The Western Desert of Egypt makes up two thirds of the country to the west of the Nile Valley.  With the ever changing nature, the desert is never boring as you will see in the Great Sand Sea, Glf Kebir, the Black Desert and the White Desert.  Also, within these deserts you will find the five main oases of Siwa, Baharia, Farafra, Dakhla, and Kharga. 

WESTERN DESERT

The Western Desert of Egypt is all west of the Nile valley, in other words two thirds of the country. If you combine the size of Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and Greece - then you have the size of the Western Desert, all in all 680 thousand square kilometres (262 thousand square miles) of desert in all it's differnt forms!
Don't ever think the desert is boringly repeating the same landscape over and over again. It is in fact so different from place to place that one hardly can believe it. Not only are the oases having their own individual personality and nature. The vast sand dune field called the Great Sand Sea, the mountain plateau Gilf Kebir with its valleys (about the size of Switzerland), the Black Desert close to Baharia and then suddenly the White Desert north of Farafra. 

There is five main oases in the western desert plus a sixth which was manmade during pharaonic times. Close to Libya, north of the "Great Sand Sea" is the Siwa Oasis and in what late President Nasser named "the New Valley" you find (from north to south); Baharia, Farafra, Dakhla and Kharga Oasis. Fayoum is south of Cairo and is a very good option for at least visiting one oasis while in Egypt.

The mentioned "New Valley" is in fact the Old Valley as it was here the prehistoric Nile had its course.
As said, the desert is multifaceted.
Note that land mean nothing as inheritance in the oases, one inherit water - a well or part of a water source. It's quite logic when thinking about it, land is not much wort if you don't have water to cultivate it. You can go in the desert with 4x4 vehicles, or have a minivan and follow the desert roads. Most places one can rent a local jeep for a shorter off-road tour. Some will find it rather expensive to go alone with a 4x4 car, so it's better price wise to at least be 3, 4 persons. For going off-road deep into the desert one must have a minimum of two 4x4 cars.From Cairo it's possible to make a full day tour to Fayoum, and from Luxor one can go to Kharga, but we recommend at least one night in Kharga to be able to see what's here.A real safari is not inexpensive, but then again, where can one ride into the sunset.

Source:  Egypt My Way