Alexandria and Cairo – October 2026
Alexandria - the Bride of the Mediterranean
On a recent company visit to Alexandria, we took an Uber taxi from Cairo. The driver was a man of few words. As we approached the city, he rolled down his window and suddenly said to us, “Can you smell it, can you feel the Mediterranean”? We could. He added, “I love Alexandria!”
The Mediterranean, Mare Nostrum in Latin, has brought several civilizations to Alexandria, named after Alexander the Great, who founded the city in year 331 BCE.
These cultures are seen everywhere and, in all strata, especially of course the Greek and Roman. Today, there are large Lebanese and Greek minorities who influence the city, not least culinary. We will see it all. We will taste it all.
The capital of Egypt, Cairo, is also the unofficial capital of Islamic civilization. At the same time, the city is home to the only remaining of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the unfathomable Pyramid of Cheops. And then of course we will visit the newly opened museum, The Grand Egyptian Museum, Tut-Ank-Amon’s new home.
Two cities. They can be yours in the days October 24 – November 1, 2026. Below you will find the description of our complete travel program.
Travel plan
Get an overview of what you will experience on your trip.
Day-to-day overview
Unlike a physical product, a trip is only complete when the trip is over.
Changes will therefore occur and this is also desirable. From the time our trips are offered on the website to the trip itself, it usually takes 6 – 9 months. It would be quite unusual if an offer did not appear during that period that would be a clear improvement to the overall travel experience. However, significant changes to the overview below will not occur.
All our trips are based on our guests wanting to join us on new adventures. This is your guarantee that we will strive, to the best of our ability, to ensure that you get a once in a lifetime experience – every time.
Our days in Cairo: 24 - 26 October 2026
Our days in Alexandria: 27 - 30 October 2026
Tuesday we will go to Alexandria. The afternoon we go for a tour. We enjoy a nice dinner on the roof terrace of the Hotel Metropole.
Wednesday Jacob will show us Alexandria, including Biblioteca Alexandrina. We set sail towards Alexandria Bay and enjoy a sundowner. In the evening we visit the Yacht Club.
Thursday is Artos’ day. He shows us around the Greco-Roman Empire. Dinner follows at the Greek Nautical Club.
Friday morning we visit one synagogue, one cathedral and one mosque. In the afternoon Jakob takes us to Montaza Park. Dinner at The Automobile Club in Alexandria.
Saturday morning we return to Cairo via El-Alamein.
Our days in cairo: 31 october and 1 november 2026
Incl. / Excl.:
What is included
- Fire nætter på det 5* Hotel the Ned.
- Kanapéer og velkomstdrinks fredag aften.
- Pub lunch lørdag.
- Operabillet lørdag aften.
- Sunday Roast.
- Signaturmiddag søndag aften.
- Pub lunch mandag.
- Kanapéer og vin i Sigmund Freuds House.
- Kanapéer og drinks til William Hansons event.
- Entré til Highgate Hill, bådfart, alle guidede ture er inkluderet.
- Morgenmad: du kan tilkøbe 4 kuponer á £ 15, der giver dig 4 * £ 26 at spendere i The Ned’s syv restauranter.
- Drikkevarer på restauranter og pubber overlader vi trygt til dig og tjeneren.
Always included
Not included
PRICE
14000 DKK
Deposit
2500 DKK
Location
Hotel Flamenco
02 El Gezira El Wosta, Zamalek, Cairo
Organizer
Parnassos.dk, Overgaden oven Vandet 58A, 2. 1415 Copenhagen
Phone
45 52736316
overtoner@parnassos.dk
Parnassos.dk ApS is a member of the Travel Guarantee Fund. It guarantees your money, while we guarantee your experiences.
Travel dates:
Mono- and Polytheism in Cairo November 2025
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- End date:
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Alexandria and Cairo October & November 2026
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Travel information
- Professor Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen
- Professor Arto Belekdanien
- Grand Egyptian Museum
- Islamic Cairo
- The Giza Pyramids
- Metropole restaurant
- Biblioteca Alexandrina
- Royal Automobile Club
- The Greco-Roman Museum
- Own Yacht
- The Abrahamitic Religions
- Montaza Park
- The Cairo Opera
- Safety in Egypt
- What do You Get for Your DKK 14,000?
- The Pharaos of the South
Professor Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen
Our main guide for this trip to Alexandria and Cairo during the days 24 Oct – 1 Nov 2026 is Islamic scholar and professor at the University of Copenhagen, Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen. We will therefore have solid ground under our feet when it comes to one of the world’s largest cultures.
We will enjoy him all week, where we will probably be able to get him to tell us about the time he lived in old Cairo in the 1980s – the city’s most exotic area. We will spend three full days in Cairo, the remaining time in Alexandria, where Jakob held a symposium for The Danish Institute February 2025.
The contrast between the two cities is an experience in itself. From the cacophonous capital to Alexandria, also called the pearl or bride of the Mediterranean, where you quickly notice the more relaxed style and a more cosmopolitan atmosphere, with influences that go back all the way to the ancient Greek and Roman days. This is only a moderate exaggeration.
Professor and leading Islam expert Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen. Our guide in Alexandria and Cairo October 2026.
Arto Belekdanien, at a reception at the Danish Embassy in Cairo
Professor and Egyptologist Arto Belekdanien
Alexandria was built under the supervision of Alexander the Great in 331 BCE. Thus, in the late Pharaonic era, with the Greek and Roman empires in the driving seat. Everywhere you can find relics from these bygone times – and not a few quite significant museums in the city, which we will discuss a little later in this description.
We have allied ourselves with another guide, Egyptologist and professor Arto Belekdanien, of Egyptian-Armenian origin. He is Dr. Phil. in Oriental Studies in Egyptology and educated at Oxford University. He will be with us for a couple of the days in Alexandria.
Arto was Her Majesty Queen Mary of Denmark and Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s personal guide when they were in Cairo for the inauguration of The Grand Egyptian Museum on November 1, 2025.
We look forward to showing how important it is for the quality of the trip to have guides with such depth of knowledge, while at the same time being wonderful communicators.
Grand Egyptian Museum
We will also have Arto Belekdanien with us when we visit The Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, a short distance from the three Giza pyramids. A museum that has been two decades in the making and has blown all budgets.
From the moment you step into the lobby, it is difficult not to be utterly impressed. The museum has opened in stages, the last and certainly the most anticipated, as mentioned, took place on November 1, 2025.
The main attraction of the museum, without question, is all of Tutankhamun’s treasures, many of which have never been displayed to the public. It is unique. Quite simply.
Arto brings these treasures back to life. When we are at the end of our guided tour, a formidable view of the Giza pyramid plateau awaits us.
The unfathomable Giza-pyramids
The Pyramid Plateau
The photo shows the Giza plateau with its three pyramids. You never get tired of this view. The pyramid of Cheop’s is furthest away and Menkaure closest. Then there are the pyramids of Menkaure’s three wives.
We continue the trip from GEM to these three pyramids and the five millennia. This will be our fifth group trip to Cairo. And every time we have guests with us, who have dreamt of standing in front of these man-made mastodons all their lives.
For them it is an almost spiritual moment. During our last trip, Arto told us that when Tut-Ank-Amon lived, Cheop’s pyramid had already stood there for 1200 years.
This plateau has also been given a facelift. There is a new entrance to the pyramids, which is much more elegant and you get rid of – almost – the many hustlers who used to walk around and devalue the experience.
Old Cairo, Islamic Cairo, Downtown Cairo
120 of our guests in total have visited Cairo with us. Many of them have shown interest in joining us on this extended tour, which includes Alexandria.
We will therefore make an effort not to make a exact copy of what we have shown of Cairo so far. It is easy, because Cairo can supply exceptional experiences for months on end – actually, years.
The route we will take during “Jacob’s Day” in Cairo is not yet fully determined, but we will start at Bab al-Nasr, one of the remaining three city gates in Cairo, built in the year 1087. We will continue to Bab al-Futuh, city gate no. 2.
Onwards to the Khan al-Khalili district with its countless small bazaar streets. By bus we can reach Fustat, the Christian district of Cairo, with a large church complex, including the “hanging church” in the immediate vicinity.
If time permits, we will visit the Ibn Tulun, al-Takkiya al-Mawlawiya, Sharia al-Suyufiyya, Sultan Hassan and Al-Rifai mosques. From here, on to the City of the Dead, whose original residents share their houses with the living.
Islamic Cairo at dusk
Metropole Hotel Alexandria
Our First Night in Alexandria
The trip from Cairo to Alexandria is by our private bus and takes about 3 hours. When we arrive, Tuesday afternoon, we will immediately feel the Mediterranean air. A completely different experience from the streets of Cairo.
After we have checked into our hotel, we go to the Hotel Metropole’s restaurant and have our first dinner – included in the price – with a view of Alexandria Bay and the Quit-bay Fort, exactly the same place where another of the seven wonders of antiquity stood, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, with a height of 120 meters.
The evening and the view will give us the first impression of Alexandria, as both a geographical and cultural bridge between the kingdom of the pharaohs and the later European empires: ancient Greece and later again the Roman Empire.
Today, the city also houses representatives of the three Abrahamic religions, which we will also visit during our stay.
Biblioteca Alexandrina
The Library of Alexandria, another of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was founded in the 3rd century BC in Egypt and was a center of learning and research. It housed countless papyrus scrolls and was an educational center where many famous scholars and philosophers, including Euclid and Archimedes, received their degrees.
This great library symbolized the importance of knowledge and the convergence of cultures, but it suffered several man-made disasters over the centuries, leading to its decline and eventual destruction.
The new library, the Biblioteca Alexandrina, which we visit on Wednesday, was inaugurated in 2002 and pays homage to its ancient predecessor in a grand way while embracing modernity.
It also houses millions of books and offers state-of-the-art facilities, including research centers, museums, and cultural spaces. The Biblioteca Alexandrina aims to revive the spirit of the ancient library.
Arto and Jakob will each take care of their own library, so to speak. The day is not over yet. We move on to a small, charming museum that deals with modern Egyptian from the mid-20th century.
Royal Automobile Club, Alexandria
Parnassos.dk is a member of The Royal Automobile Club and The Yacht Club in Egypt and both clubs can be found in Alexandria. We are allowed to invite our guests and we will of course take advantage of this.
Both clubs are located on the Mediterranean Sea. One is directly east, the other is exactly at the other end of Alexandria in the west.
On our second evening, after we have seen the Alexandrina Museum and much more, we go to The Automobile Club, where a fine dinner awaits us and is included in the price.
We see what else the evening has to offer. We have many options where we can have a nice time over cold drink or two.
The Greco-Roman Day
One of the most beautiful museums in Egypt is the Greco-Roman Museum, with an equally beautiful café. We will be here on the Thursday.
On to the Kom el-Shufaqqa catacombs and excavations in Shallalat Park and the Roman amphitheater.
One thing we can still experience, before Egypt becomes too “stylized”, is to see the contrast between both The Grand Egyptian Museum and the Greco-Roman Museum compared to how priceless sarcophagi, columns and sculptures lie piled high in the catacomb complex.
One of the reasons for this is of course that Egypt has an almost endless number of treasures to take away – and constantly find – from its 3,000-year long pharaonic history.
It is a kind of modern counterpart to how, for example, English poets, such as John Keats and Lord Byron, could wander around the ruins of Rome undisturbed in the 19th century.
A selfie spot for the Alexandrine youth. In the Greco-Roman Museum
Own Yacht in the Bay of Alexandria
As mentioned, Parnassos.dk is a member of two clubs in Egypt, The Automobile Club and the Yacht Club. Club memberships are something we attach great importance to, for the travel destinations we offer.
Clubs often engage in local initiatives, hold events and excursions that are exclusive to members. Clubs can thus be an entry portal to an entire community, which we are convinced will improve the quality of our trips.
The Yacht Club has provided a yacht for us. When the day is over, we sail to the Alexandria Bay and enjoy the sunset light being captured by Alexandria’s buildings close to the city’s Corniche.
A sailing trip of a few hours, including a G&T, until we drop anchor again off The Yacht Club, where we will enjoy our dinner that evening, included in the price.
The Abrahamic religions
We have arrived at Friday.
There are de facto no Jews in Egypt, where the last emigration took place in the 1950s. The Jews have otherwise been a significant part of Egypt’s history for millennia. No more.
There are two synagogues in Cairo and one in Alexandria, the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue, which ironically is one of the largest synagogues in the Middle East, but closed its doors permanently in 2012 for security reasons. We have been allowed to visit this at once magnificent structure and sad history.
Right across from the synagogue we find the Coptic Cathedral of St. Mark, which we will also visit. The Christian Copts, on the other hand, are an active part of Egyptian society. It is estimated that around 10% of Egypt’s population, perhaps more, are of Christian background, and they enjoy extensive religious freedom.
The representative of the Coptic Pope, Tawadros II, will show us around and give a lecture in the cathedral. It is a great honor and we are very much looking forward to it.
After this, Jakob will take us to the famous Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi and Al-Qaed Ibrahim Mosques, the latter known for its very tall minaret.
The evening belongs to The Greek Nautical Club, where we will be served our dinner, included in the price.
Montaza Castle – in the middle of the enormous Montaza Park
Alexandria's Montaza Park
Friday afternoon we head for Montaza Park and its castle.
The Alexandrian youth love this enormous green area and it is open until midnight.
The castle was the summer palace of the Mohammed Ali dynasty until King Farouk. The building is rich in history, which Jakob will tell us all about. We have something planned for our evening. We just won’t say what.
The next day, Saturday, October 31, we head back to Cairo and take time for a detour, that will take us to El-Alamein, where one of the largest military battles of World War II took place.
We are back at our hotel in Cairo in time for our last evening, where we go to the opera and dinner in the Egyptian capital.
Sunday, November 1, is departure day for Copenhagen.
The Opera in Cairo
We arrive back at our hotel Saturday afternoon. The evening is dedicated to a concert or opera at the Cairo Opera House. You can read about the history of the Cairo Opera here. (In Danish only. Sorry!).
The opera house’s program for the fall of 2026 will not be decided until September, but the house always has a performance on Saturdays. It will be fun and completely different for those of you who are used to the parquet floors in Europe’s ditto.
The writer to this text was stuck in Cairo during the Corona crisis. It lasted five months. It was the strangest of days. It was for all of us.
Finally, in July 2020, the opera house reopened as the first cultural institution in Egypt.
It was an outdoor event. We were only a few guests who sat and listened to the Peer Gynt suite. It wasn’t the Vienna Philharmonic playing, but it’s still one of the most beautiful concerts I’ve ever attended.
We have our own security guard
Is it Safe in Cairo and Alexandria?
Is it safe in Cairo? The short answer is yes. And we are in constant contact with the Danish embassy in this regard.
A small detail: because we are a larger group of about 40, our bus company in Cairo – owned by Atlantis Travel in Denmark – is granted a plainclothes officer who accompanies us on our tours – and in Alexandria as well – which has turned out to be fantastically nice. Not because of any danger, but the police officer ensures that no one is too insistent, be it beggars or street sellers, when walking the streets og Cairo and Alexandria.
Nothing is risk-free in this world, but the probability of you as a person being exposed to a terrorist attack is very small. We are approaching lightning strike small risk. We are also not an obvious target, as most of our tours are off the beaten track. Of course, you should feel comfortable, but we think it would be a shame if fear prevents you for all the above-mentioned events.
So, our call is straightforward: Do join us on this adventure.
What do You Get for Your DKK 14,000?
Eight nights with breakfast in good quality 4* hotels in Cairo and Alexandria.
All transport, including Cairo – Alexandria, all local guides, opera/concerts, yacht sailing, access to the Giza pyramids*, all museum entrances including GEM are included. Drinks for our own events.
(* However, not if you want to enter the Giza pyramids yourself, tickets for this must be purchased separately on the day).
8 * dinners/buffets, i.e. all dinners during our stay.
Free drinks after dinner, as well as for our speeches, lectures and boat trips.
What is not included in the price:
Round-trip flights. We have booked direct flights from Copenhagen with Egypt Air, which can be purchased. Price 4,600 DKK/person.
Wines during our dinners.
Lunches. We find very reasonably priced restaurants.
Visas currently cost $25, around 200 DKK, which can be issued at Cairo airport. In addition, we would ask for €35/person to cover the endlessly many tips or bakshish to waiters etc. as this is an expense we cannot deduct from our accounts.
Tempted? You can book the trip via this link.
It all adds up
From Lower Egypt in the north to Upper Egypt in the south…
Continue the Trip to Upper Egypt?
During the purchase process, you will see a column where you can add various extras. For this trip to Alexandria, it is obvious to also offer the trip we are taking to Upper Egypt, Luxor and Aswan as well as Abu Simbel in the south, which extends over 12 days, from November 1st – 12th. A trip you can read about via this link.
If you want to get the whole history and geography of Egypt, you are welcome to continue the trip, with Sunday November 1st as a resting day before it starts all over again.
There is a certain overlap of the two trips in Cairo, that we have already experienced during the Alexandria/Cairo trip. For those of you, there is an alternative Cairo route, which Erik Bach Christophersen will be responsible for.
The price for the 12-day trip is set at DKK 18,000, but if you choose both trips, we will give a DKK 2,000 discount, so the price will be 16,000 kr. extra for trip number two. (Plus single room supplement, if you are traveling on your own).