Day 1 - Luxor
After check-in enjoy a delicious lunch served on board. The Sanctuary Zein Nile Chateau begins its cruise along the East Bank, visiting three of the following options.

The Temple of Karnak was built over more than a century by generations of Pharaohs. Its great Hypostyle Hall is an incredible forest of giant pillars larger than Notre Dame Cathedral. The Sound and Light Show at Karnak Temple is a fascinating walking tour through the history of the world's largest temple complex, narrated by the voices of the pharaohs. Shadows play off the enormous columns in the grand Hypostyle Hall creating a mysterious effect.

The striking Temple of Luxor is dedicated to the god Amun. Proceed to the Temple via the 3 kilometre long Avenue of Sphinxes. The most important of its many celebrations was the Festival of Opet lasting almost one month. In Luxor Museum browse the displays of pottery, jewellery, furniture, statues and stelae created by the Brooklyn Museum of New York. They include a carefully selected assortment of items from the Theban temples and necropolis. There are a number of exhibits from Tutankhamun, including a cow-goddess head from his tomb and his funerary boats. And don't miss the statue of Tuthmosis III and 283 sandstone blocks arranged as a wall from the ninth pylon of the Karnak Temple. Return to the boat for a gourmet dinner and settle down to dock in Luxor.

Day 2 - Luxor/Esna
Today enjoy a visit to the West Bank in Luxor. Explore the Valley of the Kings, a vast City of the Dead where magnificent tombs were carved into desert rocks and filled with treasures for the afterlife. There are between 75 and 80 tombs in the Valley of the Queens. It is called "Place of Beauty" by the Egyptians where the pharaohs' wives and children were buried. Rising out of the desert plain in a series of terraces, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (Ancient Egypt's only female Pharaoh) merges with the sheer limestone cliffs that surround it, as if nature herself had built this extraordinary monument.

Visit the remains of the self-contained village Deir El Medina on the West Bank where the workmen who built the kings' and queens' tombs lived in mud brick houses with their families. The site gives archaeologists a view of how urban people lived in ancient Egypt. Admire the art in the tombs the workmen created for themselves.

On the West Bank sit 400 tombs of Theban aristocrats. The tomb walls were white-washed and painted with murals of the nobles' daily lives, making them quite different from royal tombs, where relief work focused on judgment and resurrection. Since the tombs were not sealed, some have deteriorated.

The magnificent Medinet Habu is a series of temples built by Pharaoh Ramses III, second only to Karnak in size. The most impressive is the Mortuary Temple, decorated with relief work depicting Ramses' many military victories. With its massive mud brick enclosure that held storehouses, workshops, administrative offices, and residences of priests and officials, Medinet Habu grew into a city that maintained its population well into Coptic times.

The Ramesseum, the Mortuary Temple of Ramses II, was built early in the great pharaoh's reign. Here you'll see the awesome Colossus, a 1000 ton statue in which the fingers alone are over 1 meter long. It inspired the famous poem "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Return to the boat for a gourmet dinner and sail to Esna where the boat docks overnight.

Day 3 - Esna/Edfu
Today your Egyptologist will guide you round the Greco-Roman Temple of Khnum at Esna. The beautifully preserved Great Hypostyle Hall was built during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius. It was excavated from silt accumulated through centuries of Nile floods and is about nine meters below present-day street level.

Enjoy lunch while sailing to Edfu. On arrival you may like to explore the extraordinary Temple of Horus at Edfu, the most completely preserved Pharaonic temple (albeit Greek-built). Or enjoy the Sound and light show. Enjoy a gourmet menu dinner on board and the boat docks in Edfu.

Day 4 - Edfu/Aswan
Early morning sailing to the ancient Egyptian site of Silsila, located in an area where the Nile River narrows. It was known in ancient times as Khenu (Place of Rowing) and here, the bedrock changes from limestone to sandstone. This is the border of the Egyptian region of Nubia, and in ancient times, Egyptians believed that the Nile originated here.

Enjoy lunch while sailing to Aswan. On arrival choose to visit the Nubian Museum. Called "The Land of Gold" by the ancient Egyptians, Nubia extended from Aswan in the north to Sudan in the south and had its own distinct culture and language. Much of Nubia was covered with water when the Aswan High Dam was built, but efforts were made to save and preserve Nubian culture. This vast collection of Nubian artefacts is housed in a beautiful sandstone building. Alternatively enjoy a stroll in Aswan's bustling spice market where you can experience the tantalizing beauty of colours and the exotic aroma spices. The boat docks overnight in Aswan.

Day 5 - Aswan
Today choose from two of the following excursions - Philae Temple, the Unfinished Obelisk and Kalabsha Temple. According to the Ancient Egyptians, the goddess Isis travelled all over Egypt gathering her husband Osiris's remains after he was cut to pieces by his evil brother. On Philae Island, where she found his heart, the Egyptians built a sacred temple to Isis, goddess of purity. During the building of the High Dam, Philae Island was submerged by water, so UNESCO helped transport the temple complex to nearby Agilkia Island, where you see it today.

Take a look at how ancient Egyptians built their monuments by visiting the massive Unfinished Obelisk, abandoned when a crack was found as it was being carved from the red granite. The Temple of Kalabsha, built around 30 BC during the early Roman era, was originally located at Bab al-Kalabsha (Gate of Kalabsha) on the west bank of the Nile River in Nubia. At the end of the day, enjoy a gourmet menu dinner on board and overnight in Aswan.

Day 6 - Aswan/Edfu/Esna
Early this morning sail to Kom Ombo, where you will visit Kom Ombo Temple. In this Ptolemaic temple shared by two gods, Sobek and Horus the Elder, all hallways, doors and chambers are duplicated symmetrically. Enjoy lunch while sailing to an island between Edfu and Esna.

Day 7 - Esna/Luxor
Today visit the El Kab tombs, an Upper Egyptian site on the east bank of the Nile at the mouth of Wadi Hillal, south of Luxor. It consists of prehistoric and Pharaonic settlements, rock-cut tombs of the early 18th Dynasty, remains of temples dating from the Early Dynastic period to the Ptolemaic period, as well as part of the walls of a Coptic monastery. Return to the boat for lunch and sail to Luxor where the boat will dock overnight.

Day 8 - Luxor
Disembark after breakfast.

An optional Abu Simbel excursion is also available. Special arrangements can be made with separate cost.