Desert & Oases

A 4x4 plunge into towering dunes for sandboarding, a hot spring dip and the Sahara's most spectacular sunset.

A UNESCO desert museum where 40-million-year-old whale skeletons lie exactly where they fell on an ancient seabed.

A dreamscape of wind-sculpted chalk mushrooms and pinnacles glowing pink at dusk and ghost-white under the moon.

A labyrinth of mud-brick lanes, carved lintels and a covered bazaar — the best-preserved Islamic-era town in the desert.

Farafra sits on the doorstep of the chalk wonderland — its inselbergs and mushroom rocks are closest from here.

A magical off-grid eco-lodge of hand-built kershef rooms lit only by candlelight beneath the White Mountain.

A bohemian hilltop village above Lake Qarun, Egypt's pottery capital and a magnet for artists and weekenders.

Sleep among the chalk formations under a blazing Milky Way, with Bedouin guides cooking over the campfire — the trip's highlight.