5 Days 4 Nights Nile Cruise From Luxor

Arrival and the East Bank

Your guide meets you at Luxor airport, the station or your hotel and takes you to the ship to drop your luggage. Depending on your arrival time, the East Bank visit is done before or after lunch on board; cabins are usually ready from about midday.

Luxor Temple stands in the centre of the town, built mainly by Amenhotep III and Ramses II for the festival when the statues of Amun, Mut and Khonsu were carried from Karnak. At its entrance sit two colossal statues of Ramses II beside the one remaining obelisk; its pair has stood in the Place de la Concorde in Paris since 1836.

Karnak, about 3 km north and linked to Luxor Temple by the Avenue of Sphinxes, is the largest temple complex in Egypt, built and enlarged over some 2,000 years for the god Amun. You walk through the unfinished first pylon into the Great Hypostyle Hall, a forest of 134 columns, and on past the obelisks of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut to the Sacred Lake.

Evening

Afternoon tea and dinner are on board, with a belly-dance show after dinner on many ships. The Sound and Light show at Karnak is an optional extra tonight. Overnight on the ship in Luxor. Meals: lunch and dinner.

Sunrise: optional balloon flight

If you would like to see the West Bank from the air, a hot-air balloon flight at sunrise is an optional extra, 30 to 45 minutes depending on the wind, over the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens and the green fields along the river. It depends on the weather and is booked in advance. Read whether the balloon ride is worth it.

Morning: the Valley of the Kings

After an early breakfast you cross to the West Bank with your guide. The Valley of the Kings holds more than 60 tombs cut into the hills for the pharaohs of the New Kingdom. The standard ticket opens three of the tombs open on the day; the tombs of Tutankhamun, Seti I and Ramses VI need an extra ticket bought at the site.

Late morning: Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon

At Deir el-Bahari, Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple rises in three terraces against the cliffs, with reliefs of her trading expedition to the land of Punt. On the way back to the river you stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two seated statues of Amenhotep III about 18 metres tall that once guarded his temple.

Afternoon and evening

Lunch is back on board, followed by afternoon tea as the ship sails south towards Esna, where it passes through the lock beside the barrage. Dinner is on board, with a disco or party night on many ships. Overnight on the ship. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Morning: the Temple of Horus at Edfu

After breakfast you ride by horse carriage from the river to the Temple of Horus. Built between 237 and 57 BC, it is the most complete temple in Egypt: the pylon, the roofed halls and the granite shrine still stand much as they were built, and the walls tell the story of the battle between Horus and Seth.

Afternoon: sailing to Kom Ombo

Lunch is served as the ship sails south, with afternoon tea on the sun deck. In the late afternoon you reach Kom Ombo, a double temple of the Ptolemaic period with two sanctuaries side by side, one for Sobek, the crocodile god, and one for Haroeris, Horus the Elder. Your guide shows you the Nilometer and a relief often read as a set of medical instruments; the small Crocodile Museum next door displays mummified crocodiles from a nearby cemetery. Kom Ombo is lit up after dark, which makes it one of the best temples to photograph.

Evening

Dinner is on board as the ship sails on to Aswan. Overnight on the ship. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Morning: the High Dam

After breakfast you drive to the High Dam, completed in 1970. It ended the yearly Nile flood, supplies much of Egypt's electricity and created Lake Nasser, which stretches about 500 km to the south into Sudan. From the top you see the lake on one side and the river on the other.

Late morning: Philae Temple

A short motorboat ride takes you to Agilkia Island and the temple of Isis at Philae. Its buildings date from the last native dynasties to the Roman period, and it was one of the last places where the ancient gods were worshipped. When the old Aswan dam left it half under water for much of the year, a UNESCO campaign in the 1970s moved it stone by stone to the higher island where it stands today.

Afternoon and evening

Lunch is on board and the afternoon is free. A felucca sail around Elephantine and Kitchener's Island, or a visit to a Nubian village, are popular optional extras. Dinner is on board, moored in Aswan. Overnight on the ship. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Optional: Abu Simbel

If you choose the Abu Simbel excursion, you leave the ship around 4 am with a breakfast box for the drive of about three hours south through the desert. The two temples were cut into the rock by Ramses II: the Great Temple, with four seated colossi of the king at its entrance, and the smaller temple of Hathor and his queen Nefertari. Like Philae, they were moved in the 1960s to save them from Lake Nasser. You are back in Aswan around midday. Ask us about the timing if you have a flight or train later in the day.

Morning: check-out

If you are not going to Abu Simbel, breakfast is on board and you check out by the time the ship gives, usually around 8 to 9 am. Your guide transfers you to Aswan airport, the station or your hotel. This is the end of the cruise. Meals: breakfast.