Welcome to Aswan! Your trip starts right away when you reach the airport. You will be welcomed and escorted by a tour representative from either the airport or your hotel to your next destination, the Aswan High Dam. It is one of the biggest embankment dams in the world and played a crucial role in transforming the Nile and saving the amazing Nubian monuments from the floods caused by it. After that, you will explore the unfinished obelisk which is a remarkable and rare site of how the Pharaohs created their monuments since it was left unfinished due to a crack found while carving.You will take a motorized felucca to the temple of Isis which was transported to the new island called Agilkia because of building the dam. In case you have enough time, you can make a tour around the island of Elephantine and see the granite structures at the First Cataract of the Nile. Lunch will be offered at a local restaurant before transferring to the cruise.
Post-breakfast from the cruise, you will be transported via car to reach Kom Ombo, around 45 kilometers northward. No other Egyptian archaeological monument can compare to Kom Ombo in that it has been designed as a completely symmetrical double temple – one half of which is consecrated to Sobek, the crocodile god, while the other is dedicated to Haroeris, the older version of Horus. With two perfectly identical hypostyle halls consisting of offering chambers and sanctuaries, Kom Ombo stands in all its glory. In addition to the temple, there is an interesting Crocodile Museum where mummies of crocodiles excavated from this precinct can be seen. After lunch at a local eatery, your cruise resumes for Edfu, northwards along the banks of the Nile. While spending the day, you will have time enough to observe sugar-cane fields and sandstone cliffs along the banks, and also spot some Nubian villages. Towards the evening, you will be briefed about your planned tour to Edfu Temple tomorrow by your on-board Egyptologist.
Boarding the boat at Edfu, breakfast will be served prior to making your way to the temple in the traditional horse-drawn calèche. Edfu’s Temple of Horus is one of the most well-preserved ancient temples in Egypt and it can easily be told from the structure. The temple consists of the pylon gateway, the hypostyle hall, inner sanctuaries, roof terraces, and is filled with inscriptions detailing rituals, the Horus and Seth mythology, and rules on sacred buildings not found elsewhere. Lunch will be provided by the local restaurant. When the boat departs for Luxor to the north, the afternoon is yours to spend freely on the Nile. After the visit to the site, a private vehicle will take you to Luxor Temple via the East Bank area of Luxor. Luxor Temple was erected mainly by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II and has a unique appearance during this period in the day. It features colonnade halls, sun courts, and a procession of sphinx statues. You will board your boat once again via a private vehicle at Luxor.
Following a final breakfast on board, you leave the ship and make your way across to the West Bank of the Nile – the burial site of ancient Thebes, where the New Kingdom pharaohs were buried. At the Valley of the Kings, visit three royal tombs where you'll explore the walls covered with funerary scenes from the Amduat and Book of Gates. The Egyptologist accompanying you will interpret the iconographic scheme in the tomb's interior, telling the story of the royal soul's passage through the night. Then visit the terraced mortuary temple of Hatshepsut carved out of a limestone cliff, featuring relief scenes illustrating the divine birth of Hatshepsut and the expedition she conducted to the land of Punt. Before leaving for lunch, there will be a quick stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two giant statues of Amenhotep III marking the entrance of the greatest mortuary temple ever built in Egypt. You have lunch at a local restaurant, and then you continue to the airport of Luxor by private car.
On your arrival at Luxor airport or the train station, a representative will welcome you and take you straight to your cruise ship at the Luxor dock. Once you have settled in and got acquainted with your surroundings, your afternoons will give you the opportunity to explore two of the mightiest structures from ancient Egypt. First, you will visit Karnak Temple Complex, which is considered as the largest temple complex that was ever built; it spans an area of over 2 square kilometers, built throughout a period of more than 2,000 years by different pharaohs, even though its image is now quite common. From there, you will proceed to visit Luxor Temple, which is a relatively recent monument from the late New Kingdom and is linked to Karnak Temple via the Avenue of Sphinxes.
Breakfast will be provided onboard the ship prior to being transported by private transport to the West Bank, the side reserved for the funerary processions of the kings during ancient times, where the change in landscape begins to put into perspective the magnitude of what the kings of the New Kingdom had constructed for themselves for eternity. On the Valley of the Kings where there are more than 60 decorated tombs, you will see selected chambers where the wall paintings are drawn from the Amduat and the Book of Gates. From there comes the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahari, with its three terraces that are cut right out of the limestone rock faces, along with its reliefs depicting the divine birth of Hatshepsut and the expedition to the land of Punt. Next comes the Colossi of Memnon, two giant statues of Amenhotep III sitting down, measuring 18 meters in height and guarding the entrance to the biggest Mortuary Temple ever built in Egypt. After lunch at a local restaurant, you will be taken back to your cruise by a private car. At sunset, your ship will leave Luxor heading to Edfu.
The cruise arrives at Edfu, and you will access the temple via a carriage drawn by horses – the traditional method of entry into the temple and certainly a fitting one. Edfu Temple is regarded as the best-preserved temple in the whole of Egypt, with the temple's towering pylon, hypostyle hall, inner sanctuary, and roof terraces intact, inscribed with Ptolemaic ritual texts throughout. It is amazing how the legends surrounding Horus and Seth can be seen inscribed throughout the walls of the temple. You will travel back to your cruise via carriage. Kom Ombo is the location for your next port of call, where a truly unique temple awaits along the banks of the river Nile. Constructed in perfect symmetry as a double sanctuary, this temple is a tribute to the gods of Sobek and Haroeris (elder Horus), with two sets of structures that mirror each other including two hypostyle halls, offering halls, and sanctuaries. While having lunch aboard your cruise boat, the vessel sails towards Aswan.
Breakfast is provided on board before embarking on a full day of sightseeing in Aswan. First up is the High Dam, constructed in 1970, which represents an impressive feat of engineering and marked a change for Egyptian agriculture and power as well as the creation of Lake Nasser, which is among the largest reservoirs in the world. Next comes the Unfinished Obelisk, which is located in a quarry of granite and offers a unique insight into just how the Pharaohs did what they did. Enjoy the ride on your private motorboat that will take you to the Philae Island, home to the Temple of Isis, a Ptolemaic temple complex that was successfully relocated to the island to preserve it from being submerged by water when the Aswan Dam project was started. You will have lunch at a local restaurant while enjoying the tour. After lunch, slow down for the rest of the afternoon with a private sail on a felucca around the Elephantine Island and the banks of Nubia with the beautiful granite rocks of Aswan going past you on the river’s own slow pace.
There will be an ending breakfast service on board prior to your check-out from the cruise ship. A transfer car will drive you back to Aswan Airport or Train Station, depending on your mode of departure.
Faultless from the first email to disembarkation. The ship was spotless, the food excellent, and every temple visit was perfectly timed to avoid the crowds.
Our Egyptologist made every site come alive. Egypt Holiday Makers handled all the logistics so we could just enjoy the Nile. Worth every penny.
Booked the Movenpick and it exceeded expectations. The route was beautifully paced and the team answered every question on WhatsApp within minutes.
Tell us your dates and party size and our Egypt Holiday Makers team will confirm availability and the best price — usually within a few hours.
| Cruise | Category | Duration | Sailing days | Board | From | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Hambra Nile CruiseThis cruise | Deluxe Nile Cruises | 3 Nights - 4 Nights | Thursday from Luxor Monday from Aswan |
Full board | $800 | |
| Chateau Lafayette Nile Cruise | Deluxe Nile Cruises | 3 Nights - 4 Nights | Monday from Luxor Friday from Aswan |
Full board | $800 | View → |
| Sabena Al Jamila Nile Cruise | Deluxe Nile Cruises | 3 Nights - 4 Nights | Thursday from Luxor Monday from Aswan |
Full board | $860 | View → |
| MS Salacia Nile cruise | Deluxe Nile Cruises | 3 Nights - 4 Nights | Thursday from Luxor Monday from Aswan |
Full board | $1,015 | View → |
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