Zigotours Egypt Autumn Camp: The Nile Valley and the Red Sea

The route runs the length of the Nile. Cairo opens it with the historic centre and the Egyptian Museum, where the mask of Tutankhamun is kept, and with the pyramids and the Sphinx of Giza, explained by a French-speaking guide. Aswan follows: the temple of Philae, a walk on Elephantine island, Nubian culture, an evening with a local family and the spice souk. From Aswan the group sails down the river by felucca to Kom Ombo. Luxor is an open-air museum - Karnak with a guide, and the tombs of the Valley of the Kings. The stay ends at Hurghada on the Red Sea with a boat trip and snorkelling over the reef. The operator has stopped including the camel ride at the pyramids on animal-welfare grounds.

The published price covers the return scheduled flight from Paris with a stopover, transport within Egypt, accommodation, meals, the activities and guided visits of the programme, the supervising team and insurance. Departure from a regional city can be arranged through the operator's transport service; it is quoted case by case and is not included in the published price.

Simple hotels of the kind the operator calls guest houses, in rooms of two to four with bathrooms in the room. One night is spent aboard a traditional sailing boat on the Nile, and two nights in sleeper-train cabins.

Meals are taken in small local restaurants along the route.

Guided visits to the Egyptian Museum, the pyramids and Sphinx of Giza, the temple of Philae, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings; a walk on Elephantine island and an evening with a Nubian family; a spice souk; a felucca cruise on the Nile; a boat trip and snorkelling on the Red Sea.

There is no fixed campus. Facilities are those of the guest houses used along the route, of the felucca and of the sleeper train.

A travelling stay rather than a stay in one place: a new town every two or three days, nights that range from a guest house to the deck of a sailing boat and a train compartment, and the same team with the group throughout. Minimum twelve participants, maximum twenty-four, with one adult for every eight young people.