OUR TOURS

Nearly all our tours to Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Sudan are itinerary based. In other words, we show you around the country with stops at several different destinations along the way so that you can see, learn and enjoy as much about your destination as possible. We don't really offer package style holidays with just a flight and single beach resort.

We offer tours which concentrate on different geographical areas, have a lot of or no adventurous activities included, and that feature a range of comfort and accommodation levels. You can join a small-group or enjoy a completely private or tailor-made holiday experience.

How to find a tour...

You can search of all the destinations and activities offered by Egypt Uncovered by using our tour finder, which can be found on every page of the website in the top menu.

Whichever way you search, you will find descriptive itineraries, maps, and tour highlights to guide you, before you view the detailed tour pages. We also feature extensive information on the countries we visit and the activities we offer through country and activity guides and features in our blog.

Small group tours

Our small-group tours have regular departures that you may join as an individual, couple, family or group of friends. Joining a group tour is a great way to enjoy the destination at a lower cost, and to also meet some like-minded people along the way. We keep the maximum number in each group small (generally max 12-18) to improve your experience and relationship with your guide and with other members in the group. The minimum number of travellers required for a tour to run is also kept as low as possible (min 2-4) which means that we hardly ever cancel a tour departure. Most tours depart approximately every 2 or 4 weeks - exact dates for each tour are given on each tour web page.

During busy periods we may run several groups on our most popular tours starting on the same date. When this happens, we take great care to split our travellers up in such a way as to give you the best holiday experience (eg. keeping similar ages together, families with similar aged children together). Each group then runs independently with its own guide and vehicle.

Private tours

All the suggested tour itineraries on this website can also be run privately on nearly any date (there are some restrictions with regard to the sailing dates of cruise boats and dahabiyas). This type of travel is most suited if our group dates do not fit with your available holiday, if you do not want to travel with other people in a larger group, or if you want the extra flexibility and personal touch that a private tour affords. You can book the itineraries exactly as they are described, or they can be extended or shortened to suit your travel requirements. Prices for booking each tour privately will normally require just a small extra supplement - because we keep our group tour minimum numbers low, the extra cost for doing the same tour privately is not that high.

Tailor-made tours

You can also use the itineraries on this website as a starting point to give you some interesting ideas and to show you what is possible. If you contact us with your ideas and requirements, we can then customise an itinerary to fit your personal preferences and interests, available dates and budget. Our travel consultants know all the countries we feature very well and have years of experience in designing itineraries for our travellers. They are always very happy to work with you and provide their own suggestions to ensure you end up with a really special holiday - this is really the most interesting and fun part of their job!

We also often work with larger groups including schools, dive clubs and societies, so if you are an organisation or business looking for a tailor-made tour, please contact us and our staff will be happy to help.

Tour leaders/guides

Our policy at Egypt Uncovered is to use only local guides and tour leaders wherever possible, as we feel that this not only contributes to the local economy but also provides you with the best local knowledge available. Local guides can almost invariably give more information and bring a country, its history, culture and nature alive much more than non-native guides. All our guides are fully trained, have a high level of English, and are experienced in dealing with western travellers. In Egypt, they are all university trained Egyptologists, while in other countries all have professional guiding qualifications. We select our guides carefully and value them very highly as we know how important a good guide is to your holiday experience. We are very pleased that many of our guides been working with us for many years. Our clients often describe their tour guide as being one of the highlights of their holiday.

What transport do we use?

In keeping with our aim for our tours to immerse themselves in the local culture and environment, when practical, we suggest the use of public trains instead of internal flights. Due to the poor hygiene standards and regular delays on the Egyptian 'sitting trains' we have chosen to only use the overnight sleeper train for journeys between Cairo and Aswan/Luxor. These train journeys provide a good opportunity to see a little more of the life of the country moving and working around you. We do offer optional upgrades to internal flights instead of these overnight trains, and some tours may include an internal flight as part of the set itinerary where we feel it greatly improves your experience and the running of the tour.

For other journeys and your sightseeing tours, we use private coaches, mini-buses, mini-vans, people carriers or cars depending on the number of people in your party. We always ensure there is a good ratio of extra free seats to travellers to give you space and so you don't feel squashed. All vehicles are regularly inspected, air-conditioned (except for some open 4x4 desert jeeps), and many are fitted with speed limiters and speed reporting & navigation devices. In some areas such as Wadi Rum in Jordan, we are required to use locally owned vehicles and are not able to provide our own, and in these places vehicle quality and safety standards may be lower.

Please see the tour itinerary pages and factsheets for specific transport arrangements for each tour.

Which hotels do we use?

Each tour page has an Accommodation tab which lists the main hotels and other accommodations used during the itinerary. These hotel listings are given as a guide only, and particularly on small-group and shoestring departures, we may use different hotels of a similar standard on some dates.

If you book a place on a tour joining a small-group departure, or as a private departure, then we will let you know the hotels to be used for your holiday a couple of weeks before your departure. If you have specific requests for particular hotels, then please request a tailor-made tour and we will confirm the hotels at the time of your booking.

Tour types

In order to help you more quickly and easily decide if one of our suggested tour itineraries is right for you, we have grouped out tours into Tour Types.

• Small group - This travel idea describes general sightseeing tours, which focus on the cultural and historic background of a country. The are no particularly adventurous or strenuous elements and the accommodation level is more likely to be consistent throughout, except where an activity dictates the accommodation level, such as a felucca sailboat trip or desert camp.
• Shoestring - This travel idea describes great value for money group tours that may follow very similar itineraries as our small group trips, but feature slightly lower levels of accommodation, permit larger maximum group sizes, and include fewer tours and activities within the set itinerary. The idea of these tours is to keep the destination and a guided itinerary style tour accessible for anyone on a lower budget. We level of service on the ground provided by our guides and local representatives remains exactly the same.
• City break - Usually short breaks and weekend getaways, these itineraries are perfect for anyone interested in the many wonderful cities in the region. They are great for giving you a taste of a country when you are limited for time.
• Family - These tours are designed specifically with families travelling with children in mind. They are usually run at a slightly slower pace with less intense sightseeing, some activities or visits chosen especially for children, more child friendly hotels, and more time to relax. The guides we use are have experience working with children and know how to make the itinerary interesting but not too testing, especially in hot climates.
• Special interest - Our special interest tours are designed for people interested in something out of the ordinary. The itinerary concentrates on a particular theme or topic, but may also include some general sightseeing as well. Examples of special interests may include ancient religious or Biblical sites, diving courses, fishing adventures, belly dancing classes or photography, to name but a few.
• Tailor-made - These tours give you a taste of what you can do. The tours listed on our website in this section are shown as sample itineraries and can be booked exactly as you see them, or altered to fit your personal requirements. Our team of expert travel consultants are on hand to work with you to create a special tour just the way you want it. All the tours on our website can be done privately or as a tailor-made tour.