Tour Overview
This private 2-day trip from Marsa Alam focuses on Egypt's far south. A car takes you across the desert to Aswan, where your Egyptologist guide shows you the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk and, after lunch, the island temple of Philae. You spend the night in a 5-star hotel in Aswan. Early on day two you leave with a breakfast box for the temples of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel, return to Aswan for lunch and drive back to the coast.
Tour Highlights
- Give Aswan a full afternoon and Abu Simbel a full morning in one private trip, with all the travel by road and no train or flight to catch.
- Stand on the Aswan High Dam, finished in 1970, and look out over Lake Nasser, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world.
- See the Unfinished Obelisk still lying in its granite quarry, abandoned when a crack appeared, and learn how ancient masons cut such stones.
- Visit Philae, the temple of the goddess Isis, which was moved stone by stone to Agilkia Island to save it from the rising Nile.
- Walk into the Great Temple of Abu Simbel past four colossal seated figures of Ramesses II, then see the temple of Queen Nefertari beside it.
Tour Route
Is the Aswan and Abu Simbel trip from Marsa Alam worth it?
Yes, if you want southern Egypt rather than Luxor. In two days you see Aswan's main sights and both temples at Abu Simbel, with a night in a 5-star hotel in between. The price of that focus is that Luxor's tombs and Karnak are not part of this trip.
How do you get from Marsa Alam to Aswan and Abu Simbel?
Everything on this trip is by road. A private air-conditioned car drives you from Marsa Alam to Aswan on day one, your guide takes you from Aswan to Abu Simbel and back on day two, and the same kind of car drives you home. There is no train or flight to catch.
That keeps the trip simple, with no stations or check-in desks, but it also means long hours in the car. Bring a neck pillow, a book or downloaded podcasts, and something warm for the early start.
Why were Philae and Abu Simbel moved?
Both stood on land that the High Dam's new lake would flood. In a UNESCO-led campaign in the 1960s and 1970s, engineers cut the temples into numbered blocks and rebuilt them on higher ground: Abu Simbel inside an artificial hill, and Philae on nearby Agilkia Island.
Abu Simbel kept its alignment, so around February 22 and October 22 the sunrise still reaches the statues deep in the sanctuary. Tell us if your dates fall near either day.
How is this different from the other Abu Simbel trips from Marsa Alam?
The 2-day Luxor and Abu Simbel trip spends day one in Luxor and takes the train to Aswan, so it skips the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk and Philae. The 2-day Luxor and Aswan trip keeps Aswan's sights but swaps Abu Simbel for Luxor.
With more time in the south, our Aswan day tours add a felucca sail, a Nubian village visit or the Philae Sound and Light Show.
Tour Itinerary
Day one is the drive to Aswan and an afternoon of sights; day two begins very early for Abu Simbel and ends with the long road home.
A private, modern air-conditioned car picks you up from your hotel in Marsa Alam and heads inland through the mountains of the Eastern Desert to the Nile at Aswan. There you meet your Egyptologist guide, who leads the sightseeing for the rest of the day.
Built in the 1960s with Soviet help, the High Dam ended the Nile's yearly flood, stored water for dry years and brought electricity to much of Egypt. From the top you see the river on one side and Lake Nasser stretching south toward Sudan on the other.
In the granite quarries of Aswan lies an obelisk that would have stood around 42 meters tall, the largest ever attempted. It is usually linked to Queen Hatshepsut's reign. A crack in the stone stopped the work, and the tool marks around it show how the masons worked.
Lunch is included at a restaurant in Aswan. It is a good moment to rest after the drive and the morning sights, and to ask your guide about Nubia, the region of southern Egypt and northern Sudan whose people and culture shape Aswan today.
Philae was the last great temple built in the classic Egyptian style, mostly under the Ptolemies, and was dedicated to Isis, wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. Its carved walls tell their story. The island setting means the final stretch is a short boat crossing to Agilkia.
At the end of the day you check in at your 5-star hotel in Aswan for the night. The evening is free. Ask the hotel to prepare your breakfast box and go to bed early, since tomorrow's departure for Abu Simbel is a very early one.
You collect your breakfast box from the hotel and set off with your private guide for Abu Simbel, on the shore of Lake Nasser in the far south of Egypt. The road crosses open desert, and your guide fills in the history of Ramesses II along the way.
The Great Temple was carved for Ramesses II and the gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty and Ptah, and its halls show his battle at Kadesh against the Hittites. The smaller temple honors Queen Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. Your guide explains both before you have free time to look around.
You return to Aswan for an included lunch at a local restaurant. Then the air-conditioned car takes you back across the desert to your hotel in Marsa Alam, where the trip ends. Keep water and snacks handy for the drive.
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 Marsa Alam, where a private car picks you up on the morning of day one for the drive to Aswan. It ends at the same hotel on day two, after Abu Simbel, lunch back in Aswan and the drive across the desert to the coast.
The price includes one night in a 5-star hotel in Aswan, a breakfast box on day two, two lunches in Aswan, an Egyptologist guide, all transfers in a modern air-conditioned car, bottled water, entrance fees to the sites in the program, and taxes. Dinner, drinks and gratuities are not included.
Yes. The guide and car are for you and your companions only. The per-person price falls as your group grows, because the guide, car and fuel for the long drives are shared, and it changes by season, with higher hotel rates in winter and over Christmas and New Year.
Philae stands on Agilkia Island in the reservoir between the old Aswan Dam and the High Dam, so you reach it by a short motorboat ride from the landing on the shore. Your guide goes with you to the island. Wear shoes with grip for stepping in and out of the boat.
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.
