Duration: 12 hours
Starts from: Luxor
Group size: Up to 12 guests
Difficulty: Easy

Overview

A long road day from Luxor to the rock-cut temples of Abu Simbel on Lake Nasser with an Egyptologist guide and lunch, ending at your hotel in Aswan rather than back in Luxor.

This day suits travellers heading south anyway: instead of visiting Abu Simbel as a separate trip from Aswan, you fold it into the journey. We collect you from your Luxor hotel in the early hours and drive south through the Nile Valley, past Aswan and out into the desert towards the Sudanese border. It's around seven hours on the road, so expect to doze for part of it.

Abu Simbel repays the effort. The Great Temple of Ramses II is cut straight into the sandstone, its façade guarded by four seated colossi of the king, each about 20 metres tall; inside, the halls are lined with statues and battle scenes. Next door, the Small Temple honours his queen Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. Your guide also tells the story of how both temples were cut into blocks and moved uphill in the 1960s, away from the rising waters of Lake Nasser.

After lunch you drive the last stretch north to Aswan, about three and a half hours, and we drop you at your hotel in the late afternoon or early evening. It's a long day of around 12 hours, sometimes a little more, but it saves you a separate trip.

Highlights

The four colossi of Ramses II on the Great Temple façade
The Small Temple of Nefertari and Hathor
The story of the temples' rescue from Lake Nasser
Views over Lake Nasser
Drop-off in Aswan, saving a separate trip

Itinerary

1
Day 1
Luxor → Abu Simbel → Aswan
Pre-dawn pickup in Luxor and the long drive south, around seven hours, through the Nile Valley and the desert. A guided visit to the Great Temple of Ramses II and the Small Temple of Nefertari beside Lake Nasser follows. After lunch it's about three and a half hours north to Aswan and your hotel, roughly 12 hours after you set off.