Dinner was lovely. It was also last year, and the year before.
Milestone anniversaries are hard to mark because the obvious options have all been used. Twenty-five years in, you have done the restaurant, the weekend away and the jewellery. The question is what is left that feels different.
What is left is the trip you talked about early on and never took.
Why Egypt
A great many couples mention Egypt to each other once, somewhere in the first years — and then come children, mortgages and careers, and the conversation moves on. It stays filed under “someday”. Producing it decades later is a particular kind of gift. It says you remembered.
It is also romantic in a way that is not manufactured. A dahabiya is a traditional sailing boat with only a handful of cabins, and it moves at the river’s own pace. Dinner is served on deck as the bank slides past and the light turns pink, with no entertainment programme, no announcements and nobody organising anything. Just the two of you and the Nile.
What we arrange for anniversaries
- Private throughout. Your own Egyptologist and your own car. You will never share a guided day with strangers.
- A dahabiya, if the dates allow. Rarely more than ten cabins, often fewer — or charter the whole boat and have the river to yourselves.
- A dinner that isn’t on the itinerary. A table somewhere that suits the occasion, arranged quietly, so that it comes as a surprise to one of you even if the other knew.
- Mornings that are yours. Some couples want Karnak at dawn, before the heat and the crowds. Others want to read on deck until eleven. Both are right; tell us which you are.
- A photographer on the day. If your anniversary falls during the journey, a professional photographer joins you for a private session that day. If it doesn’t, we choose the loveliest evening of the trip instead.
If you are planning a surprise
Anniversary journeys are often a surprise for one half of the couple, and we treat that with care.
We only ever write to the address you give us, and nothing goes to a shared inbox unless you say so. If you need anything held until a particular date, we hold it, and the folio is emailed wherever you choose.
Tell us what the surprise is, and we will work around it.
The honest answer about weather
October to April is the comfortable half of the year. A June anniversary is perfectly possible, but Upper Egypt in June is fierce — and we would rather you knew that before booking than found out in the Valley of the Kings at two in the afternoon.
If your anniversary falls in summer, consider giving the journey on the day and travelling in the autumn. The gift still lands on the date; the trip happens when Egypt is kind.
My husband and I had the chance to travel with Egypt Encompassed this spring and we had the best trip experience!
Sarah Settanni, October 2023 · Read on Google
It was an amazing journey that created memories to last a lifetime.
Irene Greening, August 2026 · Read on Google