Five days on a small traditional dahabiya from Esna to Aswan, stopping at El Kab, Edfu, Gebel el Silsila and Kom Ombo, away from the large cruise ships.
You are collected in Luxor and driven to Esna in a private air-conditioned vehicle. On arrival you board the dahabiya, take a welcome drink and settle into your cabin. The boat then sails south towards El Kab, past palm-lined villages and farmers working the bank, which for the first hour or two is the whole of the entertainment and is entirely sufficient.
Ashore after breakfast at El Kab, once the capital of Upper Egypt, for its rock-cut tombs and the remains of its city walls. Then on to Edfu and the Temple of Horus, one of the best-preserved and most impressive temples in Egypt. Lunch back aboard, and the afternoon is spent under sail with the engine off — which is the difference between a dahabiya and everything else on this river.
Sailing to Gebel el Silsila, a site the big ships cannot reach at all. You walk through the ancient sandstone quarries that supplied the stone for temples up and down the country, and into the rock-cut Temple of Horemheb carved directly into the cliff. Being able to move freely along the river's edge here, where the pharaohs' masons worked, is not something the standard itinerary offers. Dinner on the bank, or on deck under the stars.
On to Kom Ombo, whose twin temple was built for Sobek and Horus the Elder with an identical half for each god. The Crocodile Museum beside it holds the mummified animals and explains the beliefs that attached to the river itself. The afternoon is spent sailing towards Aswan, and it is the last full day on the water.
Breakfast, then you disembark at Aswan, where our representative helps with your onward arrangements.