Abu Simbel Private Day Trip from Aswan

About this trip

The long road to Ramses II. Pickup is at 4:00 AM, the desert drive takes about three and a half hours, and you reach the Great Temple of Ramses II and the Temple of Nefertari by 7:30 AM. You are back in Aswan by early afternoon. A private car, an Egyptologist, entrance fees and water are included; lunch is not.

The day

1. 4:00 AM

   Pickup in Aswan

   Your Egyptologist meets you at your Aswan hotel or at your cruise ship. The early start is the whole point: it puts you at the temples before the heat and before the coaches arrive. Because the tour is private, we move the departure if 4:00 does not suit you.

2. 4:00 - 7:30 AM

   The desert road south

   Three to three and a half hours through the Western Desert on a well-maintained road with tourist police checkpoints along the way. Most people sleep the first hour. The sun comes up over open desert around the halfway point, and your guide uses the rest of the drive to set up what you are about to see.

3. 7:30 AM

   The Great Temple of Ramses II

   Four seated statues of Ramses II, each about 65 feet high, cut straight into the cliff. Your guide gives you the full history outside - guides are not permitted to lecture inside the monuments - and then you go in at your own pace, past the Osiris pillars of the great hall to the sanctuary carved into the rock at the back.

4. 8:30 AM

   The Temple of Nefertari

   A short walk north stands the smaller temple Ramses built for his queen, its facade carved with statues of them both. Nefertari appears at the same height as the king, which is almost unheard of in Egyptian temple art, and the inside is covered with scenes of her before the gods.

5. 9:00 AM

   Lake Nasser, and the hill that is not a hill

   Time to walk round the back, which most visitors skip. Neither temple stands where it was built: in the 1960s a UNESCO team cut both into blocks and rebuilt them about 60 metres higher, clear of the water rising behind the High Dam. From behind you can see the hollow dome they now sit inside, with Lake Nasser stretching south towards Sudan.

6. 9:30 AM

   Back in Aswan by early afternoon

   The return drive puts you back at your hotel or your ship in the early afternoon, with the rest of the day free. A lunch box can be added if you would rather eat on the road than wait until you are back.

Questions about this trip