Egypt remains one of the most requested destinations in river cruising, and it's easy to see why. A journey along the Nile connects temples, tombs and monuments that have drawn travelers for centuries: Karnak, Luxor, the Valley of the Kings, the pyramids and Sphinx at Giza. But Egypt is also a destination that can feel overwhelming to navigate independently, layers of history stacked across thousands of years, sites spread across a country that rewards context as much as time.
AmaWaterways' Secrets of Egypt & the Nile itinerary is built around solving exactly that problem, pairing the country's most significant landmarks with the kind of expertise and ease that turns an ambitious destination into an accessible one.
The Pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx, Egypt. (Photo Credit: AlexAnton / AdobeStock)
Inside the Secrets of Egypt & the Nile Itinerary
The journey opens in Cairo, where guests explore the Grand Egyptian Museum's collection of more than 100,000 artifacts, including treasures from the tomb of King Tutankhamun, alongside the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. A short flight then brings guests to Luxor for the start of a 7-night Nile River cruise that moves through the country's most important archaeological regions: the Valley of the Kings and Queens, the temples of Luxor and Karnak, and sites further south like Edfu and Kom Ombo. Throughout this journey, certified Egyptologists travel alongside guests, turning monuments long recognized by name into places with real context and depth.
The itinerary reaches beyond the major sites, too. In the Nubian village of Hessa, guests are welcomed into daily life before visiting the nearby Philae Temple, its hieroglyphs dating to between 380 and 362 BC. A private tour of Abdeen Palace, a 19th-century royal residence still used by Egypt's president, ends with lunch inside one of its ornate halls. And a newer addition, a 3-night land package to Alexandria, opens up the country's Mediterranean coast, including the Graeco-Roman Museum, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Citadel of Qaitbay, a side of Egypt many travelers don't realize is part of the picture.
The deck onboard AmaNubia (Photo Credit: AmaWaterways)
Meet AmaNubia, Debuting November 2026
Debuting on the Nile in November 2026, AmaNubia joins the fleet as the newest expression of AmaWaterways' approach to travel through this region. Its interiors draw on Nubia's history as the historic "Land of Gold," with warm gold accents, layered textures and mother-of-pearl finishes throughout. Like AmaWaterways' other ships outside Europe, which range from 100 to 120 guests on the Nile and Mekong, AmaNubia is built with intentionally small scale in mind, close enough that crew learn guests by name within days, not weeks.
Egypt, Without the Logistics
That personalized scale extends to how AmaWaterways presents its entire journey. Guests are met at the airport, moved between destinations, and supported at every stage, with transfers, accommodations and site entries already arranged. The result is a trip where the logistics disappear into the background, leaving room for guests to actually take in the scale of a 3,000-year-old temple or follow the story behind a newly excavated tomb, rather than managing the details of getting there.
For travelers who've always wanted to see Egypt but weren't sure where to start, or who assumed they'd already seen everything an Egypt itinerary has to offer, Secrets of Egypt & the Nile, and the arrival of AmaNubia this November, make the case that there's still a genuinely new way to experience one of the world's oldest destinations.
Visit AmaWaterways.com to learn more or contact your preferred travel advisor.
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