Nile Cruise

Pick up at Aswan airport by your guide Friday. First of all you start your luxury Nile cruise with the ddeparture by car to reach Lake Nasser. Upon arrival, visit the Aswan High Dam. Then departure by car and then by boat for the visit of the Philae Temple. Which is without a doubt, the “Pearl of the Nile”. Actually built on an island submerged in the 1970s by rising lake levels. Reservoir of the old Aswan Dam following the construction of the High Dam.

The temples and monuments built on the island during the Pharaonic and Greco-Roman eras moved to the new island. Also called Philae. 

You will visit among others, the temple of Isis, which is obviously the main construction of Philæ. While, it is one of the major Goddess shrines in Egypt. After that you will visit the Kiosk of Trajan which is the main feature of the site. 

Then board your ship. Your age-old Nile cruise (boarding on Friday) including the 3 meals of the day will be carried out on one of the boats, Princess Sara, Where Nile Story, Where Royal Ruby II, Where Nile Style. 

In the afternoon, felucca ride near Elephantine Island. A moment of pure relaxation, lulled by the light breeze and sailing in the calm, blue waters. Makes for an Exotic walk. Although you will enjoy the magical setting offered by the Nile of the city of Aswan. So you will experience the magic of a felucca ride that glides silently on the Nile.

Free evening for a personal discovery of Aswan, possibility of a free walk in the very colorful popular souk with its baskets filled with spices and its pyramids of fruit. Dinner and overnight on board. 

Breakfast on board. Free morning: Optional visit to the temples of Abu Simbel by car (540 km round trip. Lunch on board, navigation of your luxury Nile cruise to reach the small town of Kom Ombo (3 hours of navigation). arrival departure for the visit of the Kom Ombo Temple, located on the banks of the Nile.

An unusual temple, dedicated to the worship of two deities worshiped on an equal footing. The first : Haroëris, the hawk-headed god, He has the character of the Sun and the Moon. And it is thanks to him that the two stars do not cross and follow each other with respect to the hours. Although it was celebrated in the month of Tybi. When the two stars are in conjunction. His followers believe they were waiting for him to be honored.

The second :  Sobek, the crocodile god, master of the waters, god who irrigates the fields. It is also associated with fertility and flooding. While in this city, as in other cities dedicated to Sobek, one or more sacred crocodiles are maintained. When they die, they are embalmed. Crocodile mummies found in a nearby necropolis.

This is why it is called the “temple of two deities”. Although the entire temple is therefore separated into two parts. That of the North, dedicated to Haroéris and that of the South to Sobek.

Navigation on Edfu (5 hours of navigation). Dinner and overnight on board.

After breakfast, your luxury Nile cruise trip is followed by a visit to the temple of Edfu, dedicated to the falcon god Horus, son of Isis.

In fact Edfu owes its fame, not to its great antiquity. But at the colossal temple which rose in the Ptolemaic period in the city. Although it is one of the best preserved temples in Egypt and the second largest building after Karnak. 137 meters long, 79 meters wide, 36 meters high for the pylons. 

While its construction work was started under Ptolemy III in -237. To end under Tiberius, 180 years later. Entirely built in sandstone, this temple is remarkable for its harmonious plan with perfect proportions.

Departure (4 hours of navigation) towards the city of Esna with the passage of the lock. Arrive at Luxor. At the end of the afternoon – departure for the visit of the luxor temple illuminated under a very beautiful lighting which puts it in its most beautiful beauty.

Although the temple of Amun in Luxor dedicated to the worship of the god Has my. Located in the heart of the old Thebes. Devoted to the dynastic god Has my in its two aspectsAmun-Re celestial and of Amon-Min (ithyphallic divinity).

In Roman times, the temple partially transformed into a military camp. The building, one of the best preserved of the New Kingdom, has kept many structures in elevation. Besides the big pylon. You will cross two large peristyle courtyards and the monumental colonnade that connects these two courtyards. The actual sanctuary, residence of the Amun of Opet. As well as the preceding rooms, they have retained a good part of their roofing in slabs.

Luxor Temple is the southern complement of the Great Temple of Amun at Karnak. Dedicated to the Theban Triad. The two temples once connected by a dromos lined with seven hundred sphinx ram's head. As well as resting stations or chapels where the boats of the Theban triad stopped during the great opet party.. The dromos constituted the main articulation of the city which it crossed from north to south.

Moreover by dividing it into a western district bordering the Nile where the port was. Also its popular districts and that of the craftsmen. And a district is probably more residential which spread out between the large enclosures of the main temples. And contained many shrines spread along the great cobbled alleys that criss-crossed the city. Dinner and overnight on board.

Breakfast on board, departure for the visit of a part of the grandiose necropolis of Thebes where the sovereigns of the New Empire were buried in hypogeums, dug in the mountain with luxurious and abundant funerary furniture. We will visit three remarkable tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

The Valley of the Kings is known to house the hypogea of many New Kingdom pharaohs. But it also houses the tombs of some wives and children of pharaohs. As well as those of nobles whose valor the pharaohs wanted to reward. It is from the period of the reign of Ramesses I^er that the Valley of the Queens is used, even if some wives will still be buried with their husbands thereafter.

Each burial housed furniture allowing to continue the existence in the afterlife in a certain comfort.

Magical ritual objects, such as shabtis and the divine figurines are deposited in the tomb. But also the objects used by the king during his life. Beds, seats, vases, chariots and weapons. Funerary material is also specially made, such as sarcophagi.

Then stop at the foot of the Colossi of Memnon, once guardian of the castle of King Amenophis III for millions of years.

 Lunch in a typical restaurant on the West Bank, with a view of the Nile. 

 Departure in the afternoon for the in-depth visit of the temples of Karnak. In fact the religious complex of Karnak - abusively called temple of Karnak or simply Karnak. It includes a large collection of ruins of temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings located north of Thebes, now the city of Luxor.

Although the Karnak complex, rebuilt and developed for over 2,000 years by successive pharaohs. it is composed of three enclosures. While it is the largest religious complex in all of antiquity.

Dedicated to the Theban triad headed by the god Amon-Re. The complex connected to Luxor Temple by an aisle of sphinxes almost three kilometers long. The site is the subject of excavations conducted from the xixe century by French archaeologists. Organized since 1967 within the Franco-Egyptian Center for the Study of the Temples of Karnak.

Then continue your luxury Nile cruise by visiting one of these small temples unknown to mass tourism, where you will be almost the only ones.

Transfer to Luxor airport / or your hotel.