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Cairo to Aswan & Luxor: 4-Day Nile Cruise with Temples

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/20

Duration4d

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN · DE +3

PickupAt your hotel

Four Days on the Nile: Ancient Temples & a Floating Hotel

You fly from Cairo to Aswan, board a 5-star cruise ship, and spend four days sailing downriver with a private Egyptologist guide, visiting Philae, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Karnak, Luxor, Valley of the Kings, and Hatshepsut Temple. All meals, domestic flights, transfers, and entrance fees are included. You sleep on the ship, wake to the Nile outside your cabin, and disembark in Luxor on the final afternoon.

Step-by-step itinerary

Day 1 — Arrival and Aswan sightseeing

Pick up from Cairo hotel
Take motor-boat to Philae Temple
Visit Aswan High Dam
Visit Unfinished Obelisk
Check in Nile Cruise
Enjoy lunch on board
Rest and refresh
Attend evening Nubian party

Day 2 — Abu Simbel optional and Kom Ombo visit

Optional early pick up for Abu Simbel
Return to Aswan by 1 pm
Cruise sails towards Kom Ombo
Enjoy natural views and photo stops
Visit Kom Ombo Temple
Cruise sails towards Edfu

Day 3 — Edfu Temple and Luxor arrival

Breakfast on board
Horse carriage ride to Edfu Temple
Return to cruise
Relax on deck and sail to Luxor
Cross Esna Lock
Lunch on board
Afternoon tea on sundeck
Arrive Luxor dock
Visit Luxor Temple
Dinner on board with belly dancing

Day 4 — West Bank and Karnak Temple tour

Optional hot air balloon ride early morning
Visit Valley of the Kings
Visit Temple of Hatshepsut
See Colossi of Memnon
Drive to East Bank
Visit Karnak Temple
Visit Luxor Temple
Transfer to hotel, train station, or airport

The Experience

The boat leaves Aswan at dusk on your first evening, and by then you've already seen Philae Temple and the High Dam—the day moves fast. You arrive at Cairo, get picked up from your hotel, fly south to Aswan, and within hours you're standing in front of a temple that's been here for two thousand years. A private Egyptologist is with you the whole time, pointing out the details most people miss: the way the light hits the columns at certain hours, which pharaoh built what, why the stone was chosen. After that first day in Aswan, you board the cruise ship and it becomes your home for three nights—a 5-star floating hotel with a swimming pool on deck, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and afternoon tea all included.

The second day is the one that stays with you. You wake early—around 5 AM if you're doing the optional Abu Simbel Temple run, or you sleep in and join the main group heading to Kom Ombo. Either way, the cruise sails slowly down the Nile while you're on deck, watching the landscape change: date palms, small villages, felucca boats with white sails. Kom Ombo Temple sits right on the water, a double temple built during the Ptolemaic period, and your guide walks you through both sides—one dedicated to Sobek the crocodile god, one to Horus. Then the ship keeps moving toward Edfu, and you're sailing again, which is the whole point of a Nile cruise: you're not rushing between places in a van, you're traveling the way people did for five thousand years.

Day three brings you to Luxor, and if your ship arrives by mid-afternoon, you'll have time to visit both Karnak Temple—the largest temple complex in the world—and Luxor Temple on the east bank before dinner. That evening there's a belly dancing show on board. The fourth morning starts at 5:30 AM on the west bank: Valley of the Kings, where the pharaohs are buried in tombs carved into the rock; Hatshepsut Temple, a mortuary temple that looks like it's carved from the cliff itself; and the Colossi of Memnon, two massive stone statues standing alone in the desert. A hot air balloon ride at sunrise is optional but worth considering—the view of Luxor from above changes how you see the temples below. After that, you're transferred to your hotel, the train station, or the airport in Luxor, and the cruise is over.

What makes this different from a land-based temple tour is the pacing and the comfort. You're not moving every night; you're sleeping on the same ship while it carries you downriver. Meals are served on board—not rushed, not at tourist restaurants. The Egyptologist is there to answer questions, not to hurry you through. And the Nile itself is part of the experience: watching it from the deck, understanding why ancient Egypt existed because of this river, seeing how the landscape changes between Aswan and Luxor. It's a 4-day Nile cruise, which means you're traveling like this was meant to be traveled.

What’s included

Your four days include hotel pickup in Cairo, domestic flights to Aswan and back from Luxor, three nights on a 5-star Nile cruise ship with all meals and afternoon tea, a private English-speaking Egyptologist guide for all temple visits, entrance fees to Philae Temple, Aswan High Dam, Unfinished Obelisk, Kom Ombo Temple, Edfu Temple, Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple, Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, and Colossi of Memnon, all transfers by air-conditioned vehicle, and a Nubian party on your first evening aboard the ship.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleAccessible transportStroller friendlyInfant seats availablePublic transport nearby

Operated by Love Egypt Tours

Is this one for you?Right for travelers who want to see Egypt's major temples without the logistics of moving hotels every night—the cruise handles transport, meals, and timing, leaving you free to focus on the sites with a knowledgeable guide. Expect to be up early on days two and four (around 5 AM) for the best temple visits, and plan for a full day of walking and climbing stairs at archaeological sites.