Aswan Botanical Garden & Felucca Sail

Some of the nicest hours in Aswan are spent on the water, and this trip makes the most of them. A tour representative meets you at your hotel and takes you to the riverbank, where a felucca, the Nile's traditional wooden sailing boat, is waiting.

The boat tacks slowly between smooth granite boulders and small islands, past the Old Cataract Hotel and the tombs cut into the West Bank cliffs. It lands you on Kitchener's Island, where the Botanical Garden was laid out more than a century ago with trees and plants gathered from Africa and Asia.

Take your time under the palms and flowering trees, listen to the birds and look across the river to the dunes on the far bank. Then it's back on board for the sail to the mainland and the drive back to your hotel.