🇪🇬Egypt

Egypt's southern frontier, where the Nile narrows between granite boulders and golden dunes, feluccas outnumber cars, and Nubian villages paint their houses blue. The slowest, easiest city on the tourist route — and the base for Abu Simbel.

Twenty-odd million people, the last standing Wonder of the ancient world at the end of a city bus route, and a brand-new museum built to hold Tutankhamun. Loud, hot and exhausting, and nowhere else is quite like it.

Ancient Thebes, split by the Nile: the temples of the living on the east bank, the tombs of the pharaohs on the west. The densest concentration of ancient monuments on earth, in a small town that works hard for your money.