Course Director:
Dr Wolfram Grajetzki
Middle Kingdom Tour: Overview
This 12 day road trip (Monday 1st December 2025 – Friday 12th December 2025) will take us from Montuhotep II’s mortuary temple in Luxor through middle Egypt, the Faiyum and Cairo to conclude with an exhilarating 4×4 journey across the desert to visit Senusret III’s pyramid at Dahshur! We will travel over 500 miles and will explore many fascinating Middle Kingdom sites along the way. This tour includes a staggering number of special openings to allow us access to many off-the-beaten-track sites. We will be accompanied by the Middle Kingdom specialist Dr Wolfram Grajetzki, who will give lectures as we travel through Egypt to help us appreciate the Middle Kingdom like never before!
Special openings included:
- Montuhotep II Mortuary Temple at Deir el-Bahri
- Tomb of Queen Neferu
- Qaw el Kebir
- Lisht
- Inside the pyramid of Senusret III at Dahshur
What makes a Kemet Klub tour extra special?
- Online meetings before and after the tour.
- Carefully crafted itineraries with special access.
- Travel with fellow Egypt enthusiasts and expert lecturers and guides.
- Course booklet with suggested reading, site plans, maps and further information.
- Special tour classroom for handouts, images, and recordings of our two online events.
Price: £5215
Single Room supplement £550
Price excludes airfare, which is by your own arrangement. (Important: Do not book your flight until we confirm with you that we have the numbers to allow the tour to go ahead.)
Limited Numbers
As of early August, we only have a few places left for this tour!
You can reserve your place with an initial deposit of £700 (GBP) and completing the booking form. Once we have confirmed we have met our minimum number of travellers, you will be asked to arrange your flight. The final balance is due by 15 September 2025.
Itinerary of our Middle Kingdom Tour
Thursday 20th November
Pre-Trip Online lecture 7-9 pm (UK times)
A chance to meet Wolfram and our fellow travellers online before we start our adventures together in Egypt. Wolfram will set the scene for our trip with his first lecture: “THE MIDDLE KINGDOM IN EGYPT” This lecture is exclusively for our group of travellers. At this meeting, we will ensure you all have your handouts, including the tour booklet, complete with maps and site plans. If you cannot make this lecture, it will be recorded and placed in the Middle Kingdom Tour Classroom, which we will enrol you into, and you will then find it in the My Courses section of the Kemet Klub website. Wolfram’s lectures in Egypt will not be recorded.
Monday 1st December 2025
Arrive in Luxor.
Our Tour is operated by Galal Alsenusy and one of his representatives will meet you at Luxor Airport. (Just look out for our Kemet Klub logo!) They will assist us to our hotel, the Pavillion Winter Palace Luxor.
Tuesday 2nd December 2025
We start our adventure with a Middle Kingdom-focused tour of Karnak Temple before visiting the Luxor Museum to see the collection here, including some fine examples of Middle Kingdom statues. Lunch at Sofra restaurant before we cross to the West Bank. This afternoon, we will enjoy special access to some Middle Kingdom royal monuments, starting with a special opening of the mortuary temple of Montuhotep II at Deir el Bahri and another special opening of the Middle Kingdom tomb of Queen Neferu.
LECTURE 2 “THEBES IN THE MIDDLE KINGDOM”
Wednesday 3rd December 2025
This morning we drive to Abydos and check into House of Life where we will stop for lunch. In the afternoon we will take a drive out into the desert to see the site of Kom el Sultan the remains of the temple site of Osiris. We then cross the sandy ridge to enter Khasekhemwy’s impressive and enigmatic massive mudbrick enclosure Shunet el Zebib. This area marks the start of the processional route for the Osiris mysteries and was where hundreds of Middle Kingdom stele were erected, and we can look across the desert to the wadi in the cliffs, celebrated as the burial place of Osiris.
LECTURE 3 “THE TOMB OF OSIRIS AND THE OSIRIS CULT”
Thursday 4th December 2025
Our morning starts with an ‘off topic’ morning visit to Seti I temple in Abydos. A stunning 19th Dynasty temple that is simply too good to miss whilst we are here! Equipped with a packed lunch on the coach, we will make our way to some dramatic Middle Kingdom tombs, only accessible with a special opening at Qaw el Kebir. These rarely visited tombs date to the 12th dynasty and are the largest examples of private monuments of this period. Next, we head on to visit the tombs at Al Hamameyah. We will overnight at the Sohag Azur Hotel.
LECTURE 4 “MIDDLE EGYPT IN THE MIDDLE KINGDOM”
Landscape of Qaw el Kebir Rock Cut Tombs – UCL, click image to explore!
Friday 5th December 2025
We depart Sohag, on the coach, our destination, the tombs at Meir. These decorated rock-cut tombs date to the 12th dynasty Middle Kingdom, and the 6th Dynasty, Old Kingdom. The burial place of governors of Qus, their families and staff. Important officials, such as the chancellor of Pepy I, Niankhpepykem, and Senbi, the nomarch here during the reign of Amenemhat I. We will have time to explore before onward travel to Minya, where we will check into the Nefertiti Minya Hotel.
LECTURE 5 “THE TOMBS OF MEIR”
Saturday 6th December 2025
A visit to the beautifully decorated tombs at Beni Hassan this morning where we can enjoy detailed scenes of daily life, not to mention depictions of wrestling matches, dancing and acrobatics! We will then enjoy a relaxed lunch at the Beni Hassan rest house. After lunch we make a small ‘off topic’ excursion to the visit the Speos Artemidos before we make our way to the Helnan Auberge Hotel Faiyum.
LECTURE 6 “BENI HASSAN AND THE SPEOS ARTEMIDOS”
Sunday 7th December 2025
Our first day in Faiyum is a busy one. We will visit the Medinet Madi temple and the enigma of the temple of Qasar el Saga. We will also visit the Kom Ausim museum and the Ptolemaic site of Karanis to see the site and the Middle Kingdom columns displayed in the open-air museum here.
LECTURE 7 “THE MIDDLE KINGDOM IN THE FAIYUM: PYRAMIDS AND TEMPLES”
Monday 8th December 2025
Our second day in the Faiyum will start with a visit to view the exterior of the pyramid of Amenemhat III at Hawara, followed by a chance to go inside the pyramid of Senusret II at Lahun.
We swap our coach for some smaller vehicles to enable us to access the remote site of Lisht. Here we have a special opening at Lisht allowing us to get up close to the pyramids of Amenemhat I, and Senusret I, although the high water table prevents us going inside.
We check in to Sofitel Cairo Nile el Gezirah hotel
There is no lecture on this evening
Tuesday 9th December 2025
It’s a free day in Cairo. You can relax or explore—it’s completely up to you! Lunch and dinner are not included today to give people flexibility to spend the day as they choose.
There is no lecture this evening.
Wednesday 10th December 2025
A whole day at the Grand Egyptian Museum! We will start with a morning tour followed by lunch at Zooba restaurant. You have the afternoon in the GEM to explore as you choose, be that revisiting some of your favourite pieces, taking in the ambience from a cafe or museum garden or visiting the Tutankhamun galleries which are due to be open in July*
(*Tutankhamun ticketing process is unknown at this time of publishing: So do please be aware that you may need to purchase an additional ticket to visit the Tutankhamun galleries at the GEM.)
LECTURE 8 “TREASURES OF QUEENS AND PRINCESSES”
Thursday 11th December 2025
A fitting finale to our Middle Kingdom adventures! An exhilarating 4×4 drive across the desert to Dahshur. We will have our final special opening to go inside the pyramid of Senusret III.
After a relaxing lunch at the Saqqara Palm Club we finish off our tour by admiring the Middle Kingdom treasures on display at the Egyptian Museum at Tahrir Square. We will share tales of our road trip adventures over a farewell group evening meal together at the hotel.
Friday 12th December 2025
Galal’s team will help us transfer to the airport for our flights home.
Thursday 8th January 2026 Our Post-Trip Catch Up
Our tours are never over until we have all had a chance to catch our breath and sort through our photos! This is an informal catch-up via Zoom a few weeks after our trip. A chance for us share stories and memories along with our favourite photos of Middle Kingdom adventures!
Your Lecturer
Dr Wolfram Grajetzki is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University College London. He studied Egyptology, Prehistory and Classical archaeology in Berlin with his PhD on the highest state officials in the Middle Kingdom (1998). He worked on several projects, including excavations in Egypt and Pakistan and was teaching Egyptology in Berlin, London and Pisa, He published several scholarly and popular articles and books on burial customs and the Middle Kingdom.
Price includes:
- Hotel accommodation as detailed in itinerary
- Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are included from Tuesday, December 2nd, to Monday, December 8th, Wednesday, December 10th, and Thursday, December 11th. (Breakfast only on December 9th and 12th. )
- Tours and transfers in a modern AC Mercedes bus
- Entry fees
- Tour guide fees
- Special openings for
- Montuhotep II Mortuary Temple at Deir el-Bahri
- Tomb of Queen Neferu
- Qaw el Kebir
- Lisht
- Inside the pyramid of Senusret III at Dahshur
- Ghafirs, reps, waiter tip
- Water on the bus and with meals
- Egypt entry visa
Price does not include:
- Airfare (This is by your own arrangement, once we have confirmed the tour is viable)
- Meals on the following days: lunch and dinner on 9th December.
- Tip for the Egyptian tour guide and driver.
- Any meals or drinks other than those mentioned in the itinerary.
- Travel insurance.
- Any other costs for goods or services not included in the itinerary.
FAQ’s
Can I extend my stay in Egypt? -Yes. Galal will be happy to assist you if you would like to spend a few extra days in Egypt, either side of our trip.
Do I have to be in the UK to join this trip?
No. You are responsible for arranging your own flights, so you can join us from anywhere in the world. Let us know your flight information so that Galal and his team can collect you from the airport.
Do I have to arrange my own flights? Yes, but if you need assistance with this, contact us and we can put you in touch with a trusted travel agent to assist you. Do not buy your flights until you have heard from us that we have reached our minimum number of travellers and that the trip is viable.
Terms and Conditions – just in case you missed them at the top of the page!
The Terms and Conditions of the Middle Kingdom Tour 2025