5-Day Elephantine Dahabiya Nile Cruise from Luxor to Aswan
Overview
The Elephantine is a dahabiya in the eighteenth-century manner — hand-built, timber-framed, and carrying only eleven suites, so there are never more than a couple of dozen people aboard. Panoramic windows run the length of the cabins and the wooden terraces are furnished with real Egyptian pieces rather than hotel fittings.
What the size buys you is access and quiet. The Elephantine moors at islands and villages the 150-cabin ships cannot reach, and where they raft up three deep in a working port, she ties to a bank. This five-day sailing runs Luxor to Aswan and covers the temples everyone comes for — Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philae — at a pace that leaves room for a felucca ride and an afternoon in the spice market.
Included
- Meet and assist on arrival by a Best Egypt Tour representative.
- Transfers by private, modern, air-conditioned vehicle.
- 4 nights aboard the Elephantine Dahabiya on a full-board basis.
- All the sightseeing listed in the itinerary, privately guided.
- A qualified English-speaking Egyptologist throughout.
- Entrance fees to every site named in the itinerary.
- Bottled water during the excursions.
- All service charges and taxes.
Excluded
- International and domestic flights.
- Your Egyptian entry visa.
- Optional excursions not named in the itinerary.
- Personal expenses.
- Tipping for the guide, driver and crew.
Itinerary:
5 Days - Luxor / Aswan
Embarkation at Luxor and the East Bank temples
You board the Elephantine at two in the afternoon. The crew take your bags and show you to your suite — there are only eleven of them on the whole boat, each with panoramic windows and a stretch of wooden deck furnished with genuine Egyptian pieces. Lunch is served once you have settled in.
The afternoon belongs to the East Bank of Luxor and the temple of Karnak, which was built and rebuilt for some two thousand years until it became the largest religious complex ever raised. You finish in the Great Hypostyle Hall, where a hundred and thirty-four columns stand close enough together to blot out the sky.
Meals: lunch, dinner. Overnight: moored at Luxor.
The West Bank, then sailing to Esna and El Hegz Island
After breakfast you cross to the West Bank for the Valley of the Kings, where the pharaohs of the New Kingdom were cut into the rock rather than buried under pyramids, and where the painted ceilings still hold their colour. You go on to Deir el-Bahari and the terraced temple of Hatshepsut, then stop at the Colossi of Memnon, the two seated giants that are all that remains of a temple the flood took away.
Back on board, the Elephantine sails south through the lock at Esna and moors for the night at El Hegz Island.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight: moored at El Hegz Island.
El Hegz village, Edfu and Kom Ombo
The morning starts ashore in the village of El Hegz, where the pace has not changed much in a century. The boat then sails on to Edfu, where a horse-drawn carriage takes you through the town to the Temple of Horus — the most complete temple in Egypt, roof and all.
In the afternoon you reach Kom Ombo and its double temple, one half for Sobek the crocodile god and one half for Haroeris the falcon, before mooring at Kobaniya for the night.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight: moored at Kobaniya.
Aswan: Philae Temple, a felucca sail and the spice market
You spend the day in Aswan. First the temple of Philae, raised for Isis on its own island and moved stone by stone to higher ground when the High Dam flooded the original site, then the High Dam itself — the engineering project that changed the river and created Lake Nasser behind it.
After lunch you sail the Aswan reach by felucca, the small lateen-rigged boat that has worked this water for centuries, and walk through the spice market in the old town before returning aboard for dinner.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight: moored at Aswan.
Disembarkation in Aswan
Breakfast is served at eight. You say goodbye to the crew and disembark at Aswan, and our representative transfers you to the airport, the railway station or any address in the city. If you would like to add Abu Simbel before you travel on, we can arrange it.
Meals: breakfast.
End of services.
Notes:
5-Day Akhnaton Dahabiya Nile Cruise from Esna to Aswan
A dahabiya is the slow way to see the Nile, and the Akhnaton is one of the most comfortable of them. Built in the old style from timber and local materials, with hand-finished cabins and fine cotton bedding, she carries only a handful of guests, which is what makes the difference: she can moor at islands and quarry sites the large cruise ships sail straight past.
This five-day sailing runs from Esna up to Aswan. You visit Edfu and Kom Ombo like every Nile cruise does, but you also stop at El-Kab, at the rock chapels of Gebel el-Silsila, and at the camel market town of Daraw — and you spend the nights anchored off quiet islands rather than tied up in a busy port. Meals are cooked on board and served on deck, and the pace is set by the wind rather than a timetable.
5-Day Iris Dahabiya Nile Cruise from Luxor to Aswan
The Iris is a traditional Nile boat fitted out for comfort rather than volume: classic lines, modern cabins, and few enough guests that the crew learn your name on the first afternoon. She travels at the speed the wind and the current allow, which is the point — the temples are the same ones the big ships visit, but you arrive at them without a queue.
The route runs Luxor to Aswan over five days. Karnak and Luxor Temple on the first afternoon, the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut on the second, Edfu and Kom Ombo from the water, and Aswan with Philae and the High Dam at the end. Meals are cooked on board and eaten on deck.
5-Day Queen Nefer Dahabiya Nile Cruise from Esna to Aswan
The Queen Nefer is a small hand-built dahabiya with a handful of cabins and a crew who cook, sail and look after a dozen or so guests at a time. There is no schedule to keep beyond the wind, no announcements, and no queue at the gangway.
Because she is small she can tie up where the large ships cannot: at Gebel el-Silsila among the old quarries, off an island at Wadi El Shat, on the bank at Maniha where the crew light a fire after dinner. The route runs Esna to Aswan over five days and takes in El Kab, Edfu, Kom Ombo and the camel market at Daraw.
6-Day Agatha Dahabiya Nile Cruise from Esna to Aswan
The Agatha is a dahabiya built for people who would rather look at the river than at a schedule. Comfortable cabins, personal service and a large open terrace, with none of the scale of the floating hotels that work the same stretch of water.
Six days from Esna to Aswan gives room for the things a four-day cruise has to cut: the Temple of Khnum sunk below the streets of Esna, the old capital at El Kab, the quarries of Gebel el-Silsila that no large ship can reach, and a full day with nothing scheduled at all except sailing, swimming and walking the bank.
6-Day Meroe Dahabiya Nile Cruise from Esna to Aswan
The Meroe is one of the roomier dahabiyas on the river. Recently refitted, she has unusually large cabins and suites, a properly furnished saloon and a panoramic terrace big enough that you can sit apart from the other guests when you want to.
The cooking is done on board and the guiding is private, and the six-day run from Esna to Aswan is paced so that there is a whole day with nothing in it but the river. Along the way: the Temple of Khnum at Esna, the old capital at El Kab, Edfu, the rock temple and quarries at Gebel el-Silsila, and the double temple at Kom Ombo.
6-Day Malouka Dahabiya Nile Cruise from Esna to Aswan
The Malouka was built in 2008 with ten cabins and a limit of twenty passengers, which puts her at the larger end of the dahabiya fleet without turning her into a ship. The difference shows in the cabins and in the outdoor space: there is room to spread out on deck rather than sit shoulder to shoulder.
She sails Esna to Aswan over six days, calling at the temples of Khnum, Nekhbet at El Kab, Horus at Edfu and the double sanctuary at Kom Ombo, and mooring at Gebel el-Silsila, which only small boats can reach. One full day is left open for sailing, swimming and a walk in the desert.