About this trip.
On Monday 2 August 2027 the moon's shadow crosses Egypt, and Luxor sits about 16 km from the centre line — 6 minutes and 22 seconds of total eclipse, with the sun almost straight overhead. It is the longest totality on easily reachable land this century.
This is the shape we'd send six friends on. Eight days, seven nights, arriving three days before the eclipse — because one delayed connection should never cost you a six-minute event that doesn't come back for 87 years. Those spare days also let everyone find the August rhythm, which here means out at dawn, resting through the middle of the day, and out again in the evening.
Copy it, move things around, invite your people. The prices below are planning estimates so your group can split a realistic number — you'll book the pieces yourselves.
What's included.
- The day shape · Eight days built around the eclipse, with the heat planned around rather than ignored
- Eclipse-day plan · One viewing spot, shade, water and timings — you cannot regroup on the day
- Group-cost maths · What's per boat, per van, per basket and per room, so the split is honest
- Eye-safety brief · ISO 12312-2, and the exact clock window when glasses stay on
- International airfare
- Egyptian e-visa
- Hotels and guides (you book them; we help you split them)
- Travel insurance
- Eclipse glasses
Day by day.
Day 1
Land in Luxor
Into LXR, usually via Cairo. Settle in, eat late, sleep. Nothing is scheduled today, on purpose.
Day 2
Karnak, then the river
Karnak is the temple of Amun-Ra — a sun god — and its main axis lines up with the winter-solstice sunrise. Go early. Come back to the Nile for the evening.
Day 3
Balloon at dawn, Luxor Temple after dark
Up before sunrise for the balloon over the West Bank. Rest in the middle of the day. Luxor Temple is lit at night and that is the hour to see it.
Baskets take 8 to 24, so book as one group if you want to be up there together.
Day 4
Eclipse day
The one day that breaks the dawn-and-dusk rule — you are outside and stationary from late morning until about 15:00, in the hottest hours of the hottest month.
Plan for it: shade you control, three litres of water each, one vehicle, and in position by mid-morning because the traffic will be nothing like a normal day. Partial starts 11:40, totality 13:02 to 13:09, done by 14:27.
Day 5
Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut
Both at dawn. Everyone is still buzzing from yesterday, so keep it to the morning and leave the afternoon loose.
Day 6
Dendera
An hour north, and the best beat of the trip. Skip the hunt for the famous zodiac — the original was cut out in 1821 and is in the Louvre. The ceilings still here are better anyway: a painted sky vault, and Nut swallowing the sun each night to give birth to it at dawn.
Priced per van, so it splits well across a crew.
Day 7
Down the Nile
Sail toward Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo. A felucca is chartered per boat — six of you costs what ten costs — so this is the rare thing that gets cheaper per head as the group grows.
Note Aswan is NOT in the path of totality, which is why the sail comes after the eclipse and never before it.
Day 8
Home, or keep going
Out of LXR — or carry on to Aswan or Cairo if people have the days.
Your planner
Founder of WeGoing! — group trips that actually get planned, and paid for, without one person fronting the whole thing.
Build your version
Make it yours.
Pick what you want. Nothing gets booked here — this just sets your trip up.
Who's coming
Where you'll sleep
Not sure who's sharing with whom yet? Pick anything — you sort the real rooms inside the trip, and everyone pays their own share.
Flights
Real fares to LXR, right here. Worth checking before the crew commits — it's usually the number that decides whether a trip happens.
We'll fill the whole thing in for you. No card needed.