Skip to content
Deluxe Trips Egypt
Start Planning

Experiences · thrills and crafts

Egypt by fire, stone, water and sand

Go down inside a pyramid, dive to a wartime wreck and walk a Bedouin trail. Blow glass, carve stone and sit at a loom. Choose an element, then how much nerve you bring. Every experience is arranged around your route, and nothing is promised until it is confirmed.

1 Choose an element

2 How much nerve do you bring?

Curious: anyone. Bold: steep, tight, deep, hot or remote. Qualified: a certificate first.

Showing 3 of 13 · Show everything

Stone

Down inside a pyramid, into a tomb's evidence, and a chisel in calcite.

  • The Red Pyramid of Sneferu at Dahshur, seen across open desert.
    Thrill · Dahshur, south of Cairo

    Down inside the Red Pyramid

    Climb to the entrance, then descend a low passage into Sneferu's corbelled chambers.

    61 m of passage sloping down at 27°, about 0.9 m high

    Nerve: BoldHalf day from Cairo

    Open the layerswhat happens · what it asks · what we confirm

    What happens

    1. Climb the steps on the north face to the entrance, high above the desert.
    2. Descend the long, low passage bent over, holding the handrail.
    3. Stand in the first corbelled chamber and look up at the stepped roof.
    4. Walk on to the burial chamber, then outside to see the Bent Pyramid, whose own passages opened to visitors in 2019.

    What it asks of you

    A long crouch in a hot, airless passage, down and back up. Not for anyone with claustrophobia or knee or back trouble. The descent is steady, not technical.

    Before you go, we confirm

    • That both pyramids' interiors are open on your date
    • Current ticketing at Dahshur, which we confirm rather than quote
    • A guide who can explain the building sequence at the site
    The story and its sources
  • An overview of the Valley of the Kings and its desert hills.
    Mystery · Luxor West Bank

    The tomb robbed twice

    An archaeology thriller: the excavators' own evidence that Tutankhamun's tomb was entered in antiquity.

    2 ancient entries into the tomb, as Howard Carter reconstructed them

    Nerve: CuriousHalf day

    Open the layerswhat happens · what it asks · what we confirm

    What happens

    1. Start with three observations the excavators recorded, before any explanation.
    2. Test each against the competing readings, and decide what would change your mind.
    3. Walk the Valley of the Kings with the case in hand.
    4. Keep the recorded damage, the reconstruction and the guesses about the thieves apart.

    What it asks of you

    Attention, not stamina: a morning of looking closely and arguing well. The Valley is hot and exposed by midday.

    Before you go, we confirm

    • A guide who can teach from the excavation records, not only the story
    • Which tombs are open on your date, and any extra ticket
    • Start time, to be in the Valley before the heat
    The story and its sources
  • A worker in Luxor shaping a block of alabaster by hand with a chisel, in a photograph from 2007.
    Craft · Qurna, Luxor West Bank

    Calcite, carved at Qurna

    A chisel, a block of Egyptian 'alabaster' and a family workshop between the royal tombs and Deir el-Bahari.

    Calcite is what Egyptian 'alabaster' is, a harder stone than the gypsum alabaster of Europe

    Nerve: Curious2–3 hours

    Open the layerswhat happens · what it asks · what we confirm

    What happens

    1. Sit in a family workshop where the stone is sawn, carved and polished by hand.
    2. Hollow a small piece with a chisel and file, as the carver shows you.
    3. Hold real stone and a cast copy side by side, and learn the difference.
    4. Take home what you carved, and nothing you were pressed to buy.

    What it asks of you

    Dust and patience. You are shown the tools; no skill is assumed.

    Before you go, we confirm

    • A workshop that carves on site and does not run a sales stop
    • Dust protection, and whether children can take part
    • Packing for a carved piece in your luggage
    The story and its sources

How an experience earns a place here

  • A story, a skill or accessIf a marketplace already sells it as a ticket and there is nothing more to it, it is not here.
  • Licensed people, checked before you goDivers, drivers and guides are confirmed for your date. Every page lists what we confirm first.
  • Makers named when they agreeNo host appears here until they have agreed to be named. Every experience is a concept until then, and the page says so.

Handmade in Egypt

Take the craft home

A store for the glass, stone, lanterns and textiles made in these workshops is being prepared. Nothing is for sale yet.

Under constructionSee what it will carry

Ask about an experience

Tell us which ones and where you will be. Concept · on request means we still confirm the host, the date and the terms with you before anything is booked.

Your Egypt, your pace

Request a quote

Tell us your dates and party size. A quote will confirm the itinerary, total price, inclusions and cancellation terms before you decide.

Sending a request does not make a booking or reserve availability.

Your travel request

Included with your request

I am interested in local experiences. Please confirm which arrangements are available.

Photography credits (13)

FischerFotos, CC BY-SA 4.0; Alaazzpov, CC BY-SA 4.0; Olaf Tausch, CC BY 3.0; Zezinho68, CC BY-SA 4.0; David Dennis from Scotts Valley, CA, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0; Wikicomman, CC BY-SA 4.0; Lars Plougmann, CC BY-SA 2.0; Marc Ryckaert, CC BY 3.0; Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0; Mohamed kamal 1984, CC BY-SA 4.0; Ahmed Emad H, CC BY-SA 4.0; PMATAS, CC BY-SA 4.0; Hatem Moushir, CC BY-SA 4.0