Egypt

Egypt is the country where ancient sites still genuinely shock. The pyramids are smaller than expected up close — and bigger when you stand inside one. Luxor is the deeper experience: Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, temples on both banks. The Red Sea coast adds beach and world-class diving.

The route is set and it works: a couple of days in Cairo for Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, then fly or take the sleeper train to Luxor and drift toward Aswan on a three-or-four-night Nile cruise with temple stops along the way. Add Dahab or the Red Sea coast if you dive. Most people book a guide and driver — it removes friction and costs less than you'd think. Egypt remains one of the cheapest big-ticket trips going.

The hassle is constant and grinding: every temple gate, taxi rank, and bazaar comes with touts, inflated prices, and open hands for baksheesh, and women travelers report persistent unwanted attention. Cairo's traffic and noise exhaust even committed city people, and June through August is brutally hot in Upper Egypt. If you need calm, independent wandering, Egypt will wear you down. Then you stand in Karnak's hypostyle hall and the haggling stops mattering.