When we started researching Egypt, package tours seemed like the obvious choice. Every blog and friend who’d been there said the same thing: “Just book a package. It’s easier, safer, and costs about the same as going independently anyway.”
But as a group of 4 who prefer traveling on our own terms, we wanted to know: Is that actually true? Does an Egypt tour package really cost the same as DIY, do they protect you from the hassle everyone warns about and are they actually better than DIY?
If they didn’t travel Egypt independently, then how could they know? So we decided to go for it and go DIY. Because in the end, if it costs the same anyway, we had nothing to lose, just lots to win!
In this guide, I compare the package tours we researched with our DIY Egypt itinerary breaking down real package tour prices vs what we paid including the hidden costs no one talks about. By the end, you’ll know exactly which option makes sense for your trip.
Disclaimer: I haven’t personally done an Egypt tour package. Everything in this section is based on comparing tour itineraries from major operators and talking to travelers who’ve done packages. If you’ve done one and my info is off please let me know in the comments!
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission when you click on them, at no additional cost to you. It just helps to keep this site running. I only promote products and services I really recommend and always give my honest opinion about them.
Table of Contents - Egypt Tour Package vs DIY: The best way to travel Egypt
What's included in Egypt tour packages
Most standard Egypt tour packages focusing on ancient Egypt are about 8 days and cover Cairo, Luxor and Aswan. These are the sites where Egypt’s major attractions are located, like the pyramids, royal tombs and temples. These packages will include a domestic flight between the north (Cairo) and the south (Luxor or Aswan) and a cruise between Luxor and Aswan. While some include more than others, we haven’t seen a package that didn’t require any additional payments. So it’s important to realize that what you pay for your package isn’t the final cost, there will be additional costs during your trip.
| Usually Included ✅ | Often NOT Included ❌ |
|---|---|
| Accommodation (hotels + cruise ship) | Entrance fees to temples/tombs (adds around $170 per person) |
| Transportation, including domestic flight(s) | Tips for guides, drivers, cruise staff (operators typically recommend $40-50 total) |
| Guide throughout | Lunches and dinners not on the cruise |
| Some meals (usually breakfast + full board during the cruise) | Drinks (even water on the cruise) |
| Airport transfers | Optional extras (hot air balloon, Abu Simbel and a guided tour of Cairo often cost extra) |
While prices can differ a lot from agency to agency, we found that the typical package tour which includes the above costs about $1300-$1600 in shoulder season. Cheaper “starting from” prices are generally for low season (summertime, outside of the holidays) and in the height of peak season (Christmas & Easter) you can expect to pay a lot more.
The cost of our DIY itinerary
We followed essentially the same route as package tours: Luxor → Nile cruise → Aswan & Abu Simbel → Cairo, but with a day extra. I’m not going into depth about our exact itinerary in this article, you can find that in this article. Instead, I will just give you a brief overview to compare standard Egypt tour packages vs DIY.
| Category | Package Tour (Est.)* | Our DIY Cost (Per Person) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation | Included in package | $34 | 5 nights total |
| Nile Cruise | Included in package | $500 | Incl. paying by card fee |
| Transport | Included in package | $112.75 | 1 domestic flight + Ubers & transfer |
| Entrance Fees | $172.85 extra | $172,85 | When visiting the same sites, same cost for everyone |
| Food | Breakfast + meals on the cruise ship included. Add ~$40 for other meals and drinks at the cruise ship | $77 | Eating at restaurants (street food cheaper) |
| Tips | $40-50 recommended | $45 | Guides, drivers, cruise staff |
| Tours/Guides | Mostly included in package, camel ride, hot air balloon and Dahshur normally cost extra | $25-45 | $25 for a full day tour in Cairo, plus $20 extra for a camel ride at the pyramids |
| TOTAL per person | ~$1,550-1,850 | $966 + $210 for flights |
Breakdown of our costs
4-day Nile cruise + tour of Luxor - $500
This was our biggest expense and is where you can save the most when traveling independently. There are several types of cruise ships. We had the option for “plain” 5 stars or more luxury. Since 5 stars was more than enough for us, we went for this option and it was great. Most packages we’ve seen also included a 5-star cruise, although some offered more luxurious ones.
Our cruise included:
- 3 nights on board
- guided tours of Luxor westbank (day 1), Edfu, Kom Ombo (day 2), Aswan (day 3) and Abu Simbel (day 4). We also got a guided tour of Luxor and Karnak temples included in the price, the day before we left for the cruise
- 3x lunch (days 1,2 & 3), 3x dinner (days 1,2 & 3), 3x breakfast (days 2,3 & 4) 3x Coffee and snacks in the afternoon (days 1,2 & 3).
If you want to save even more on your trip to Egypt than we did, go for a 3-day cruise. You’ll still get to see the same things, but spend your 3rd night in a hotel in Aswan from where you can organize a day trip of Aswan or Abu Simbel.
If you want to go really budget, you can skip the cruise altogether and take a bus or train between Luxor and Aswan. Then you’d just miss out on Edfu, since it’s quite in the middle and not so easy to visit by bus or train. Kom Ombo is close enough to Awan to visit from there.
Accommodation - $34
Before we decided to go with an Egypt tour package or to go DIY, we had a look at Booking.com to see what accommodation would cost us, and we actually saw some very good value for money options. We ended up paying for our accommodation (per person):
These were all relative budget options. They were all very centrally located and all offered the basics we needed, but tour packages will most likely put you up at nicer and more expensive places.
Food - $77
I’d say what we spent on food was pretty average. We didn’t go as budget as eating street food, but chose restaurants where we could sit down and chat and understand the menu. So we mostly ate at touristic restaurants where a meal + drink were around $10.
When we asked locals (incl. guides) for recommendations, they’d send/take us to touristic restaurants. So if you’re going on a package tour, you’ll probably end up at similar restaurants, whether your meal is included or not.
The accommodations we picked didn’t include breakfast and besides the cruise, only our tour of the pyramids included lunch. The meals not included in the package will probably cost about the same, unless you’re getting street food.
Transport - $329
Most transport is included in packages, including return flights to and from Egypt. We had to book the following transport
- Flight to Egypt (Paris to Luxor)↗: $71
- Flight leaving Egypt (Cairo to Barcelona)↗: $139
- Domestic flight: Aswan to Cairo↗: $101
- Ubers and transfers: $11.75
- At the temples: horse carriage to get to Edfu, boat to get to Philae, carts to get to Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut temple and Abu Simbel: $6.35
Other costs (approx.) - Same for Egypt tour package & DIY
- Tips: $45
- Souvenirs $100
- Entrance fees $170
Egypt tour package vs DIY travel: Beyond just cost
Price is an obvious difference between going for an Egypt package tour or traveling independently. But while it’s important, it’s not everything. There are some other practical differences to take into consideration when you’re deciding which option is best for you.
Flexibility & control
Package tours have fixed schedules, but traveling as a private group we could discuss the times of our tours not tied to the cruise. We could save time at tourist trap shops and skip places we didn’t think were worth it, allowing more time at places we did enjoy. Had we not told our guide in Cairo that we didn’t want to go to any souvenir shops, or skipped visiting the Saqqara complex itself, we probably wouldn’t have had time for Dahshur. And in Luxor we asked if we could leave earlier than the suggested time, so we wouldn’t be sitting around waiting during the first half of the day. This also meant we had much more time at the temples before closing time.
But knowing that we’d prefer Dahshur over Saqqara required planning and finding and negotiating the Luxor tour on the spot took time.
Guides
We had different guides each day and in our experience the guide quality varies greatly. We had amazing Egyptology guides in Luxor, who were super knowledgeable and great storytellers. But our guide in Cairo barely knew more than I did from just reading up a little. From what I found, this isn’t any different for package tours: they also tend to have different guides at each site. Reading reviews, there is no guarantee that the guides contracted by package tours are better than the ones we had. I can imagine that the overall quality of guides on package tours is on the higher side, but there are no guarantees.
But guides on package tours will take you to the same tourist trap shops as privately contracted guides. They’ll say they’re original, a friend, or the best shop in the area, but it’s where they get their commission. It’s as easy as that. Even our best guide took us to the ‘Papyrus museum’, a shop selling papyrus that looks identical to what you find in street shops: the exact same printed images and glow-in-the-dark options, just at much higher prices.
The "hassle" factor
So many people had warned us: “Vendors will harass you constantly, you’ll need a guide to protect you from aggressive vendors”, “You’ll get scammed left and right” and “Guides protect you from the worst”. However, none of these people had actually traveled Egypt independently. So how did they know? In our experience guides don’t protect you from hassle, they are actually part of it! They took us to some of these shops and wherever they took us we’d have to haggle the same if not more than in shops we popped in by ourselves. The same happens on package tours.
The only comments we read about vendors being aggressive and needing a package tour because of this, is from people who went on a package tour. Independent travelers don’t seem to have this experience, and neither did we. They were persistent, definitely. But not aggressive. As a matter of fact, walking around the streets in Egypt reminded me a lot of wandering around Indonesia. Yet nobody ever told me to travel Indonesia on a package tour because you might get scammed. Just to put things in perspective. If you’ve only ever traveled in places like Europe, the US, or Australia I can imagine Egypt can be quite overwhelming. But that’s part of the culture and the country you’re visiting.
Traveling independently, we did encounter a lot of scams and tricks, but I’m honestly not sure how much a package tour will save you from that. A tour package might reduce the “negotiation fatigue” a bit since a lot of things are prepaid, but you’ve already paid a higher price for your trip, so if anything it limits your ability to negotiate and reduce the price. We had to negotiate with hotel transfers, our tour guide in Cairo, “helpful assistants” at the hotel and even Ubers. Which was tiring, but nobody was aggressive. They just tried and when we said no firmly they left it.
When a package tour might be worth it
We were very happy we went DIY and I’d recommend it to anyone with a similar travel style as us. But I do recognize that there is less difference in experience when joining an Egypt tour package vs DIY compared to many other countries. So for some travelers, a package tour might be the better option.
If you’re still very nervous about visiting Egypt, a package tour might offer a peace of mind. Egypt can feel a little intimidating from abroad with so many warnings from other travelers. If having somebody who knows the country to handle everything and make the decisions for you reduces anxiety and you think you’ll enjoy the trip a lot more this way, then that might be worth paying extra for.
Organizing yourself takes some time as well, both before and during your trip. So if you’re super short on time and not so much on budget, joining a package tour might mean that you get to see more than you would DIY.
Solo travelers who don’t like to actually spend a lot of time solo, might also want to consider a package tour. Since traveling Egypt independently is not as common as in other countries, you won’t find as many solo travelers to connect with here. Going independent solo means more effort to meet people, especially with so many travelers joining package tours. Joining a package tour means you’ll have instant travel buddies.
If you’re traveling with elderly family members or people with mobility concerns, package tours generally handle these logistics better. You can discuss your needs with the agency beforehand and it’ll be easier to arrange for hotels with elevators for example.
When is DIY better?
Honestly, I’d say that unless you identified yourself with any of the above groups, DIY is the way to go. If you generally prefer to travel independently and on a budget, without a package tour, this is probably the best option for Egypt too. The price difference will be less if you’re taking guided day trips and joining a cruise, but I still think the freedom to make our own decisions and the $$ we did save was definitely worth it.
We did save a little more money traveling with 4 as we would have traveling alone or as a couple, since some spendings were split between 4. Tours were charged per person, but a tour for 4 people is naturally cheaper per person than a tour for 2. We asked about the option to join a group tour, but they said it would be too hard to find enough people since we asked for a Spanish speaking guide. We also preferred to have a smaller private group, so for us traveling as a group of 4, this was the perfect solution.
For us it wasn’t a problem to spend a little time planning before our trip, I think it’s part of the fun! And I like to know where I’m going so that I’m not missing out on something I would have liked to see, or spending time at places that aren’t of my interest.
The hybrid approach
If neither of these options, an Egypt tour package vs DIY, really resonates with you you can also go for an hybrid approach: Book your own flights and hotels (this is where you can save) and book the cruise and other guided tours through platforms like GetYourGuide↗ and Viator↗. This approach offers more flexibility than a full package, but less organizing on the spot than full DIY. Plus you can see reviews of many tours beforehand, which can offer a piece of mind for those who are worried about quality. Also having a customer service team who speaks your language can feel reassuring. It’s the perfect compromise if you’re unsure.
Final thoughts on Egypt Tour packages vs DIY
There is no right or wrong way. Package tours offer more convenience, but less flexibility, (including prices) and vendors and haggling will be part of your trip regardless. Choose based on YOUR priorities: budget vs time and flexibility vs simplicity.
We loved traveling Egypt independently as a group of 4, but I may have chosen a package tour had I traveled solo or with older people, or if it was my first trip abroad.
| Choose Package Tour if you: | Choose DIY if you: |
|---|---|
| ☑️ Have limited time and can't plan ahead | ☑️ Want to save $300-900 per person |
| ☑️ Feel genuinely nervous about Egypt's safety | ☑️ Enjoy having control over your schedule |
| ☑️ Want company (traveling solo, want tour group friends) | ☑️ Don't mind spending a few hours planning |
| ☑️ Prefer someone making all decisions for you | ☑️ Traveling as a group (split costs, easier to organize) |
| ☑️ Don't mind paying extra for convenience | ☑️ Prefer flexibility over rigid itineraries |
FAQ about an Egypt tour package vs DIY
Yes, all major sites in Egypt allow independent entry without a guide. However, sites like the Valley of the Kings and temples have no signage or explanations, so you’re relying entirely on audio guides, apps, or your own research to understand what you’re seeing.
Tour agencies generally recommend about $40-50 for tour guides, drivers and staff at the cruise ship, which is what each of us spent too. Restaurant bills generally include a service charge as well, and if not you’re expected to tip about 10%. Always carry small Egyptian pound notes, vendors and service workers rarely have change for large bills, and “no change available” is a common tactic to keep your money.
Yes, it is! Our accommodation in Luxor and Cairo helped us book the tours we wanted to do. Other locals we spoke to also had some contacts who could help us. However, while it is easy to book a tour, there aren’t many (visible) tour agencies around where you can just pop in and get information. So booking is easy, but comparing less so. In our case this wasn’t a problem since we got offered the same we saw online, but for a better price.
No, package tours typically don’t include travel insurance. Make sure your policy covers all the activities you’re planning like hot air ballooning or diving for example.
Withdrawing from ATMs in Egypt using a no-foreign-transaction-fee debit card is the best and easiest way. If you prefer to bring cash, the banks offer excellent exchange rates, and you can even exchange at some ATMs. Don’t exchange at the airport or at home, exchange rates at the banks in town are much better.
Make sure not to exchange to much, your visa and entrance fees need to be paid by card. For the rest, use cash. At some restaurants, hotels and souvenir shops you might be able to pay by card, but offten add a 3-5% fee, so cash is still king for better prices. Many places do accept USD as well though, but Euros aren’t as commonly accepted.
Uber is excellent in Cairo; cheap, reliable, and drivers don’t try to scam tourists like some taxis do. Although some might still try to get you to pay a little more. Having said that, from what I gather, Uber barely exists in Luxor and Aswan. We actually didn’t try to book one in those cities and accepted the shuttles from the hotels. Whether you’re getting a hotel transfer or using a taxi, always agree on the price before getting in.
Egypt is more relaxed than many Middle Eastern countries, but covering shoulders and knees shows respect and reduces unwanted attention. However, we saw plenty of tourists (both male and female) in shorts or tops at temples and it didn’t seem to bother anyone. On the cruise ship people even hang around the pool in western swimwear.
If you’re planning to visit mosques or churches, you will have to cover up. Women should cover their hair when visiting mosques (a simple scarf works fine) and iFt’s respectful to have a scarf in churches as well.