In October I took a day trip to Machu Picchu from Cusco. I wasn’t sure if my timing would be too tight, but it turned out perfectly.
We traveled to Egypt for 10 days from late December 2018 to early January 2019, spending two days in Cairo, four in Luxor, two in Aswan, and our last two in Giza.
As an archeological and geological site, Petra is 5 stars hands down, but its poor management allows for plenty of scams. Petra is huge and has several distinct sites, but doesn’t have any signs or staff to point you in the right direction.