Lake Nasser Cruise Aswan to Abu Simbel: 5-Day Nile Temple Tour

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Free cancellation

1/3

Duration5d

GroupUp to 15

LanguagesEN · DE +3

PickupAt your hotel

Five Days on Lake Nasser: Ancient Temples & the Relocated Wonders of Abu Simbel

You board a 5-star cruise in Aswan and spend five days sailing Lake Nasser to Abu Simbel, stopping at four major temples — Kalabsha, Wadi al-Sebua, Amada, and Abu Simbel itself — with an Egyptologist guide, all meals, and a Sound and Light show included. Transfers, entrance fees, and accommodation on the ship are part of the package, so you arrive in Cairo having seen temples most tourists miss and having slept on the water the whole time.

Step-by-step itinerary

Day 1 — Arrival and Aswan city tour

Meet representative at Aswan
Transfer to Lake Nasser cruise
Lunch on board cruise
Visit Aswan High Dam
Boat to Agilika Island
Visit Temple of Philae
Visit Unfinished Obelisk
Return to cruise for overnight

Day 2 — Kalabsha and Wadi El Sebou sailing

Breakfast on board
Visit Temple of Kalabsha
Visit Bait El Wali temple
Return to cruise for lunch
Sail to Wadi El Sebou
Overnight on board

Day 3 — Wadi El Sebou and Amada temples

Breakfast on board
Visit Wadi El Sebou temple
Return to cruise for lunch
Sail to Amada temple
Visit Amada temple
Overnight on board

Day 4 — Kasr Ibrim and Abu Simbel visit

Early sail to Kasr Ibrim
View Kasr Ibrim from sundeck
Sail to Abu Simbel
Visit Abu Simbel temples
Attend Sound & Light Show
Overnight on board

Day 5 — Disembark and transfer to Cairo

Breakfast on board
Check out from cruise
Transfer to airport
Flight to Cairo

The Experience

Most people see Abu Simbel as a day trip from Aswan — a quick flight, a rushed walk, back to the hotel by dinner. This cruise does the opposite. You spend five nights on the water, moving slowly south through Lake Nasser, stopping at temples most tourists never reach because they're not on the highway. The Movenpick Prince Abbas is a 5-star ship, which means real cabins, proper meals, and a sundeck where you watch the desert slide past while an Egyptologist explains what you're looking at. You board in Aswan on day one, and by day four you're at Abu Simbel itself — not arriving tired from a flight, but arriving rested, having already seen Kalabsha, Wadi al-Sebua, and the Temple of Amada along the way.

Day one moves fast: you arrive in Aswan, get transferred to the ship, and after lunch your guide takes you to the Aswan High Dam and the Temple of Philae on Agilika Island, then the Unfinished Obelisk before you return to the ship for the night. Day two is Kalabsha Temple, which sits in view of the dam itself and mixes Egyptian and Roman imagery — emperors and pharaohs side by side — because it was moved 30 miles south after the dam was built. Then Bait El Wali, rescued by Polish archaeologists. You're back on board for lunch while the ship sails toward Wadi al-Sebua, passing the Tropic of Cancer as you go. Day three takes you to Wadi al-Sebua — "Valley of the Lions" in Arabic, named for the sphinx avenue leading to the temple Ramesses II built — and then to the Temple of Amada, the oldest monument on the lake, dating back to the 18th dynasty, two hundred years before Abu Simbel even existed.

Day four is the payoff. Early sail to Kasr Ibrim, which you view from the sundeck — it was once a fortress city high above the Nile, now an island because of the dam. Then you reach Abu Simbel itself, the two massive temples carved into the mountainside by Ramesses II between the first and second cataracts. They're not in their original location; in 1968 they were dismantled and moved 64 meters up and 180 meters west to escape the rising water. In the evening there's a Sound and Light show at the temple, projections bringing the ancient world back to life, presented in multiple languages with headsets. It's the kind of thing that sounds touristy until you're standing there in the dark and the temple is glowing and the music is playing and suddenly you understand why people came here in the first place. Day five is breakfast on board, checkout, and transfer to the airport for your flight back to Cairo.

What makes this different from a day trip is the pace and the company. You're with a small group, not a bus full of strangers. Your Egyptologist guide is with you on every excursion, not just pointing out what you're seeing but explaining the history, the politics, the reasons these temples were built and then moved. Meals are on the ship — breakfast, lunch, and dinner — so you're not hunting for restaurants or worrying about food safety. The ship itself is air-conditioned, has a bar, a restaurant, and a deck where you can sit and watch the desert. All transfers are in modern air-conditioned vehicles. All entrance fees are included. By the time you leave, you've seen more of ancient Nubia than most people who visit Egypt, and you've done it without rushing.

What’s included

Your five days include accommodation on the 5-star Movenpick Prince Abbas on a full board basis (breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily), meet-and-assist service when you arrive in Aswan and depart for Cairo, entrance fees to all temples and sites between Aswan and Abu Simbel, an Egyptologist guide during all excursions, all transfers by modern air-conditioned vehicle, the Sound and Light show at Abu Simbel Temple, all service charges and taxes, and assistance from the tour staff throughout your stay.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleAccessible transportStroller friendlyInfant seats availablePublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Canary Tours Egypt

Is this one for you?A good fit if you want to see Abu Simbel and the temples of ancient Nubia without flying in and out the same day — the five-night cruise is what lets you visit four major sites and actually rest between them, arriving at Abu Simbel refreshed rather than exhausted.