4 Day Nile Cruise Review 2025: Aswan, Luxor & Hot Air Balloon with Abu Simbel
So, you’re looking at a four-day cruise on the Nile, and it’s almost a classic holiday choice for a reason. I recently went on this specific trip that goes from Aswan to Luxor, and to be honest, it really packs a lot in. This isn’t your average lie-on-a-beach kind of holiday; as a matter of fact, it’s pretty full-on from the moment you step on the boat. You know, you get to see some of the most famous old places in the world, like, all in one go. We’re talking about massive temples, a super early trip to see Abu Simbel, and that really amazing hot air balloon ride over Luxor that you see in all the pictures. It’s kind of a whirlwind tour, so it’s good to know what you’re getting into. Basically, my goal here is to give you a real sense of what those four days feel like, day by day, from my own experience.
All Aboard in Aswan: The Starting Point
Okay, so your first day pretty much kicks off in Aswan. Arriving at the cruise boat, I was actually quite surprised by how comfy it was. The cabins aren’t huge, obviously, but they have everything you need and usually a big window so you can watch the Nile slide by, which is pretty much the whole point, right? That first day is a little more relaxed, typically. For instance, you get checked in, find your room, and then you’ll probably go on an afternoon tour around Aswan itself. We got to see the High Dam, which is just enormous and holds back this massive body of water, Lake Nasser. Still, the more interesting thing for me was the Unfinished Obelisk. It’s basically a giant stone pillar that they started carving right out of the rock, but it cracked, so they just left it there. You can actually see the marks where the workers stopped thousands of years ago, which is sort of wild to think about.
Later that day, we took a little motorboat out to the Temple of Philae, which is on an island. They literally had to move the whole temple, piece by piece, to save it from the rising waters of the dam. Frankly, you wouldn’t know it wasn’t there all along. It’s a very pretty spot, and the guide we had was great at telling us stories about the goddess Isis, who it was built for. Anyway, dinner back on the boat was usually a buffet, and the food was surprisingly varied and tasty. You know, lots of local dishes to try and stuff. At the end of the day, you’re gently rocking on the Nile, looking at the lights of Aswan, and it feels like you’ve stepped into a completely different world. It’s a really nice, soft start before the super early morning that’s coming next.
That Super Early Abu Simbel Day Trip
So, they are not joking when they say the Abu Simbel trip is an early start. Our wake-up call was at, like, 3:30 a.m., which is honestly a bit of a shock to the system. You basically grab a breakfast box from the reception, get on a bus, and drive for about three hours south into the desert. You might think that sounds kind of rough, and well, it is a little. But, you know, you try to get some more sleep on the bus. The whole point is to get there for sunrise, and seriously, when you finally arrive, you forget all about how tired you are. Seeing those four massive statues of Ramesses II carved into the side of a mountain as the sun comes up is just, you know, absolutely one of those moments that you’ll remember forever. The scale is just something you can’t really get from photos.
I mean, standing in front of Abu Simbel, you just feel tiny. It’s a very humbling feeling, realizing this was built so long ago without any of our modern tools. It’s a real display of power and art, all in one.
Next to the big temple is a smaller one for his wife, Nefertari, and that’s arguably just as stunning in its own way. Our guide took us inside both and pointed out all the carvings, telling us the stories behind them. For example, he showed us how the main temple was designed so that twice a year, the sun’s rays shine all the way into the very back room to light up the statues. Like the Temple of Philae, these temples were also moved, block by block, to save them from Lake Nasser. As a matter of fact, the project was this huge international effort in the 1960s. After spending a couple of hours there, you just hop back on the bus and head back to Aswan to rejoin the boat for lunch. It’s a long morning, definitely, but absolutely worth doing. You’d really regret skipping it, to be honest.
Sailing and Stopping: The Life on the Nile
After the intensity of the Abu Simbel trip, it’s actually really nice to have an afternoon just sailing. This is sort of what you picture when you think of a Nile cruise. You can just sit on the sundeck, maybe by the little pool, and watch the scenery go by. It’s a really interesting view. You see, like, little villages, kids waving from the riverbank, farmers with their animals, and just a lot of green farmland right up against the edge of the desert. In the late afternoon, our boat docked at Kom Ombo. What’s different about this temple is that it’s a double one, dedicated to two gods: Sobek, the crocodile god, and Horus, the falcon god. It’s literally a symmetrical temple, with two of everything. One side for each god.
Inside, you can still see these incredible carvings that are basically ancient medical instruments. Seriously, they look like scalpels and forceps, and our guide said it suggests this place might have been some sort of healing center. Right next to the temple, there’s also a little museum full of mummified crocodiles, which is both very weird and really fascinating at the same time. After that visit, we got back on the boat and sailed on towards Edfu, having dinner along the way. The next morning, we visited the Temple of Horus at Edfu. You get there by taking a horse-drawn carriage, which is a kind of fun, if a little chaotic, experience. This temple is one of the best-preserved in all of Egypt. It’s almost fully intact, so you can really get a sense of what these places would have looked like in their prime. You can just imagine the priests doing their rituals inside. It’s incredibly atmospheric, more or less.
Luxor’s Big Sights: The West and East Banks
Finally, we arrived in Luxor, which used to be the ancient city of Thebes. This is where some of the most famous sights are, so the last full day is a pretty packed one. In the morning, we crossed over to the West Bank, which is often called the ‘city of the dead’. This is where the Valley of the Kings is. Honestly, it’s just a dusty, hot valley from the outside, but then you go down into the tombs and it’s like a whole other world. The colors of the paintings on the walls are just so bright, it’s hard to believe they’re thousands of years old. You usually get a ticket that lets you into three different tombs. King Tut’s tomb is a separate ticket, and while it’s small, it’s pretty special just knowing that’s where all that treasure was found.
Then we went to the Temple of Hatshepsut, which is completely different from the others. It’s this stunning, multi-tiered temple built right into the side of a cliff. Hatshepsut was one of the few female pharaohs, and she was clearly a very powerful leader, you know. Before heading back to the boat, we made a quick stop at the Colossi of Memnon. These are two huge, weather-beaten statues of a pharaoh sitting in the middle of a field, and that’s literally all that’s left of a temple that used to be behind them. In the afternoon, it was time for the East Bank, the ‘city of the living’. We explored Karnak Temple first, which isn’t just one temple; it’s a massive complex of temples, chapels, and pylons built over hundreds of years. The Great Hypostyle Hall with its forest of giant pillars is just, you know, kind of overwhelming. Later in the evening, we visited Luxor Temple. It’s really special at night when it’s all lit up. The way the lights highlight the columns and statues is just beautiful.
The Grand Finale: Floating Over Luxor at Sunrise
So, on the very last morning, you have another one of those super early starts, but it’s for the hot air balloon ride, and pretty much everyone agrees it’s a highlight. You take a little boat across the Nile in the dark and then a minivan to the launch site. It’s actually a really cool scene, watching all these massive balloons being inflated with blasts of fire in the pre-dawn quiet. Then you clamber into the basket, which holds about 20 people or so, and then, very gently, you just lift off the ground. The feeling is really peaceful, not scary at all. You’re just floating.
As the sun starts to peek over the horizon, the whole landscape below you just lights up. You float over the West Bank, and from up there you can see everything you visited the day before. For instance, you see the Temple of Hatshepsut nestled in the cliffs and the entrances to the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. You get this amazing bird’s-eye view of how it’s all laid out, which you really can’t appreciate from the ground. It gives you a whole new perspective. The ride itself lasts for about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the winds. At the end of the day, it’s just an incredibly serene and beautiful way to finish the trip. After you land, you usually head straight to the airport for your flight home or to your next destination, full of these amazing new memories. It’s a little bit of a crazy four days, but you see so much that it feels like you’ve been away for a lot longer.
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