Tour Overview
This 5-day package takes you from Sharm El Sheikh to the Nile Valley by air and back again, with four nights on a 5-star cruise in between. You fly via Cairo to Luxor, see Karnak and Luxor Temple by night, then sail south past Edfu and Kom Ombo to Aswan. A private Egyptologist guide is with you at every site, and the return flight to Sharm also connects in Cairo.
Tour Highlights
- Four flights are included, Sharm to Cairo and Cairo to Luxor on day one, then Aswan to Cairo and Cairo to Sharm on day five.
- Your Egyptologist guide and air-conditioned vehicle are private, so the pace at each temple follows your questions, not a coach timetable.
- Start at Karnak on the day you land, then return after dark for Luxor Temple, built mainly by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II.
- Spend four nights on a 5-star cruise sailing upriver from Luxor, with full board on the three middle days of the trip.
- Visit Edfu and Kom Ombo on the river, then Aswan's High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk and Philae, the island temple of Isis.
Tour Route
Can you do a Nile cruise from Sharm El Sheikh?
Yes. The Nile Valley is a very long drive from Sinai, so this package flies you to Luxor with a change of plane in Cairo, and flies you back the same way from Aswan. In between you spend four nights on a 5-star cruise and see the main temples of the Nile Valley.
Because the flights connect in Cairo, the first and last days are travel-heavy. Pack a small day bag with water, sun cream and a hat, since you go to Karnak soon after landing in Luxor.
Why does the cruise start in Luxor and sail to Aswan?
Starting in Luxor puts the largest sites, Karnak, Luxor Temple and the Valley of the Kings, in the first two days, while you are fresh. Sailing south goes against the current, so this route takes four nights rather than three, which leaves more time on the river and a full day in Aswan.
The cruise passes through the lock at Esna on the way, and the boat reaches Kom Ombo and Aswan on the same day as Edfu.
What did the Colossi of Memnon guard?
The two seated giants show Amenhotep III and stood at the gate of his mortuary temple on the West Bank, once one of the largest in Thebes. Floods and stone robbers took the temple, but the statues stayed. Greek and Roman visitors named them after Memnon, a hero of the Trojan War.
After an earthquake cracked one statue, it was said to make a sound at dawn, which drew travelers for centuries until a Roman repair silenced it.
How is this different from the other Nile cruise packages?
The cruise days match the 5-day Nile cruise from Cairo, Luxor to Aswan. The difference is the start: four flights from Sinai with a change of plane in Cairo each way. From the Red Sea mainland, the 5-day cruise from Marsa Alam reaches Luxor by road instead.
If a full cruise is more than you need, our Sharm El Sheikh tours include a day trip to Luxor by plane and short stays in Cairo, back at your hotel the same night or the next day.
Tour Itinerary
The two flight days are the long ones, with a change of plane in Cairo; the three days in between follow the cruise from Luxor to Aswan.
In the morning we pick you up from your hotel in Sharm El Sheikh for the airport and your flights to Luxor via Cairo. Your private guide meets you on arrival and takes you to Karnak, the temple of Amun, Mut and Khonsu. You check in on the cruise for lunch and a rest, and in the evening you visit Luxor Temple before dinner on board.
After breakfast your guide and private car take you to the West Bank. You visit tombs in the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's terraced temple at Deir el-Bahari and the Colossi of Memnon, the two statues of Amenhotep III that once stood before his mortuary temple. Back on board, lunch and dinner are served as the cruise sails through Esna toward Edfu.
After breakfast you visit Edfu, the temple of Horus built under the Ptolemies and one of the most complete in Egypt. The boat sails on to Kom Ombo, the double temple of Sobek and Horus the Elder, on a bend of the river. Lunch and dinner are on board as the cruise continues south to Aswan.
After breakfast on board your guide takes you to the Aswan High Dam, finished around 1970, and to the granite quarry of the Unfinished Obelisk. The last visit is Philae, the temple of Isis that was moved to Agilkia Island in UNESCO's Nubia campaign. You return to the cruise for lunch, dinner and your last night on the Nile.
You have breakfast early, check out of the cruise and ride in our air-conditioned vehicle to Aswan Airport. Your flights take you to Cairo and on to Sharm El Sheikh, where our driver meets you and takes you back to your hotel. Breakfast is the only meal included on this day.
What's Included
What the tour price covers, and what to plan for separately.
Paid
★
Your
Own
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers about this tour. For anything else, message us on WhatsApp — we reply fast.
It starts at your hotel in Sharm El Sheikh, where we pick you up on the morning of day one for the airport. On day five, after the flights from Aswan via Cairo, our driver meets you at Sharm airport and brings you back to the same hotel.
The price covers all four domestic flights, four nights on a 5-star cruise, a private Egyptologist guide, a private air-conditioned vehicle with mineral water, entrance fees to all sites in the itinerary, and taxes. Meals follow the itinerary: lunch and dinner on day one, full board on days two to four, breakfast on day five.
Your guide and vehicle are private to you and your companions, while the cruise ship carries other guests. The per-person price falls as your group grows, because guiding and transfer costs are shared, and it changes by season, with the highest rates over Christmas and New Year and the lowest from May to September.
It departs on Saturdays and Mondays. Bring your passport for the four domestic flights and keep valuables in your hand luggage. Light clothing that covers shoulders and knees works well for the temples, and a warm layer helps on winter evenings on the river.
Yes. Avicon Travel is a Class "A" travel agency licensed by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism under License No. 1962 and registered since 2010. Our office and team are in Karnak, Luxor, so the guides, drivers and cars on this tour are our own local team, not a booking desk abroad.
