Private Tour: Giza Pyramids, Sphinx, Memphis, Sakkara

Cairo, Egypt

Step back in time to the days of ancient Egypt on a private tour of the Great Pyramids of Giza and Sphinx, the necropolis of Sakkara and the former capital, Memphis. With your own private Egyptologist guide to lead the way on this private tour, you can determine the amount of time you'd like to spend at each of the sites you'll visit.

The Giza Plateau is only around 30 minutes from Cairo, where your qualified Egyptologist guide will provide a fascinating introduction to each of the three pyramids: Cheops, Khafre and Menakaure. You will have free time to enter one of the pyramids (additional cost), though your guide is not permitted to enter with you, or take a camel ride (additional cost).

After visiting the pyramids, you'll continue across the plateau for a photo opportunity of the three pyramids rising from the sands, with the Cairo skyline in the background. A short drive to the city side of the plateau finds you standing at the feet of the Sphinx, for thousands of years the enigmatic symbol of Egypt. Also in Giza you may visit the Solar Boat Museum (optional), home to the remarkably well preserved funerary boat of Khufu.

Your next stop is Sakkara, home of Egypt's oldest pyramid, built in 2650 B.C. Your guide will provide a brief history of the famous Step Pyramid and you'll have free time to walk around.

Your final stop is Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt. Here you will see artifacts from many of the great rulers of Egypt, including the fallen statue of Ramses II. You will also have the chance to visit a Papyrus Institute to see how the famous artwork is made.

USD $83.00

Traveler Reviews

Review by: Kay P T	April 2012
This tour was wondeful. The guide was very friendly, helpful and extremely well informed about the history of the times, area, activites, and the items in the museum. Would recommend this tour and guide to everyone.

Review by: Michael W	April 2012
had a great day. The private tour made it even more interesting as the guide was brilliant. Thanks to South Sianai Travel

Review by: john g	March 2012
my guide manal was outstanding. i highly recommend manal and if you are lucky to have her as your guide you will be pleased. her knowledge and ease of communication was very impressive . thank you

Review by: Jonathan F	February 2012
The most AMAZING tour I have ever been on. We had Hani as our guide and he was phenomenal. Extremely knowledgeable and overly willing to go outside the basic tour itinerary to personalize this tour. It was fantastic to have a one-on-one guide with us at all times. Never once felt concerned for our safety. Both Hani and our drive Zeku, were extremely friendly and courteous. The bus that we drove around in was comfortable and clean. We were able to go inside the great pyramid in addition to King Titi's pyramid at Sakkara. The Sphinx is really amazing. Definitely recommend one ride on the camels but trust the guide's recommendation for the vendor, as you will be inundated with camel owners trying to rally your business.

Review by: Gina M	January 2012
A must see! Don't miss it. An amazing trip through history.

Review by: Edawrd W T	November 2011
This tour is the reason I went to Egypt. The pyramids were everything I had hoped. Heba, my guide was excellent and made my tour a completely enjoyable success.

Review by: Richard F	November 2011
Great trip and a great way to see the pyramids without hassle and to get further out of Cairo to see other ancient sites. One tip: make sure you know the price BEFORE you get on a camel at the Pyramids!

Review by: CEILA P	August 2011
Interesting!!!

Review by: Johan U	July 2011
Good.

Review by: judge.bpr	July 2011
Our tour this past Saturday on the 9th of July 2011, did hit the hot spots as advertised and the narrating Egyptian guide was nice (although we felt He was not an Egyptologist - during small talk throughout the 5.5 hour tour, which included the time to stop and eat lunch, he seemed to avoid answering any personal questions about himself or background with this tour that we asked). A lot of the trip's information about the sites on the tour seemed very canned and scripted. We did however have the use of an air-conditioned (with driver) van to tote us around which helped tremendously in the 40C+! _br/_ -bpr; united states-

Review by: John g K	May 2011
Khaled Lotfy and his driver were the best.South Sinai took excellent care of us and they arranged the camel rides and I learned more about world history on this trip than I did in college!!

Review by: Karen	February 2011
Fantastic.Our Egyptian guide was excellent. Highly recommend.

Review by: Jusvant L	January 2011
Nana, our guide, was great, again fantastic knowledge of the subject. It's such an amazing sight, I am so glad we could we had a chance to see Sakkara and Memphis really gives you a deeper insight on the development from pyramids to the tombs in Luxor.

Review by: Don L	January 2011
Very good day. We had a wonderful time. The guide was extremely good.

Review by: Thonemann	January 2011
Remon, our manager from South Sinai Travel, looked after us very professionally, while our female guide, Hanan, was excellent, charming and knowledgeable, with remarkably good English. A great day out!

Review by: MikeN	January 2011
DO NOT TAKE THIS TOUR with this company. All they want to do is get as much money out of you as humanly possible. They'll even set it up so that they take you to their friends/families' shops to trap you into buying stuff when they tell you you're going to the bathroom. If you don't believe us, take the tour. When you end up at a carpet factory and a paparus shop, then you'll see we're telling you the truth. These people are unbelieveable! Given the very crappy service they provided, they'll tell you that you NEED (not should) give them VERY LARGE TIP as this is expected given they only work off of tips! They complained that the company pays them too little to live on. As if we had the word "Idiots" written on our foreheads!! Also, be mindful if you're a female. They are very demeaning toward women. It may just be cultural (of Egyptians), but either way, it's not pleasant at all. This tour guide made it such an unpleasant experience, we don't recommend anyone visiting Eygpt in general. Honestly, this is the worst place in the world we have ever visited, and we are very well-traveled.

Review by: Vijay D	January 2011
Tour could have been better if Viator makes sure that the local tour agency that they are working with are reliable and trustworthy. In our case we felt cheated by the tour GUIDE and to some extend by Viator. _br/_ Some highlights were,not showing Sphinx internally, walking away after a short explainations.Not showing entrance to Khafre and mentioned it was closed (while it was not). Tour without proper explanation from tour guide is not worthy as we pay a lot in international currency . This makes one feel cheated. What he did was arranged a camel ride and told us that we should pay him later which was thrice the normal price.We found that camel ride and ticket can be bought at ticket office together. We found out above after going once again to the Pyramids. He took us to the perfume factory which was not included in tour and we had to pay $80 for a very small bottle of perfume which was four time the cost. So the question is should one relay on tour guides!! or what Viator can do to improve service and avoid such guides as we had to go once again to see the pyramids. Managing on our own was more convinient and satisfactory. It was total waste of money in first instance. It was a private tour but we felt forced.

Review by: Ersin C	January 2011
Pros: Personal transportation all day, tour guide, visits to all major sites._br/_ Cons: Guides bring you to "government controlled stores" (that are scams) without your consent, tour guides have poor english and do not communicate well outside of scripted explanations.

Review by: Yoshiyuki M	January 2011
Generally OK. Memphis was not so interesting. It took a little bit time to reach lunch restaurant as the driver did not know the way. Both the driver and tour guide were very polite and kind, we could spend good time.

Review by: Teng B	January 2011
The guide was very helpful in arranging tours and sorting out various logistics issues. Good explanations of the Pyramids, Memphis and Sakkara.

Review by: Rebecca M	January 2011
We really enjoyed this trip. Hannan was our tour guide for this tour. She was very knowledgable about everything we asked about. Our only complaint was not too big of a deal but there needed to be more access to stopping at a bathroom.

Review by: Tiffany N	January 2011
The tour guide was very knowledgeable and helpful. I realized that all my tickets were student tickets though which are cheaper than regular adult tickets, so i feel that the company should offer a student package at a discounted price.

Review by: KEVIN B	December 2010
Great day out, guide was brilliant, well worth the money.

Review by: Deborah Anne J	December 2010
My tour guide Ahmed was incredible and personable and informative, and the Tour itself was so amazing with seeing all the Pyramids etc. Amazing!

Review by: Grace C	December 2010
Tour itself was great. However, it's not quite proper to spend more time at shops than those touring points. Riding camels at Giza Pyrimids was a great experience, but it's a little bit expensive. We were told by the tour guide to pay Egyptian Pounds 200 (approx. $35) for each person for the 15 min. ride.

Review by: Michael B	November 2010
Absolutely wonderful. Could not have asked for better. Guild was very knowledgable and tried to do everything we asked. Food was great.

Review by: Paolo Z	November 2010
Everything ran on-time, with a nice van and a kind guide. Very good review!

Review by: Matthew S	November 2010
The tour was very exciting and educational. We had our own private tour guide and tour van. The weather was perfect and the sights were indescribable. It was truly amazing to see the pyramids in person.

Review by: Shie H	November 2010
Very informative guide and helpful. Did not pressure us to go into "factory" stores.

Review by: Lesley M	November 2010
Enjoyed this tour very much also tour guide very obliging and friendly, excellent information. Driver good also.

Review by: Stephen H	November 2010
South Sinai guide Ans was excellant, totally enjoyed the tour and would recommend to others.

Review by: Adam H	October 2010
Had a fantastic time. we didnt realise that it was a private tour with only us and the tour guide... great amounts of knowledge were fed to us... 2 thumbs up :D

Review by: Robert H	October 2010
Again our guide John Antonious, was very knowledgeable with the history of Egypt. He assisted us in bargaining for our camel rides and went out of his way to make our trip enjoyable and memorable.

Review by: Alan H	October 2010
excellent tour guide

Review by: Robert C	October 2010
A great way to get your bearings in Cairo. Our guide was very knowledgeable. Shared lots of interesting information not just about the stuff on the tour but also about life in present day Egypt. Lunch was great but a bit rushed. Perhaps less time spent in Governmental controlled stores would help.

Review by: Michael B	October 2010
The tour was very good, the guide had a lot of information to share. The one problem was that at the end of our tour our driver had to be somewhere else and did not return us to the airport as requested. Also the tour guide left the vehicle and got us a cab which we end up have to pay for. As for the free lunch they do not tell you that drinks are not included so we were a little shocked when the guide handed us the bill.

Review by: Athelstan B	October 2010
Our Guide Shereif Nasr was an excellent ambassador for Viator; he was professional,knowledgeable, accommodating and always willing to go the extra mile to make our experience pleasant and unforgettable.

Review by: Nirav S	October 2010
Great tour...the guide was wonderful. This is the way to see the pyramids with a guide in a nice car...

Review by: Patricia A	October 2010
I've done many tours world wide and this was simply "OK". My problems were similar to what many of the other lower reviews ran into: too much shopping, which I cut short, dumped at sites with little information outside of the van and pretty much on my own and feeling rushed. I'm use to guides who walk around with you and that was not the case here. The guide's knowledge seemed very mainstream and something that anyone who has watched TLC or Discovery Channel shows would know already. I was also annoyed by the very high pressure while shopping. I know the shopping/kick back game and don't mind some but I resent being pressured to buy $700 earings even after I said I wasn't interested - multiple times. The guide hung out with her friends at the shops and sites and I ended up waiting for her several times while she finished up smoking and chatting. Be aware that "lunch" does not include any drinks, even water. That was a surprise for me and I think extremely cheap on the part of Viator. I think I could have enjoyed the day as much, if not more, by simply hiring a car and driver and going on my own. I certainly didn't learn anything.

Review by: Andrew R	October 2010
A very good experiencethe guide and the driver were both excellent. The guide pointed out the main features without any unnecessary elaboration about the sites and knew exactly where to go and what to see. Having come of a Nile Cruise it was a great way to end my trip to Egypt

Review by: William C	October 2010
Really enjoyed our tour. The guide was excellent and provided great info. In hindsight I would probably do Dashur instead of Memphis just wasnt much at Memphis.

Review by: Andrew L	September 2010
Excellent - there were just four of us on the trip and the local guide spoke very good English. She organised tickets for entry to pyramid site and into one of the pyramids with no fuss. She was very flexible over the time we spent at each of the sites visited and we felt we were alowed to go at our own pace without being rushed around.

Review by: AJAY P, United Kingdom	August 2010
EXCELLENT TOUR. FLEXIBLE AND DETAILED WHERE NEEDED TO BE

Review by: Georgia C, United States of America	August 2010
It was nice to have a guide, and the driver was ready and waiting with an air conditioned van every step of the way.

Review by: Allyson W, United States of America	July 2010
My tour guide "Walaa" was the best. Very knowledgable and explained different of Cairo as we passed them. Don't pass up the chance to go to the Carpet school. Explains why Parisan carpets cost so much. Memphis was great so were the Pyramids, Sphinx and Sakkara step pyramid. Let your guide negotiate the price of your camel ride. That will save you alot of money and time.

Review by: Mark P, Australia	July 2010
Great Day to see all the main attractions. Would like a bit more time at each place however.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	July 2010
The tour guide was excellent - very informative, and the tour company was very reliable. South Sinai has the excellent idea of giving you the same driver and guide for each tour you book so it begins to feel like travelling with friends. This tour enabled me to see and learn a lot without the hassle of having to arrange transportation myself. It was a fantastic tour.

Review by: Lawrence G, United States of America	July 2010
our tour guide ahmed was thoughful, insightful and wonderful. we had a great family vacation

Review by: Julie B, United Kingdom	June 2010
Fantastic overview of all major sights. Dooa our guide gave us loads of information, took photos for us and even stopped along the way to get some hibiscus tea I had mentioned that I had to get for a friend! It's a brilliant trip because you can decide if you want to go back and explore in depth later. I know people say the camel ride is very touristy, but we did it anyway and it was great fun! We did return to Giza on our own very early the next day to go inside the Great Pyramid, and, thanks to Dooa's advice, we were first in the queue for tickets. This is a worthwhile trip as you would never be able to get around all this on your own in a day. Special thanks to Dooa for being so knowledgeable and friendly -

Review by: Pieta-Maree B, Australia	June 2010
tour was fantastic, we had a great tour guide, cannot remember her name but she was great, made sure she gave us all the info in the air conditioned car or standing in the shade then we were left to explore the sights on our own. she also helped us get some freebies when we brought some perfume which was very nice. we loved the tour, very highly recommended! just make sure you take small Egyptian pound notes to pay for entry to pyramid and camel ride.