Upper Egypt: Luxor, Aswan, Lake Nasser and Abu Simbel

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Luxor

   Luxor International Airport (LXR) to your hotel in Luxor

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Luxor
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Luxor International Airport (LXR), about 10 km east of the city centre; from North America most flights connect through Cairo. A driver meets you in the arrivals hall and takes you to a central hotel on the east bank, close to the Corniche, the riverside promenade that runs past Luxor Temple. Plan to land by about 4 pm if you can; if you land later, you are still met and the briefing moves to breakfast. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week: why we cross to the West Bank so early, why Karnak waits for the late afternoon, what to wear in the tombs, and how the road days to Aswan and Abu Simbel are paced. Then we walk to a welcome dinner at a local restaurant, where the table fills with mezze, grilled meats, rice, bread and cold hibiscus tea. If you land early, walk the Corniche at sunset, when the feluccas come in and the hills of the West Bank turn pink across the water.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Luxor International Airport (LXR)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Jour 2 : The West Bank at opening

   Luxor across the Nile to the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's temple and the Colossi of Memnon, then back to Luxor

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Luxor
   Détail du jour 2

   The West Bank is where Luxor gets crowded, so we are there first. We leave the hotel at about 6:15, cross the Nile by the bridge south of town and reach the Valley of the Kings as the gates open, ahead of the cruise-boat coaches. Your ticket covers three tombs, chosen on the day from those open, and we add Tutankhamun's tomb, found by Howard Carter in 1922, where the young king still lies in his burial chamber. The painted corridors are cool and quiet at this hour. Next comes Hatshepsut's terraced temple at Deir el-Bahari, set against the cliffs, built for the queen who ruled as pharaoh in the 15th century BC. On the way back we stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two seated statues of Amenhotep III about 18 m high. Lunch is a sit-down meal at a West Bank restaurant, and we are back across the river by about 2 pm. The afternoon is free: sleep, swim, or walk the souk.

   Compris

   • Valley of the Kings at opening with your guide: three tombs on the standard ticket
   • Tutankhamun's tomb
   • Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahari
   • The Colossi of Memnon
   • Sit-down lunch on the West Bank

   Activités en option

   • Tomb of Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens or the tomb of Seti I, on separate premium tickets (price shown when you book)

   Option plus facile : Visit two tombs instead of three and wait in the shade of the visitor centre; at Hatshepsut's temple, take the electric shuttle from the car park and view the terraces from the lower court.

   Option plus active : Where the path is open on the day, walk with your guide over the ridge from the Valley of the Kings down to Hatshepsut's temple, about 45 minutes with a steep descent, while the van drives round.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Luxor

   Activité : An early start for the empty tombs: about 3 hours on foot, with sloping corridors and steps down into each tomb.

3. Jour 3 : Karnak late, Luxor Temple after dark

   Luxor Museum, then Karnak and the Avenue of Sphinxes to Luxor Temple

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Luxor
   Détail du jour 3

   If you want to see the West Bank from the air, today starts with the optional hot air balloon: pickup is before dawn, flights launch around sunrise when the wind allows, and you are back for breakfast. Everyone else sleeps in. Late in the morning we visit the Luxor Museum, small and well lit, with statues found buried under Luxor Temple and objects from Tutankhamun's tomb. Lunch is yours and the early afternoon is free. Most groups see Karnak in the morning; we go in at about 3 pm, when the coaches have gone and the low sun rakes across the 134 columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall. The complex grew over roughly 2,000 years, pylon by pylon, and your guide makes sense of it: the obelisks of Hatshepsut and Thutmose I, the sacred lake, the granite scarab. From Karnak the Avenue of Sphinxes runs about 2.7 km south to Luxor Temple. We walk as much of it as is open and as the group wants, and the van takes us the rest of the way, reaching Luxor Temple after dark, when it is lit and at its best.

   Compris

   • Luxor Museum with your guide
   • Karnak in the late afternoon with your guide
   • The Avenue of Sphinxes
   • Luxor Temple after dark

   Activités en option

   • Sunrise hot air balloon over the West Bank, weather permitting (price shown when you book)

   Option plus facile : Ride in the van from Karnak to Luxor Temple instead of walking any of the Avenue of Sphinxes.

   Option plus active : Walk the whole Avenue of Sphinxes from Karnak to Luxor Temple, about 2.7 km, if it is open to walk at dusk on the day; otherwise walk the open stretch near Luxor Temple.

   Temps libre : Late morning to mid-afternoon free, lunch on your own

   Activité : About 3 to 4 hours on foot in the afternoon and evening, on flat paving.

   

4. Jour 4 : Edfu and Kom Ombo on the road to Aswan

   Luxor to Edfu, then Kom Ombo and Aswan by road

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Aswan
   Détail du jour 4

   We leave Luxor at 8 am and drive south along the Nile, about 225 km and three and a half hours of driving in all, split into three short legs by two temples and lunch. Your guide talks the road as we go: sugar cane fields, irrigation canals, donkey carts and mud-brick villages between the river and the desert. Edfu comes first, after about an hour and a half. Its Temple of Horus, built between 237 and 57 BC, is one of the most complete temples in Egypt, roof and all, and the dark inner sanctuary still holds its granite shrine. About an hour further south we stop for a sit-down lunch at a restaurant near Kom Ombo, then visit the temple on a bend of the river: a double temple, one side for Sobek, the crocodile god, and one for Haroeris, a form of Horus, with two of everything, gates, halls and sanctuaries. Next door, the Crocodile Museum shows mummified crocodiles found nearby. The last 45 minutes bring us into Aswan by late afternoon, in time for a walk on the Corniche.

   Compris

   • Temple of Horus at Edfu with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch near Kom Ombo
   • Kom Ombo temple and the Crocodile Museum
   • Drive from Luxor to Aswan with your guide

   Option plus facile : Stay in the shade of the Edfu or Kom Ombo forecourt with a drink while the group walks the inner halls; the van is parked close to both temples.

   Option plus active : On arrival in Aswan, walk the Corniche with your guide to the old souk, about 2 km, before dinner.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Aswan

   Activité : The longest road day, broken into legs of about 1.5 hours, 1 hour and 45 minutes. About 2.5 hours on foot at the two temples.

   

5. Jour 5 : Philae, the High Dam and a Nubian village

   Aswan to Philae, the High Dam and the Unfinished Obelisk, then by boat to a Nubian village

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Aswan
   Détail du jour 5

   We leave at about 7:30 for the boat landing south of Aswan, so we reach Philae soon after it opens and before the day-trippers. A small motorboat crosses to Agilkia Island and the Temple of Isis, moved here stone by stone in a UNESCO rescue completed in 1980, after the old Aswan dam left its first island flooded for much of the year. Next is the High Dam, finished in 1970: from the top you see Lake Nasser stretching south towards Sudan on one side and the Nile on the other. Last stop of the morning is the Unfinished Obelisk, still lying in its granite quarry where it cracked; finished, it would have stood about 42 m tall. The middle of the day is free in Aswan. In the late afternoon a motorboat takes us downstream past Elephantine Island to a Nubian village on the west bank, its houses painted in bright blues and yellows, for tea, a walk through the lanes and dinner with a Nubian family.

   Compris

   • Boat to Philae and the Temple of Isis with your guide
   • The High Dam and the view over Lake Nasser
   • The Unfinished Obelisk
   • Boat to a Nubian village on the west bank
   • Dinner with a Nubian family

   Option plus facile : At Philae, stay in the forecourt and the shade of the colonnade instead of walking the whole island; skip the Unfinished Obelisk quarry, which has steps and loose ground.

   Option plus active : In the free midday, take the public ferry to Elephantine Island and walk through its Nubian villages to the ruins of ancient Abu.

   Temps libre : Late morning to late afternoon free, lunch on your own

6. Jour 6 : Across the desert to Abu Simbel

   Aswan to Abu Simbel by road, beside Lake Nasser

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Abu Simbel
   Détail du jour 6

   Most visitors see Abu Simbel on a day trip that leaves Aswan around 4 am. We leave after breakfast at about 8 and stay the night. The road runs about 280 km south across the Western Desert, three and a half hours with a short stop on the way, and the flat sand and black hills go on until Lake Nasser appears. We check in near the temples in time for lunch, then rest through the heat of the day. In the late afternoon, well before the last entry, we walk to the temples. Ramesses II had them cut into the sandstone cliff in the 13th century BC: the Great Temple has four seated colossi of the king, each about 20 m high, and the smaller temple honours his queen Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. In the 1960s both were cut into blocks and rebuilt about 65 m higher to save them from the rising lake. The temples close around sunset, so we watch the sun go down over Lake Nasser from the lake shore or the hotel, then have dinner and come back for the sound and light show on the facades after dark.

   Compris

   • Drive from Aswan to Abu Simbel with your guide
   • Lunch and dinner in Abu Simbel
   • The Great Temple of Ramesses II and the Temple of Nefertari in the late afternoon
   • Abu Simbel sound and light show

   Option plus facile : Spend the afternoon at the hotel and visit only the Great Temple, the closer of the two, then watch the sound and light show from a seat.

   Option plus active : Before dinner, walk with your guide along the lake shore path near the temples to watch the sunset over Lake Nasser.

   Temps libre : Midday free to rest at the hotel

   Activité : Nobody else's schedule sets the wake-up: no 4 am convoy start.

7. Jour 7 : Abu Simbel at sunrise, a felucca in Aswan

   Abu Simbel to Aswan by road, then a felucca sail around Elephantine Island

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Aswan
   Détail du jour 7

   The temple gates open early and our hotel is a few minutes away, so we walk over before sunrise. The Great Temple faces east across Lake Nasser, and the first sun turns the four colossi from grey to orange while the day-trip coaches from Aswan are still on the road. Inside, the halls are quiet enough to hear your guide without raising a voice. We are back at the hotel for breakfast, then drive the 280 km north to Aswan, about three and a half hours, arriving for a sit-down lunch by the river. In the late afternoon we board a felucca, the Nile's traditional sailboat, and sail with a Nubian crew among the granite boulders around Elephantine Island and Kitchener's Island, with its botanical garden, as the light goes gold behind the Tombs of the Nobles on the west bank. The trip ends with a farewell dinner together in Aswan.

   Compris

   • Abu Simbel at sunrise with your guide
   • Drive from Abu Simbel to Aswan
   • Sit-down lunch in Aswan
   • Felucca sail around Elephantine Island and Kitchener's Island
   • Farewell dinner

   Option plus facile : Skip the sunrise visit and sleep in; you saw the temples the afternoon before. Stay on board the felucca if the group stops to climb.

   Option plus active : Leave the felucca on the west bank and climb the sandy path to the Tombs of the Nobles at Qubbet el-Hawa for the view over Aswan.

   Activité : A sunrise start, but the temple is a short walk from the hotel and the drive comes after breakfast.

8. Jour 8 : The Nubian Museum and home

   Aswan to the Nubian Museum, then Aswan International Airport (ASW)

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 8

   A slower morning after a week of early starts. After breakfast we take a short drive to the Nubian Museum, opened in 1997 with help from UNESCO, which tells the story of the Nubian people from prehistory to the villages lost under Lake Nasser, with a garden and a reconstructed Nubian house outside. Then there is time for a last coffee on the Corniche or a wander along Sharia el-Souk, Aswan's market street, where spice sellers pile up hibiscus, cumin and dried limes. Your transfer to Aswan International Airport (ASW), about 25 km and half an hour from the centre, is timed to your flight, and your guide sees you off. Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm to fit in the museum; most international connections go through Cairo. If you want Cairo and the pyramids too, ask us about adding nights there, or look at our Egypt: Pyramids, Abu Simbel and the Nile trip.

   Compris

   • The Nubian Museum with your guide
   • Drop-off at Aswan International Airport (ASW)

   Option plus facile : Skip the market walk and wait at the hotel for your airport transfer; if your flight leaves in the morning, we take you straight from the hotel to the airport.

   Option plus active : Walk from the Nubian Museum back along the Corniche to Sharia el-Souk, about 2 km, with your guide.

   Temps libre : Late morning free in Aswan

   Activité : Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm to see the museum.

Faune et météo : October and April can still reach the mid 30s Celsius in Aswan and Abu Simbel, so we keep the long visits to the morning and late afternoon. December to February brings warm days and cool nights, and balloon flights are cancelled when the wind is too strong.

• Luxor3 nuits
• Aswan2 nuits
• Abu Simbel1 nuit
• Aswan1 nuit