Why Visit Egypt? 14 Not to Miss Places You Will Want to Visit

Thinking about traveling to Egypt? Honestly, I never really thought about going to Egypt but I’m so happy that we got to experience it. There really is nothing like this destination with its thousands of years of history, pyramids, mummies, hieroglyphics and more. It really is like what you’ve seen in history books only so much better. Let me share 14 places you will want to have on your list when you start planning your Egyptian adventure.

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Not to Miss Places in Cairo

You will likely start your Egyptian adventure by flying into Cairo. I highly recommend booking your hotels and activities ahead of your arrival. This is not a place where you want to book things on the fly. We used a tour company and we were so happy to have them organize everything for us. Security is an issue and it was comforting to know that we were staying at a secured hotel and that all of the logistics were taken care of for us.

City of the Dead. This is a place that we drove past a few times and it was fascinating to learn about the history of this area. A large cemetery is now occupied by many people living in Cairo. They have made the crypts their homes. There is water and electricity for them.
National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. Mummies! They had an amazing special exhibit of mummies when we visited in March 2022. This is something you won’t want to miss.

Saqqara. This is one of the two pyramid sites that you will want to visit. Skip the camel rides here as the Giza site has a better photo op. There is also an opportunity to go inside of a pyramid here but our guides advised us to wait until Giza to do this.

Pyramids of Giza. This is the place that is iconic in Egypt. There are three pyramids and the sphinx here. Be ready to take lots of photos! You can add on to your ticket and go inside of one of the pyramids. The space is low and tight. I usually panic a bit in small spaces but for some reason, I was fine here. Maybe I was too excited to be in a pyramid?

Travel Beyond Cario

Abu Simbel. We took a flight from Cairo to Abu Simbel. Check out these images to see how amazing it is!

Go on a Nile Cruise. This is a 3-night cruise but you really only cruise for one day. You can board the boat in Aswan on the first night and then it doesn’t sail until the next day around noon. This gives you time to explore the area. Basically, you are staying on a floating hotel.

Visit Philae Temple. This is located in Aswan. This temple was built to honor the Goddess Isis. It’s built on an island and you will need to catch a ferry boat to travel to the island.

Visit the Edfu Temple. If you are on the Nile cruise, you will sail a few hours in the afternoon from Kom Ombo to Edfu. We arrived in Edu in the evening and were greeted by horse drawn carriages to take up to the Edfu Temple. This was one of the craziest rides ever. No rules, just horses running fast through the city streets. At the Edfu Temple, we watched a light show projected onto the temple with some recorded speaking. It was interesting but really, it was the carriage ride that made this so memorable.

Go to the Luxor Temple. The cruise will dock in Luxor and you can catch a ride to Luxor Temple. Our tour group had a chartered bus waiting for us. Every temple we visited was fascinating. The fact that they were built thousands of years ago was mind-blowing.

Go on a hot air balloon ride over Luxor. This was presented to us as on option while we were on the trip. We thought, why not? Since it was in Luxor, I’d assumed that we’d be sailing over a pyramid or two. Spoiler alert - there are not any pyramids in Luxor. Vegas totally threw me off on that one. But it was still a stunning ride. We got to watch the sunrise over the Nile and it was truly magical. Definitely a trip highlight.

Go to Valley of the Kings. This is located in Luxor and you won’t want to miss this! The Valley of the Kings in where the Egyptian Kings were buried thousands of years ago in tombs. You get a ticket that will allow you to go into three different tombs. The details in the hieroglyphics were amazing. It was history coming to life!

Visit Karnak Temple. At its peak, this was the site of the largest and most important place where the Egyptian lived and worshiped. This is a huge site where you can wander, explore, and take lots of pictures.

Egypt was truly a magical destination unlike anywhere else we’ve ever been able to visit. If you have any questions about what we did or saw, please leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer it!

If you want to know more about general travel tips and what to expect when visiting Egypt, check out this podcast episode: 12 Things to Know Before Leaving on Your Egypt Vacation.