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If you can find time in your diary around the days of August 2nd, 2027, then join us for the – hands down – biggest show on the planet. A solar eclipse.
It will be the rest of this century’s longest lasting totality of more than 6 minutes, not to be surpassed until year 2114.
Our solar eclipse happens at noon and in Egypt. The sun and the moon will already have met in the city of Luxor, further south, a little earlier in the day. And as one can imagine there is already a large demand for the hotel rooms there.
However, we have decided to head towards the white desert approximately 250 miles from Cairo. Partly to avoid the tourist crowds, partly because a solar eclipse is perfectly presented in a desert with a Martian landscape. Mars with oxygen.
Several phenomena can be observed simultaneously. We will be standing on a hilltop and just as the moon goes in front of the sun, we will see, for a brief moment, how fast the earth spins around itself. We will see a shadow across the plateau with a speed of 1000 miles/hour. Almost twice as fast as an airplane.
And for the next six minutes we are reminded that we are a (very small) part of the universe. For many, it will be an almost spiritual event.
The moon begins to move in front of the sun more than an hour before the our star is fully obscured, and will not leave the sun again for yet another hour. The Egyptian desert in August is very hot, but for two hours it gets surprisingly cold, which will only add to our experience.
Six minutes. There will be plenty of time as well to revisit the winter stars, that are usually hidden by the summer sun.
Get an overview of what you will experience on your trip.
Unlike a physical product, a trip is only complete when the trip is over.
Changes will therefore occur and that is also desirable. From the time our trips are offered on the website to the trip itself, there is a gap of at least 6 – 9 months. In this case, two years. 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. And, of course, nothing will change the absolute highlight: the solar eclipse itself.
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 have a once in a lifetime experience – every time.
In the evening we are all gathered at the Hotel Flamenco in Zamalek in Cairo. Here we have a late supper, which is included in the price.
Saturday, July 31, 2027 – Giza Pyramids and the brand new Grand Egyptian Museum
We will see the three unfathomable pyramids at the Giza Plateau.
We will continue to the nearby Grand Egyptian Museum.
In the evening, we will go to The Mena House and their luxurious signature buffet, overlooking the illuminated Great Pyramid of Giza.
We will be heading towards the White Desert, a four-hour drive from Cairo and see the Black Desert along the way. Here we set up camp in our own oasis. Outdoor dinner is arranged with a breathtaking view of the starlit sky.
We wake up at sunrise in a Martian landscape, have brunch and time to wander around the area. We have arrived at the highlight of this century, the longest solar eclipse this side of the year 2141.
It is indescribable. You can then choose to return to Cairo or, if you are brave enough, drive 100 km. to the Farafra oasis, the outermost frontier of tourism.
Most people will probably choose to relax in Cairo. We will arrange guided tours for those who so wish. In the evening we will go to the Nile to enjoy our dinner – also included in the price. There is a lot of festivities on the river, so we will continue as long as we fancy.
The return date. Alternatively, a year before, August 2026, we will offer an extension of the stay, where we will continue the trip to Luxor and Aswan.
23.000 DKK / € 3.070 - if you arrange your own flight, the price will be 15.500 DKK / € 2,070
2.000 DKK / € 270
Hotel Flamenco
02 El Gezira El Wosta, Zamalek, Kairo
Parnassos.dk, Overgaden oven Vandet 58A, 2. 1415 Copenhagen
+45 52736316
overtoner@parnassos.dk
Parnassos.dk ApS is a member of the Danish Travel Guarantee Fund. It guarantees your money, irrespecttive of where you live, while we guarantee your experiences.
NB: American travel agencies are well into renting entire hotels for the Solar Eclipse days in Egypt, so if the trip has your interest, don’t hesitate too long before booking. All of a sudden everything will be sold out.
The White Desert is located at the Egyptian side of the Libyan desert and is a truly spectacular landscape, almost surreal. When yours truly and friends were here (by the way, a few days before the Corona crisis – maybe we should have stayed), we saw several fossils.
We will have a geologist with us to tell about what has happened in the area the last few million years.
I believe we will all be more humble afterwards, when we realize how insignificant we are on a universal and geological scale.
Our camp is about 70 miles from the Farafra oasis, the place on the globe where most fata morganas or mirages have been observed. For those who are keen to drive these extra miles on the same day, before we return to Cairo, there is an opportunity to experience the oasis. We are at the outermost limit of tourism.
The white desert in Egypt, where the solar eclipse will reach its maximum. 6 minutes and 16 seconds.
We”ll bring our own oasis to the desert
Glamping, or glamorous camping, is probably an exaggeration after all. Still, to create the greatest experience imaginable, we bring our own oasis to the desert. Our mini-buses will not only bring passengers, but tents, mattresses, blankets, food and drinks, even toilets, as well.
We leave Cairo Sunday noon on the 1st of August 2027 and arrive at our camp where we will all settle.
This is followed by a nice dinner in the middle of nowhere. (as well as breakfast and lunch the following day).
A night in the desert. Yet another experience beyond ordinary. You could not wish for better climatic conditions for the big show on Monday and no better weather conditions for what we will experience during the night. The Milky Way will show up with absolutely no light pollution. Therefore, within a day we will see the usual stars of the summer – and as mentioned, ditto for the winter.
When the rendezvous of the moon and the sun is over, we will split into two groups. Those of you who want to go directly back to Cairo city. And those who want to continue with today’s adventure; also previously mentioned; the additional trip to the Farafra oasis.
We arrive at the oasis at approximately 3 pm where we will stay for a few hours before we head back to Cairo for late supper.
Of course, when in Cairo, the three unfathomable pyramids in Giza are a must see. The day before our pilgrimage to the desert Sunday – Saturday 31st July 2027, the Egyptologist Arto Belekdanian will be with us.
Arto is of Egyptian-Armenian origin. He is Dr. Phil. in Oriental Studies of Egyptology and graduated from Oxford University. Today he works at The Ministry of Antiquity in Cairo.
He is an editor for National Geographic and has appeared on a number of BBC programs as an expert adviser. Additionally, he is an extremely pleasant and helpful person. So, if you get stuck in the middle of deciphering the hieroglyphs, he is ready to help you move on to the next sentence.
We can’t think of a more competent guide, who manages to put the era of the pharaohs into perspective.
For example, during our previous trip to Cairo, he told us that when Tut-Ank-Amon lived, the Pyramid of Cheop’s had already existed for more than 1200 years.
Speaking of Tut-Ank-Amon…
The pyramids in Giza
The Grand Egyptian Museum with the Cheop’s pyramid in the background.
The Grand Egyptian Museum or GEM – not far from the three Giza pyramids, as you can see on the picture – is a museum which has been two decades in the making and has blown all budgets.
But it was worth the wait. The museum was inaugurated on the 1st November 2025, with dignitaries from all over the world to celebrate the, without a doubt, biggest worldwide cultural event of the decade.
From the moment you enter the gates, it’s impossible not to be utterly impressed.
The huge building is split into 12 wings, one of them dedicated to Tut-Ank-Amon’s treasures. Many of them never shown to the public before. The museum is a must during our stay in Cairo.
What better way to end the day, Saturday, than with a dinner at Mena house, a short distance from the GEM and right in front of the Pyramid of Cheop’s? Mena House is a hotel, inaugurated in year 1886, whose mythology is linked to the 20th century. Heads of state, kings and queens and all kinds of celebrities would stay here, when they visited Egypt. Winston Churchill, Agatha Christie, Charlie Chaplin to name a few.
This is where we will spend our evening, Saturday 31st July 2027, at 7 pm. with a view over the first of the seven wonders world.
Usually, the pyramids stays in the dark for the night, but not during our evening. We have ensured that the plateau’s lights projector will be on for our night, so humanity’s most enigmatic structure will be lit up for us for an hour. You will be spellbound.
The magic isn’t over yet. We have requested entertainment. Archaic dances await us at our tables.
We will enjoy the Mena house signature dinner with the first and oldest wonder of the world in the background.
The Citadel of Cairo.
That leaves us with one more day in Cairo.
We could visit Islamic Cairo and be guided to a number of mosques. Onwards to the Citadel, continuing to the city of the dead and El-Azhar Park.
Followed by a tour to St. Thomas’s Cave Church (there are actually 400 Coptic Christian churches in Cairo), Khan-El-Khalili’s bazaars, the Garden City and afternoon tea in luxurious surroundings at St. Regis.
You can also simply choose to stroll by yourself in Egypt’s capital.
Cairo is a cacophonous city, so perhaps you prefer to simply relax in the garden of the 5* Hotel Marriott at Zamalek.
It will be very hot in Egypt in August. We will naturally ensure that our bus has air conditioning. Furthermore, we will choose places and restaurants that have air-condition as well, that offers more well-tempered conditions during our dinners. Which brings us to the evening of our final day in Cairo…
Our trip will be celebrated in style on our last evening in Egypt’s capital. We have hired a boat – a disco boat no less – that will bring us to our gala dinner number two with emphasis on elegance and from where we will have an unrivaled view of the city.
After the dinner, and for everyone who wants to, we have rented a bar, where there is an open tap for our guests. If you’re not familiar with Cairo, you might be surprised at how laid-back the country is when it comes to tourists and drinks.
We will, at that time, have had a compact program behind us, with boundless experiences.
Therefore, it’s likely that a cocktail or two, might be just what you are looking for.
The disco-boat on the Nile, that will bring us to our restaurant for the evening, 4th August 2027.
My late brother, Bent Bach Christophersen, relaxing in one of his favorite cafés in Cairo, ”The Mood café” in northern Zamalek. February 2020,
My late brother, Bent Bach Christophersen, moved to Cairo in 1992 and lived there for 30 years, up and until a few years ago where we sadly had to say goodbye to him, due to declining health.
I visited him often and via Bent I got to know his city. I have since then taken over his apartment in Cairo and inherited his circle of friends. They have been fantastically helpful with all facets of Parnassos’ trips to Egypt, not least Mrs. Dorte Vestentoft, cultural attaché at the Danish embassy, who incidentally also arrived in Cairo the same year as my brother.
The deposit for this solar eclipse trip is quite low (DKK 2,000, € 270). No need to tie up a lot of money at this stage. We have already booked a number of hotel rooms in Cairo. As you can well imagine the prices for airplane tickets, hotel rooms and buses will be progressively more expensive.
So even though the year 2027 is a long way off, don’t wait too long to order if you are eager to join. Two more tours around the sun and then the experience of a lifetime awaits you.
NB: Inflation must be expected during such a long period. However, the first 10% inflation is built into the price.
Should inflation be more than 10% from the day of invoicing and until the start of the journey, we will adjust the price accordingly. So, everything above 10% inflation will be extra invoiced 60 days before departure.
In this way, we ensure that there is a match between income and the expenses incurred during the trip. The expected inflation for all of 2025 is around 2,0%, so we feel confident that the 10% takes care of all inflation.
We will follow the consumer price index of Danmarks Statistik. We will of course be wholly transparent in any calculation.
