Touch down in Cairo in the early morning and let the excitement of Egypt settle in the moment you step off the plane. A private driver meets your family at the airport and takes you straight to the hotel. Spend the rest of the day resting up from the overnight flight, strolling the Corniche, or simply relaxing by the pool as the Nile drifts past.

Today is devoted to the newly opened Grand Egyptian Museum, the most significant addition to Egypt's cultural landscape in decades, and home to the complete treasures of Tutankhamun displayed together for the first time. Budget a full morning to wander the soaring galleries. The scale of the building alone, with the Giza plateau visible through its windows, is worth the visit before you even reach the artifacts. Break for lunch inside the museum at its French patisserie, a delightful contrast to the ancient world just beyond the walls.

This is the day most people picture when they imagine Egypt. Start at Sakkara, where the Step Pyramid of King Zoser, the very first pyramid ever built, rises out of the desert and makes the leap from mudbrick tombs to monumental stone architecture feel almost tangible.

After a relaxed lunch with pyramid views, head to Giza itself to stand beneath the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Sphinx, still one of the most astonishing sights on the planet.

Trade the pharaohs for a broader sweep of history today at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, which traces Egypt's story from prehistory to the present day and includes the Hall of Royal Mummies. From there, walk through Old Cairo's Coptic quarter, where the Hanging Church and the Ben Ezra Synagogue sit within the walls of a Roman fortress and tell the story of Egypt's long, layered religious history. Lunch takes place at a converted riverboat restaurant with a nostalgic, old Cairo atmosphere.

Spend the morning at the original Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, still packed with treasures despite many pieces having moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum, then continue into Islamic Cairo to see the soaring Mosque of Sultan Hassan and the ornately decorated Al Rifa'i Mosque next door.

After lunch at a classic Cairo restaurant tucked inside the bazaar, spend the afternoon exploring Khan El Khalili, one of the oldest and largest markets in the Middle East, where the family can practice some good-natured haggling for spices, jewelry, and souvenirs.

Say goodbye to Cairo with a short domestic flight south to Luxor, once the ancient capital of Thebes and often described as the world's largest open-air museum. On arrival, head straight into the Luxor Museum, a compact but exceptional collection of statues and artifacts, followed by the Mummification Museum, which walks visitors through the entire embalming process step by step.

Head out early for a full day exploring two temples that rarely make it onto shorter itineraries but reward the extra effort. At Abydos, the Temple of Seti I holds some of the finest carved reliefs in Egypt, along with the famous king list that helped historians piece together the order of the pharaohs. Continue to Dendera to see the remarkably well-preserved Temple of Hathor, its columns and ceilings still covered in vivid color and detail.

Cross to Luxor's West Bank for a day centered on how ordinary Egyptians lived rather than how pharaohs were buried. Visit the Tombs of the Nobles, painted with scenes of daily life rather than the funerary imagery found in royal tombs, then walk through the ruins of Deir El Medina, the workers' village where the craftsmen who built the Valley of the Kings once lived with their families. Round out the afternoon with Medinet Habu, the massive mortuary temple of Ramses III, before a relaxed lunch sailing the Nile by traditional felucca.

Transfer to your Nile cruise ship this morning and settle into your cabin before an afternoon spent exploring two of Egypt's most monumental temple complexes. Karnak Temple, built and expanded over more than a thousand years, is anchored by its Hypostyle Hall, a forest of towering stone columns that covers more ground than Notre Dame Cathedral.

In the late afternoon, visit Luxor Temple, once connected to Karnak by a nearly 2-mile avenue lined with sphinxes, before returning to the ship for dinner as it settles in for the night.

This morning is dedicated to the Valley of the Kings, the burial ground of Egypt's New Kingdom pharaohs, where elaborately decorated tombs are carved deep into the desert cliffs. Nearby, the Temple of Hatshepsut, built for Egypt's only female pharaoh, rises from the desert floor in a series of dramatic terraces that blend almost seamlessly into the surrounding cliffs.

Return to the ship for lunch as it begins sailing toward Esna, with the afternoon free to relax on deck and watch the Nile Valley slide by.

Wake up to a relaxed morning on board before disembarking to visit the Temple of Edfu, one of the best preserved temples in all of Egypt, thanks to the desert sand that buried and protected it for centuries. After lunch back on the ship, arrive at Kom Ombo to see its unusual double temple, dedicated jointly to the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon god Horus, perched right at a bend in the Nile. Enjoy afternoon tea in the lounge before dinner on board as the ship continues toward Aswan.

Arrive in Aswan this morning and visit the Aswan High Dam, a modern engineering feat that reshaped the entire region, before taking a short motorboat ride out to Philae Temple on its own island in the Nile.

Back on board for lunch, spend the afternoon at leisure or take an optional felucca sail around Elephantine Island and the Aga Khan Mausoleum.

Disembark the cruise this morning and fly from Aswan to Abu Simbel to see the two colossal temples built by Ramses II, each fronted by four seated statues rising 66 feet into the desert sky. These temples were famously cut into blocks and reassembled higher up the hillside in the 1960s to save them from the rising waters of Lake Nasser, a rescue effort that remains one of the great feats of modern archaeology.

After the visit, fly back through Aswan to Cairo, then continue on to Sharm El Sheikh in the evening to begin the Red Sea portion of the trip.

A final day covering two completely different sides of Egypt in a single 24 hours.

Start by yacht into Ras Mohamed National Park, one of the world's most celebrated dive and snorkel destinations, home to more than a thousand species of fish and over 130 species of coral reef. An introductory dive option is available for first-timers, and the boat stops at White Island, a natural sandbar where the Gulf of Suez meets the Gulf of Aqaba.

As the afternoon winds down, trade the water for the dunes with an ATV ride toward the Sinai Desert's Echo Mountains, known for the natural acoustics that make them a favorite sunset photo spot. Then settle in at a traditional Bedouin camp for tea, a barbecue dinner, and a Tanoura dance and fire show under the stars, closing with guided stargazing through a professional telescope, a fitting end to a trip that has spanned five thousand years of history.