A Trip to Egypt Using Points and Miles

Last January we took a 10-day trip to Egypt with portions of the trip booked with points and miles. We took a 3-night Nile cruise which was our largest out-of-pocket expense, but we were able to get other hotels and our flights to and from Cairo using points and miles. Here’s the breakdown of our trip to Eygpt using points and miles.

Our Egypt Itinerary

Here’s how we decided to break out our time in Egypt:

• Day 1: Overnight flight Istanbul, layover in Istanbul
• Day 2: Fly to Cairo
• Days 3-5: Cairo
• Days 6-9: Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor
• Day 10: Fly home

Flights

I tried to book flights using United miles from Boston to Cairo, Cairo to Aswan (free as covered by the Excursionist Perk), and Luxor to New York. Due to an issue with phantom award space, we had to pay for our flights from Cairo to Aswan and Luxor to Cairo on Eygptair. I decided to keep it economical so we flew to Cairo in the economy and flew home in business class.

• Flights to and from Egypt: Boston to Cairo (economy) and Cairo to New York (business class) for two passengers
  • 255,000 United miles and $118.10 in fees worth $7,156.00
• Flights within Egypt: Cairo to Aswan (economy) and Luxor to Cairo (economy) for two passengers
  • These flights cost about $450 out-of-pocket as there was no award space on Egyptair available
• Flight to Boston: JFK to Boston on JetBlue for two passengers
  • 17,200 JetBlue points and $11.20 in fees worth $226.60

Total cash: $579.30
Total miles: 272,200
Total value: $7832.60

Hotels

Here are the hotels we chose to stay at:

• Cairo: 4 nights at the InterContinental Cairo Semiramis
  • 75,000 IHG points worth $733.33
  • On the 4th night of our stay, we had a late flight to Aswan. While we only stayed three nights in the hotel, we booked four so we could stay in our room longer. This was the same price as three nights thanks to IHG’s fourth night free benefit for IHG Rewards Club Premier cardholders.
• Aswan: 1 night Hapi Hotel Aswan
  • 3,701 Chase points worth $55.52
• Nile Cruise: 4 days, 3 nights from Aswan to Luxor
  • Cost $1,050 through Emo Tours and included meals, a private tour guide, and a trip to Abu Simbel
• Cairo Airport: 1 night Le Méridien Cairo Airport
  • 10,000 IHG points worth $161.56

Total cash: $1,050
Total points: 88,701
Total value: $2,000.41

Final Thoughts

Egypt has been on my bucket list since we learned about Ancient Egypt in elementary school so traveling here was a long time coming. This wasn’t one of our crazy extravagant points and miles trips like our trip to France and UAE or our honeymoon. Instead, we paid more out-of-pocket and used fewer points and miles in order to book a Nile cruise which was truly the highlight of our trip. All in, we used 360,901 points and miles and spent $1,629.30 for a trip valued at $9,833.01.

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More from our Egypt vacation:

Trip Reports:
Visiting the Pyramids of Giza from Cairo
One Day in Cairo: Coptic Cairo, Khan El Khalili, and Egyptian Museum
A Day Trip to Alexandria from Cairo
How to Spend Three Days in Cairo
A Four Day Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor with Emo Tours
Everything You Need to Know About Visiting Abu Simbel
How to Spend One Day in Luxor
A One Week Egypt Itinerary

Reviews:
Hotel Review: InterContinental Cairo Semiramis
Hotel Review: Le Meridien Cairo Airport
EgyptAir 787-9 Business Class from Cairo to New York