8 Days of Cruising on the Sacred Nile: From Luxor to Aswan, Between Temples and Legends

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Duration
8 Days
7 Nights
Destination
Boat Cruise
Group Size
2-30 People
Category
Nile Cruise 7N/8D

The Cruise

Embark on an exceptional week-long journey between Luxor and Aswan, along the Nile, cradle of one of the greatest civilisations in History. This legendary river, the vital artery of Egypt for millennia, guides you peacefully through a world suspended between history and natural beauty.

Each stop is an immersion in the glorious past of the pharaohs: from the monumental temples of Karnak and Luxor, to the mysterious sanctuaries of Kom Ombo and Philae, to the wonders carved into the rock at Abu Simbel. From lush green banks dotted with palm groves to traditional villages, from desert landscapes punctuated by golden mountains, the navigation becomes a true spectacle.

Comfortably settled aboard a 5-star cruise ship, let yourself be rocked by the tranquil rhythm of the river. Observe the daily life of the fellahs, fishermen casting their nets, children playing by the water, and blazing sunsets on the horizon. Between culture, relaxation and wonder, this Nile cruise is far more than a journey: a timeless parenthesis, an encounter with the very soul of Egypt.

Throughout this adventure, you are accompanied by a passionate French-speaking Egyptologist guide, a true storyteller of histories and legends. Thanks to their vivid and documented accounts, hieroglyphs take on meaning, statues come to life, and temples reveal their secrets.


What Is Included in the Price

  • 7-night Nile cruise aboard a 5-star boat
  • Double air-conditioned cabin with private bathroom
  • Full board: breakfast, lunch, dinner
  • French-speaking Egyptologist guide
  • Entry fees to all sites listed in the programme
  • All land transfers in private air-conditioned vehicle
  • French-speaking welcome and assistance on arrival and departure in Luxor


What Is Not Included in the Price

  • International and domestic flights
  • Egypt entry visa (25 EUR per person, payable on site)
  • Standard tips for the crew, guide and drivers
  • Optional excursions: Abu Simbel (supplement of 95 EUR, on request)
  • Hot air balloon over Luxor (approximately 85 EUR)
  • Drinks and personal consumptions


Included

  • Arrival and departure at Luxor for simple, smooth logistics without unnecessary travel
  • 7-night Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan aboard a 5-star boat combining modern comfort and oriental charm
  • Greatest pharaonic sites accompanied by a passionate French-speaking Egyptologist: Karnak, Luxor, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philae, Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut
  • Immersive itinerary alternating peaceful navigation, cultural stops and spectacular landscapes between desert and lush banks
  • Traditional felucca ride around the islands of Aswan for a gentle, poetic interlude
  • Optional excursion to Abu Simbel, UNESCO World Heritage Site saved from the waters
  • Moments of contemplation: blazing sunsets, Nile-side scenes of life and relaxation on deck
  • All-inclusive formula: full board, site entries included, no hidden fees
  • End-to-end accompaniment with personalised welcome at the airport and private transfers throughout
  • Optional hot air balloon Luxor approximately 85 EUR
  • Drinks and personal consumptions

Excluded

  • International and domestic flights
  • Egypt entry visa 25 EUR per person
  • Tips for crew, guide and drivers
  • Optional Abu Simbel excursion 95 EUR

Itinerary

1

Day 1: Arrival in Luxor - Boarding the Nile Cruise Ship

Dinner included
On arrival, you are warmly welcomed at the airport by our local representative, recognisable by their smile and sign bearing our agency name. They take care of welcoming you, accompanying you and facilitating the formalities for a smooth arrival. Private transfer to your 5-star cruise ship, elegantly moored on the banks of the Nile. Check-in to your cabin, then first evening on board, rocked by the peaceful atmosphere of the river. Accommodation: 5-star cruise ship, Luxor.
2

Day 2: Temple of Karnak - Navigation to Edfu

Breakfast Lunch Dinner
In the morning you plunge into the heart of the monumental complex of Karnak, one of the vastest religious ensembles ever built by man. Dedicated to Amun-Ra, the solar god and king of the gods, the site was continuously enlarged for more than two thousand years, from the Middle Kingdom to the Greco-Roman era, each pharaoh leaving their mark to affirm their piety and legitimacy. You cross imposing pylons adorned with scenes of royal triumph, pass through ceremonial courtyards and discover pink granite obelisks erected in homage to the gods. At the heart of the sanctuary, you explore the hypostyle hall of the Temple of Amun, an architectural masterpiece of the reigns of Seti I and Ramesses II. Its 134 colossal columns, covered with hieroglyphs and ritual scenes, form a true forest of stone, symbolically recreating the primordial marsh from which the world emerged according to Theban cosmogony. Karnak was not only a centre of worship: it represented cosmic order (Maat) on earth. Lunch is served on board as the boat glides gracefully on the Nile waters, heading for Edfu. The navigation unfolds peacefully. The banks reveal ochre cliffs, swaying palms and fine sandy beaches dotted with small green islands. Included visits: Temple of Karnak. Accommodation: 5-star cruise ship, on the Nile.
3

Day 3: Temple of Edfu - Temple of Kom Ombo - Navigation to Aswan

Breakfast Lunch Dinner
At sunrise, the first golden light caresses the banks of the Nile as you board a horse-drawn carriage to reach the Temple of Horus at Edfu. The rhythm of the hooves resonates softly in the still-sleeping alleyways, like a timeless transition towards the sacred universe of ancient Egypt. Built between 237 and 57 BC under the Ptolemies, this golden sandstone sanctuary dedicated to the falcon god Horus emerges in the morning light like an intact mirage. Protected by the centuries, it unfolds its powerful walls and majestic colonnades, covered with bas-reliefs of extraordinary finesse. The sculpted scenes recount the cosmic struggle between Horus and Seth, where every sign, every form still seems inhabited by the divine breath. Return on board late morning. The boat gently resumes its wake on the Nile. From the outer decks, eyes are lost in the slow procession of the landscape: slender palms, green fields, peasants bent over the earth, repeating ancestral gestures. A kingfisher, a flash of blue and orange, freezes for an instant before plunging into the clear water. Late afternoon, visit of the double temple of Kom Ombo, erected under the Ptolemies in the 2nd century BC, unique in Egypt for its perfectly symmetrical structure. Everything here rests on the principle of duality: two entrances, two hypostyle halls, two sanctuaries. The cult is shared between Sobek, the crocodile god associated with brute forces and fertility, and Haroeris, the solar form of Horus, guarantor of order, justice and light. Remarkable bas-reliefs include a Nilotic calendar and a unique representation of surgical instruments, witness to advances in medical and astronomical knowledge. After the visit, the boat resumes its route towards Aswan. Included visits: Temple of Edfu, Temple of Kom Ombo. Accommodation: 5-star cruise ship, on the Nile.
4

Day 4: Temple of Philae - Unfinished Obelisk - Traditional Felucca Ride

Breakfast Lunch Dinner
Arrival in Aswan, jewel of southern Egypt, where the peaceful Nile caresses granite islands bathed in palm trees. On the edge of the Nubian desert, this thousand-year-old city, famous for its granite quarries used by the pharaohs, reveals a wild and sacred landscape charged with history and mystery. In the morning, you depart by vehicle to discover the Temple of Philae. Originally built on the island of Philae, this temple dedicated to the universal goddess Isis was moved stone by stone in the 1970s to escape submersion caused by the Aswan Dam. A major sanctuary of the end of pharaonic Egypt, it testifies to a unique syncretism blending Egyptian art and Greco-Roman influences, as well as the transition to Christianity with certain spaces transformed into Coptic chapels. Surrounded by granite and bathed by the peaceful Nile waters, Philae offers a setting where history, spirituality and nature meet in perfect harmony. You continue to Aswan's granite quarry, famous for housing the Unfinished Obelisk. Carved directly into the rock, this colossus of almost 42 metres reveals a crack that forced its abandonment. This exceptional site allows you to understand the cutting and extraction techniques used by the ancient Egyptians to erect their grandiose monuments. After lunch on board, in the afternoon you board a traditional felucca. The white sail gently fills as the vessel glides between the islands of Elephantine and Kitchener, true jewels of greenery in the heart of the Nubian desert. This suspended moment reveals another face of Egypt, more intimate, more secret. Included visits: Temple of Philae, Unfinished Obelisk, Traditional felucca ride. Accommodation: 5-star cruise ship, Aswan.
5

Day 5: Optional Abu Simbel - Navigation Back Towards Edfu

Breakfast Lunch Dinner
Optional: very early morning departure for an exceptional excursion to the far south of Egypt. Crossing the vast desert expanses bathed in the golden light of dawn, you reach the shores of Lake Nasser. There stands one of the jewels of ancient Egypt: Abu Simbel, two colossal temples carved into the rock, witnesses to the greatness of Ramesses II and his wife Nefertari. This emblematic site, saved from the waters during the construction of the High Dam, testifies to a true engineering feat: in the 1960s, UNESCO coordinated the displacement of the temples stone by stone to preserve them from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. Abu Simbel still impresses today by its monumental statues, the precision of its solar alignment - which illuminates the inner sanctuary twice a year - and the surprising vividness of the colours still adorning its walls. The frescoes, in ochre, blue and red tones, powerfully recount the military exploits and piety of the great pharaoh Ramesses II. Return to Aswan for lunch on board, then resumption of navigation towards Edfu. The afternoon passes peacefully on the Nile between changing landscapes and relaxation on board. Accommodation: 5-star cruise ship, on the Nile.
6

Day 6: Free Navigation Day - Evening Visit to Luxor Temple

Breakfast Lunch Dinner
The morning awakens slowly on the Nile as the boat glides peacefully at the rhythm of a complicit wind. No imposed programme today, only what your mood dictates. On deck, a mint tea in hand, you contemplate the bank slowly passing: dense palm groves, sugar cane fields where peasants bustle, distant silhouettes of languid buffaloes and laughing children waving as you pass. This navigation day is a breath, a parenthesis suspended between sky and water. Late afternoon, bathed in the golden light of the setting sun, you set off to discover the Temple of Luxor, jewel of the New Kingdom. Dedicated to the god Amun, the sanctuary was erected in the 14th century BC by Pharaoh Amenhotep III, then lavishly enlarged by Ramesses II, whose monumental statues still guard the entrance, impassive sentinels of another time. Along the avenue lined with sphinxes - majestic vestige of the ancient processional way of nearly three kilometres that once linked Karnak to Luxor - you advance towards the heart of a sacred space. Gradually, the tumult of the modern world fades, replaced by the silence of the stones and the discreet breath of the millennia. Here, every column seems to whisper a forgotten prayer, every relief an offering to eternity. Included visits: Temple of Luxor. Accommodation: 5-star cruise ship, Luxor.
7

Day 7: Valley of the Kings - Temple of Queen Hatshepsut - Colossi of Memnon

Breakfast Lunch Dinner
You set off to discover the famous Valley of the Kings, the sacred necropolis where, carved into the ochre rock of the Theban mountain, more than sixty royal tombs have been revealed. Three of them open their doors to you: between walls engraved with funerary texts, mythological scenes and star-studded ceilings, you plunge into the sacred world of the pharaohs, guided in their journey towards eternity. You continue with the visit of the funerary temple of Queen Hatshepsut, an architectural masterpiece set against the cliffs of Deir el-Bahari. The first woman to impose herself on the throne of Egypt as pharaoh with absolute reign, Hatshepsut had this sanctuary erected to affirm the legitimacy of her reign. Through bas-reliefs and inscriptions, she presents herself as the elect of Amun, born of divine union, inscribing her power within the cosmic and sacred order. On the return route, you stop before the Colossi of Memnon, two monumental statues that have stood guard for more than 3,000 years. The last witnesses of the disappeared temple of Amenhotep III, they watch, impassive, over the plain of Western Thebes, in a silence charged with memory. Included visits: Valley of the Kings (3 tombs), Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Colossi of Memnon. Accommodation: 5-star cruise ship, Luxor.
8

Day 8: Transfer to Luxor Airport for the Return Flight

Breakfast
It is time to leave the banks of the Nile, but its imprint remains within you. From the majestic temples to the glances exchanged on the banks, every moment lived continues to resonate like an ancient murmur. Heart filled with light, you depart... but the journey, it has only just begun. Transfer to Luxor Airport for your return flight.

Prices & Accommodation

Starting Price

Per Person €899.00

Optional Extras

Abu Simbel Excursion (optional, day 5) €95.00 / person
Hot Air Balloon over Luxor (optional) €85.00 / person
Egypt Entry Visa €25.00 / person

Accommodation

Contact us for detailed accommodation information for this tour.