Egypt tourist attractions include a cruise on the Nile river, Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Giza pyramid complex, the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, and Abu Simbel.
Nile River cruise is a classic way to see Egypt and its historical landscapes, and even the ancient Romans did these holiday cruises when touring the treasures of Egypt.
Most of the famous…
- Egyptian temples,
- tombs, and
- the country’s most important cities are located along the Nile.
With a Nile river cruise, you also often get to see the more unusual attractions and less well-known historic villages, which most traditional Egyptian guidebooks ignore.
Typical Nile cruises are either three, four, or seven nights long, and operates between Luxor and Aswan, but you can also find longer cruises on the Nile.
One alternative way to explore Nile is to use Egypt’s traditional sailing ships, felucca boats, which are typically available for a couple hours long, destination specific cruises.
Cairo’s Egyptian Museum (www.egyptianmuseum.gov.eg), a major highlight among Egypt tourist attractions, contains the world’s largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts, totaling over 120,000 objects from the country’s history.
The museum’s building was completed in 1835, located in Cairo, near the Asbakiya gardens.
There are two main levels in the museum.
Of these levels, the entrance level contains…
- a vast collection of ancient papyrus and coins, and
- a chronological collection of artifacts, including statues and pharaoh sarcophagi, from Egyptian historical period from 1550-1070 BC.
If you follow the entrance floor collection in its chronological order, the route ends on the first level’s beginning, which in turn, contains artifacts from the final two dynasties in ancient Egypt.
Among these artifacts are objects found from the tombs of pharaohs Tuhtmosis III, Tuhtmosis IV, Amenophis II, Hatshepsut, and Maherpe, as well as ancient relics found from the Valley of the Kings.
Highlights in the museum include King Tutankhamen’s tomb and its famous 11.1 kg (24.4 lbs) gold mask, which is believed to genuinely and accurately portray what Tutankhamun looked like.
Top Egypt tourist attractions also include Giza pyramid complex, located just outside of Cairo, about 25 km from central Cairo, in fact.
One of the complex monuments, the Great Pyramid of Giza, is the only remaining monument of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
All in all, the pyramid complex contains…
- Khufu’s pyramid (also known as Great Pyramid of Giza and Cheops Pyramid),
- pyramid of Khafre,
- pyramid of Menkaure, as well as
- other, smaller pyramids, often called “queen” pyramids.
The majority of construction work on the pyramid complex took place around 2400 BC.
20 meter (65 ft) tall Great Sphinx statue, of a half-man, half-lion, is located on the eastern side of the pyramid complex.
According to Egyptologists, the head of the Sphinx portrays Pharaoh Khafre.
Of the Egypt tourist attractions, Valley of the Kings in Luxor, on the other hand, is a valley, where, for a period of about 500 years (from 1500-1000 BC), Egyptians built graves for the ancient kings and other nobility.
The valley is located within western shores of the Nile, opposite the modern city of Luxor.
Although excavations in the area are still ongoing, the scientists have so far discovered 62 graves and burial chambers, ranging in size from a simple pit to a complex with more than 120 chambers.
The most famous tomb in the valley is the burial place of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, which is also linked to the legend of “the curse of the pharaohs“.
Most of the ancient burial places are closed to the public, but 18 of them are open to tourists at various times, with nearly all of these being located in the eastern valley side.
On the western valley side, in fact, only one tomb is available for visits, that of pharaoh Ay…
…and you have to purchase separate tickets to visit the tomb.
Finally, Egypt tourist attractions also includes Abu Simbel, an archaeological site containing two massive stone temples in southern Egypt, on the western shores of Lake Nasser, about 290 km (180 miles) from Aswan.
The two temples were originally carved to a mountain wall during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II (11th century BC), as a monument to the pharaoh himself and to Queen Nefertari, as well as to commemorate the pharaoh’s victory in the battle of Kadesh.
The temples, however, were transferred in the 1960s to their current location, as their original location was flooded with the creation of an artificial lake, Lake Nasser, and the Aswan dam.
Of the temples, Great Temple of Abu Simbel has been dedicated to the gods Amun Ra, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah, in addition to Pharaoh Ramesses II.
The smaller temple, the Temple of Hathor and Nefertari, is dedicated to goddess Hathor and Queen Nefertari.
You can reach the complex using, for example, a bus connection, which depart twice a day from Aswan, the nearest city.
Many guests also arrive by a plane, since there is a airport within the region, purpose-built for the tourists coming to Abu Simbel.