Travel Guides
Cruising Lake Nasser: Egypt's Quietest Ancient Route
A slower, far less crowded alternative to the Luxor-Aswan Nile cruise — sailing Lake Nasser between temples that were moved here to escape the water that now surrounds them.
Almost everyone who cruises Egypt does it between Luxor and Aswan. A much smaller number sail Lake Nasser instead — the vast reservoir south of the Aswan High Dam, where a handful of small ships cover a route most visitors don't even know exists.
What Makes It Different
Lake Nasser cruises run only a few sailings a week, on ships that carry a fraction of the passengers of a standard Nile vessel, through a landscape with almost no other tourist traffic — open water and desert shoreline rather than the towns and farmland that line the Nile further north. The temples along the route, including Kalabsha, Amada, and Wadi es-Sebua, were all relocated here for the same reason as Philae and Abu Simbel: to save them from the dam's floodwaters.
Abu Simbel by Water
The route's centerpiece is arriving at Abu Simbel by boat rather than by road convoy — a genuinely different way to approach the temple's facade, without the coach-park crowds that build up around the midday road arrivals.
Who It Suits
This is a trip for travelers who've already done a standard Nile cruise, or who specifically want a quieter, slower pace over ticking off maximum sites. It's a smaller, less frequent product than the Luxor-Aswan route, so it needs to be booked further ahead.
Where This Takes You