Aswan, Egypt

Abu Simbel from Aswan by Road

Four twenty-meter Ramesses II statues carved into a cliff, and the temple he built beside it for Nefertari. Both were cut apart and moved uphill in the 1960s to save them.

8 to 9 hrs Private or small group Private or shared Pick-up from any Aswan hotel or from your Nile cruise boat, included.

Cultural & Historical Day Trips

Trip highlights

The Great Temple of Ramesses II and its four colossal seated statues
The Temple of Nefertari, where the queen stands equal in height to the king
The story of how both were cut up and moved to higher ground
Your choice of the early road convoy or a thirty-minute flight

About this tour

Nothing else compares to Abu Simbel. Ramesses II had two temples cut directly into a sandstone cliff above the Nile: the larger, fronted by four seated statues of himself twenty meters high; the smaller, dedicated to his queen Nefertari — and unusually, her statues are the same height as his.

Then in the 1960s the rising waters of Lake Nasser were going to drown both. So they were sawn into more than a thousand blocks, lifted sixty-five meters up the cliff, and reassembled inside an artificial hill built to hold them. The alignment was kept so precisely that twice a year the rising sun still reaches the length of the temple to light the statues in the innermost sanctuary — 22 February and 22 October in 2026, at around 6:40 in the morning.

You can go by road 80 km and about three and a half hours each way, leaving Aswan between 4 and 5 am — or fly, which is thirty minutes in the air and roughly an hour and a half door to door, giving you about four hours on site and your morning back. We book either.

How the day runs

1Step
Very early departure

By road, between 4 and 5am to arrive in the good early light. By air, a little later — the flight is short.
2Step
The Great Temple

The façade, then inside through the hypostyle hall lined with Osiride pillars to the sanctuary at the back of the mountain.
3Step
The Temple of Nefertari

Smaller, and in some ways the more affecting of the two.
4Step
The relocation

Your guide will show you the seams where the blocks were rejoined, and the dome of the artificial mountain behind.
5Step
Return to Aswan

Back by early afternoon on the flight, or late afternoon by road.

What's included

Private air-conditioned vehicle and driver, or return flights and airport transfers
Licensed English-speaking Egyptologist guide
Hotel or cruise-boat pick-up in Aswan
Entrance tickets to both temples
Bottled water and a packed breakfast on the road option

Not included

Lunch
Tipping
Personal expenses

Questions about this tour

Air, for most people. Seven hours of desert driving on top of a 4am start takes a day out of you, and the flight gives you the afternoon back in Aswan. The road is cheaper and the desert itself is striking, so if budget matters more than sleep, take it.

No — it has not been since 2019. There are security checkpoints along the route where documents are checked, which your driver handles. Travel between Aswan and Abu Simbel is otherwise unrestricted.

Only if the phenomenon itself is the draw. On 22 February and 22 October several thousand people are there before dawn, and it becomes a crowd event rather than a temple visit. On any other day you will have far more of it to yourself.