Day 1: Arrival In Luxor
On arrival at Luxor airport, you will be met by our English-speaking representative, who will assist you with the formalities and accompany you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free to rest after your journey or stroll around town, before enjoying dinner and the night at the hotel.
Day 2: Valley Of The Kings, Temple Of Hatshepsut And Luxor Temple
After breakfast, set off for a full day discovering both banks of ancient Thebes. You will begin with the West Bank and a visit to the legendary Valley of the Kings: carved into the desert rock, it houses the underground tombs of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom, richly decorated with religious scenes and funerary texts. You will enter several tombs to admire their paintings and reliefs, remarkably preserved despite the millennia.
You will then visit the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, an architectural masterpiece with clean lines, built in successive terraces against the limestone cliffs of the Theban mountain. This funerary temple honours one of the few women to have ruled ancient Egypt as pharaoh.
In the afternoon, you will cross to the East Bank to visit Luxor Temple, dedicated to the ritual renewal of kingship. According to tradition, many pharaohs were crowned here, actually or symbolically — including, it is said, Alexander the Great, although he probably never travelled this far south. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 3: Karnak Temple — Embarkation On The Dahabiya — El Kab
In the morning, visit the Temple of Karnak, the largest religious complex ever built in ancient Egypt. For nearly two thousand years this sanctuary was the heart of the cult of the god Amun, and its priesthood amassed considerable wealth and political power. You will discover the famous hypostyle hall with its one hundred and thirty-four giant columns, the pink granite obelisks and the many sanctuaries that make up this monumental complex.
Then transfer to the embarkation point, where you will settle into your cabin aboard the dahabiya.
After lunch on board, the cruise sets sail towards El Hegz, with a stop at El Kab, the ancient city of Nekheb. Less visited than the great temples of Luxor, this site preserves the remains of a temple and rock-cut tombs bearing witness to continuous occupation of the region since the Old Kingdom.
Dinner and overnight on board, on the river.
Day 4: Temple Of Edfu
Breakfast on board as the dahabiya continues its journey to Edfu. On arrival, you will visit the Temple of Edfu, one of the best preserved in all of Egypt thanks to being gradually buried under sand for centuries. Dedicated to the falcon god Horus, this Ptolemaic temple impresses with its monumental pylon, its vast colonnaded courtyard and its hypostyle halls where many ritual inscriptions are still legible.
Return on board for lunch, then continue cruising along the Nile, between palm groves and riverside villages. Dinner and overnight on board.
Day 5: Gebel El Silsila And Temple Of Kom Ombo
Morning sailing towards Aswan, with a stop at Gebel El Silsila. Less known to the general public, this site was one of the main sandstone quarries of ancient Egypt: the stone for many famous temples, including Karnak and Luxor, came from here. You will discover impressive quarry trenches, as well as rock-cut chapels and stelae carved by the pharaohs who came to honour the gods of the Nile.
The cruise then continues to Kom Ombo, where you will visit the double temple, an architectural curiosity dedicated to two gods: Haroeris, the falcon god, and Sobek, the crocodile god. Each has its own half of the temple, with its own sanctuaries and halls, perfectly symmetrical. Dinner and overnight on board.
Day 6: Unfinished Obelisk And Temple Of Philae
Arrival in Aswan. You will first discover the Unfinished Obelisk, left half-carved in the pink granite quarry where it was abandoned after cracks appeared in the rock. Still attached to the bedrock, it offers a unique and rare insight into the stone-cutting techniques used by the craftsmen of ancient Egypt, with tool marks still visible on the rock.
You will then visit the Temple of Philae, dedicated to the goddess Isis. This sanctuary was one of the last great centres of pharaonic worship to remain active, until its forced closure in the 6th century under the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. Partly converted into a Coptic church, the temple still bears the traces of this dual religious history.
Return on board, dinner and overnight.
Day 7: Optional Excursion To Abu Simbel
Free day in Aswan aboard the dahabiya, to enjoy at your own pace the peaceful atmosphere of the town and its exceptional setting between the Nile and the Nubian desert.
As an option, you may leave early in the morning for an excursion to the temples of Abu Simbel, about 280 km south of Aswan. Built by Ramesses II around 1260 BC to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Kadesh, these two monumental temples are among the most impressive remains of ancient Egypt. They were entirely cut into blocks and rebuilt higher up on an artificial hill in the 1960s to save them from the rising waters caused by the construction of the Aswan High Dam — one of the greatest archaeological rescue operations in history.
Dinner and overnight on board or at a hotel depending on availability and flight times.
Day 8: Departure
- Breakfast on board.
- Transfer to Luxor airport for your return flight.
