From Luxor to Aswan

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Aswan

Listed to the left are the main sites that are usually included on a Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan. Nile cruisers moor along the banks of the river and tourists are then usually taken by air-conditioned coach to the site to be visited. Due to the number of cruisers on the Nile, the usual practice is for the boats to be moored alongside each other. This means that you will regularly have to walk through up to six other boats to reach the shore.

Your guide will escort you around the site and will then allow you some free time in which you can wander at will. However, this can often amount to as little as 15 minutes, and if you have a specific item you want to see you will have to hurry. It is also common for the coach to stop at various factories where you will be shown how alabaster vases, perfume, carpets etc. are made. This can be frustrating if you are not interested in this sort of thing.

The cruisers are usually moored overnight, which will allow you some time to walk around the local town. Quite often, the tours of places of interest will be completed by late afternoon which will also give you time to wander on your own. But be warned, moored boats can be moved! It is very common for boats to be moved during the day. You may go for a walk and come back to find that your boat has vanished – in which case you should ask either a policeman or a member of crew from the boat where yours used to be.

I strongly recommend that you take a bottle of water with you whilst out and about. It can become extremely hot and dusty and a strong thirst could seriously diminish your enjoyment. I also recommend that you take plenty of film with you – a wonderful photo opportunity lies around every corner and you will kick yourself if you run out of film. On a one week cruise I used ten rolls of film (360 pictures!!).

It may be worth checking which tombs and temples are open - follow this link

A note about taking photos, particularly in the Tombs on the West Bank at Luxor (Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Tombs of the Nobles). Please observe the "no flash photography" warnings when they are present. The light from a camera flash will do irreparable damage to the paintings in these tombs. More ultra violet damage has been done to these paintings in the last 100 years than has occurred in the previous 3000 years. The camera flash will bleach the colour pigments, rendering the paintings dull and eventually colourless.

I have successfully taken photos in these tombs using a SLR camera with a very fast film (ISO 400 and faster) and no flash.