Four nights on a Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan with full board and guided visits to Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae, with the flights from Cairo and back to Cairo included.
This five-day trip is the simplest way to add the Nile to a stay in Cairo. You fly from Cairo to Luxor on the first morning, board your cruise ship the same day and spend four nights sailing south to Aswan, with a guided visit at each stop. On the fifth day you fly back to Cairo. Both domestic flights, the transfers and the guided excursions listed in the itinerary are included.
The cruise covers the temples most travelers come to Upper Egypt for: Luxor Temple and Karnak on the East Bank of Luxor, the Valley of the Kings and the Colossi of Memnon on the West Bank, the Temple of Horus at Edfu, the double temple of Kom Ombo, and in Aswan the High Dam and the island temple of Philae. Between the visits you sail through the farmland, palm groves and villages of the Nile Valley, with meals on board. The ship's departures from Luxor are on Thursday, Saturday and Monday.
It is a weaker fit if you want a private guide for every visit: the cruise excursions are shared with the ship's group. Cairo hotel nights are not part of this tour either. If you also need Cairo sightseeing and hotels, look at our 8-day Pyramids and Nile by air tour or the other Nile cruise itineraries.
The shared excursions also mean the timing of each visit follows the ship's programme, not your own; the guide works with a group that may include guests from other agencies, and the group size changes from week to week. If you want to linger at one site, or prefer to skip a visit and stay on board, tell the guide in advance. Travelers who mainly want time on the water rather than temple visits may find the programme busy, and those who want Hatshepsut's temple should know that it is not among the listed visits on this route; it can be added on the West Bank as an optional extra.
The pace is moderate, with early starts on most days so the temples are seen before the midday heat. Expect walking on uneven ground and sloping corridors inside the royal tombs. Two days include a flight:
Most sightseeing is done by early afternoon, so every day has a few hours on deck. Sailing times depend on the river and on the queue at the Esna lock, so the ship's programme may move a visit by a few hours; the guide confirms the plan each evening.
A Nile cruise ship is a floating hotel of three to five decks, with cabins with private bathrooms and windows or balconies on the river, a restaurant, a lounge and bar, and a sun deck, often with a small pool. Meals are usually served as a buffet, with Egyptian and international dishes; breakfast, lunch and dinner are included, while drinks are paid separately. Ships moor side by side at the busy stops, so on some nights your window may face the next ship rather than the river until you sail. Afternoon tea on deck, a galabeya party and a folkloric show are part of the evening programme on many ships.
This tour sails from Luxor to Aswan, upstream, and most ships on this direction take four nights rather than the three of the usual downstream route from Aswan. The extra night gives you a full afternoon of sailing between Luxor and Esna and a more relaxed last day in Aswan. The river between Edfu and Aswan narrows, and the desert comes closer to the banks; it is the most scenic stretch of the cruise.
Our representative collects you from your Cairo hotel early in the morning and takes you to Cairo airport for the domestic flight to Luxor, about one hour. Keep your passport in your hand luggage, as you need it at check-in. Your guide meets you in the arrival hall in Luxor, your luggage goes into the vehicle, and you drive into town, about 20 minutes, to start the visits straight away.
Luxor Temple stands in the middle of the modern town on the East Bank. It was built mainly under Amenhotep III and Ramses II and was the setting of the yearly Opet festival, when the statue of Amun was carried here from Karnak. At the entrance you see the seated colossi of Ramses II and the one obelisk still in place; its twin has stood in the Place de la Concorde in Paris since 1836. Inside, the colonnade of Amenhotep III and the great sun court lead to the sanctuary, and the mosque of Abu el-Haggag, built on top of the temple ruins, still stands above the courtyard. In front of the temple begins the Avenue of Sphinxes, about 2.7 km long, which once linked it to Karnak.
A short drive north brings you to Karnak, the great temple of Amun, enlarged by one pharaoh after another over some 2,000 years. You walk past the ram-headed sphinxes at the entrance, through the unfinished first pylon and into the Great Hypostyle Hall, where 134 columns carved with papyrus capitals stand in rows. Your guide also shows you the obelisks of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut and the sacred lake. Karnak was the religious heart of Thebes for most of the New Kingdom, and almost every major pharaoh of that period added a gate, a hall or a shrine; your guide shows how to read the layers. Allow about two hours, and bring water and a hat, as much of the site is in full sun.
You board the ship for a late lunch, settle into your cabin and have tea in the afternoon. Check-in on a Nile ship is quick: reception keeps your passport for the police registration and returns it later, and the cruise manager explains the programme and meal times. Dinner is on board, and many ships hold an evening show with a belly dancer. If you want to see Karnak lit up, the Sound and Light show is an optional extra tonight. The ship stays moored in Luxor overnight.
If you book it, a minibus collects you from the ship before dawn for a hot-air balloon flight over the West Bank. The flight itself lasts about 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the wind, and you are back on board for breakfast.
After breakfast you cross to the West Bank with the ship's guide. The Valley of the Kings holds more than 60 tombs cut into the limestone hills for the pharaohs of the New Kingdom. The standard ticket opens three tombs among those open on the day; the painted corridors show the king's journey through the night and his rebirth with the sun. The tomb of Tutankhamun needs a separate ticket bought at the site. The tombs open in rotation to protect the paintings, so the guide chooses among those open on the day. A small electric train runs from the visitor centre to the valley entrance, and inside the tombs you walk down sloping corridors; the air is warm and still, so take water with you.
On the way back you stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two seated statues of Amenhotep III, each about 18 metres tall, which once stood at the gate of his mortuary temple. Greek and Roman travelers believed the northern statue sang at dawn, after an earthquake cracked it, and their graffiti can still be seen on its legs. If you would like to add the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, which is not in the ship's programme, ask the guide in advance; it is an optional extra.
Lunch is served on board as the ship leaves Luxor and sails south to Esna, where it passes through the lock. The lock raises the ships one or two at a time, so there is often a queue, and the passage can fall in the late afternoon or at night. When ships wait, traders in small rowing boats come alongside to sell galabeyas and tablecloths, throwing them up to the deck. The afternoon is free on the sun deck with tea, and dinner is on board. You spend the night on the ship.
The ship moors at Edfu overnight, and the visit starts early, before breakfast, while it is still cool. A horse carriage usually takes you from the river to the temple. Built between 237 and 57 BC, the Temple of Horus is the most complete temple in Egypt: its pylon, courtyard, roofed halls and granite shrine still stand much as they were built. The walls tell the story of the battle between Horus and Seth. Because the roof is largely intact, the inner halls are dim, as they were meant to be, and you get a sense of moving from the bright courtyard into the darkness of the sanctuary that you do not get in the ruined temples. The granite shrine in the sanctuary once held the cult statue of Horus, and a modern replica of his sacred boat stands in front of it.
Back on board, breakfast is served and the ship sails on. Lunch is on board while the riverbanks pass by: sugarcane and banana fields, mud-brick villages, water buffalo at the edge of the river and, south of Edfu, sandstone hills closing in on both sides. This is a good stretch to spend on the sun deck.
Kom Ombo is a double temple of the Ptolemaic period, with two entrances and two sanctuaries side by side: one for Sobek, the crocodile god, and one for Haroeris, Horus the Elder. Your guide points out the relief often read as a set of medical instruments and the Nilometer used to measure the river. The small Crocodile Museum next to the temple shows mummified crocodiles found nearby.
Kom Ombo stands on a bend of the river right next to the landing, and in the late afternoon its columns turn gold in the low sun; many ships arrive in time for the visit to end near sunset. The ship then sails on to Aswan, about three to four hours. Dinner is on board, and you spend the night on the ship.
After breakfast you drive to the High Dam, about 13 km south of the town. Completed in 1970, it ended the yearly Nile flood and created Lake Nasser, which stretches some 500 km south into Sudan. From the top you see the lake on one side and the river on the other. The dam gave Egypt year-round irrigation and a large share of its electricity, but the lake also flooded the old Nubian villages, whose people were resettled, and the temples of Nubia, which an international campaign led by UNESCO moved to higher ground, Abu Simbel and Philae among them.
A short motorboat ride takes you to Agilkia Island and the Temple of Isis at Philae. When the old Aswan dam left the temple under water for most of the year, it was dismantled and rebuilt on higher ground in a UNESCO campaign in the 1970s. The colonnades, the birth house and the Kiosk of Trajan make it one of the most photographed temples in Egypt.
Lunch is on board and the afternoon is free. Tea and snacks are served on deck, with the granite islands and feluccas of Aswan around you. Aswan is the calmest town on the river, and a few optional extras fit the free afternoon well:
Dinner is on board, and the ship stays moored in Aswan for your last night. Settle your bar bill and pack tonight, as check-out is in the morning.
Breakfast is on board, and you check out of your cabin. If you have booked the optional trip to Abu Simbel, you leave very early by road (about 280 km and three and a half hours each way) to see the Great Temple of Ramses II, with its four seated colossi, and the temple of Queen Nefertari, dedicated to the goddess Hathor. You return to Aswan by road in time for your flight.
You transfer to Aswan airport for the flight to Cairo, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Our representative meets you on arrival and drives you to your hotel in Cairo. This is the end of the tour.
The flight time is set when you book. If you want Abu Simbel, tell us in advance, because the road trip and the flight have to fit into the same day. Without Abu Simbel, the morning is usually free until the airport transfer; the ship can keep your bags after check-out. Aswan airport is west of the town, about 20 to 30 minutes by road. Cairo hotel nights after the cruise are not included; tell us if you would like us to book one.
October to April is the most comfortable season on the Nile. In December and January, daytime temperatures in Luxor and Aswan are around 23 to 26 °C, and evenings on the sun deck are cool enough for a jacket. From May to September, the afternoons often pass 40 °C, so the visits are timed for the early morning and the hottest hours are spent on board. Christmas, New Year and Easter are the busiest weeks, when cabins fill first.
Many nationalities can buy a tourist visa on arrival at Cairo airport or apply for an e-visa in advance on Egypt's official portal, visa2egypt.gov.eg. The rules and fee depend on your passport, so check them before you travel. Your passport should be valid for at least six months from your arrival date. The visa is not included in the tour price.
The currency is the Egyptian pound. Drinks on board, the optional extras and tips are paid locally; the ship usually settles your bar bill by card or cash at the end of the cruise. Keep small notes for toilets at the sites and for personal purchases. Tips are not included; the tipping guide in the travel policies below gives the usual amounts for cruise staff and guides. On most ships, tips for the crew are collected in a single envelope at reception at the end of the cruise.
Hotel nights in Cairo are not part of this tour, so book them separately or ask us to add them. The pick-up on Day 1 is early, so a hotel close to the airport or in central Cairo is easier than one far out in the city. If you have not yet seen Giza, the Grand Egyptian Museum or the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, plan at least one full day in Cairo before or after the cruise.
The optional Abu Simbel trip on Day 5 is by road, about 280 km each way across the desert, and the trip leaves Aswan in the early hours. It makes Day 5 long, and it only works with an afternoon or evening flight to Cairo, so tell us when you book if you want it.
All prices are per person in US dollars. The price changes with the season (winter 1 October to 30 April, summer 1 May to 30 September), the accommodation level and the size of the group. Christmas, New Year and Easter dates add 25%. Your quote lists the final price and everything it covers. After the deposit, changes to your itinerary cost US$25 per request, plus any third-party fees.
A deposit of 30% of the total tour cost is required at the time of booking. The final payment is due 30 days before departure, and bookings made within 30 days of departure are paid in full. We accept Visa or Master Card by secure online payment, Visa or Master Card by email, and wire transfer. We confirm every booking by email.
No-show travelers are charged 100%. During peak events in Egypt, hotels and Nile cruises do not refund deposits. Groups of more than 10 people may have different terms.
Add each child and their age in the enquiry form so the quote is exact.
Optional visits, such as a hot air balloon ride in Luxor, a Sound and Light show or a felucca ride, are not in the price. Tell us which ones you want and we add them to your quote with their cost.
Not included in the price: Any extras and personal spending; Tipping; Optional extras: hot air balloon ride, the tomb of Tutankhamun, the Sound and Light show at Karnak and the Abu Simbel tour.
Tipping is customary in Egypt and is not included in the price. A usual amount for a private tour is US$8 to 10 per person per day for your guide, US$4 to 5 for your driver and US$5 to 8 per person per day for the crew on a Nile cruise. Your guide can advise you on the day.
No. The tour starts with a pick-up from your Cairo hotel on Day 1 and ends with a drop-off at your Cairo hotel on Day 5, but the hotel nights themselves are not included. We can book them for you, or you can combine the cruise with one of our Cairo tours.
No. The excursions on the cruise are guided by the ship's Egyptologist and shared with the other guests in the group. The transfers and flights are arranged for you. If you want a private guide for the Luxor and Aswan visits, ask us for a supplement.
The ship leaves Luxor on Thursday, Saturday and Monday, so the tour starts on one of those days. Tell us your dates and we will match them to a departure.
Yes, as an optional extra on Day 5. It is a road trip of about three and a half hours each way from Aswan, so it means a very early start, and your flight to Cairo is booked for the late afternoon or evening.
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Amazing Egyptian vacation! We did an 11 day private tour of Cairo, cruise on the Nile between Aswan and Luxor and a 4 day stay in Hurghada. The guided tours were very interesting, with extremely knowledgeable guides, attentive and helpful.
Egypt package to the Pyramids of Giza and Saqqara was a fascinating journey through Egypt's ancient past ,guide knowledge, the majesty of the pyramids, and the historical depth of Saqqara made this tour truly enriching!
our honeymoon to Egypt ,Giza and Saqqara was a magical escape into history The pyramids looming in the distance, the quiet serenity of the desert, and the ancient wonders of Saqqara created moments that will be with me forever!
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