Nile cruises in Egypt: how to choose the route, the ship and the price

A Nile cruise is the easiest way to see the temples of Upper Egypt: you unpack once and wake up at Edfu, Kom Ombo or Luxor's West Bank with a guide waiting. Almost every itinerary covers the same stretch between Luxor and Aswan, and almost every ship sold to foreigners calls itself five-star. The differences that matter are elsewhere: which way you sail, how many nights, what the price includes and whether the operator tells you the ship's name before you pay.

This guide is independent: we compare the cruises sold on GetYourGuide, Headout and Tiqets with what the ships and lines publish, and say where the catch is.

What a Nile cruise really is: Luxor to Aswan in 3 or 4 nights

Well over a hundred cruise ships work the river between Luxor and Aswan. Most run a weekly loop: they sail upstream from Luxor to Aswan in 4 nights, then back downstream in 3 nights, and start again. You can join either half, or stay on board for both and make it a 7-night round trip. The 3-night and the 4-night cruise are the same river, the same temples and often the same ship.

Each ship has its own weekdays. Sonesta's St George I, for example, leaves Luxor on Monday and Aswan on Friday; other ships leave Luxor on Thursday or Saturday and Aswan on Monday or Wednesday. In practice, choosing your dates chooses your ship.

Here is the 4-night upstream run as Sonesta publishes it for the St George I; other ships keep a similar order.

Two things worth knowing. First, a lot of the sailing happens between 03:00 and 06:00 or over lunch; the long daylight stretch of river scenery is mostly between Edfu, Kom Ombo and Aswan. Second, the ship passes the Esna lock between Luxor and Edfu. The newer lock takes two large cruise ships at a time, and in the winter peak the queue can run to hours. If the lock is shut or the wait is long, operators move passengers by coach between Luxor and Esna.

Aswan to Luxor or Luxor to Aswan: 3 nights or 4?

Both directions visit the same core sites: Karnak, Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahari, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philae and the High Dam. The difference is pace.

The 4-night cruise from Luxor to Aswan (upstream) is the relaxed version. You reach Kom Ombo in the evening, when the temple is lit and cooler, and you get a free afternoon in Aswan for the Botanical Garden or a felucca, the traditional Nile sailing boat. Read the full day-by-day in our Luxor to Aswan cruise guide.

The 3-night cruise from Aswan to Luxor (downstream) squeezes Kom Ombo (around 07:00–09:00) and Edfu into one day, and on some ships Karnak and Luxor Temple happen on the last morning after you have checked out, roughly 08:30–12:00 on Sonesta. Book your onward flight for the afternoon, not the morning. Our Aswan to Luxor guide shows where the time goes.

Our view: with five days to spare, take the 4 nights upstream; if time is tight, the 3 nights downstream sees the same temples for less.

How platforms count days

Platform listings count calendar days, not nights:

The 1-night and 2-night products are agency slices of a ship's 3-night run. They cost more per night, not less: one GetYourGuide "overnight" from Aswan costs from $550 for one night, while the plain 3-night cruise from Aswan starts at $450. A 7-night round trip repeats the route on the second leg; Sonesta fills those days with free time rather than repeat visits, so pay for 7 nights only if you want river days. More in how many nights to choose.

Nile cruise prices: what you really pay

The cheapest platform cruise works out at about $150 per person per night. From there, price follows the class of boat, the season and, above all, what the fare includes.

A few published numbers make good anchors. Mayfair Cruises publishes $230–330 per person per night for a double cabin, including sightseeing, entry fees and airport transfers. A&K's Sun Boat IV, a luxury boat with 38 cabins, costs $3,235 per person for a 4-night cruise in October and November, and about half that in summer. A Luxury Room on Nour El Nil's dahabiya Agatha costs €6,600 for the 5-night cruise, for two people. See Nile cruise prices for the full breakdown.

The extras that can double the bill

Entry fees. If your package excludes them, the eight sites of a standard cruise cost EGP 4,060 per foreign adult (students half). That is before Tutankhamun's tomb (EGP 700), Seti I (EGP 2,000) or Abu Simbel (EGP 822). The ministry's official prices are on egymonuments.com.

Who includes them? Oberoi, A&K and Mayfair's published rates do, and so do most Egyptian agency packages. Booked direct with Sonesta, JAZ or Steigenberger, the cabin is sold like a hotel room and sightseeing is charged on top. Most GetYourGuide listings don't say either way, so read the "includes" list before you pay. The only platform cruise that promises entrance fees in its title is a Headout 4-day 5-star cruise from $325, which has no reviews yet and leaves out a tipping kitty of about US$45.

Tips. There is no official rule. Budget roughly US$5–10 per person per night for the crew, paid in one envelope at reception on the last evening, plus US$10–15 per person per day for your guide. The ship usually announces its suggested figure at the welcome briefing.

Drinks and festive nights. Full board means meals (on Mövenpick ships, four a day including afternoon tea), not drinks. Over New Year expect a compulsory New Year's Eve gala supplement on many ships; agencies quote roughly US$50–180 per person.

Which Nile cruise ship? Five-star labels and "or similar"

Most ships sold to foreigners call themselves five-star. The label covers a wide range, from plain budget ships to new boats with spas and suites, and there is no public ministry list of rated Nile ships. Judge a ship by its cabin count, balconies, inclusions and weekday, not its stars.

Platform listings almost never name the ship: they say "5-star ship or similar", and the Egyptian agency running the listing assigns one close to your date. That is often fine, but ask for the ship's name, the cabin deck and the entry-fee list right after booking, then look the ship up in our Nile cruise ship reviews.

One more thing the brochures skip: at busy moorings in Luxor, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Aswan, ships often tie up side by side, so your window may face the next ship. Don't pay extra for a "Nile view" cabin expecting the river at every stop.

Roughly, the river has four tiers:

• Budget and standard five-star ships, sold by agencies and on the platforms, 3 or 4 nights, usually 50–80 cabins. Our best-cruise picks rank them by what you can check.
• Upper five-star ships with published rates or suite-heavy layouts, such as the Sonesta St George, which you can book direct like a hotel.
• Luxury boats with 22–38 cabins and inclusive fares: the Oberoi Zahra and Philae, A&K's Sun Boat IV and the new Nile Seray. None of them is sold on a platform. Our luxury Nile cruise guide compares them.
• International river lines such as Viking, Uniworld and AmaWaterways sell their Nile cruises only inside packages of about 12 days that start and end in Cairo; Viking's Pharaohs & Pyramids starts from $6,999.

Booking a Nile cruise: GetYourGuide, Headout or direct?

GetYourGuide has by far the most Nile cruises with real reviews. Its terms allow free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead on most bookings, and it offers "reserve now, pay later"; multi-day cruises may have stricter terms, so check the listing. Headout is strong for Cairo dinner cruises but has only a handful of multi-day cruises, with almost no reviews. Tiqets sells no multi-day cruise at all.

The most popular package, 3 nights from Aswan with Abu Simbel and a Luxor balloon flight, is sold on two platforms. Today GetYourGuide is the cheaper of the three listings. The ship, cabin, inclusions and dates may differ, so compare the "includes" lists, not only the price.

Is the add-on version worth it? It costs about $130 more than the plain 3-night cruise. Bought separately, Abu Simbel costs EGP 822 plus transport, and a Luxor balloon flight costs from about $70–96, so the bundle is fair value if you want both and dislike organising.

Booking direct makes sense when you want a named ship: Sonesta, Historia (through Small Luxury Hotels), Mayfair, Oberoi and A&K all sell their own cabins. Remember that a direct Sonesta or JAZ fare excludes sightseeing. Our platform comparison covers cancellation and refunds in detail.

⛵ Aswan

GetYourGuide3 nightsFrom Aswan

From Aswan: 4-Day Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor with Guide

4.3 (654)

from $450Check dates

⛵ Aswan

GetYourGuide3 nightsFrom Aswan

From Aswan: 4-Day Nile Cruise to Luxor with Abu Simbel and Balloon Flight

4.5 (555)

from $580Check dates

⛵ Aswan

GetYourGuide2 nightsFrom Aswan

From Aswan: 3-Day Cruise to Luxor with Hot Air Balloon

4.3 (657)

from $1,000Check dates

See everything on GetYourGuide →See everything on Headout →See everything on Tiqets →Prices checked on 19 October 2026

Other ways to cruise the Nile: dahabiya, Lake Nasser, Cairo

The Luxor–Aswan ship is the default, not the only choice.

Dahabiya: Esna to Aswan under sail

A dahabiya is a traditional Nile sailing boat with roughly 6–10 cabins. The classic trip is 5 nights from Esna to Aswan, upriver with the north wind, so it skips the Esna lock and the Luxor stretch (you see Luxor before or after). It stops where big ships can't: El Kab and Gebel el-Silsila. There is no pool, a tug tows on calm days, and the last night is at the Aswan bridge dock by government rule. Nour El Nil doesn't sail from June to August; other fleets publish summer prices, so check. The best-reviewed platform option is a 3-night luxury dahabiya from Aswan to Luxor, from $1,100 and rated 4.8. See the dahabiya guide.

Lake Nasser: Aswan to Abu Simbel

Above the High Dam, a separate fleet sails Lake Nasser; Luxor–Aswan ships cannot pass the dam. The two big ships, Steigenberger's Omar El Khayam and Mövenpick's Prince Abbas, leave Aswan on Monday for 4 nights and Abu Simbel on Friday for 3 nights. You arrive at Abu Simbel by water, moor there overnight and can watch the sound and light show. Qasr Ibrim is a 15-minute photo stop from the sun deck, with no landing. No platform sells these cruises; book through the operators or an agency. More in the Lake Nasser cruise guide.

The long cruise from Cairo

Almost every "Nile cruise from Cairo" is a flight to Luxor or Aswan plus a 3- or 4-night cruise. The real river voyage exists but is rare: Mövenpick's Darakum sails Cairo to Aswan in 14 nights and Aswan to Cairo in 12, with about a dozen departures a year, in spring and autumn only. It stops for Amarna, Abydos and Dendera and passes three locks. In the UK, Riviera Travel sells it from £7,589 per person with flights.

Nile cruise from Cairo, from Hurghada or from the UK

From Cairo. Flights take about an hour to Luxor and an hour and a quarter to Aswan; EgyptAir, Air Cairo and Nile Air fly both routes. The packaged version, a fly-and-cruise from Cairo, starts at $1,300. The overnight alternative is the Abela sleeper train (the old Watania service): from Giza to Aswan it costs US$157.50 in a single cabin or US$115.50 per person in a double. Train 86 leaves Giza at 20:15 and reaches Luxor at 06:10, in good time for a noon embarkation. Times and fares on abelatrains.com. Details in Nile cruises from Cairo.

From Hurghada. No ship sails from the Red Sea. Packages drive about four hours to Luxor and join a cruise there; transfers leave early and pass police checkpoints. See Nile cruises from Hurghada.

From the UK. easyJet (Gatwick) and TUI (Gatwick, Manchester) fly direct to Luxor in the winter season; there are no direct UK flights to Aswan. TUI also sells its own ships, TUI Al Horeya and TUI Bahareya, on 7-night all-inclusive round trips from Luxor in winter, on their own or as a cruise and stay with a hotel in Luxor or Hurghada. Past seasons started from about £1,499–1,785 per person with flights; only the Edfu and Kom Ombo excursions were included, the rest were paid extras. Check current prices on tui.co.uk.

Visa. UK visitors can get a visa on arrival for US$30, cash only, valid 30 days, or an e-visa on visa2egypt.gov.eg (US$30 single, US$65 multiple). The single-entry fee rises to US$33 from 1 January 2027. A Sinai-only entry stamp does not cover Luxor or a cruise.

Best time for a Nile cruise

October to April is the season. December to February is the coolest and busiest: Luxor reaches 23–25 °C by day but drops to 7–9 °C at night, which matters for a dawn balloon flight or a breezy sun deck. October, November and March are warmer shoulders. From May to September average temperatures reach 39–42 °C, and sightseeing starts at 06:00 for good reason.

Summer is cheapest, but not everyone sails. Mayfair Cruises, Nour El Nil and Mövenpick's Royal Lily, Royal Lotus and Sun Ray stop from June to August, the Oberoi ships skip June, and TUI sails only in winter. Sonesta, JAZ, Steigenberger and Mövenpick's Hamees keep sailing all year.

Some dates change the price or the crowds: Christmas and New Year (gala supplements), the Abu Simbel sun festival on 22 February and 22 October (the ticket rises to EGP 1,272), and the total solar eclipse on 2 August 2027, with more than six minutes of totality near Luxor (NASA path map). It is the one summer date that sells out. Month-by-month detail is in when to go.

Beyond the cruise: balloon, feluccas, Abu Simbel and Cairo by night

Hot air balloon. Balloons fly only from Luxor's West Bank, never in Aswan. Pick-up is about 05:00–05:30 in winter, and the Civil Aviation Authority cancels flights in wind, so book your first Luxor morning to leave a spare dawn. The most-reviewed flight, Luxor balloon over the relics, starts at $88 with 1,869 reviews.

Felucca. A felucca is hired per boat, not per seat. In Luxor the sunset sail leaves from the East Bank as the sun drops behind the Theban hills; the top-rated private sunset felucca starts at $29 and admits that a motorboat tows it when there is no wind. Aswan, with its granite islands, is the better felucca water.

Abu Simbel. The temples sit about 280–300 km south of Aswan, 3.5–4 hours by road, so day trips leave before dawn and the alarm goes around 03:30. The ticket is EGP 822. A road day trip from Aswan starts at $40.

Cairo dinner cruise. The same few boats are resold by many agencies, so compare by boat name: Nile Maxim costs from $70 on Headout, $75 on Tiqets and $122.55 on GetYourGuide. Drinks, even water, are extra on the big boats. For the window-or-stage seat upgrade the platforms disagree as well; check whether the price shown is per person or per group.

SightsLuxor hot-air balloonfrom $63 EveningsCairo dinner cruisefrom $25 Under sailFelucca ridesfrom $15 SightsAbu Simbelfrom $40 PlanBest Nile cruisesfrom $450 SightsThings to do on the Nilefrom $30

Nile cruise FAQ