For as long as I can remember, the prospect of going on a Nile cruise has always been exciting and magical.

When I was young I came upon an Agatha Christie book named “Death on the Nile”. The book followed a company of several odd characters as they travelled through the Nile, where the traditional incidents that the beloved author is known for, slowly unfolds. I won’t ruin the book for you as it’s a great one, but I will tell you about my trip on this incredible cruise.

I planned the trip for December. I recommend this time of the year as the temperature is pleasant and the sun won’t exhaust you after 5 minutes, as you’ll be spending a lot of time walking around the temples. A cool breeze can really make a difference, however if you’d like a tan to go with the trip, by all means come around in July or August :). Most people recommend to do the Nile tour from October to April.

During the actual trip, you’ll be accommodated on a boat. I would recommend travelling with a boat company that has a strong reputation with good reviews. There are around 200 boats available to do Nile cruises during peak season, so depending on your budget and how comfy you’d like to be, there’s plenty of variety to choose from. Also, most of the boats have some pretty unique entertainment during the evenings, so that’s a good chance you’ll get to see something you probably won’t see ever again. I particularly enjoyed the whirling dervishes!

My cruise was 3 nights and 4 days. It was one of the most magical vacations I’ve had.

I’ll share some of the highlights with you on a day-by-day basis so you can get a feeling of the experience.

Day 1

On our first day we took a flight from Cairo to Aswan. Once we arrived we met our guide (it’s important to get a good guide – you’ll probably have to pay him separately. Gratuity is recommended if you’re happy with his services) and dropped off our luggage on the boat.

We first visited the High Dam which has a lot of history on how Egypt and Russia cooperated for the project. Then we eagerly visited our first temple! The temple of Philae was incredible. It was our first encounter with huge hieroglyphics carved on walls over 15-20 meters high.

The feeling of seeing such intricate work done thousands of years ago, in such detail, is pretty amazing. After being astonished at our first encounter with an ancient temple we visited the granite quarries. Here you can see a form of labor that also seems to stand still in time.

There are many artists creating granite based lamps and working on the minerals in such fascinating ways. It’s a good place to get a few souvenirs for friends back home too! After the quarries, we hopped back in our van and visited the unfinished obelisk, which was actually being carved out of bedrock until they started seeing some cracks and decided to move on. All of this was just in the morning!

Following this, we drove back to the boat for a big lunch and some chill-time. By this time we started sailing and decided to go to the top of the boat to get a good look at the Nile and the views around it. Everyone will tell you how this place has barely changed in time and I have to agree.

You can catch a glimpse of a part of Egypt that has not changed over thousands of years, where man’s influence has really been minimal.

By mid-afternoon we reached Komonbo, which was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

This is the area where the huge Nile crocodile inhabits. In fact a particular one called Sobek was revered by the locals as a war-like deity (god of strength and power).

Another incredible temple is set here – the Ptolomeic which is ruled by two divinities, Sobek and Haroeis. By the time we arrived at the temple it was getting dark and the sight was unbelievable. Inside you could marvel at how the deities had their own doors and sanctuaries, plus seeing the ingenious ways in which the locals got water from the river to the temple.

After this, you can drop by the Komombo museum in which you’ll encounter other types of mummies… crocodile ones! There are a lot of gigantic crocodile mummies. The museum is well set up, with good explanations and nicely arranged exhibitions. I recommend it!

We then head back to our boat and through the night we sailed to Edfu..

Day 2

The second day started with a lovely, traditional Egyptian breakfast, before heading to the Horus Temple. This is a fantastic place that actually is the most ancient standing temple of the pharaonic period. We spent around 4 hours in this museum, and by this point I didn’t think I could possibly squeeze any more history in to my brain. I had deities, periods and temple names making my head spin!

Once we got back from the Horus temple, we sailed to Esna. Here we had to queue in order to cross the Esna lock that would allow us to go to Luxor.

A pretty funny thing happened. As we crossed over the dock, there was a host of people waiting for us on the other side. All of them had Egyptian souvenirs to sell and their business method was very nontraditional shall we say. They started throwing all sorts of garments and souvenirs towards us from the dock (around 10 meters away). The idea was that if we liked the items, we would throw them money, otherwise we should throw back the merchandise.

I didn’t purchase anything but I did almost get hit in the head by a Nefertiti towel.

Day 3

On our third day we arrived at incredible Luxor. We spent the whole day there, but you could probably spend a couple of years wandering around and still miss something.

Soon after breakfast we went to the west bank where we visited the Valley of the Kings. It was great to arrive early in the morning as there was almost no queue to get in and also the weather was fantastic at this time. The Valley of the Kings is where tombs of all the royal mummies were discovered. They’ve opened several for the public to visit, and they still believe there are many more that haven’t been discovered yet.

These tombs are like nothing you’ve ever seen. What they’ve done is to carve a tunnel inside the mountain, sometimes over 100 meters, until they reach the desired tomb of the pharaoh. All around this path the walls and ceilings are richly decorated with paintings from the book of the dead in some tombs, with various other stories in the rest. It is said that each pharaoh commissioned his tomb as soon as he ascended to throne, as it would take years for them to be ready. Talk about planning!

Overall, it’s an impossible place to miss.

The next stop on our itinerary was the Colossi of Memnon. These are two great statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, standing almost in the middle of nowhere. We were told previously there used to be a great temple here, the largest one ever built, however due to several yearly floods from the Nile, the colossi are the only remnants of this temple.

We had seen so many amazing things and were pretty satisfied with our day by this point, however after lunch, we visited the legendary Karnak temple. There are few words to express the vastness of this temple. You need a couple of hours to just walk around it and if you start paying attention to the encryptions and the rich history, you could easily spend a couple of days.

Needless to say, Karnak is a world heritage site and with good reason. This temple is located in the monumental city of Thebes and was built across hundreds of years including the ptolomaic period. Many deities have precincts in it.

The structure is very well maintained and you can really get lost between the huge pillars and the intricate hieroglyphics. After this very long but rewarding day, we were happy to have a delicious dinner on our cruise boat and get some sleep.

Day 4

During our last day, we had the chance to walk around Luxor some more and get acquainted with the city, visiting the local museum and riding in a delightful horse caravan before catching our flight back to Cairo.

The whole Nile cruise was everything we expected and much much more. It’s such a fantastic experience from start to finish.

Feel free to comment or email me if you have any questions and I can elaborate more!