Egypt’s history spans 7000 years and is reflected in its monuments, temples, and towns.  The country is a combination of both ancient and modern civilizations with first - class conference and tourism facilities side-by side with monuments of Egypt’s glorious past.

Pyramids, churches, mosques, and museums are spread all over the capital city of Cairo.  A comfortable blend of the old and the new is found on both sides of the famous Nile.  On the Western side, at the edge of the desert plateau stands the symbol of the great Pharaohs, the Pyramids of Giza.  Designated by the World, they stand today as they did thousands of yeas ago, still guarded by the legendary Sphinx.

On the Eastern side, high in the center of the Old City, is the Citadel of Salah El Din.  Crowning the old section of Cairo, the Citadel reigns over an area that hosts some of the world’s most beautiful Islamic sites.  Visiting this area one plunges into a living museum.

A touch of the Middle Ages can be found in the Khan El Khalili Bazaar, Al Hussien Mosque and the Islamic Museum.  This is also the site of the world’s oldest university, Al Azhar, which is open now for over a thousand years.

Near the Citadel, on the bank of the Nile, lies the old Christian sector of the city, Coptic Cairo.  With numerous ancient churches, some dating to the time of the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt, Coptic Cairo offers the visitor a unique insight into the early years of Christianity.
More than 100,000 objects are on display in the Egyptian Museum, which is located in the center of Cairo.  The museum also holds the full collection of King Tutankhamen.

The warm-hearted hospitality of the Egyptians, Egypt’s moderate and sunny climate, the beautiful beaches and luxurious hotels combine to give the visitor a taste of a unique lifestyle.
In modern Cairo, many forms of entertainment are available.  Nightclubs and discos, with both Arabic and Western programs, stay open until the early hours of dawn.  Restaurants and cafes offer cuisine of different nationalities. Shops of every type line the streets and boulevards, inviting the visitor to sample Egypt’s own products as well as imported goods.

Egypt Attractions

Cairo - City of the Thousand Minarets
Cairo is the largest city in Africa and Egypt's most populous city. Its official name is Al-Qahira, although the name informally used by most Egyptians is "Masr" (Egyptian Arabic name for Egypt), from the original name of Egypt's first Arab capital Fustat, Misr al-Fustat, "City of the Tents". The capital of the Arab Republic of Egypt has a population of about 7.7 million people, while its metropolitan area encompasses about 17.285 million people, making it the sixteenth most populous metropolitan area in the world.

Aswan

Aswan is where Egypt travelers go for relaxation, besides shopping and sightseeing. About 680 km (425 miles) south of Cairo, just below the Dam and Lake Nasser, Aswan is the smallest of the three major tourist cities based on the Nile. You feel you have reached Africa (as most westerners imagine the continent), mainly because it has a large population of Nubian people, mostly resettled from their homeland in the area flooded by Lake Nasser.

The area is rich in granite quarries exploited since antiquity. Most of the obelisks seen in Luxor were sourced from Aswan. And speaking of rocks, there's Elephantine Island, so called because its huge dark smooth rocks resemble the skin of elephants.

The Pyramids of Giza
The Giza pyramids are located some eight km inland into the desert from the old town of Giza on the Nile, some 20 km southwest of Cairo city center.

Of the three principal Giza pyramids, only Khafre's pyramid retains part of its original polished limestone casing, towards its apex.

Saqqara
The Step Pyramid of Djoser was built for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser by his Vizier Imhotep. It was constructed during the 27th century BC at the Saqqara necropolis to the northwest of the city of Memphis.

This first Egyptian pyramid consisted of six mastabas (of decreasing size) built atop one another in what were clearly revisions and developments of the original plan. The pyramid originally stood 62 meters tall and was clad in polished white limestone. The stepped pyramid (or proto-pyramid) of King Djoser is considered to be the earliest large-scale stone construction.

Alabaster Mosque
The Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali is the most popular Islamic mosque among Egypt travelers, because of its grandeur and its location at the Citadel in Cairo, making it the most visible of Islamic monuments in Cairo. It was built during the first half of the 19th century. Muhammad Ali Pasha, viceroy and effectively king of Egypt, is buried here.

Philae Temple
The Philae Temple was constructed over a three-century period, by the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty and the Roman Principate. The principal deity of the temple complex was Isis, but other temples and shrines were dedicated to her son Horus and the goddess Hathor.  In Ptolemaic times Hathor was associated with Isis, who was in turn associated with the Greek goddess Aphrodite. For centuries the Philae temple complex was the holiest site for Isis worshippers. The temple was officially closed down in the 6th century A.D. by the Byzantine emperor Justinian. It was the last pagan temple to exist in the Mediterranean world. Philae was a seat of the Christian religion as well as of the ancient Egyptian faith. Ruins of a Christian church were still discovered, and more than one adytum bore traces of having been made to serve at different eras the purposes of a chapel of Osiris and of Christ. The Philae temple was converted into a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, until that was closed by Muslim invaders in the 7th century. 

Dahab
Dahab is a small village situated on the south eastern coast of the Sinai Peninsula. Formerly a Bedouin fishing village, most visitors have been backpackers traveling independently and staying in hostels in the Masbet area. In recent years, new international chain-hotels in the Medina area and the construction of other facilities have made it a popular tourist destination. The nearest international airport is located at Sharm el-Sheikh.

The word Dahab is Arabic for gold and is possibly a reference to the geographic locality. Gold washed down from the desert mountains may have accumulated on the alluvial flood plain where the town was built. The name may also be a reference to the color of the sands to the south of the town itself.

Alexandria
Alexandria is Egypt's second largest city and the country's window on the Mediterranean Sea.

The city is a faded shade of its former glorious cosmopolitan self, but still worth a visit for its many cultural attractions and memories of a glorious past. It remains an important city, as Egypt's chief seaport on the Mediterranean and a home to at least 3.5 million Egyptians.

Alexandria was the eponymous foundation (in 334 BCE) of the Macedonian conquerer Alexander the Great (Iskander al-Akbar), a rival of Rome in its heyday, and the world's greatest center of learning for millennia, now a dusty seaside Egyptian town with an over-inflated population of 5 million. The French-style parks and the occasional.

Luxor
Luxor is the premier travel destination in Upper (southern) Egypt and the Nile Valley. In antiquity, the city, known as Thebes by the greeks, was the dynastic and religious capital of Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom Egypt. Today, it has much to offer the traveler, from vast temples, to ancient royal tombs, via spectacular desert and river scenery and a bustling modern life.

The modern city of Luxor is on the East bank. This area has the train and bus stations, most of the hotels and restaurants, some museums, tourist shops and so on.

Visitors usually stay on the East bank and travel across to the West bank of the Nile, where most of the pharaonic attractions are.

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Valley of the Kings
Soon after the defeat of the Hyksos and the reunification of Egypt under Ahmose I, the Theban rulers realized the need for a new royal necropolis.The idea of pyramid tombs was abandoned, robberies being one principal reason. A valley on the west bank was chosen as an appropriate area where the new tombs could be excavated underneath in the limestone and protected from ransackers. This valley, presently known as the Valley of the Kings is under the shadow of impressive cliffs and the tallest peak, Al Qurn, is shaped naturally as a pyramid. The area is both attractive for its natural beauty and the sheer quantities of archaeological wonders discovered there and yet to be found.

Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel is an archaeological site comprising two massive rock temples in southern Egypt on the western bank of Lake Nasser about 290 km southwest of Aswan. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Nubian Monuments", which run from Abu Simbel downriver to Philae (near Aswan).

The twin temples were carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari, to commemorate his alleged victory at the Battle of Kadesh, and to intimidate his Nubian neighbors. The complex was relocated in its entirety in the 1960s to avoid being submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser, the massive artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan dam on the river Nile. Abu Simbel remains one of Egypt's top...

Hurghada
Since the 1980s, Hurghada has become the principal bathing resort on the Red Sea, visited by American, European and Arabs. Holiday villages and first class hotels provide excellent aquatic sport facilities.

What used to be a small fishing village is now a fully developed resort that stretches for about 40 km along the Red Sea shore, attracting package holiday tourists mostly from Europe, notably Russians, Czechs and Germans. Many restaurants, bars and shops, small pubs and internet cafes are available all over Hurghada.

Known as a party town, with its many clubs, life in Hurghada begins at night. Nearly every hotel has its own disco. The most famous ones at the moment are "Calypso" and "Papas Beach". Renowned for belly dancing, Arabic and

Sharm-el-Sheikh
Sharm-el-Sheikh's major industry is foreign and domestic tourism, owing to its dramatic landscape, year-round dry and temperate climate and long stretches of natural beaches. Its waters are clear and calm for most of the year and have become popular for various watersports, particularly recreational scuba diving and snorkeling (which many consider to be among the best in the world). Coral reefs, under water and marine life, unmatched anywhere in the world, offer a spectacular and dazzling time for divers. There is wide room for scientific tourism with diversity in marine life species - 250 different coral reefs and 1000 species of fish.

The Red Sea Coast
Egypt's Red Sea coast is famed for its crystal clear blue waters and exotic marine life, attracting thousands of tourists yearly. The reputation is well deserved - in 1989, an international panel of scientists picked the north part of the Red Sea as one of the Seven Underwater Wonders of the World. The sea carries over 800 fish species, including the lethal stonefish and butterfly fish as well as shark and over 200 coral species. In addition, the shores of the sea are visited by thousands of migrating birds every year and bird watchers are bound to have a good time here.

Beni Hasan
Beni Hasan is a small village and an important archaeological locality in Middle Egypt, some 20 km south of the city of Minya. Located on the eastern bank of the river Nile, the small but interesting site consists of cliff-hewn tombs overlooking the river valley with truly magnificent views in both directions. During the Middle Kingdom, it was the centre of the cult of Pakhet.

There are 39 ancient tombs here of Middle Kingdom nomarchs of the Oryx nome, who governed from Hebenu. Due to the quality of, and distance to the cliffs in the west, these tombs were constructed on the east bank, but are otherwise similar to other Middle Kingdom tombs.

Abydos
Abydos is one of the most ancient cities of Upper Egypt, about 11 km (6 miles) west of the Nile. The Egyptian name was Abdju, "the hill of the symbol or reliquary," in which the sacred head of Osiris was preserved. The Greeks named it Abydos, like the city on the Hellespont; the modern Arabic name is el-'Araba el Madfuna.

Considered one of the most important archaeological sites of ancient Egypt, the sacred city was the site of many ancient temples, including a royal necropolis where early pharaohs were entombed. Abydos became notable for the Great Temple built by Seti I, which contains a tunnel displaying a chronological list showing cartouche names of every dynastic pharaoh of Egypt from the first, Narmer/Menes, until the pharaohs of the last dynasty.

Ecotourism in the Desert
Where the irrigated fertile valley of the Nile changes abruptly into the barren Red Land, called "dashur" in Ancient Egypt, wonderful treasures await the adventurous traveler who dares enters into a spiritual journey of individual contact with nature in magnificent total isolation.

Not many tourists ever venture into the desert to witness the spectacular natural wonders of Egypt. Perhaps this is a blessing, since large scale tourism often carry a negative impact. Jonathan Tourtellot, from National Geographic Traveler magazine, has coined the term "geotourism" to describe a form of "tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place—its environment, heritage, aesthetics, culture, and the well-being of its residents."

Siwa Oasis
 The Siwa Oasis is located between the Qattara Depression and the Egyptian Sand Sea in the Libyan Desert, approximately 50 km east of the Libyan border, and some 560 km from Cairo.

About 80 km in length and 20 km wide, it is one of Egypt's most isolated settlements, home to about 23,000 people, the majority of whom are ethnic Berbers who speak a distinct language known as Siwi. Agriculture is the main activity, primarily the growing of dates and olives.

Dendera

Dendera is an archaeological locality in Egypt just outside the town of Qena (62 km north of Luxor) in the region of Middle Egypt.

The modern Arab town is built on the ancient site of Ta-ynt-netert which means 'She of the Divine Pillar', or Tentyra which is Greek for Dendera. It was the capital of the sixth nome or province of pharaonic Upper Egypt, also named Nikentori or Nitentori, which signifies willow wood or willow earth. Others give the derivation from the sky and fertility goddess Hathor, also associated with Aphrodite, who was specially worshiped there. The crocodile is recognized as the deity of the city and was also venerated as such in other Egyptian cities, which caused many quarrels, notably with Ombos.

Amarna
The site of Amarna (commonly known as el-Amarna or incorrectly as Tell el-Amarna) is located on the east bank of the Nile River, some 58 km (38 miles) south of the city of al-Minya, 312 km (194 miles) south of the Egyptian capital Cairo and 402 km (250 miles) north of Luxor. The site includes several modern villages, chief of which are el-Till in the north and el-Hagg Qandil in the south.