Visit Cairo

Tutankhamun’s gold mask, royal mummies and 120,000 pharaonic treasures in the 1902 museum on Tahrir Square.

Medieval quarter of a thousand minarets: the Khan el-Khalili bazaar, Al-Azhar mosque and the Sultan Hassan madrasa.

Visit Luxor, Egypt's open-air museum on the Nile. Explore the Karnak Temple complex (one of the largest religious sites in the world, with massive columns and obelisks), see the Valley of the Kings (ancient royal tombs including Tutankhamun's), and take a felucca ride on the river for views of the Luxor Temple (illuminated at night with sphinx-lined avenues).

Visit Alexandria, Egypt's historic Mediterranean port city. Explore the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (modern revival of the ancient Library of Alexandria with museums and planetarium), see the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa (Roman-era burial site blending Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art), and stroll along the Corniche (seafront promenade with views of Qaitbay Citadel, a 15th-century fortress built on the site of the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria).

Visit Aswan, a city in southern Egypt on the Nile River. See the Philae Temple (relocated to Agilkia Island after the Aswan High Dam construction), the Unfinished Obelisk (largest known ancient obelisk, abandoned due to cracks), and the Aswan High Dam (a major hydroelectric project controlling floods and providing irrigation). Take a felucca boat ride on the Nile to view Elephantine Island and the Aga Khan Mausoleum.

The Ras Mohammed reefs and the Thistlegorm wreck, at the tip of the Sinai.

The Red Sea resort coast: dive boats to the Giftun islands and dolphins in the morning.

The Blue Hole, freediving on the Bedouin beach and Mount Sinai at sunrise an hour away.