Days 1 + 2: Amman Jordan
All desert roads lead to elegant, youthful Amman, gleaming like an opal in the sand. World-class museums showcase treasures from this corner of the Middle East, while the Citadel is the capital’s crowning glory, holding seventh-century Umayyad ruins high above the city’s minarets and markets. To the north, ancient Jerash beckons, triumphant pillars and arches hinting at the city’s celebrated Roman heyday.
Days 3 + 4: Petra
Though its name evokes one single, iconic sight, Petra is more than just Al Khazneh (the Treasury): it is an entire city of 800 monuments, temples and tombs carved into coral-pink sandstone canyons in the third century BC. The ancient capital of the Nabateans was unknown to the West until 1812, but even after all this time, nothing prepares visitors for the sight of the Treasury emerging at the end of a narrow gorge like a glorious, golden, ornately chiseled dream.
Day 5: Wadi Rum
Mysterious petroglyphs, fire-red desert sands and vast rocky canyons: Wadi Rum is the poster child of desert escapes, in no small part to its role as the backdrop to the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia. Explore the dramatic, almost-Martian landscape by day, and brave the chill of dusk to see it transformed by night, when Bedouin campfires crackle in the dunes and stars become ancient tools of navigation.
Days 6 + 7: Dead Sea
Ten times saltier than the ocean, this vast lake bordering Jordan, Israel and the West Bank has attracted health-seekers for millennia with its mineral-rich waters. The asphalt it harbors was used to embalm pharaohs, while today its therapeutic compounds offer a unique natural spa experience. Float on the surface, buoyed up by dense saline water, or treat your skin to a mud-bath rich in magnesium, calcium and potassium.
Days 8-11: Cairo
Parisian-style boulevards and souks fragrant with cinnamon and sumac; mosques, museums, skyscrapers and the Citadel: Cairo amazes. It is the gateway to any venture into Egypt’s ancient past: Giza’s Pyramids beckon, but so too does Memphis, the legendary city founded in 3100 BC; the ancient necropolis of Sakkara, whose six-stepped pyramids represented the pharaoh's passage to heaven; or Dahshour, where the 'Bent Pyramid' cuts a curved dash against desert skies.
Unravel the story of the capital with your own personal Egyptologist, who will bring the ancient walls, turrets and museums of the 12th-century Citadel to life. Among the highlights is the Grand Egyptian Museum, the world’s largest showcase of archaeological relics from a single culture, including the treasures recovered from Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Days 11-16: the Nile
Few destinations are as evocative as Egypt, the Land of the Pharaohs, where thousands of years of history are played out in what amounts to a living outdoor museum on the banks of the River Nile. Sail the 130-mile stretch from Aswan to Luxor in style aboard one of A&K Sanctuary’s sumptuous riverboats, mooring at private docks close to the region’s most renowned archaeological sites. The vessels in our fleet recall the 1920s romance of Agatha Christie’s day, with breezy restaurant decks, cocktail bars and pool-side daybeds as well as exceptional food and five-star service. Ashore, Egyptologists bring the stories of ancient dynasties to life and offer unparalleled insights into the modern country’s culture.
Aswan’s temples have stood as sentinels gazing over the Nile since the seventh century BC, the golden totems of a region murmuring with millennia of history. On Agilika Island, the majestic Philae temple complex beckons. Explore its monumental structures, known for their hieroglyphic reliefs, before returning to your riverboat. Ply the Nile’s easy, fabled waters to Kom Ombo, whose temple is dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek; in ancient times, the reptiles could be seen basking in the desert sun on the riverbank. Cruise on to Luxor where, in the Valleys of the Kings and Queens, you and your guide explore sites including the vast Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, shrouded by mountains, and the carved pillars and hieroglyphs of the Ramesseum, the funerary monument of the great Ramses II. After the cruise fly to Cairo for your onward flight. (AK)
*This itinerary can be modified to fit your travel needs.