Wonders of the Nile River Cruise: Cairo to Aswan

On arrival, we transfer to our home for the next 14 nights, the MS Mövenpick Darakum.

See the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx. Later, tour Old Cairo to learn about its Christian history and visit to the Coptic Museum.

Explore the extensive collection of treasures at the Egyptian Museum, before we visit the step pyramid of Saqqara this afternoon.

Relax on your ship and watch the changing scenery along the river as we leave Cairo. We moor overnight in Beni Suef.

Early this morning our ship starts its long journey south out of Cairo. As we leave the city behind and pass small farms, canals and plantations of date palms along the way, you’ll see how productive this land has been for so many countless generations. Many farmers here still use methods that would be familiar to their ancestors thousands of years ago. Your Tour Manager will take this opportunity to invite you to the first of a couple of fascinating lectures on both modern and ancient Egypt.

In the afternoon we arrive at the small town of Beni Suef where we moor overnight.

Tuck into a sumptuous breakfast and relax on the comfortable Sun deck as we continue our journey along the Nile Valley on our way to Minya.

Our second consecutive day of sailing, and by this time you should have settled into the rhythm of shipboard life! After a sumptuous breakfast buffet make your way to one of the three open decks and relax under one on one of the many comfortable shaded sun loungers or Balinese-style canopied day-beds as the unchanged landscape of the Nile Valley slips by.

If you prefer to keep cool in air-conditioned comfort, then there’s plenty of armchairs by the full-length windows of the bar.

This afternoon we arrive in Minya where we will moor for two nights.

Continue our Egyptian adventure with a visit to Tuna El Gebel and the tomb of Petosiris, then see the tombs of Beni Hassan.

Enjoy a morning visit to Amarna to see Pharaoh Akheneten’s tomb, then spend the afternoon relaxing as we sail.

Kick back and relax with a full day of cruising.  Today we continue our journey southwards, with a full day’s cruising, ideal to relax after the busy last couple of days and before seeing the monuments and temples of the second part of our journey.

Visit the Temple of Seti at Abydos, one of ancient Egypt’s most mysterious sites. This afternoon we continue to Naga Hammadi.

Abydos remains one of ancient Egypt’s most mysterious sites, with the Great Temple of Seti I as its centrepiece. Dedicated to the cult of Osiris, god of the dead, Abydos was a pilgrimage centre for thousands of years. The temple is known for its Gallery of the Kings, which lists all the pharaohs, as well as some hieroglyphs which look like modern machines!

We sail on to Qena where we moor overnight.

See the temple of Hathor, one of the best-preserved in all of Egypt, before we sail to Luxor, our next stop.

The temple of Hathor is one of the most complete and best-preserved in all of Egypt. Hathor was the Egyptian goddess of love, beauty, joy and healing, and her temple, although only completed in Roman times, nevertheless follows the architecture and style of much older temples. Intriguingly, one of the outside walls has a famous relief of Cleopatra and Caesarion, her son, by Julius Caesar, so the famous queen may well have visited the temple.

We sail the short distance to Luxor where we moor overnight.

Explore the Valley of the Kings and see Howard Carter’s house and the temple of Hatshepsut. The afternoon is at leisure in Luxor.

The full itinerary to Aswan will continue the tour crossing the Nile to the West Bank for the ‘main event’ – the Valley of the Kings! It is simply remarkable that so much artistic beauty is hidden below the barren earth of this hot, dry, rock-strewn valley. The incredible state of preservation and the vividness of the paintings and hieroglyphics is simply astounding. It is tantalising to imagine what treasures all these tombs once held, lost to incredibly efficient grave robbers thousands of years ago.

We will also visit Howard Carter’s house which has been beautifully preserved and is next to the newly opened replica of King Tut’s tomb. Our tour ends at the mortuary temple of Hatshetput, the first female pharaoh, with its stunning three-tiered colonnaded terraces reflecting the outline of the cliffs above.

We return to our ship at lunchtime and the rest of the day is at leisure.

Marvel at the temple of Karnak and the smaller but equally remarkable temple of Luxor. This afternoon we sail to Edfu.

Wander through the ruins of the Kom Ombo Temple, then relax on board during your final afternoon of sailing to Aswan.

The temple at Kom Ombo is unusual in that it’s dedicated to two gods, Horus (the falcon-headed god and Sobek (the crocodile god). The temple had a lake with sacred crocodiles and many mummies of them have been found nearby.

We sail to Aswan and moor overnight.

On our last day in Egypt, visit the Aswan High Dam, see the temple of Philae and the Nubian Museum, and sail on a felucca to Kitchener Island.

This morning is our last full day in Egypt, and we visit one of modern Egypt’s greatest achievements – the Aswan High Dam. We continue to the temple of Philae, which had to be rescued from the rising waters of Lake Nasser. After a visit to the Nubian Museum, we take to the water on a felucca sail as the sun sets in the west, to Kitchener Island, which the eponymous general converted to a botanical park.

It’s time to say goodbye to your crew and start the journey home.