Meet your guide in your hotel lobby at 8:30AM for a tour of:
Saqqara: featuring the Step Pyramid. It is the oldest complete stone building complex known in history. Djoser's step pyramid was built during the Third Dynasty (about 2600 BC). Another 16 Egyptian kings built pyramids at Saqqara, which are now in various states of preservation or dilapidation. High officials added private funeral monuments to this necropolis during the entire pharaonic period. It remained an important complex for non-royal burials and cult ceremonies for more than 3,000 years, well into Ptolemaic and Roman times. BONUS: Entry to the elaborate tombs of Mereruka (vizier to king Teti) and the recently opened tomb of Maia (King Tut's wet nurse and maybe half sister).

Dahshur: With the first of the stone pyramids (The Bent and the Red, both open for entry). The Bent Pyramid was the first attempt at a smooth-sided pyramid but ultimately wasn't successful. One design flaw was that there was a very unstable base for it made of desert gravel and clay that has the tendency to subside when a large amount of weight is put on top of it. Another design flaw in this pyramid is that the engineering of it consisted of the blocks being cut in such a way that the weight angles down, causing all of the weight of the pyramid to push down towards the center. This in turn is thought to be the reason the pyramid is "bent" and changes angles about halfway up the sides. Sneferu was not pleased with this pyramid, so he built another called the Red Pyramid. Getting its name from the red hue the pyramid gives off after a nice rain, the Red pyramid was the first true smooth-sided pyramid. Standing more than 30 stories tall, it is thought to be Sneferu's pride and glory and the place where he is believed to be buried. The Red pyramid was the largest smooth-sided pyramid standing until Sneferu's son, Khufu, outdid his father by building the Great Pyramid of Giza, which stands 490 feet tall. Though Khufu's pyramid is larger, he would not have been able to build it without the knowledge that his father discovered before him.
BONUS: Tour Imhotep's museum (architect of the first stone pyramids, vizier to King Djoser, sage, astrologer and physician).

Memphis: The city was founded around 3100 BC by Menes of Tanis, who united the two kingdoms of Egypt; with some 30,000 inhabitants, it was by far the largest settlement worldwide at the time. It remained a major capital until the fall of Egypt to the Greeks, who moved the capital to Alexandria. Today Memphis is mostly ruins. Tour ends about 5PM with return to your hotel.

Included: Transfer from your metro Cairo hotel to the sites included in tour program, entry fees to sites included in tour program, Egyptologist fluent in English, bottled water during the tour, taxes and service charges.
NOT including: tips for the driver or guide, anything not specifically mentioned as included.