Orientation
Egypt is larger than most people picture and almost entirely empty. Ninety-five per cent of the country is desert, and nearly everyone lives on the thin green strip either side of the Nile or along the coasts. That single fact explains most of the travel times below.
The mistake we see most often is booking a beach week in Sharm and expecting to reach Luxor for the day. Here is what is actually near what.
The four parts
Hurghada · El Gouna · Safaga · Marsa Alam
The mainland coast, running south from Suez. Sun all year, reefs a few metres offshore, and the practical base for day trips inland — Luxor is four hours away and Cairo is a short flight. This is where most package holidays land.
Sharm El Sheikh · Dahab · Nuweiba · St Catherine
A separate peninsula across the Gulf of Suez, reached by its own airport or a long road around the top. Better diving than the mainland, a single controlled highway in, and no practical road link to the rest of the country for a day trip.
Cairo · Luxor · Aswan · Abu Simbel
Everything ancient, strung along one river in a line 1,200 km long. The order runs north to south: Cairo and Giza at the delta end, Luxor in the middle, Aswan and Abu Simbel at the Sudanese end.
Siwa · Bahariya · Alexandria · the Mediterranean
The Western Desert oases and the Mediterranean shore. Genuinely rewarding and almost never combined with a Red Sea holiday — the distances are on a different scale.
Real numbers
Road times assume a private car and no unusual delays. Egyptian highways are good and mostly empty; the checkpoints are frequent but quick.
| From | To | Distance | Realistically |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hurghada | Luxor | ~280 km | 4 h by road |
| Hurghada | Cairo | ~450 km | 6–7 h by road, or ~1 h flying |
| Hurghada | Marsa Alam | ~270 km | 3 h by road |
| Hurghada | Sharm El Sheikh | ~450 km | by air — the road goes the long way round the gulf |
| Cairo | Luxor | ~650 km | 1 h flying, 9–10 h by road, or overnight train |
| Luxor | Aswan | ~215 km | 3–4 h by road, or 3 nights by cruise boat |
| Aswan | Abu Simbel | ~280 km | 3 h by road across the desert, or a short flight |
| Marsa Alam | Luxor | ~280 km | 4 h by road |
| Sharm El Sheikh | Cairo | ~500 km | 1 h flying, 6–7 h by road |
Arriving
Hurghada, El Gouna, Safaga, Soma Bay. The busiest charter airport in the country.
Sharm, Dahab and the rest of South Sinai.
Marsa Alam and Port Ghalib. Small, and quick to clear.
Cairo and Giza. Almost every long-haul route into Egypt lands here.
West Cairo and Giza. Handy for domestic hops, far quieter than CAI.
Luxor. Some direct European charters in winter, otherwise domestic.
Aswan and Abu Simbel connections.
Where we work
Egypt's biggest Red Sea resort — year-round sun, crystal-clear water, and private day-trips to the Pyramids and Luxor straight from local guides.
Southern tip of the Sinai — one of the world's top diving destinations, with Naama Bay nightlife and the spiritual Sinai Mountains nearby.
The Red Sea's quiet southern frontier — pristine reefs, dolphins, mangroves, and a slower pace than Hurghada or Sharm.
The Pyramids of Giza, the Grand Egyptian Museum, the medieval Islamic quarter — Cairo is the densest concentration of human history on earth.
The world's largest open-air museum. Ancient Thebes, the Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple — Egypt's soul concentrated on the Nile's east and west banks.
Putting it together
Base yourself in Hurghada. Fly to Cairo for the pyramids one day, drive to Luxor on another, and keep the rest for the reef. You will not have seen everything and you will have seen the things people come for.
Fly into Cairo, two days for Giza, Saqqara and the Grand Egyptian Museum, then take the Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan. No beach, no wasted driving, and the sites arrive in roughly the order history put them in.
Cairo first, then the cruise from Luxor down to Aswan, then a transfer to the Red Sea to finish. Ending on the coast rather than starting there is the right way round — the temples are hard work and the reef is not.
Sinai or Marsa Alam, and pick one. Sharm has the better-known walls, Marsa Alam the emptier reefs and the dugongs. Combining the two in a week means spending most of it in transit.
Day-by-day versions of these on the itinerary page, and when to come on the best time to visit page.
Not sure how to fit it together?