Programs

Overview

Our 5-day Oasis Circle tour starts in Bahariya Oasis and in ends Kharga Oasis (a pick up & drop off service from / to anywhere in Egypt will be arranged if you wish).

The Oasis Circle is one of the finest journeys Egypt has to offer. Starting from Bahariya Oasis, it runs for 672 kilometers (418 miles) through a desert landscape pocked by dunes and lofty escarpments. The highlights of this tour include the refreshing hot and cold springs of Bahariya Oasis and the black Desert in and around Bahariya Oasis, the lovely Agabat valley and the spectacular White Desert National near Farafra Oasis, the histroic center of Al Qasr and the Deir Al Hagar in and around Dakhla Oasis, and the Necropolis of Al Bagawat near Kharga Oasis—the capital of the New Valley Governorate.

Itinerary:

Day 1

If you are coming from Cairo, you will be leaving Egypt’s capital between 7:00 and 8:00 am and arrive in Bahariya Oasis at about noon where we greet you with a tasty Egyptian lunch. We start our tour with the oasis’ main archaeological sites (the Golden Mummies and the tombs of Zed-Amun-ef-ankh and Banentiu in Qarat Qasr Salim). Later in the afternoon, we relax in the famous hot and cold springs of Bahariya Oasis. If wished, we arrange a Camel ride in the palm groves of Bahariya. In the evening, we enjoy a spectacular sunset from atop English Mountain (Gebel Al Ingleez). You spend the night in a hotel of your choosing in Bahariya Oasis.

Day 2

After breakfast we board our proven and reliable Toyota land Cruisers and head for the Black Desert with its dozens and dozens of small, black-topped hills of volcanic origin. Our next stop of this day is the Crystal Mountain, a ridge made of sparkling quartz crystals. We then continue our journey until we reach the lovely Agabat Valley—known for its scores of rock sugarloaves—where we camp for the night.

Day 3

The focus of our third day are the wonders of the spectacular White Desert National Park. Not without good reason the White Desert National Park is honored as a “Lonely Planet Top choice" This spectacular place with its blindingly white sculptures that nature has been shaping for hundreds and thousands of years looks like it is on another planet. The night will either be spent camping out in the desert or in a hotel of your choosing in Farafra Oasis.

Day 4

On our fourth day we visit the sights in and around Dakhla Oasis: the Deir Al Hagar, a temple dedicated to the Theban Triad, the picturesque historic center of Al Qasr (distinguished as a “Lonely Planet Top Choice”), and the tombs of Qarat Al Muzawwaqa. The night will either be spent camping out in the desert or in a hotel of your choosing in Dakhla Oasis.

Day 5

The sights in and around Kharga Oasis are in the focus of our last day of our journey. The highlight of the day is the Necropolis of Al Bagawat, honored as one of the “best least-visited Egyptian sites” by Frommer's travel guide books and as a “Lonely Planet Top Choice”. This necropolis is one of the earliest surviving and best-preserved Christian cemeteries in the world with hundreds of mud-brick Christian tombs sitting atop an earlier Egyptian necropolis. The most interesting buildings are the “Chapel of Peace” with figures of the Apostles, the “Chapel of Exodus” featuring paintings of biblical stories of the Old Testament, and the “Chapel of the Grapes” with paintings of grapevines. 

Moreover, we visit the the Temple of Hibis—probably the best preserved temple in the Western Desert (partly because it was buried in sand until it was discovered and excavated by a team from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1909)—and the Deir Al Munira, a Roman fortress that used to protected the Darb al-Arbaeen caravan route linking Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur province with Asyut in the Nile Valley.

here our tour's finishing and we either drop you off at Kharga Airport or you continue to Luxor.