Travel with the river
Philae, Kom Ombo, Edfu and Thebes, with the river doing the travelling between them.
4 days
The cruise sails backwards through time. It starts at Aswan, where Egypt used to end, and at Philae, Kom Ombo and Edfu, temples built under Greek kings and Roman emperors in the old forms: the last chapter of how Egypt kept reimagining eternity, built to remember. It ends at Luxor, among the New Kingdom temples and tombs that those later builders were continuing.
Day 1
Meet at the airport or station, board the ship, then visit Philae temple and the High Dam, whose waters forced Philae's move. Lunch, dinner and night on board.
Photo: Mohammed Moussa · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for display.
Philae: The island that was moved.
Day 2
The double temple of Kom Ombo and the Temple of Horus at Edfu, then sail through the Esna lock towards Luxor. Two temples of the Ptolemies in one day, the second of which Richard Wilkinson calls the most complete and best preserved of all.
Photo: I, Rémih · CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized for display.
Kom Ombo Temple: A temple built twice over, side by side, for the crocodile and the falcon.
Day 3
Valley of the Kings, temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon, then Karnak. The voyage ends in the earlier chapter: kings who built to be hidden. Night on board in Luxor.
Photo: Zezinho68 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for display.
Valley of the Kings: The royal cemetery of the New Kingdom, cut into a dry valley beneath a pyramid-shaped peak.
Colossi of Memnon: Two seated colossi of Amenhotep III, the gatekeepers of a temple the flood once filled.
Day 4
Breakfast and check-out. Onward transfers or tours on request.
Luxor's waterfront setting; meeting point and transfers are confirmed separately.
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0. Resized for display.
Day and time labels describe the planned sequence, not confirmed departures. Your written quote confirms pickup, flights, sailing and return times for your date.
Why go
This Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor spends three nights on the river between Upper Egypt's great temples, sailing north with the current. You are met at Aswan airport or railway station and taken straight to the boat.
On the first day your Egyptologist takes you to Philae, the temple of Isis rebuilt on Agilkia Island, and to the High Dam above Lake Nasser. The boat then sails for Kom Ombo, the double temple of the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon god Haroeris, and Edfu, where the Temple of Horus is one of the best preserved in Egypt. Between them you pass through the lock at Esna, where the ship is raised or lowered to a new water level.
The last full day is Thebes: the Valley of the Kings, the temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon on the West Bank, then the Karnak temple complex on the East Bank. You disembark in Luxor after breakfast on the fourth day.
All meals are on board, in an air-conditioned cabin with its own bathroom. The order of visits can change with the river schedule; every visit listed is kept.
Our tip
Judge a cruise by the boat's name and the hours ashore, not its star label. Ask for both before you book.
Also consider: Abu Simbel is not on the route: add it as a separate day from Aswan before you board.
The details
Before you go
Questions
No. Abu Simbel is about three and a half hours by road south of Aswan and is booked as a separate day.
Some ships offer Wi-Fi in public areas, but it can be slow. Mobile data is more reliable.
$670 per person, in US dollars, for a minimum of two guests. Supplements apply at Christmas, New Year and Easter.
Local tips matched to this route
Around Elephantine and the islands of the First CataractAn hour on the water among the granite islands, quieter and closer than any boat trip; some paddles end near Philae at sunset.
Build this day and choose your additions
Photo: Hananelmahmoudy123, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and cropped for display.
Add to the day
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Deluxe Trips Egypt
Send your dates and party size here. We reply with a written quote: the price for your party, what is included and the terms. Nothing is booked until you accept it.
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Marc Ryckaert, CC BY-SA 4.0; Mohammed Moussa, CC BY-SA 4.0; I, Rémih, CC BY-SA 3.0; Zezinho68, CC BY-SA 4.0; Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0; Marc Ryckaert (MJJR), CC BY 3.0; Mgalal20, CC BY-SA 4.0; Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 3.0; KennyOMG, CC BY-SA 4.0; Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and cropped for display.
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