What a private Egypt journey costs
An honest answer, written for travellers at the top of the market rather than the bottom — where the money goes, what moves the number, and where we sit.
Most pages answering this question are written for a different traveller — per-diems, dormitories and how to bargain for a felucca. That is a real and worthwhile way to see Egypt, and it is not the one we plan. Here is the same question answered for a private, guided journey, with the numbers we actually quote.
Four ways to see Egypt, and what each costs
The gap between the bottom and the top of the Egyptian market is wider than almost anywhere else in the world. Knowing which band you are shopping in is more useful than any single number.
Independent travel
Public transport, budget hotels, self-guided sites, group day-tours bought locally. Egypt is genuinely rewarding at this level and many people travel it happily this way. It is not what we do, and we would not pretend otherwise.
Group tours
A seat on a coach with twenty to forty others, fixed dates, a shared guide and an itinerary you cannot change. Good value if the itinerary happens to suit you, and the standard way most of the world sees Egypt.
Private, tailor-made
Where Kemet sits. Your own licensed Egyptologist, your own vehicle and driver, hotels chosen for the room rather than the star rating, and an itinerary written for you. Per-person cost falls as the party grows.
At the very top
Private charter between cities, a chartered dahabiya on the Nile, suites at the landmark hotels, private after-hours access where it can be arranged. We plan at this level when it is asked for.
Five things that move the number
In the order they matter, not the order people expect.
How many of you there are
This is the single largest factor and it surprises people. A private guide, a private vehicle and a private driver cost the same whether two people or six are using them — so the per-person price of a private journey falls sharply as the party grows. Two travellers carry the whole cost of the car; six split it. A family of six will often pay less per head for a fully private journey than a couple pays for the same itinerary.
When you come
Egypt has a genuine high season — roughly October to April, plus Christmas, New Year and Easter — and the difference is not marginal. The same Nile suite can cost twice as much over New Year as it does in early June. If your dates are flexible by even two weeks, late October, early March and the first half of June buy noticeably more journey for the same money.
Where you sleep
Hotels are the largest line in most quotes and the range in Egypt is enormous. A comfortable five-star in Cairo and a landmark hotel with a pyramid view are both 'five-star'; they are not the same price and they are not the same experience. On the Nile the gap is wider still — the difference between a standard cruise vessel and one of the small, restored boats is the difference between a holiday and a memory.
How you cross the country
Cairo to Luxor is an hour by air or ten by road. Aswan to Abu Simbel is a forty-minute flight or a three-hour desert drive each way. Domestic flights add cost and give back the thing you cannot buy more of, which is time on the ground. On a short trip they are almost always the right call.
How hard the days work
An itinerary with four sites a day is cheaper to build and worse to live. Slower days need more nights, and more nights cost more — but they are the difference between having seen Egypt and having been there. We would rather quote you seven unhurried days than five exhausting ones.
What the money buys
Every operator in Egypt uses the word luxury. These are the specifics behind ours — the things you can check, before you pay for anything.
A licensed Egyptologist, not a guide
Every journey is led by a guide licensed by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism with a degree in Egyptology. They are with you at the monuments, not waiting in the car park — and they are yours for the day, answering your questions rather than reciting to forty people.
Your party only
No shared coaches. No fixed departure dates. No strangers on your itinerary. If you are two people, the vehicle, the guide and the pace belong to two people.
Built around you, then written down
We design the itinerary from your interests and your dates — not from a catalogue page. You receive it in writing before anything is paid, and it changes as often as you want it to until it is right.
One price, itemised
The quote lists what is included and what is not, line by line, before you commit. Entrance fees, private air-conditioned transfers, your Egyptologist and lunch on touring days are inside the price — they are not add-ons revealed later.
Reachable while you travel
You have a direct line to the people who planned your journey for the whole time you are in Egypt — not a call centre, and not a number that stops answering after the deposit clears.
Time protected, not filled
A day with four sites crammed into it is a cheaper day to sell and a worse day to live. We plan around light, heat and crowds — the Valley of the Kings at opening, the Egyptian Museum when the coaches have gone — and we leave the afternoon alone.
Who this is for
- Travellers who would rather see four things properly than twelve badly
- Couples marking something — a honeymoon, an anniversary, a birthday that ends in a zero
- Families travelling across three generations, where pace and comfort decide whether it works
- Repeat visitors who have done the headline sites and want the ones nobody queues for
- Anyone for whom the difference between a good guide and a great one is the whole trip
Who it isn't for
- Anyone looking for the lowest price on a trip to Egypt — we are not the cheapest and do not try to be
- Coach tours, shared group departures and fixed itineraries sold by the seat
- Hostels, dormitories and hop-on backpacking routes
- Travellers who would rather organise the logistics themselves and value independence over service
- Trips built primarily around nightlife or a resort beach
On price, plainly
Kemet sits at the upper end of the Egyptian market and we are comfortable saying so. A private Egyptologist for a week costs what it costs; so does a car that is yours alone and a room that faces the river rather than the car park. What we will not do is quote low, then recover the difference through optional extras, shopping stops and an itinerary that quietly turns into a group. Every price on this site is a per-person starting point for a private journey, and the written quote that follows is the price you pay.
Three signature journeys
Starting points, not fixed departures — each is rewritten around your dates, your party and what you care about. Prices are per person and fall as the party grows.
The Grand Tour of Egypt
Our most complete journey: two capitals, a Nile cruise, Ramesses II's mountain temple at Abu Simbel, and four Red Sea days to absorb it all.
Egypt Icons & Nile Cruise
Our most complete journey: Cairo, Alexandria, a sleeper train south, and a three-night Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor — every layer of Egypt in one arc.
Honeymoon on the Nile
Egypt as a honeymoon should be — private sunrise at the pyramids, a felucca at golden hour, three nights on the Nile and suites chosen for the view.
Cost questions, answered
How much does a private tour of Egypt cost?
For a fully private, tailor-made journey with a licensed Egyptologist, a private vehicle and driver and good hotels, budget roughly €200–450 per person per day. Kemet's own journeys start from €52 per person for a single day and run to €2,480 per person for a fourteen-day grand tour. The per-person figure falls as the party grows, because the guide and the vehicle are shared between more people.
Why is a private Egypt tour more expensive than a group tour?
Because almost nothing is shared. A group tour divides one guide, one coach and one driver between thirty people; a private journey divides them between your party alone. You are also buying the ability to change the plan — to stay longer at Abu Simbel, to skip the papyrus shop, to start at six because the light is better. That flexibility has a real cost and it is the main thing you are paying for.
Is Egypt expensive to visit?
Egypt is one of the least expensive countries in the world for food, transport and entrance fees, and one where the gap between the bottom and the top of the market is unusually wide. You can see the Pyramids for the price of a museum ticket. What costs money is not access — it is the quality of the person standing next to you explaining what you are looking at, the car that collects you, and the room you come back to.
How much should I budget for a week in Egypt?
At the private, tailor-made level a week for two people typically lands between €2,800 and €6,000 in total, depending on hotels, season and whether you fly or drive between cities. That covers your Egyptologist throughout, all entrance fees, private transfers and lunch on touring days. International flights, the US$30 entry visa and gratuities sit outside it.
What is included in a Kemet price?
Your private licensed Egyptologist throughout, all entrance fees to sites and monuments, private air-conditioned transfers, hotel pickup and drop-off, lunch on each touring day and bottled water every day. Excluded: international flights, the Egypt entry visa, gratuities, personal expenses and named optional extras. Every quote itemises both lists before you commit to anything.
When do I pay?
25% of the total trip cost confirms your journey; the balance is due 30 days before departure. Nothing is paid before you have the written itinerary and the itemised price in front of you.
Are prices per person or for the whole party?
Every price on this site is per person, and every one is a starting point for a private journey — never a per-seat price on a shared departure. Because the fixed costs are split across your party, the per-person figure drops as more of you travel; tell us the party size and the quote reflects it.
Is it cheaper to book in Egypt when I arrive?
For a single day tour, sometimes. For anything else, no — and the saving is rarely what it appears. Booking on the ground means taking whichever guide is free rather than one chosen for your interests, competing for hotel rooms in high season, and losing the days you came for to arranging things. The travellers who do this most often end up paying a similar amount for a worse trip.
Tell us what you have in mind
Send your dates, your party and roughly what you want the trip to be. You will get a written itinerary with an itemised price — no obligation, and no call centre.