Touring Egypt - Guide to visiting Abu Simbel, The Temples of Sobek and Haroeris at Kom Ombo and The Temple of Horus at Edfu
From Aswan it is easily possible and generally not too expensive to take a day trip to Edfu, Abu Simbel and to Kom Ombo to visit these famous Egyptian Ancient Sites.
Prices and any opening times mentioned on this guide relate to late November 2009 and are for guidance - without doubt such entrance fees etc will only increase.
Egypt - Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel is the location of two 13th century BC Egyptian Temples dedicated to Rameses II and to his wife Nefertari. Both Temples were moved from their mountainside site to a man-made hill during the 1960s due to the building of the Aswan High Dam and the subsequent creation of Lake Nasser which would have submerged them.
Flying to Abu Simbel. There are a quite a few
flights each day from Aswan to Abu Simbel and back - as of the start of 2010 the
return flight by Egypt Air costs around LE940 so it's certainly not cheap. Add
the time and more cost getting to and from the two airports perhaps flying is
not too good a choice generally speaking although flying time itself is only 35
minutes or so. There are few direct flights from Cairo and as far as we know
none from Luxor - most flights from those locations require a change of plane
and quite long wait at Aswan.
Abu Simbel by car or coach. This is a popular
way to make the 560km round trip and certainly much less expensive than flying
particularly if there are 2 or more of you travelling. If hiring a car and
driver you really do need to look around for a decent price - we were quoted a
top rate of LE950 and a bottom rate of LE500 which is quite a difference - and
this was for the same type of car standard. There are several ticket/travel
agents dotted halfway along El Corniche particularly near the railway station.
The trip to Abu Simbel still has to be carried out in a convoy presumably
because of the proximately to the Sudan which is only 40kms from the site. These
police controlled convoys currently leave Aswan twice a day - early in the
morning at around 04AM and again at around 10:30AM.
Cruising. You can also of course get to Abu
Simbel from Aswan and back by having a relaxing cruise along The River Nile on a
hotel cruise boat if you have lots of days to spare.
Is it worth going to Abu Simbel?. This
probably seems like a peculiar thing to ponder but the nearest place to get
there from is Aswan and certainly flying is very expensive. By convoy is cheaper
but the trip means a 3 hour quite high speed drive each way and you are
travelling through very featureless desert (although the sunset and sunrise in
the desert are beautiful for a few minutes). You hardly go through any towns or
villages and anyway the convoy is not allowed to stop. The statues and Temples
at Abu Simbel are pretty impressive to say the least as are the releifs -
however if you have already been to Luxor and especially Karnak then perhaps not
quite so. The main problem is the site looks completely artificial - it is of
course but unlike for instance the relocated site at Philae which does look
natural somehow, Abu Simbel's temples seem to be just "plonked" there. There is
a very wide dusty area in front of the temples which stretches over the the edge
of Lake Nasser. This area could well have benefited from some water feature
landscaping etc. to bring the Temples to life in a nice setting. Overall Abu
Simbel was "on the list of places to visit" and we have done so but considering
the time and expense we did not consider it a particularly worthwhile trip in the end.
Visiting Kom Ombo and Edfu. Both of these temple sites are easily reached from Aswan especially as convoy restrictions have been lifted - a typical car and driver hire for the day would cost around LE500 plus entrance fees. Note that the Nile cruise boats usually stop off at both locations on their journey from Luxor to Aswan.
Egypt - Kom Ombo Temples:- Temple of Haroeris and Temple of Sobek. Kom Ombo is around 45kms north of Aswan - the temple complex is beautifully situated in a nice setting on the banks of the River Nile. There is a cafe area plus a few souvenir shops and kiosks - entrance fee is LE30 and it's open daily.
Egypt - Edfu:- Temple of Horus. Edfu is around 105kms from Aswan and around 60kms from Kom Ombo and the Temple of Horus is open daily with an entrance fee of LE50.
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