Tour Overview
This 8-day package from Hurghada is a round-trip Nile cruise: seven nights on a 5-star boat that sails from Luxor up to Aswan and back. You drive from your hotel to Luxor on day one, and the cruise is your base for the week. You visit Karnak and Luxor Temple, Edfu, Aswan, Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo and the West Bank of Luxor, with an Egyptologist guide at each stop and all meals on board.
Tour Highlights
- Sleep seven nights in the same cabin and unpack once, as the cruise sails from Luxor to Aswan and back while you visit the temples on both legs.
- Visit Abu Simbel, the two rock-cut temples of Ramesses II and Queen Nefertari near the Sudan border, on a guided day out from Aswan.
- Spend a full day sailing from Luxor to Edfu, passing the lock at Esna and the farms and villages along the banks.
- See Karnak and Luxor Temple by night at the start of the week, then the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut's temple at the end.
- Tour Edfu on the way south and Kom Ombo on the way north, so each temple gets its own visit.
Tour Route
Why choose an 8-day Nile cruise instead of 4 or 5 days?
Because the river sets the pace instead of the clock. A 4- or 5-day cruise sails one way and visits each temple in a tight schedule. This week sails up and back, adds a full day on the water and a trip to Abu Simbel, and spreads the visits so most days have one main stop.
You also unpack once: the same cabin is your base from day one to day eight, and apart from the transfers and the Abu Simbel day, the boat does the traveling.
Is Abu Simbel included in the 8-day cruise from Hurghada?
Yes. The visit is part of the program on day five, from Aswan, with a breakfast box for the early start. On shorter cruises Abu Simbel is usually an optional extra, so this is one of the easiest ways to see it without planning a separate trip from Aswan.
What happens on the sailing day?
On day two there are no visits. The boat sails south from Luxor, passes through the lock at Esna, where it waits its turn to rise to the higher water level, and continues to Edfu. It is a quiet day to rest, read on deck and watch life along the banks between meals.
How is this different from the other Nile cruise trips from Hurghada?
It is the longest time on the river. The 5-day Nile cruise from Hurghada sails one way, Luxor to Aswan, and returns by train. The 8-day Hurghada and Nile cruise holiday also lasts a week but splits it between a beach hotel and four cruise nights.
If you want Cairo too, the 4-day Cairo and Nile cruise flies you to Giza first. Cruising from Luxor without the transfers? See the 4-night cruise from Luxor with optional Abu Simbel.
Tour Itinerary
The week runs south from Luxor to Aswan and Abu Simbel, then back north to Luxor, with one sailing day and an early start for Abu Simbel.
We pick you up from your hotel in Hurghada in an air-conditioned car and drive to Luxor. Your Egyptologist guide takes you through Karnak, the temple of Amun that grew over two thousand years, then you check in to your 5-star cruise for lunch. In the evening you visit Luxor Temple, lit up after dark. Dinner is on board.
There are no visits today. The cruise sails south through the lock at Esna and on to Edfu, where it moors for the night, while you watch the palm groves and villages go by. All meals are on board.
After breakfast your guide takes you to Edfu, the temple of Horus built between 237 and 57 BC, whose walls show Horus defeating his rival Seth. Back on board, the cruise sails south and reaches Aswan late at night. All meals are on board.
After breakfast you tour Aswan. The High Dam, built in the 1960s, formed Lake Nasser. The Unfinished Obelisk, about 42 meters long, still lies in its quarry where the granite cracked. Philae, the temple of Isis, stands on Agilkia Island, where it was rebuilt to save it from the water. All meals are on board.
You leave early with a breakfast box for a guided visit to Abu Simbel. Ramesses II carved these two temples into the cliffs around 1264 BC, and twice a year, around 22 February and 22 October, the sun reaches the statues in the inner sanctuary. Back on the cruise, lunch is served and the boat heads north.
After breakfast you visit Kom Ombo, a Ptolemaic temple split into two matching halves, one for Sobek, the crocodile god, and one for Haroeris, Horus the Elder. Then the cruise sails on to Luxor, with all meals on board.
Your guide takes you to the West Bank for the Valley of the Kings, where New Kingdom pharaohs were buried in tombs cut into the hills, then to Hatshepsut's three-terraced temple and the Colossi of Memnon, two seated statues of Amenhotep III. All meals are on board.
After a last breakfast on board you check out, and we drive you back to your hotel in Hurghada in an air-conditioned car to end the week on the Nile.
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 Hurghada, where we pick you up on the morning of day one and drive you to Luxor. The cruise starts and ends in Luxor, and on day eight we drive you from the boat back to the same hotel, so the whole trip is door to door.
The price covers seven nights on a 5-star cruise with the meals listed in the program, all the excursions in the itinerary including Abu Simbel, Egyptologist guides, air-conditioned transfers, entrance fees to the sites between Luxor and Aswan, and taxes. Tips, drinks and personal extras are not included.
The cruise ship is shared with other guests, and your transfers and guided visits are arranged for your group. The per-person price falls as your group grows, because transfer and guide costs are shared, and it changes by season, with the highest rates over Christmas and New Year.
It starts on Saturdays and Mondays, the days the round-trip cruise leaves Luxor, so plan your pickup in Hurghada for one of those days. If you hope to be at Abu Simbel for the sun festival around 22 February or 22 October, tell us when you book so we can check the sailing dates.
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.
