Five days on the MS Salima from Luxor to Aswan, Monday to Friday, visiting Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Edfu, Kom Ombo, the High Dam and Philae.
You are welcomed aboard and shown to your cabin. The afternoon covers Karnak, with its colossal columns and sacred lake, and then Luxor Temple, which was begun by one pharaoh and enlarged by his successors over centuries, and which is lit after dark. Dinner back on board with the river alongside.
Across to the West Bank after breakfast. The Valley of the Kings holds the tombs of Egypt's greatest rulers, cut into the hills and hidden from sight. The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut follows, carved into the cliff face, and then the Colossi of Memnon. Back aboard, and the boat starts for Edfu with the Nile landscape going past all afternoon.
A horse-drawn carriage in the morning to the Temple of Horus at Edfu, one of the best-preserved in Egypt and built for the falcon-headed god. The boat then sails south to Kom Ombo, whose temple is built for two gods at once — Sobek the crocodile god and Horus the Elder — with a matching half for each, which is easier to understand standing in it than reading about it.
You arrive at Aswan, the quietest of Egypt's southern cities. The High Dam first, which brought the river's flooding under control, then Philae Temple, built for Isis on its island. The day ends at the Unfinished Obelisk, half-cut from the bedrock and abandoned when it cracked.
A final breakfast on board, then you leave the MS Salima at Aswan.