Six days under sail from Luxor to Aswan on a traditional dahabiya, covering Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae.
You board at Luxor and check in to a cabin with panoramic views over the river, then have lunch on board while the boat is still at its mooring. In the late afternoon your Egyptologist takes you to Karnak, an open-air complex on a scale that is difficult to take in at one visit, with massive pillars and sacred lakes. Luxor Temple follows, lit, with colossal statues and hieroglyph-covered walls. A quiet evening on deck and dinner on board.
The burial ground of the pharaohs and queens. The Valley of the Kings first, then the Colossi of Memnon standing out alone on the edge of the Theban necropolis, and the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut carved into the cliffs at Deir el-Bahari. Back aboard, and the boat begins its sail to Esna. The afternoon is the sun deck, the water and the villages going by, with lunch and a traditional afternoon tea.
An early start under sail towards Edfu, with breakfast on board as islands, desert cliffs and farmland come and go. At Edfu a horse-drawn carriage takes you to the Temple of Edfu, the best-preserved sanctuary in Egypt and built for the falcon god Horus. Lunch as the boat sets off again for Kom Ombo, and an afternoon on deck with tea and the light going off the water.
The Temple of Kom Ombo after breakfast, a twin temple built for Sobek the crocodile god and Horus the Elder, with the crocodile mummy museum beside it. Then back aboard and on towards Aswan, with lunch as palm groves and granite hills come into view. The afternoon covers the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk still lying in its quarry, and the Temple of Philae, moved to Agilkia Island when the water rose.
Breakfast on board, and the morning is free for the optional excursion to Abu Simbel, where Ramses II had two temples cut into the mountainside, available at extra cost. After lunch there is a felucca on the Nile — a small sail, no engine, between the islands — and a visit to Aswan's Botanical Garden, which is planted with trees and flowers brought from across the world and is the one green place in the city.
Optional: The Abu Simbel Temples, at extra cost
A last breakfast on board looking out at the river, then check-out. Our team handles the onward arrangements.