The Best Nile Cruise: Aswan to Luxor

Plan the perfect Egyptian adventure. Read these top tips for planning your Nile River cruise.

Aswan to Luxor Nile Cruise

Nile Cruise Itinerary

Day 1: High Dam and Philae Temple

The High Dam is arguably the least interesting stop on the Aswan to Luxor Nile Cruise itinerary, but I get why it’s included. Learning about damming the Nile, Nasser Lake, and what it was like before the High Dam sets the stage for the rest of the cruise.

This is also why I suggest doing the Aswan to Luxor cruise instead of the opposite (Luxor to Aswan). Starting with the Karnak Temple Complex in Luxor and ending with the High Dam is just so anticlimactic.

Philae Temple is pretty cool and a great way to start off the cruise. It actually had to be relocated due to the damming of the river (see what I mean about the importance of the High Dam).

Day 2: Abu Simbel and Kom Ombo

Abu Simbel isn’t technically a stop on the cruise, and depending on your tour package it may or may not be included. If it isn’t included, most tours will add it to your itinerary for an extra fee, or you can plan to go there separately before your cruise. Many hotels in Aswan can plan this excursion for you as well.

However you decide to book it, this is a must-see.

Abu Simbel is located several hours south of Aswan, practically at the Sudan border, on Lake Nasser. The drive there and back takes around 6 hours in total… but I promise it’s worth it! Abu Simbel was easily my favorite temple that we saw in Egypt.

Our tour guide hooked us up with a van instead of a big tour bus, so we made excellent time speeding down the highway.

If you choose not to visit Abu Simbel, besides sleeping in and enjoying a nice breakfast on the boat, there’s really not much going on until the ship sets sail in the late afternoon. After we got back from Abu Simbel and rested a bit, we popped champagne to commemorate the occasion as the ship finally left the dock in Aswan and began the journey down the Nile.

Kom Ombo, dedicated to the crocodile god and the god Horus, is the next stop on the tour. You will get to Kom Ombo after dark which is a cool way to see the temple as the lighting dramatizes reliefs and hieroglyphs.

There is also a Crocodile Museum that I wont spoil, but trust me it’s cooler than it sounds.

Day 3: Edfu and Luxor Temple

Day 3 is another early morning, but this allows you to witness Edfu Temple in the beautiful early morning light. The temple is a bit inland so to save time you can take either a horse and buggy or a rickshaw. The horses look very sad and abused so I do not recommend you support this animal tourism.

If you prefer not to spend any extra money (although it’s only a couple dollars), the temple is only 15-20 minutes walking from where the cruise docks.

The Temple of Horus at Edfu, as it is also known, is considered to be the most complete and best preserved of all the Egyptian temples.

The rest of the day you can chill on the roof deck of the cruise, admiring the banks of the Nile River as you pass by. At some point, the boat needs to go through a lock which can take quite a while depending on when you get in the queue.

Little souvenir boats swarm the ship and try to sell you things by throwing them up onto the ship. It’s pretty funny, but the stuff they are selling isn’t special, so only do it for the experience.

If the ship gets through the lock quickly and arrives in Luxor in the afternoon, Karnak and Luxor Temple can be seen in the same day. However if the lock takes longer, Karnak gets moved to the following day after the West Bank itinerary.

Day 4: Temple of Hatshepsut, Valley of the Kings, and Karnak

On the last day, we decided to add an additional activity and do the hot air balloon ride over Luxor. If this interests you, be sure to let your guide know so he can take care of all the arrangements for you. If you plan to stay in Luxor, you can also do this on your own. It’s a great way to get your bearings and see all the ancients sites from a birds eye view.

The rest of the day is a tour of the West Bank including Colossi of Memnon, Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, and Valley of the Kings.

Colossi of Memnon is a very quick stop. It’s basically just some big cool statues on the side of the road. Following that is the Temple of Hatshepsut which is very grand and built into the side of a mountain. This temple tends to get very hot as it faces the sun and is protected from any wind by the mountains, so be wary and drink water.

Although much of Hatshepsut’s temple was defaced by jealous kings, there are still large areas with vibrant paint colors despite being thousands of years old.

Valley of the Kings is one of the most famous places in Egypt. It’s where the majority of the kings were buried along with all their worldly possessions as they awaited the after life. Nearly all the tombs were raided and their contents stolen except for one, the young King Tut’s. Maybe you’ve heard of him? The treasures found inside are currently on exhibit at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The tomb itself is really not that cool, and you can only enter it with a premium ticket. The generic ticket allows you to visit three tombs (besides a few “special” tombs) but I think that’s plenty. Once you’ve seen a couple, they all look relatively similar.

The most vibrant and colorful tombs, as well as the longest tomb, can be visited with the general ticket. For reference, our guide suggested we visit KV 2, KV 8, and KV 16. The guides cannot actually enter the tombs, but they explain everything from the outside and then you can wander around on your own.

If time did now allow you to visit Karnak the day before, you will now go back to the East Bank for the grand finale. The Karnak Temple Complex is the culmination of everything you have witnessed so far. The scale, detail, and grandiosity is out of this world.

It is named the “temple complex” due to the multiple temples that were added to each other over the years from various kings with the oldest section being over 4000 years old.

This place will definitely take your breath away, at least it did for me.

I could’ve spent all day in Karnak, but luckily our guide kept us moving and pointed out all the important parts of the complex while allowing some time to roam free on our own.

Jack would love to tell you about how he got swarmed by a group of Egyptian school children who all wanted a picture with the Americans.

Best Cruise on the Nile River

I cannot stress enough how amazing it is to see Egypt on a Nile River cruise. Jack and I went on this 4-Day 3-Night Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor & Abu Simbel, along with a few friends, and had the best time (we all paid full price). It is the best Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor.

Discover more tips for choosing your ideal Nile River cruise.

★ Rated: 5 out of 5 (1000+ reviews)

Each historic temple was breathtaking, and throughout the tour they just kept getting better and better. I loved this tour in particular because it included a trip to Abu Simbel, my favorite thing from our whole trip. Many tours either don’t include it, or charge it as an extra. Our small tour group also had it’s own van which made great time and beat most of the large tour buses coming from Aswan.

We chose to have a tour group so we could meet new people, but there is an option for a private tour guide as well. Our group was still pretty small with only 9 people, 10 if you include our guide.

Russel, our professional guide, was a highlight of our trip. He is a very knowledgeable Egyptologist and was very smart about how and what he showed us, and was constantly giving us tips and tricks to get the most out of each place (including how to avoid tourist scams).

We chose to book our cruise through Viator instead of through a tour agency or cruise website because we were able to score a Deluxe cruise for the price of a Standard on those other websites.

The food on the ship was great and there was tons of variety at every meal. Drinks are not included in the cruise price, but they add it to your room tab to be paid at the end of the trip including beer, wine, and cocktails. We stocked up on a few alcoholic beverages beforehand at the Duty Free in the airport in Aswan; they aren’t really strict about bringing outside beverages onto the ship.

Everything was done as scheduled, since the very beginning till the end, the tour guide was an outstanding person and an excellent Egyptologist (Mr Hany) punctuality in all events and cordial. About the vessel, gentle crew, cleaned rooms, very good meals, spacious and comfortable. I definitely recommend!

★★★★★ Antonio S. (read more reviews)

What is included?

The 4-Day 3-Night Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor & Abu Simbel is a memory I will cherish forever – book yours today!