Five days is tight for Egypt — workable, but it means picking one region properly rather than sampling everything. Here’s the version that actually works.
The Grand Egyptian Museum and pyramids on day one; Islamic Cairo and Khan el-Khalili on day two. This alone justifies a short trip if Cairo is genuinely your priority.
A morning flight gets you to Luxor with the afternoon free for Karnak Temple — give it real time rather than rushing.
Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s Temple, and the Colossi of Memnon, ideally starting at opening to beat both heat and crowds.
Five days means choosing depth in one region over breadth across three.
Luxor has limited direct international connections, so most travelers fly back through Cairo — build in enough buffer for the connection rather than cutting it close.
Aswan, Abu Simbel, the Red Sea, and Alexandria all fall outside a realistic 5-day window. Adding any of them means cutting real time from Cairo or Luxor — better to save them for a return trip than rush through both.