Explora Egipto

Aswan Excursions: Abu Simbel, Philae and the Nubian Villages

Upper Egypt and Nubia

Aswan's excursions come down to five that matter: Abu Simbel, Philae Temple, the Nubian villages, the High Dam with the Unfinished Obelisk, and an hour under sail on the Nile. Two full days covers all five without rushing. One day covers three of them and forces you to give something up.
Facade of the Great Temple of Abu Simbel with the four colossal statues of Ramesses II

Most travelers reach Aswan on a Nile cruise or on a domestic flight from Cairo, then find they have less time here than they expected. Aswan is where the Nile narrows and the desert closes in on both banks, and it rewards a slower schedule. The complication is that the one unmissable site sits 175 miles, or 280 kilometers, further south, which forces a decision on your first morning.

This page covers every Aswan excursion we run, how long each takes door to door, and whether the gate fee sits inside the price or is paid at the ticket office. Explora is an Egyptian operator based here, not a reseller, so the guide who meets you is our guide and the vehicle is ours. We do not sell, book, quote or coordinate international flights at any stage. Prices are per person in double occupancy, in US dollars. There is no checkout on this page: you tell us what you want, we send back a written itinerary.

The Aswan excursions at a glance

Here is how the excursions compare on the two things that decide your schedule: how long they take door to door, and whether the entrance ticket is inside our price or paid on the day.

Excursion Time door to door Gate fee Entrance in our price?
Abu Simbel by road 10 to 12 hours 822 EGP, about $16.50 Yes, on both Abu Simbel programs
Philae Temple 2 to 2.5 hours 550 EGP, about $11 Yes, plus the motorboat
Nubian village 3 hours No fixed gate fee Boat transfer included
High Dam 45 minutes Extra cost, paid at the ticket office Access included on the 2-day Abu Simbel tour
Unfinished Obelisk 40 minutes Extra cost, paid at the ticket office No, add on request
Felucca sail 1 hour No gate fee Boat charter included when booked
Kalabsha Temple 2 hours Extra cost, paid at the ticket office No, add on request
Nubian Museum 1.5 hours Extra cost, paid at the ticket office No, add on request

The exchange rate used throughout this page is 1 USD to 49.79 EGP. Where a monument has no figure next to it, that is deliberate: we will not print a number we have not confirmed on the ministry's own ticketing platform this year. Your guide tells you the exact amount before you get out of the car, and you pay it at the window.

Getting to Aswan, and what that does to your first day

The facade of the Small Temple of Nefertari at Abu Simbel, standing colossi and deep hieroglyphic panels cut into the rock, with two people at the doorway for scale

Three ways in, and each one changes what you can realistically fit.

Domestic flight from Cairo. Roughly an hour and a half in the air. A morning departure puts you in Aswan before lunch with the whole afternoon usable, which is enough for the Unfinished Obelisk, the High Dam and Philae, or for a felucca hour and an early night before an Abu Simbel start. Domestic Egyptian flights are included only on our 7, 8, 10 and 12 day itineraries. On the Aswan excursions listed on this page they are not included, and we can quote a domestic sector separately if you want one.

Overnight sleeper train from Cairo or Giza. Around 13 to 14 hours, arriving in the morning. It is cheaper than flying and it costs you a night rather than a day, but the arrival time is not something anyone can guarantee, so we do not schedule Abu Simbel for the same morning.

By cruise ship. Ships moor on the corniche and generally board in the afternoon and leave early, which usually gives you one clear morning and one clear afternoon. If Abu Simbel matters to you, add a night in an Aswan hotel before you board or after you disembark, because the excursion does not fit inside a normal port call.

Your international flight is not part of any of this. We do not sell it, book it, quote it or coordinate it, and no program on this page changes if you switch carriers. Send us your arrival and departure times once you have them and we build the Aswan days around those times.

Abu Simbel: the reason you came this far south

Two temples cut into a sandstone cliff above Lake Nasser, 175 miles, or 280 kilometers, south of Aswan and about 25 miles, or 40 kilometers, from the Sudanese border. The Great Temple carries four seated colossi of Ramesses II, each roughly 65 feet, or 20 meters, high, with a hall of Osiride pillars behind them and a sanctuary that catches the sun twice a year. The smaller temple belongs to Nefertari and the goddess Hathor, and the queen is carved there at the same scale as the king, which is rare in Egyptian temple sculpture.

The detail most people miss until they arrive: the whole complex was cut into more than a thousand blocks in the 1960s and rebuilt about 200 feet, or 60 meters, higher on an artificial hill, because the rising reservoir behind the High Dam would have drowned it. The seam lines are visible if you look, and the hill the temples now sit inside is hollow.

How long it takes?
About three hours each way on a single desert highway beside Lake Nasser. Departure is pre-dawn, usually between 4 and 5 in the morning, which sounds brutal and is worth it: you reach the temples in the cool part of the day, before the buses from the cruise ships arrive. You get roughly two hours at the site. Budget 10 to 12 hours door to door, and plan a light afternoon after it.

A short domestic flight between Aswan and Abu Simbel does exist. It is not part of these programs, and no international flight is part of any program we sell. Our Abu Simbel day trip from Aswan travels by road in both directions, from US$120 per person, with the 822 EGP entrance to both temples already inside that price.

The overnight alternative
If the pre-dawn start does not appeal, sleep there instead. Our two-day Abu Simbel tour with a hotel night leaves Aswan in the afternoon, puts you at the sound and light show that evening when the site is nearly empty, gives you the temples again next morning in good light, and adds Philae Temple and the High Dam on the way back. It runs 2 days and 1 night, from US$239 per person, including the hotel, breakfast, the show ticket, the 822 EGP Abu Simbel entrance and the 550 EGP Philae entrance. Internal flights are not included on it; the travel is by road in both directions.

The day trip suits travelers on a tight Aswan window. The overnight at Abu Simbel suits anyone who dislikes 4 a.m. alarms, anyone traveling with children, and anyone who wants the temples without a crowd around them. Both run with a licensed English-speaking Egyptologist.

Philae Temple on Agilkia Island

The kiosk of Trajan at Philae Temple seen from the water on Agilkia Island

Philae is a temple to Isis, built and extended over roughly 700 years by Ptolemaic kings and then Roman emperors, and it was the last place in Egypt where the old religion was practiced. The final hieroglyphic inscription carved anywhere in the country was cut here in the fourth century. Christian crosses were later cut into the same walls by the monks who took the building over, and both sets of carving sit side by side on the same stone.

Like Abu Simbel, it was moved. The original island flooded after the first Aswan dam was raised, and for decades visitors saw the temple half submerged from rowing boats. It was taken apart and rebuilt on Agilkia Island in the 1970s, and the island itself was reshaped to match the old one.

How long it takes?
Two to two and a half hours. You drive about 20 minutes from central Aswan to the boat landing, take a motorboat roughly 10 minutes across, and spend an hour walking the site. The kiosk of Trajan on the eastern edge, open on all sides to the water, is the shot everyone wants. Go early or go late: the middle of the day puts the main pylon in flat light and fills the courtyard.

The gate fee is 550 EGP, about $11. On our programs the entrance and the motorboat transfer are both included, so there is nothing to negotiate at the landing, which is the one place around Aswan where visitors most often get pushed into paying twice. Philae also runs in the evening as a sound and light show; that is a separate ticket and we add it on request.

The Nubian villages at Gharb Soheil

On the west bank opposite Aswan, the Nubian villages are painted in blues, ochres and pinks that have nothing to do with the rest of Egypt. Nubian is a separate language and a separate culture, and many families here were resettled after the reservoir flooded their ancestral land in the 1960s. That history comes up in every conversation you have.

This is a home visit, not a monument. You are shown into a family house, given hibiscus tea or Nubian coffee spiced with ginger, and you sit and talk with your guide interpreting. Some houses keep a young crocodile, a tradition tied to old beliefs about protection. A small covered market sells handwoven baskets, spices and beads, and prices there are negotiable without any of the pressure you get in Cairo.

How long it takes?
About three hours, best in the late afternoon when the heat drops and the light on the water turns gold. You reach the village by motorboat from the Aswan corniche, roughly 30 to 40 minutes upriver, and the ride past Elephantine Island is part of the excursion rather than transport to it.

There is no fixed gate fee for the village, and our boat transfer is included when the visit is booked. Bring small bills for tea, for the market and for the boat crew, and always ask before photographing people or the inside of their homes. If Nubian culture is a real interest rather than a stop on a list, pair the village with the Nubian Museum in town and give the two of them an afternoon and a morning.

The High Dam and Lake Nasser

The Aswan High Dam runs about 2.4 miles, or 3.8 kilometers, across and it changed the country. It ended the annual flood that had defined Egyptian agriculture for five thousand years, it powers a large share of the national grid, and it created Lake Nasser, one of the largest reservoirs on earth. It also submerged the Nubian homeland and forced the rescue of Abu Simbel, Philae and Kalabsha, which is why so much of what you see around Aswan has been moved at least once.

How long it takes?
About 45 minutes, and it is nearly always combined with something else because it sits on the road to both Philae and Abu Simbel. The visit is a viewpoint rather than a site: you stand on the crest, look upstream at open water that runs to the horizon and downstream at the old dam. Photography is restricted in places and your guide will tell you where. Access is an extra cost, paid at the ticket office, on most arrangements, and it is included as a scheduled stop on the return leg of the 2-day Abu Simbel program.

The Unfinished Obelisk

In the northern granite quarries lies the largest obelisk anyone in the ancient world ever attempted. Had it been raised it would have stood about 137 feet, or 42 meters and weighed close to 1,100 tons, heavier than any obelisk that actually exists. It cracked while still attached to the bedrock and was abandoned where it lay.

That failure is why it is worth seeing. Because the work stopped mid-process, you can read how the job was done: the dolerite pounders, the trenches cut around the shaft by hand, the tool marks left by workers who then walked away from three quarters of a year of labor. It is the clearest lesson in ancient engineering anywhere in Egypt, and it takes forty minutes.

How long it takes?
Around 40 minutes, and it pairs naturally with the High Dam and Philae into a half-day circuit of four to five hours. There is almost no shade over the trench, so it belongs in a morning. The gate fee is an extra cost, paid at the ticket office, and we add the stop to any Aswan program on request.

Sailing the Nile: felucca, Elephantine and the islands

A felucca under sail on the Nile at Aswan at sunset with granite boulders in the water

The Nile at Aswan is the prettiest stretch of the whole river, and the traditional way to see it is a felucca, a lateen-rigged wooden sailboat with no engine. An hour on the water at sunset, tacking between the granite boulders below Elephantine Island with the Aga Khan mausoleum on the western skyline, is the memory most travelers take home from Aswan. If there is no wind, the boat drifts, and that is not a failure of the excursion.

Elephantine Island holds the ruins of ancient Abu and a Nilometer cut into the rock, a staircase used to measure the flood and set the year's taxes. Kitchener's Island nearby is a botanical garden planted with species brought from across Africa and Asia. On the west bank you can ride a camel up to the Monastery of St Simeon, a mud-brick complex abandoned in the Middle Ages, or walk up to the Tombs of the Nobles cut into the cliff face, which are worth the climb as much for the view back over the river as for the reliefs.

How long it takes?
The felucca hour is exactly that, and it works best from about 4.30 p.m. onward. There is no gate fee on the water, and the boat charter is included when you book the sail with us rather than negotiating on the corniche. The island sites carry separate entrances, each an extra cost paid at the ticket office, and we schedule them on request.

A felucca is also the natural way to fill the day you join a cruise, since ships in Aswan typically board in the afternoon. Both the Luxor to Aswan cruise and the Aswan to Luxor sailing spend time at anchor here, and neither includes internal flights, so plan your way in and out of Aswan by road, rail or a domestic sector we quote separately.

Kalabsha Temple and the Nubian Museum

Kalabsha sits on a headland just south of the High Dam, another rescued temple moved from a site now under the lake. It is Roman, begun under Augustus, and it is large, well preserved and almost always empty, which is its appeal. Beit el-Wali, a small rock-cut temple of Ramesses II with battle reliefs that still hold their color, was relocated alongside it, and the two share one visit.

The Nubian Museum in central Aswan is the right place to start if the Nubian story interests you. It covers the region from prehistory through the Kingdom of Kush to the resettlement of the 1960s, and its ground floor holds material recovered from sites that are now under water. Half an hour there before the village visit makes the village visit land differently.

How long they take?
Kalabsha needs about two hours including the short boat crossing to the headland. The museum needs about ninety minutes. Both carry an entrance that is an extra cost, paid at the ticket office. Neither is a default stop on our standard Aswan itineraries, so tell us if you want them and we will build the day around them rather than squeezing them in.

Aswan town itself

The souq on Sharia el-Souq runs parallel to the corniche for about a mile, or 1.6 kilometers and it is a working market, not a tourist arcade: spices in open sacks, hibiscus by the kilo, Sudanese trade goods, and hard bargaining conducted in good humor. An hour there in the early evening costs nothing and is the best free thing to do in Aswan.

The corniche itself is worth walking at dusk, and the terrace cafes above the river are where most travelers finally understand why writers have gone on about Aswan for a century. None of this needs a guide or a ticket. We mention it because the most common mistake we see is a schedule packed so tight that the town gets skipped entirely.

Day trips from Aswan: Kom Ombo, Edfu and Luxor

Two temples sit on the road north between Aswan and Luxor, and both earn the stop. Kom Ombo is a double temple, unusual in Egypt, split down the middle between Sobek the crocodile god and Haroeris the falcon, with two of everything: two entrances, two halls, two sanctuaries. A wall in the outer corridor carries what is often read as a set of surgical instruments, and the museum next door holds mummified crocodiles recovered nearby. The gate fee is 450 EGP, about $9.

Edfu, an hour further north, is the most completely preserved temple in the country. Dedicated to Horus, it was buried in sand for centuries, which is precisely why the roof is still on and the reliefs are still sharp enough to read. The gate fee is 550 EGP, about $11. Both are stops on the overland program through Kom Ombo and Edfu, which runs Aswan to Luxor over 5 days and 4 nights from US$520 per person with the temple entries stated in the itinerary inside the price, and both are standard stops on either cruise direction.

Luxor is about three hours by road each way, which makes it a stretch as a single day from Aswan. If Luxor matters to you, give it its own overnight. Our two days in Luxor covers Karnak, Luxor Temple, three tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the Hatshepsut temple, from US$288 per person, with the 600 EGP Karnak, 500 EGP Luxor Temple, 750 EGP three-tomb Valley of the Kings and 440 EGP Hatshepsut entrances included. That program starts in Luxor and does not include internal flights, so you either travel north by road or rail on your own, or ask us to quote the domestic sector separately.

How many days do you need in Aswan?

The honest answer depends on whether Abu Simbel is in or out, because it consumes a whole day by itself.

Time in Aswan What fits What you give up
1 day Either Abu Simbel, or the Philae, High Dam and Obelisk circuit with a sunset felucca You cannot do both. Choose.
2 days Abu Simbel on day one, then Philae, the High Dam, the Obelisk and a felucca on day two The Nubian village, Kalabsha, the museum, the souq
3 days All of the above plus a Nubian village afternoon and either Kalabsha or the Nubian Museum Very little
2 days with an overnight south Abu Simbel at night and again at dawn, plus Philae and the High Dam on the return Less time in Aswan city itself

Two days is the sweet spot for most itineraries. Three days is genuinely relaxed, and it is what we suggest if Nubian culture is part of why you are coming this far south.

What two days actually looks like

When Day 1 Day 2
04:00 to 07:00 Pickup and the drive south beside Lake Nasser Sleep
07:00 to 09:00 Both temples at Abu Simbel, before the buses Breakfast, 08:30 pickup
09:00 to 12:30 Drive back to Aswan Unfinished Obelisk, then the High Dam
12:30 to 16:00 Rest at the hotel or on board Philae Temple by motorboat, then back to town
16:00 onward Felucca hour at sunset Nubian village, or the souq and the corniche

That shape is a starting point, not a fixed departure. The vehicle and the guide are yours for the day, so if you want longer at Philae and no obelisk, you say so in the car.

Which program covers Aswan

Aswan appears in several of our programs at different depths. Use this to place it inside a wider trip.

Program Length From, per person Abu Simbel Domestic flights
Abu Simbel day trip 1 day From US$120 The whole excursion Not included
Abu Simbel, 2 days with hotel 2 days, 1 night From US$239 The whole excursion Not included
Aswan and Luxor overland 5 days, 4 nights From US$520 Added on request Not included
Nile cruise, Aswan to Luxor 5 days, 4 nights From US$755 Added on request Not included
Nile cruise, Luxor to Aswan 5 days, 4 nights From US$755 Added on request Not included
Classic Egypt, 7 days 7 days, 6 nights From US$1,348 Added on request Included
Classic Egypt, 8 days 8 days, 7 nights From US$1,451 Included Included
Cairo, Luxor and Aswan, 10 days 10 days, 9 nights From US$1,897 Added on request Included
Grand Egypt, 12 days 12 days, 11 nights From US$2,196 Added on request Included

All figures are per person in double occupancy and move with season, hotel category and party size. Abu Simbel is a scheduled inclusion on the eight-day classic tour, which makes it the shortest program covering Cairo, the cruise corridor and the far south without cutting anything. On the other multi-day itineraries we add the Abu Simbel excursion when you ask for it, and it is written into your confirmation with the 822 EGP entrance stated, so nobody sells it to you again at the hotel desk. The ten-day Cairo, Luxor and Aswan itinerary adds breathing room, and the twelve-day grand tour finishes on the Red Sea at Hurghada.

What is included

  • Private air-conditioned vehicle with a professional driver, for your party only. We do not put you in a shared van with other groups.
  • Licensed English-speaking Egyptologist guide throughout each excursion.
  • Entrance fees as stated for each program. Abu Simbel at 822 EGP and Philae at 550 EGP are prepaid by us wherever those sites appear in an itinerary.
  • The motorboat transfer to Agilkia Island for Philae, and the boat transfer to the Nubian village where that visit is booked.
  • Road tolls, parking and fuel.
  • Bottled water in the vehicle on every excursion.
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off in Aswan, including from a moored cruise ship on the corniche.
  • Hotel accommodation and breakfast where a program includes an overnight, such as the 2-day Abu Simbel tour.
  • Written confirmation of your itinerary before departure, and WhatsApp support from our Egypt office while you are in the country.

What is NOT included

  • International flights. We do not sell, book, quote or coordinate them at any stage. Your ticket to and from Egypt is yours to buy, and your Aswan program is built around the times you give us.
  • Domestic Egyptian flights on these Aswan excursions. The Abu Simbel day trip, the 2-day Abu Simbel tour, both Nile cruises, the Aswan and Luxor overland tour and the 2-day Luxor tour all exclude internal flights. Domestic sectors are included only on the 7, 8, 10 and 12 day itineraries. We can quote one separately if you want it.
  • The Egypt e-Visa. 30 USD for a single entry, 65 USD for multiple entry, arranged by you before you travel.
  • Entrance fees not listed as included, such as the High Dam on most arrangements, the Unfinished Obelisk, Kalabsha, the Nubian Museum, the island sites and the evening sound and light show at Philae. Each is an extra cost, paid at the ticket office.
  • Meals beyond any breakfast stated in a program.
  • Tips for your guide, driver and boat crew. Customary, never obligatory, and never collected by us.
  • Travel insurance, which we strongly recommend you hold.
  • Photography and video permits where a site charges them, and the separate ticket for any interior not named in your itinerary.
  • Personal spending, souvenirs and drinks.

When to visit Aswan

November through March is the comfortable window. Daytime highs sit in the seventies and eighties Fahrenheit, mornings are cool, and walking a site at midday is pleasant rather than punishing. December and January are the busiest months and bring the coldest nights, so pack a layer for the felucca and for the pre-dawn drive.

October and April are shoulder months in name only. Both can run well into the nineties in Aswan, which is still workable if the schedule starts early, and both are noticeably quieter at the gates than the peak weeks.

Aswan in June, July and August is one of the hottest places in Egypt, regularly above 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Prices are lower and the sites are close to empty, but the schedule has to change: everything happens before 11 in the morning or after 4 in the afternoon, with a long break in between. In summer the pre-dawn start for Abu Simbel stops being a hardship and becomes the only sensible option.

Two dates draw crowds. On 22 February and 22 October the rising sun reaches down the length of the Great Temple at Abu Simbel and lights three of the four statues in the sanctuary. The site is extremely busy for it and hotel space in Abu Simbel goes early, so tell us months ahead if you want to be there.

Practical notes for American travelers

Cash. Bring it in small denominations. Card acceptance is thin outside hotels, and every gate fee you pay yourself is easier in Egyptian pounds. ATMs in central Aswan are reliable, and the tickets you buy at the window are cash only in practice.

Clothing. Lightweight long sleeves beat sunscreen at Abu Simbel, where there is no shade on the terrace. Closed shoes matter more than you expect, because the ground at the quarries and around Philae is loose granite chip. For a village visit, covered shoulders and knees are the courteous choice for both men and women.

Photography. Rules vary by site and change without notice, so let your guide check before you raise a camera, particularly at the High Dam and inside any tomb. Some sites charge a separate camera permit and some ban tripods outright.

Pace. Two sites a day in Aswan is a full day, not a light one. Travelers who try to add a third after Abu Simbel almost always cancel it in the car, and there is no penalty for doing that with us because the day is private.

Who you are dealing with. Explora is based in Egypt and runs its own guides and vehicles rather than subcontracting to a third party. The agency currently holds 12 client reviews averaging 5.0, written about the agency and about our guide Shady Said rather than about any single tour.

Frequently asked questions

How far is Abu Simbel from Aswan?
About 175 miles, or 280 kilometers, each way. The drive takes roughly three hours in each direction on a single desert highway beside Lake Nasser, which makes the day 10 to 12 hours door to door.
Can I do Abu Simbel and Philae on the same day?
It is possible but tight, and we do not recommend it in summer. Abu Simbel alone runs 10 to 12 hours. The better combination is the 2-day Abu Simbel tour, which puts Philae and the High Dam on the return leg the following day, when you are not already ten hours into a drive.
How much are the Aswan entrance fees?
Abu Simbel is 822 EGP, and Philae is 550 EGP. Both are included in our programs wherever those sites appear. Kom Ombo is 450 EGP and Edfu is 550 EGP if you continue north. Everything else around Aswan is an extra cost, paid at the ticket office, and your guide confirms the amount on the day.
Are flights included in these excursions?
No. International flights are never included and we do not sell, book, quote or coordinate them. Domestic Egyptian flights are not included on any of the Aswan excursions listed here, including both Abu Simbel programs, both Nile cruises, the Aswan and Luxor overland tour and the 2-day Luxor tour. Internal flights are included only on the 7, 8, 10 and 12 day itineraries.
Is there a flight from Aswan to Abu Simbel?
A short domestic flight does operate, but it is not part of our single-day road trip to the temples or of the overnight version. Both travel by road in each direction. If you would rather fly that sector, tell us and we will quote it separately from the tour price.
How much does the Egypt visa cost?
The Egypt e-Visa is 30 USD for a single entry and 65 USD for multiple entry. It is not included in any program and you apply for it yourself before you travel.
What is the best time of year for Aswan excursions?
November to March. Highs in the seventies and eighties Fahrenheit and cool mornings make site visits comfortable. October and April run into the nineties but stay workable with an early start. Summer regularly exceeds 105 degrees, which forces everything to the early morning or the late afternoon.
How long do I need in Aswan?
Two full days covers Abu Simbel plus Philae, the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk and a felucca. One day forces a choice between Abu Simbel and everything else. Three days adds a Nubian village afternoon and the souq without any rush.
Are your Aswan tours private?
Yes. Every excursion on this page runs with a private vehicle and a private guide for your party only. You are not pooled with other travelers, and the schedule is yours to adjust on the day.
Can you collect me from my cruise ship?
Yes. Pickup from a moored ship on the Aswan corniche is included, and we plan around your sailing time. Ships in Aswan usually board in the afternoon, which leaves the morning free for the Philae circuit. Abu Simbel does not fit inside a normal port call, so it needs a night in an Aswan hotel either side.
Is Abu Simbel included in the Nile cruises?
It is not a default inclusion on either cruise direction. We add the road excursion to Abu Simbel on request, with the 822 EGP entrance to both temples and your English-speaking guide inside the quoted price, and it is written into your confirmation before you travel rather than sold to you on board.
What should I bring on the Abu Simbel day?
Your passport, cash in small notes, a hat, sunglasses, high-factor sunscreen and more water than you think. Wear closed shoes. The temple terrace has no shade, and the departure is before dawn, so a light layer for the first hour of the drive is worth packing.
Can I combine Aswan with Luxor?
Yes, and it is the most natural pairing in Egypt. The overland route links them by road through Kom Ombo and Edfu, and either cruise direction covers the same corridor by water. If you want Luxor on its own, the 2-day Luxor tour handles both banks.
Do I have to pay anything on this website?
No. There is no cart and no checkout here. You send us your dates, we send back a written itinerary with the inclusions and a price per person in double occupancy, and payment is arranged directly with our office once you are happy with it.
What is the Aswan quarry?

Aswan's granite quarries supplied the stone for obelisks, statues and sarcophagi all over ancient Egypt. The best-known spot is the Northern Quarry, home of the Unfinished Obelisk: it cracked while it was being carved and was left in the bedrock, and if finished it would have been the largest obelisk ever made. The rounded scoop marks you see around it were left by workers pounding the granite with balls of harder dolerite stone.

Plan your Aswan excursions

Tell us your dates, how many nights you have in Aswan and whether Abu Simbel is a must, and we will send back a written itinerary with the exact inclusions, the entrance fees we prepay, the ones you pay at the window, and a price per person in double occupancy.

The fastest way to reach us is WhatsApp on +20 103 229 5513, where a real person from our Egypt office answers, usually within the hour during Egyptian daytime. You can also use the enquiry form on this page. If you already know what you want, send us the name of it: the Abu Simbel day trip, the Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor, the Aswan and Luxor overland route, or a full multi-day itinerary such as the eight-day classic tour with Abu Simbel.







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