egypt

There is no shortage of things to see in Egypt. But you certainly don’t need to visit every temple or archaeological site to feel like you’ve experienced the country.

For us, the best experiences were a mixture of big-name attractions we’d heard about for years and quieter moments we hadn’t expected.

We finally stood beneath the Pyramids and sailed peacefully along the Nile. Each part of our journey offered something completely different.

These are the places and experiences we’d recommend considering for your own Egypt itinerary. We’ll start with the one that fascinated us long before we ever arrived.

1. What to See at Giza

You can see the Pyramids countless times in books, documentaries and photographs. But nothing quite prepares you for seeing them in person.

We visited the Giza Plateau with a local guide, which made the experience much easier. He organised our entrance tickets and helped us navigate the site.

Importantly, he also understood that we wanted to concentrate on the Pyramids. We didn’t want to spend our day being taken to shops.

Standing beneath the Great Pyramid of Giza was an incredible moment. You can’t help wondering how something so enormous was constructed thousands of years ago. After all those years of hearing different theories and watching documentaries about them, we were finally standing right there.

What to See at Giza

• The Great Pyramid: The largest of the three main Pyramids and the one that really gives you a sense of their enormous scale.
• The other Pyramids: Take time to view the whole complex rather than concentrating only on the Great Pyramid.
• The Great Sphinx: One of Egypt’s most recognisable sights and an essential part of a visit to Giza.
• Panoramic viewpoints: Some viewpoints give you that classic view across the desert with several Pyramids in the same scene.

Good to Know

• Consider using a guide: We found having someone handle the tickets and logistics made our visit considerably easier.
• Expect plenty of sellers: Souvenirs, camel rides, photographs and other offers are common around the site.
• Be clear about what you want: If you’re using a guide, let them know beforehand if you don’t want shopping stops included in your tour.
• Allow plenty of time: This isn’t somewhere we’d recommend rushing. Take the time to actually stop and appreciate where you are.

For us, the Pyramids absolutely lived up to the expectation. We certainly experienced challenges elsewhere in Egypt. But we’re very glad we finally stood beneath something we’d been hearing about for most of our lives.

2. Visit the Step Pyramid of Saqqara

After seeing the Pyramids of Giza, we headed to Saqqara with our private driver. It gave us another look at Egypt’s incredible pyramid-building history.

The main attraction here is the Step Pyramid of Djoser, generally considered the first pyramid built in ancient Egypt. Built before the famous Pyramids of Giza, it has a distinctive stepped design. This marked an important stage in the development of pyramid building.

Why Add Saqqara to Your Itinerary?

• See a very different pyramid: The Step Pyramid has a completely different appearance from those at Giza.
• Explore a major archaeological area: Saqqara is much more than a single pyramid, with tombs and other ancient structures spread throughout the site.
• Combine it with Memphis: The two are easy to include in the same day trip, which is exactly what we did.
• Experience somewhere beyond Giza: If ancient Egyptian history interests you, Saqqara adds another layer to what you’ll see at the more famous Pyramids.

Good to know: We visited Saqqara with a private driver rather than trying to organise the journey ourselves. For us, this made exploring outside central Cairo considerably easier.

3. Explore Ancient Memphis

Memphis was once the ancient capital of Egypt. Today, its archaeological remains make an easy addition to a visit to nearby Saqqara.

Rather than one enormous site, you’ll find a collection of statues and ancient remains. One of the highlights is the huge fallen statue of Ramesses II.

What to Look Out For

• The Colossus of Ramesses II: An enormous limestone statue displayed lying down, which allows you to see its details surprisingly close up.
• Ancient statues and remains: There are several pieces that give you a glimpse into the importance Memphis once held.
• The Alabaster Sphinx: Another well-known piece found at the site.

Good to know: We combined Memphis and Saqqara into the same trip with our private driver. If you’re already making the journey to Saqqara, adding Memphis makes sense. There’s no need to treat it as a separate day trip.

For us, Memphis was an interesting addition rather than a major highlight. It worked well alongside Saqqara and added another piece to Egypt’s ancient history.

4. Slow Down in Aswan

After the intensity of Cairo, Aswan felt like a completely different side of Egypt. Sitting beside the Nile in southern Egypt, the pace felt much slower. Our time in Aswan became one of the more relaxing parts of our journey.

We stayed on Elephantine Island, reached by ferry across the Nile. Rather than staying in a large hotel, we chose a Nubian homestay with views across the river. It gave us a very different experience from our time in Cairo.

Why Spend Time in Aswan?

• Enjoy a slower pace: Aswan gave us a welcome chance to slow things down after Cairo.
• Stay on Elephantine Island: A short ferry ride takes you across to the island and its Nubian community.
• Spend time on the Nile: This is a wonderful place to get out on the water, particularly on a traditional felucca.
• Experience Nubian culture: From the food to the communities along the Nile, Aswan introduced us to another side of Egypt.
• Use it as a base for Abu Simbel: Many travellers visit Abu Simbel from Aswan before continuing north towards Luxor.

Aswan wasn’t about rushing from one major attraction to another for us. Some of our favourite moments were simply being beside the Nile, enjoying good food and experiencing a much calmer pace of travel.

5. Sail the Nile on a Felucca at Sunset

One of our favourite experiences in Aswan was a sunset sail along the Nile on a traditional felucca. After busy days exploring Egypt, it was lovely to sit back and enjoy the scenery. We watched the sun slowly disappear over the Nile.

Of course, our peaceful sail didn’t quite go according to plan.

When the Wind Disappeared

As we were heading back, the wind completely disappeared. We sat there wondering what our felucca captain was going to do with a sailing boat and absolutely no wind.

His solution was brilliant. He grabbed the wooden plank we’d used to board the boat and started using it as an oar. One of our group was then put in charge of steering.. Problem solved!

Then along came some local children on paddle boards, using their hands as oars. They pulled up alongside us asking for money and even sang for us as they paddled along.

We’d encountered plenty of people asking for money during our time in Egypt. But these kids certainly worked for theirs, and we were more than happy to give them something.

Why Take a Felucca Ride?

• Experience a traditional way of sailing the Nile: Feluccas have been used on the river for generations.
• Go around sunset: Watching the light change over the Nile made our trip even more memorable.
• Enjoy a break from sightseeing: There are no temples to walk around and no schedule to follow. Just sit back and enjoy being on the river.
• Expect the unexpected: As we discovered, a lack of wind doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be stranded!

Our felucca sail was simple, relaxing and ended up being one of those unexpected travel memories we’ll probably remember longer than many of the famous attractions we visited.

We didn’t book our felucca sail in advance. Our homestay on Elephantine Island arranged everything for us, which made it incredibly easy. If you’re staying in Aswan, it’s worth asking your accommodation about local felucca trips and sunset sails.

6. Take a Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor

A Nile cruise is one of the classic experiences in Egypt. For us, it was also a practical way to travel between Aswan and Luxor while visiting historic sites along the way.

We chose to cruise from Aswan to Luxor, as we were continuing from Luxor by bus to Hurghada. The boats were comfortable, the staff were lovely and the food onboard was pretty good. Between excursions, there was also time to simply relax and watch everyday life along the banks of the Nile.

What to Expect on a Nile Cruise

• Several nights onboard: Your cruise becomes both your accommodation and transport as you travel along the Nile.
• Plenty of ancient sites: Excursions take you to some of Egypt’s most impressive temples and archaeological sites.
• Some very early mornings: Our trip to Abu Simbel started at around 4.30 am, so don’t expect every day to be a sleep-in.
• Excursions can be flexible: We could organise them in advance or book some the day before.
• Check what’s included: Although our meals were included, drinks weren’t. Even tea, coffee and water at breakfast cost extra.

Temples and Stops Along the Nile

One of the biggest advantages of cruising the Nile is how many of Egypt’s ancient sites you can experience along the way. Some of the highlights from our journey included:

• Abu Simbel: An incredible temple complex and well worth that painfully early start from Aswan.
• Kom Ombo: A fascinating riverside temple and an easy stop while cruising the Nile.
• Edfu: Another impressive temple stop between Aswan and Luxor.
• Luxor Temple: Particularly beautiful when illuminated at night.
• Karnak Temple: A vast complex where the sheer scale of the columns and structures is hard to appreciate until you’re standing amongst them.
• Temple of Hatshepsut: Dramatically positioned against the cliffs near Luxor.

By the end, we were probably suffering from a little temple fatigue, but that’s also the beauty of a Nile cruise. You get to see an extraordinary amount of Egypt’s ancient history without having to organise transport between every site yourself.

For us, cruising the Nile was absolutely worth doing and remains one of the experiences we’d recommend including in an Egypt itinerary.

7. Spend Some Time in Hurghada

After our Nile cruise ended in Luxor, we travelled by bus to Hurghada on the Red Sea. It was quite a change after days of temples, early starts and sightseeing.

Suddenly, we were surrounded by beaches, resorts and the bright blue waters of the Red Sea.

Hurghada is a great place to add a few relaxing days to your Egypt itinerary. It’s particularly appealing if you enjoy being on or around the water.

Things to Do in Hurghada

• Explore Hurghada Marina: A nice area for a wander, particularly later in the day when the restaurants and waterfront start getting busier.
• Get out on the Red Sea: Boat trips, snorkelling and diving are some of the most popular activities in Hurghada.
• Take a Yellow Semi-Submarine trip: We decided to try this as a different way of seeing beneath the Red Sea without actually having to dive.
• Enjoy some downtime: After the constant sightseeing along the Nile, Hurghada is a good place to slow the pace down for a couple of days.

Our Yellow Submarine/boat trip wasn’t actually something we’d planned before arriving in Hurghada.

We were walking around the marina when we spotted the bright yellow boats returning, which immediately piqued our curiosity. We wandered over to find out what they were all about and started chatting to the operators. Before we knew it, we had tickets booked.

The trip included an underwater viewing experience. Everyone onboard also had the opportunity to snorkel in the Red Sea.There was no way we were going to pass that up.

The marine life wasn’t quite as abundant as we’d hoped, but that didn’t really matter. Snorkelling in the Red Sea was a pretty special bucket-list tick and something we’re very glad we did.

The semi-submarine also gave us another perspective beneath the water through its underwater viewing windows, so even if you don’t want to snorkel, you can still experience a little of what lies beneath the Red Sea.

8. Relax in Sharm El Sheikh

By the time we reached Sharm El Sheikh, we’d been travelling around Egypt for almost a month. We were ready to slow things right down.

We’d chosen Sharm for a few reasons. Mount Sinai was definitely the main drawcard, and our brother-in-law was based there for six months with work.

We’d also found some fantastic all-inclusive resort packages. It seemed like the perfect place to finish our month in Egypt with a little luxury and not too much sightseeing.

And that’s pretty much what we did.

What We Did in Sharm El Sheikh

• Relaxed at our all-inclusive resort: After weeks of travelling, sightseeing and early starts, we were more than happy to spend plenty of time doing very little.
• Visited Sharm Old Town: We did venture away from the resort to have a wander around the Old Town.
• Swam in the Red Sea: Another chance to enjoy the beautiful waters of the Red Sea.
• Had a Turkish bath experience: We enjoyed this so much that we booked it twice.
• Climbed Mount Sinai: This was the big one and the main reason we’d included Sharm El Sheikh in our itinerary.

For us, Sharm El Sheikh wasn’t really about filling our days with activities. It was about slowing down, enjoying the resort and preparing for one final adventure before leaving Egypt.

9. Discover Egyptian Food

With so much attention given to Egypt’s ancient history, it’s easy to overlook the food. Trying local dishes is another great way to experience the country.

We didn’t book an organised food tour during our trip. But thinking about it, we pretty much created our own over the month we spent in Egypt.

Many of our private tours included stops at different places to eat. This gave us the chance to try a variety of local dishes along the way.

Our Nile cruise also introduced us to Egyptian flavours and local specialities. When we were exploring on our own, we often grabbed something from local takeaways.

So, while we can’t say we officially booked an Egyptian food tour, we certainly ate our way around the country. After a month, it felt like we’d done one anyway!

Egyptian Food to Look Out For

• Koshari: One of Egypt’s best-known dishes, combining rice, pasta, lentils and chickpeas with tomato sauce and crispy onions.
• Falafel: Known locally as ta’ameya and traditionally made with fava beans.
• Fresh bread: You’ll see Egyptian flatbread everywhere and it accompanies many meals.
• Grilled meats and chicken: Simple, filling and something we ate several times during our travels.
• Nubian food in Aswan: Some of our most memorable meals were during our stay on Elephantine Island, including Nubian chicken and vegetable tagine.

A food tour is also a great way to explore local neighbourhoods and markets. Having a local guide means you’ll know where to go and, more importantly, what to try when you get there.

10. Our Mount Sinai Experience

Our final big experience in Egypt was also one of the most meaningful of our entire trip.

We left Sharm El Sheikh during the night to climb Mount Sinai. Traditionally, it’s believed to be the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments. The goal was to reach the summit in time to watch the sunrise.

Our Mount Sinai Experience

• We climbed through the night: Headlamps lit the way as we made our way steadily higher in the darkness.
• The climb took around 4½ hours: It was a long night on the mountain, followed by another couple of hours making our way back down.
• It was bitterly cold at the summit: The wind had picked up and the beautiful sunrise we’d imagined never really appeared through the conditions.
• But the sunrise wasn’t what made this climb special: For us, there was something far more personal behind it.

Our climb fell on the anniversaries of both of our fathers passing away on 6 March. My dad had passed away 20 years earlier and Toni’s 22 years earlier.

There was something incredibly moving about climbing through the darkness for all those hours. It felt as though we were getting just that little bit closer to the heavens.

By the time we reached the summit, the perfect sunrise didn’t really matter anymore.

We stood together on top of Mount Sinai, thinking about our dads and everything that had brought us to that moment. It’s one of those travel experiences we’ll never forget.

Thinking About Climbing Mount Sinai? There’s much more to this experience than we can fit into a few paragraphs. The overnight climb brings cold, darkness, a long journey to the summit and an equally long walk back down.

👉 Read Our Full Mount Sinai Sunrise Hike Experience

Final Thoughts on Our Time in Egypt

There is so much more to see and do in Egypt than we could ever fit into one trip. It’s a vast country, and travelling between destinations takes time. At some point, you simply have to decide what matters most to you.

There were certainly places we would have liked to include. Siwa Oasis and Dahab were both on our list, and we would have loved to explore Alexandria. We also wanted to see the Suez Canal from the ground, rather than just looking down on it from an aeroplane.

We’d imagined spending more time swimming and enjoying the Red Sea too. Travelling in March meant it wasn’t quite as warm as we’d hoped. So, some of those plans changed once we were there.

But when we look back at everything we did experience, it’s hard to feel like we missed out.

We stood beneath the Pyramids of Giza and saw where Egypt’s pyramid story began at Saqqara. We sailed the Nile on a felucca and cruised from Aswan to Luxor. We explored ancient temples, snorkelled in the Red Sea and relaxed in Sharm El Sheikh.

And finally, we climbed Mount Sinai through the night.

There will always be somewhere else you could have gone and something else you could have squeezed into an itinerary.

What we did and what we saw was more than enough to fill our cup.

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