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Overview:

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Egypt could be said to have six different tourist super-sites.  Each has its own flavor, and mostly each serves a different purpose.  Surprisingly, or perhaps not, most of these tourist areas do not depend on ancient monuments to sustain them.  In fact, only Luxor is completely dependent on this trade.  These super-sites consist of: Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Aswan, Hurghada & Sharm El Sheikh.

Not that there aren’t many more destinations, particularly on the Red Sea and in Sinai plus on the country’s mainland interior, such as the oases. However, the above tourist super-sites encompass, perhaps, ninety-five percent of the ancient monuments plus most of the activities possible within Egypt.

Cairo, which means "the triumphant" is the capital and largest city of Egypt. It is the Arab World’s largest and Africa’s most populous city.  It is also the sixteenth most populous metropolitan area in the world.  While Al-Qahirah is the official name of the city, in Egyptian Arabic it is called by the dialect's name for the country, Masr.  Cairo has a wonderful mix of historic towns and modern districts. This includes the Pyramids, the Hanging Church, Saladin’s Citadel, the Virgin Mary's Tree, the Sphinx, and Heliopolis, Al-Azhar, the Mosque of Amr ibn al-A’as, Saggara, the Cairo Tower, and the Old City.  Cairo is nicknamed "The City of A Thousand Minarets".

Cairo replaced Fustat as the seat of government when it was founded in 969 as an imperial capital by the Fatimid caliphs.  It later came under Mamluk rule, until they were defeated by the Ottomans in 1517.  It was also briefly occupied by Napoleon for just a few short years in the late 1790s.  Muhammad Ali of Egypt made Cairo the capital of his independent empire from 1805 to 1882, after which the British took control.  Egypt remained under British control until it attained independence in 1922.

Alexandria with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports. Alexandria is also a premiere tourist destination.  It is sometimes said to have an atmosphere more Mediterranean than Middle Eastern.

Upon its founding in 331 BC by Alexander the Great, Alexandria became the capital of Graeco-Roman Egypt, and remained so for nearly a thousand years, until the Muslim Conquest of Egypt in 641 AD when a new capital was founded at Fustat (Fustat was later absorbed into Cairo).  Since the 19^th century, Alexandria has taken on the new role as a focus for both commercial and maritime expansion.

Luxor is a city in Upper (southern) Egypt and consists of three different areas: the City of Luxor in the east side of the Nile; the town of Karnak just north of Luxor; and Thebes, which is on the west side of the Nile across from Luxor.  The site of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, Luxor is often characterized as the "world's greatest open air museum", as many of the ancient ruins stand within the boundaries of the modern city.  Luxor proper is located on the East Bank of the Nile River.  Immediately opposite, on the West Bank, lie such famous sites as the Valley of the Kings and the Tombs of the Nobles.  Thousands of international tourists arrive annually to visit these monuments, as Luxor thrives as one of Egypt’s main tourist destinations.

Aswan is a city in the south of Egypt, with a relaxed atmosphere and distinctly African feel.  Aswan is the ancient city of Swenet, which translates to “trade,” an appropriate name for the modern day tourist and market center.  In Aswan, tourists can enjoy the bazaar or eating in floating restaurants while watching Nubian dancers and folklore troupes perform in the Cultural Center, just off the Cornioche.  Sites include the Ferial Gardens, the Nubian Museum, and a variety of other monuments from the Graeco-Roman and Fatimid periods.

Abu Simbel is an archaeological site comprising two massive rock temples in southern Egypt on the western bank of Lake Nasser about 290 km southwest of Aswan.  

The twin temples at Abu Simbel were originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefetari.  The construction of the Aswan dam on the Nile River threatened to submerge the temples in Lake Nasser, but with the support of UNESCO, the monuments were relocated in the 1960s to an artificial hill high above the Aswan dam reservoir.  The temples are now part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Nubian Monuments,” which run from Abu Simbel downriver to Philae (near Aswan)

Hurghada is an Egyptian city and a tourist center on the Red Sea.  The city was founded in the early 20th century, and since the 1980s has grown into the premiere seashore resort on the Red Sea, due to continuous investments by Egyptian and foreign land developers.  Holiday villages and hotels provide aquatic sport facilities for sailboarders, yachtsmen, scuba divers and snorklers.  Until a few years ago it was a small fishing village. Today Hurghada counts 248,000 inhabitants and is divided into three parts: Downtown (El Dahar) is the old part; Sekalla is the modern part, and El Korra Road is the most modern part.  Not far from is El Gouna, a privately-owned luxury hotel town, about 25 km north of Hurghada. Quiet and clean, the town consists of several islands separated by channels and connected by bridges, and is therefore often promoted at the Venice of Egypt.  With activities such as watersports, horseback riding, nightclubs, a casino (the only on the Red Sea coast), and a golf course, tourists visiting El Gouna can find everything they need to suit their entertainment needs.

Sharm el Sheikh often known simply as "Sharm", is a city situated on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in Janub Sina’, Egypt, on the coastal strip between the Red Sea and Mount Sinai.  And together with Naama Bay, Hay el Nour, Hadaba, Rowaysat, Montazah and Shark's Bay form a metropolitan area.

Sharm el-Sheikh has become a favorite spot for both professional and recreational scuba divers from around the world.  It’s proximity to the Red Sea, with its warm waters and spectacular underwater scenery make it an exquisite place to dive.  In the surrounding area is Shark’s Bay, an elite vacation area, with a wonderful combination of sea, gulf, and mountain scenery.