Aswan to Luxor: 4-Day Nile Cruise & Valley of the Kings

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/9

Duration4d

GroupUp to 10

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Four days drifting down the Nile, from Aswan's temples to Luxor's royal tombs

You board a 5-star cruise in Aswan and spend four days traveling downriver to Luxor, visiting temples and tombs with an Egyptologist guide who explains the history as you walk. The ship handles all meals and accommodation, your guide arranges entry to each site, and a private vehicle takes you to Abu Simbel on day two if you choose. You return to Luxor on the final afternoon, having seen Karnak, Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut, and the Colossi of Memnon without arranging transport, tickets, or timing yourself.

Step-by-step itinerary

Day 1 — Arrival and Aswan sightseeing

Check in 5-star cruise
Welcome meeting and lunch onboard
Visit Aswan High Dam
Tour Philae Temple

Day 2 — Abu Simbel and Kom Ombo visit

Optional trip to Abu Simbel temples
Cruise to Kom Ombo during lunch
Tea time on sundeck
Visit Kom Ombo Temple
Cruise to Edfu city
Oriental dinner and Galabia party

Day 3 — Edfu temple and Luxor tour

Visit Edfu Temple
Cruise to Luxor
Tour Karnak Temple
Visit Luxor Temple at sunset

Day 4 — Luxor tombs and temples

Visit Valley of the Kings
Tour Temple of Hatshepsut
See Colossi of Memnon
Checkout and leave

The Experience

The cruise leaves Aswan in the afternoon, and you're on the water before you've finished unpacking. Your 5-star ship becomes home for three nights as it carries you south toward Luxor, stopping at temples that have stood for thousands of years. On day one, after lunch on board, an Egyptologist guide takes you to the Aswan High Dam—3,600 metres long, 111 metres tall at its highest point—and then to Philae Temple, where the shrine of Isis sits on an island that UNESCO relocated stone by stone when the dam threatened to submerge it. The temple's reliefs and sanctuaries tell the story of a goddess who was worshipped from Egypt to Rome, and the setting alone, with water and palms around the columns, makes it feel less like a ruin and more like a place still holding its breath.

Day two is optional but worth the early start: a private vehicle takes you to Abu Simbel, where two colossal temples carved by Ramses II rise from the desert. The cruise then navigates toward Kom Ombo, and you watch the Nile landscape shift from the sundeck—date palms, felucca boats, the river turning gold at sunset. That evening there's an oriental dinner and a chance to wear a traditional galabia if you want. Kom Ombo Temple itself, built during the Graeco-Roman period, sits on a bend in the river and was dedicated to two gods at once, so its layout is symmetrical in a way that feels almost mathematical.

By day three you're in Luxor, and the scale of what you see shifts again. Karnak Temple is the largest religious building ever constructed—134 columns in the Hypostyle Hall alone, a sacred lake 129 metres long, reliefs and obelisks that took 2,000 years to accumulate. Your guide walks you through the layout, explaining the Theban Triad and the annual Opet festival when sacred barges floated on the lake. Then comes Luxor Temple at sunset, where a mosque built centuries ago still sits integrated into the ancient structure, a reminder that this place never stopped being sacred. The final morning you cross to the west bank for the Valley of the Kings—the underground tombs of pharaohs like Tutankhamun and Ramses II, where your ticket covers entry to three tombs and the walls still hold paint and hieroglyphics that survived 3,000 years in darkness. The Temple of Hatshepsut rises against the cliffs of Deir el Bahri, its terraced platforms and colonnades making it one of the most recognizable structures in Egypt, built by one of the first female pharaohs. The Colossi of Memnon, two 18-metre statues carved from single blocks of sandstone, mark the end of the west bank tour, their blank stone faces still watching the Nile after 3,400 years.

What’s included

Your four days include three nights on a 5-star Nile cruise with full board (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), an Egyptologist guide for all temple visits, air-conditioned vehicle transport between the ship and each site, and entry fees to Philae Temple, Aswan High Dam, Kom Ombo Temple, Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings (three tombs), the Temple of Hatshepsut, and the Colossi of Memnon. The optional Abu Simbel trip on day two is arranged separately with private transport and additional cost.

Good to know

Easy physical levelInfant seats availablePublic transport nearby

Operated by EZ Tour Egypt

Is this one for you?Book this if you want to see Egypt's major temples and royal tombs in sequence without arranging your own transport, accommodation, or entry tickets—the cruise handles logistics so you focus on the sites and the river itself.