Touring Egypt - Aswan Holiday and Travel Guide.

Aswan is a peaceful Egyptian City located on The River Nile and around 80 miles south of Luxor .

Getting to Aswan. The two main ways of getting there are to fly in from Luxor and/or Cairo or to go at a somewhat slower pace by using a Nile Hotel Boat. There are quite a few flights from Cairo on Egypt Air - since this is pretty much the only airline allowed to operate the route the fares are a little expensive (around LE1500 Cairo-Aswan return) - the flight takes around 70 minutes. It would seem necessary to pre-book your flights quite early on since the aircraft are quite heavily used and some flights are business class only - far more expensive of course. Aswan's airport is a small set-up and arrival is a fast process with quite minimal checking of documents. Aswan itself is only 18kms away and there are plenty of taxis waiting for your business - LE60 is plenty enough for the trip which should only take around 35 minutes as the city is not busy with traffic most of the time. Quite a few people get to Aswan as part of a Luxor-Aswan or Aswan-Abu Simbel hotel boat cruise - along the river in the city it's not unusual to see 10 or more of these boats moored. Quite how good it is to travel on these hotel boats pretty much depends on how much you are willing to pay. Several people we talked too had arrived this way and said their cabins were terribly small - and to be on the boat was pretty expensive. A big complaint was the cost of mineral water which at LE22 a litre was around LE19.5 overpriced - quite upset several people we met. Of course one great benefit if you travel as far as Abu Simbel is to see the site from Lake Nasser - at night with it all lit up it makes an incredible sight.

You can get a car and driver from Luxor - the route is completely open with no convoy type controls in place. There are also Egyptian Railway services from Cairo via Luxor to Aswan but foreigners can only travel on a few specific trains so this may not be too flexible and it's not much cheaper than flying (Government Monopoly thrives in Egypt). Anyway most of the trains go at night and certainly in our case we would like to see the countryside along the River Nile as part of our trip.

Aswan - a nice place to stay?. Aswan really is a very pleasant city to stay in for a few days or for an even longer holiday.
Quite apart from the fact that Aswan is conveniently located near enough for various sightseeing excursions and day trips to ancient sites such as Abu Simbel, the Temples of Kom Ombo and Edfu, the River Nile is beautiful and scenic as it passes through the city. There is not a great deal of hassle from beggars and/or locals touting for your business and it's not bombed out with lots of traffic and noise - a welcome relief after a few days stay in Cairo for instance.

Money Exchange/ATMs in Aswan. There are ATMs along the Corniche el Nile at the Arab African International Bank, MISR bank and the National Bank of Egypt - plus one inside Aswan Airport. Quite a few of the better hotels have money exchange facilities and you can also change currency at the Thomas Cook travel agency which is located at 59 Abtal El Tahrir St., (Isis Island ferry end of El Corniche). It's worth noting that the exchange rates on offer in Aswan are pretty much "market" rates rather than "tourist" rates (this was true in Cairo as well) - we were getting a significantly better rate than that on offer at Heathrow for instance.

Hotels - Accommodation. There are a variety of hotels in Aswan - some really cheap and they look it - however hotels are considerably less expensive than those found in Cairo for instance. For around LE450 a night you can get a nice room (2 people) with a Nile View and with breakfast thrown in - we stayed on Isis Island (booked this on line with a hotel search site) and found it really good. Very peaceful of course as the hotel is all that's on the island and did they ever have a really good breakfast there - especially the made to order omelettes. As with all hotels you should avoid any type of room service requests and certainly don't touch the contents of the mini-fridge.

Eating Out - cafes/restaurants in Aswan. We had not booked evening meals at our hotel so we had to find sustenance in the City - for once in Egypt this was not a real problem. There are several to chose from - fairly basic places most of which were floating on barges/pontoons on the Nile itself - but the food was good and quite inexpensive. We tried these which are situated along the Kornaish:
Aswan Panaroma (excellent rice pudding but no alcohol and closes at 9 p.m.), Emy, Aswan Moon and the Salah al - Din which serves beers and probably offered the best food of the above.
Go along the Kornaish and then turn into Sharia Abu Zid road (next to the Bank Of Misra) and a little way up the road and having passed to roads on the left you will find on the left El-Masry. This quite basic restaurant offers variously priced fixed menus - starters, bread, soup, main dish with rice and a vegetable dish, a desert and Egyptian coffee. This works best if there are 4 or more of you because you then get more variety of vegetables etc and can share it around. Typical price for 4 people was around LE200 including a soft drink each - no alcohol was served.

Markets in Aswan. Aswan's 2km long Souk (market) is situated on the Sad Zahglol street which runs parallel with the Kornaish El Nile main road. The market opens for business during the afternoon but really gets going in the evening when it's a really colourful and very busy scene. As with many large Egyptian markets the various types of items for sale are split into sections - for instance you get a spice area, food, fruit and veg, clothing, suitcases and bags, souvenirs, gold jewellery and then silver etc. Although you are not particularly hassled by the traders you should expect to be constantly approached by the shop owners to look inside their shops and around their various stalls.

This applies particularly around the Souk's spice area - where the aromas are incredible - you often will be asked to go into the shops and try and identify various spices and so on - the owners are of course convinced that they will subsequently succeed in selling you something - it's all done with lots of smiles and part of the scene of course.

Touring in Aswan.
The following visits could easily be done in one 3 or 4 hour taxi ride - we were charged LE80 (plus gave a LE20 tip) for which we visited the High Dam, the Temple of Philae and ended up at the Obelisk.
The Aswan High Dam - Nile/Lake Nasser. Well the thing is it's world famous so you just have to take the 6km trip and stand on it. In truth there is not a lot to see and even less to photograph. Firstly they of course charge for you to go on it (LE20) then you are only allowed to stop at a couple of 100 yards worth of Visitors Area - go any further and the guards scream at you. So not much to see in reality but then it is the Aswan High Dam and you have been there. The Older Dam looks quite interesting what with it's brickwork and so on but the road across it is very narrow and there is no stopping unfortunately. You can however get a pretty good view of the Old Dam if you take the boat trip to Philae Temple (which should certainly not be missed - see below).

Philae and the Temple of Isis. This is a really worthwhile trip and easy to do on your own - no need for an organised tour. A taxi will do the trip from the City for around LE60 including waiting and return back to Aswan. Philae is reached by hiring a small boat - these are located in a harbour near the Old Dam - there are lots of boats waiting to take tourists and you pay for the boat and not per person. You need to negotiate your price for the trip - how much depends on how busy things are but probably LE70 is enough. For this the boat will wait for you for around an hour and bring you back - remember to not pay until you get back by the way. The entrance fee is LE50.

When the Aswan Low Dam was built in 1902 Philae Island and the Philae Temple complex was often flooded and this became a much bigger problem when the Old Dam was heightened in the early 1900s and again in the early 1930s. Much of the Isis temple's reliefs were washed away and the temple complex became heavily silted up. In 1960 in conjunction with UNESCO the Egyptians decided that the whole temple complex should be dismantled and re-instated on nearby Agilkia Island. This was landscaped to match the original site and has been beautifully done and looks most impressive as you approach in by water.

The steps from the landing stage lead past the Kiosk of Nectanebo II which dates from the 4th century BC. From here the long courtyard is flanked by colonnades with beautiful uniquely caved Capitals - the carving on the Western Colonnade are in particularly good condition. The Temple of Isis. The First Pylon was built by Neos Dionysos and shows reliefs of him being watched over by Isis, Horus and Hathos. The First Pylon into the temple of Isis was originally flanked by two obelisks but these have disappeared over time and today's pylon is simply guarded by two lions.

 Inside the forecourt the Birth house of Ptolemy IV is on the left - there are beautiful reliefs of Horus rising from the marshes. This courtyard then leads to the Second Pylon and the Hypostyle Hall and on into the Sanctuary. At the north end of the island are the ruins of the Temple of Augustus and Gate of Diocletian - originally on Philae Island these shared the site with a mud brick Roman Village but this could not be moved and has been lost to the Lake. Outside the main temple is the small Temple of Hathor but little of it remains - perhaps more eye-catching is the roof-less Kiosk of Trajan which overlooks the lake - it has beautifully carved pillars and shows Emperor Trajan making offerings to Isis and to Osiris.

Unfinished Obelisk. One of the pre-planned list of places to visit whilst staying in Aswan, this in our view was something of a waste of time. The Obelisk is situated on the southern edge of Aswan at the Northern Quarries and we got our taxi driver to drop us off there on the way back from visiting the High Dam. The entrance fee is LE30 - you trog across some open ground and then follow a man-made rocky path in and around a stone quarry (it's not very far) to arrive at this huge obelisk - it is just lying almost horizontally and has few features - this because it was "unfinished" due to cracking. The obelisk is carved out of granite and if completed would have been approximately 120 feet tall making it easily the largest ancient Egyptian obelisk ever erected.

Fatimid Cemetery. The cemetery is on the opposite side of the road to the Obelisk and is a particularly interesting place to visit. In fact if you wander through it you will end up on the main road into Aswan City and the Nile - just a further few minutes walk away.

The cemetery is always open and there are no entrance fees of course - what you will see are lots of mud built Islamic Tombs dating between the 8th and 12th Century although there are also more modern tombs too.

Elephantine Island. You can get to the Island by local ferry for just LE1 and don't be co-erced into paying more than that let alone take up the offer of a "private" boat - also they don't like giving change at the ferry desk. There are two Nubian villages on the island which you can wander around though in truth it is all pretty scruffy with lots of rubbish lying around. Perhaps the best part of the island to visit is the Temple of Khnum situated within an archaeological site containing the ancient ruined town of Yebu and where there is also a Nilometer. Entrance fee is LE30 - this allows you to visit the small but interesting museum, have a quiet sit in some nice but small gardens and of course entrance to the archaeological site.

Kitchener's Island (Island of Plants or Geziret an-Nabatat). This River Nile island is just one quite large botanical garden - there is a ferry but this only tends to cross when there are enough passengers otherwise you need to hire a small boat to take you to the entrance and wait for you at the other end of the island.*** Entrance fee to the island is LE10 and the gardens are open from sunrise to sunset - Fridays are best avoided as the area is very busy on that day. There is a cafe,  a couple of souvenir shops and toilets. The area is laid out with paths and is quite peaceful apart from the irritating "gardeners" who keep trying to get money from you by picking various herb leafs and wanting you to guess what they are.

The island was originally given to Lord Kitchener as a reward for his actions during the Sudan War in the late 19th century.***We decided to hire a small boat for a trip along the Nile to Sehel Island and included stopping here as part of it - see Local Boat Trips below.

Local Boat Trips. The River Nile is beautiful around this area of Aswan - lots of wildlife, small boats and felucca everywhere, fish jumping and lovely vegetation. From a boat you can get excellent views of the (currently in a run down state) Old Cataract Hotel - famous for being where Agatha Christie wrote Death on The Nile. One good way of enjoying all this is take a felucca trip for a few hours - just meandering around the small Nile islands under sail is an excellent past-time - they charge around LE50 for an hour or so trip.

Sehel Island is situated a few kms up river (south) of Aswan and on the trip to the village is where you can get great views of the 1st Cataract. Sehel itself is Nubian - there is a school there as well as the Nubian village and more views of the 1st Cataract of course. Our small boat was initially hired for LE70 which was for the trip to Sehel Island and back. However once finished looking round the village we decided we would go to Kitchener's Island where the boatman dropped us off and waited and hour or so. We then got him to take us on to Elephantine Island where our trip with him ended - we had the boat on hire for probably 5 hours and this ended up costing LE150 including tip.

Aswan - River Nile West Bank. There are quite a few bits and pieces to look at on the West Bank. You can easily reach the West Bank by local ferry (6am to 11pm) which costs 1LE and leaves around every 30 minutes from the railway station end of the Corniche El Nile and goes over to Min Gharb:

Aswan - Tombs of the Nobles. Entrance fee for the Tombs area is LE35 and the Ticket Office is along the path from the Aswan Min Gharb village ferry landing on the left. You will be bombarded by locals offering to hire a camel ride to the steps leading to the Tombs and then out across the desert to the Monastery and Mausoleum. However if the intention is simply going to see the Tombs these are quite easily reached on foot as only a short distance from the ferry landing area - there are quite steep steps for the final walk up to the Tombs. Once up the steps there are no signs but certainly yet another "guide".

However just go left to reach the tombs which are numbered but not named. The "guides" will still be around and offer to let you into the tombs however you have payed so just be insistent that the doors are unlocked and don't pay any more money to them. The tombs are not ever so impressive (nothing remotely like those in Luxor) which is probably why not too many tourists bother to go in the first place - but there are a few reliefs and so on to look at. Once finished looking around return to the top of the steps and go straight on - you will find a small church and other old structures to look at. If you intend going no further then it's just back to the steps and down to the ferry.

Qubbet el-Hawa. However you can go and have a steep climb on up the slope to take a look at the Qubbet el-Hawa shrine sat above the Tombs (see above left photo) - this is visible from just about anywhere in Aswan so of course fairly essential to visit. The name means Tomb of the Wind and it's a hilltop Muslim shrine - the views over Aswan are very good and you also get a glimpse of the Monastery and also of the Aga Khan Mausoleum** - plus lots fresh air too. From here you can simply return to the ferry the way you came however you may decide to visit the Moni of St Simeon. If you have hired a camel ride for this then that's all sorted already however it is perfectly possible and quite easy to walk there and back. **The Mausoleum - which is not open to the public so you can only look from the outside - is for Sultan Mahommed Shah, Aga Khan III who died on the 11th July 1957).

Moni of St. Simeon (Deir Anba Samaan). The Coptic Monastery of St. Simeon is located around 4kms across the desert and is a reasonable walk mostly on a clear wide path however the final part involves a steep climb down and then back up through soft sand.

The Monastery looks from the outside like a huge fortress - it was originally founded in the 7th Century and then re-built in the 10th Century. Entrance fee is LE25 and the monastery is open from 0800 to 1600 daily. There are lots of ruins and various rooms to look at - the monastery could house 300 monks who slept on stone beds at 5 to a cell.

Touring Egypt - visiting Abu Simbel, The Temples of Sobek and Haroeris at Kom Ombo and The Temple of Horus at Edfu

Egypt - Abu Simbel.
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.
Prices and any opening times mentioned on this topic relate to late November 2009 and are for guidance - without doubt such entrance fees etc will only increase. Opening times for the temples are 06:00-18:00 in the Summer and it shuts earlier at 17:00 in the winter although the authorities are flexible if tourists flights are delayed

Abu Simbel is where two 13th century BC Egyptian Temples dedicated to Rameses II and to his wife Nefertari have been re-located. The Temples are located in Nubia which was the land between Aswan and Northern Sudan - the Nubians used to travel to Egypt for work and to trade and also built their houses along the banks of the River Nile. These houses were constructed from sun-baked bricks made of clay and straw and then individually painted and decorated often in a multitude of different colours - similar Nubian houses can still be seen around Aswan City at Elephantine Island and at Sehel Island.

The Two Temples. Along the river bank south of Aswan there were once many temples and amongst them the Temple of Rameses II at Abu Simbel. The Temple of Rameses II is the largest and most impressive of the temples in the area and was carved into massive rocks as opposed to normal free standing temples - due to this there was a huge problem in working out how to move it all when the Aswan High Dam was built and Lake Nasser threatened to flood it. The site as seen today is around 60 metres higher than the original location of the two temples. At the entrance to the Temple of Rameses II are four enormous statues of a young Rameses II.

The central hall has 8 more statues of the King, 4 on either side and stood between huge pillars - on the walls there are numerous carvings. The Sanctuary is cut into the artificial mountain to a depth of 55 metres and contains seated statues of 4 gods - Ptah of Memphis, Arun-Ra of Thebes, Rameses II (who saw himself as a God) and Ra Harakhte. Next to the King's Temple is Queen Nefertari's smaller Temple which is dedicated to the sun-goddess Hathor - the entrance has huge statues of Rameses II and large statues of Nefertari (with small statues of her children beside her). Inside the Temple there are some beautiful drawings of Nefertari on the walls and the pillars have excellent carvings showing Hathor's face.

Is it worth going to Abu Simbel?. This probably seems like a peculiar thing to ponder for such an important ancient site 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 reliefs - however if you have already been to Luxor and especially Karnak then perhaps not quite so. With all the will in the world looking round the two temples probably takes about 30 or 40 minutes - they are quite small. The site itself looks completely artificial - it is of course but very obviously so unlike for instance the relocated site at Philae which does look natural somehow, Abu Simbel's temples seem to have been simply "plonked" there. There is a very wide dusty area in front of the temples which stretches over to 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 used up and considerable expense we did not consider it a particularly worthwhile trip in the end. Probably this would be better visited and looked at via a boat cruise along Lake Nasser - apparently the temples when lit up at night look fantastic if seen from an approaching Nile cruise boat .

Visiting Egypt's Temples at 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. The drive there is quite interesting as once you leave Aswan you enter very green countryside passing through fields of sugar cane and corn. You are likely to see lorries and pick-up trucks transporting camels, cows and pigs etc to market at Darow. The combined visits to Kom Ombo and Edfu do make a very enjoyable and interesting day out.

Touring Egypt - Visiting the Kom Ombo Temples:- Temple of Haroeris and Temple of Sobek. Kom Ombo is around 45kms north of Aswan - entrance fee is LE30 and the temples are open daily.

Outside of the actual Temples there are several cafes and stalls and the whole area is situated in very nice shaded grounds. Beautifully positioned overlooking the River Nile the Temple is built in the Graeco Roman style and is unusual in that it is dedicated to two gods - Horus (The Falcon God) and Sobek (The Crocodile God).

The Temple has two entrances, two halls and two sanctuaries - the left side is dedicated to Horus and the right hand side to Sobek - construction of the Temples commenced in the second century bc..

The Temple has been added too over the years in particular the entrance pylon which was built by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 30 BC. From the forecourt, doors lead into the Hypostyle Halls where there are many carved pillars showing the lotus flower of Upper Egypt and the papyrus of the Delta. A series of halls and vestibules lead into the Halls of Sobek and Horus - both have black diorite offering tables

Egypt - Edfu:- Temple of Horus.
The Egyptian town of Edfu is around 105kms from Aswan and around 60kms from Kom Ombo and houses the Temple of Horus - the temple is open daily with an entrance fee of LE50. The Temple is a short distance from the River Nile and you have to go through the town to reach the site's large parking area. The Temple Complex is purposely fenced off in such a way that you are forced to go past numerous stalls before reaching the Ticket Office - and subsequently you do get a little plagued by the vendors trying to sell you things. However the Temple of Horus is one of the best preserved temples in Egypt, is in excellent condition and has beautiful carvings - definitely well worth visiting.

These temple carvings include depictions of festivals, mock battles of Horus's victory over Seth, the wedding visit of Hathor and the annual coronation of the reigning King. The first building on the left is the colonnaded Birthing House and then you come to the First Pylon which is flanked by two black granite statues of Horus (in the guise of a Falcon). This leads into a large colonnaded courtyard and the first Hypostyle Hall - a second smaller hall follows where gifts to the gods were stored in side chambers before being used in the Hall of Offering. The Sanctuary is surrounded by several chapels which have excellent reliefs.

These are our Egypt related topics:-

Further related information: The following travel books may be of great benefit if travelling and touring around Egypt's Ancient Sites - Egypt Rough Guide  Egypt Insight Guide  Egypt Eyewitness Guide  Egypt Lonely Planet

Please see the bottom part of our Home Page - where there are links to our travel and holiday websites about Cyprus, England, The Canary Islands, Greek Islands and Athens, The Algarve, India, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand Bangkok, Bali and several other Indonesian Holiday Islands.   Visit our Resources to Email Us and/or to see our website privacy policy.

www.Egypt-Travel-Guide.co.uk