Nile cruise and Red Sea in 10 days

Three parts, three paces

This trip falls into three movements. First the river, on a programme timed by the boat: four temples in three days. Then Luxor, two nights ashore on the West Bank, to revisit at your own pace what the cruise showed at speed, and to go up in a hot-air balloon. Finally the sea: four nights with no timetable.

The road links the Nile and the coast: Luxor to Soma Bay is 232 km, about 3 h 26 of driving. It saves a second domestic flight, with its transfers and waiting.

Times in this text are local, as are boat and hotel schedules. Egypt is 2 hours ahead of London.

Fixing the dates

The Oberoi Zahra leaves Aswan on Tuesdays and Saturdays, with embarkation at 12:00. The whole trip follows from that day.

To board at noon you need to be in Aswan that morning. The Cairo–Aswan flight takes about 1 h 25, and Aswan airport is 25 km from the quay, about 45 minutes. Arriving in Egypt the day before, with a night in Cairo or Aswan, gives you a margin; it comes on top of the ten days.

The river: days 1 to 4

Day 1, Aswan. Embarkation at 12:00, lunch, then the High Dam and Philae Temple at 14:15. Philae is the Temple of Isis, rebuilt on Agilkia Island and reached by boat. In the evening the boat sails for Kom Ombo over dinner.

Day 2, Kom Ombo and Edfu. Kom Ombo at 09:00: a double temple dedicated to Sobek and Haroeris. The boat sails to Edfu through the late morning, then the Temple of Horus at Edfu at 15:00, from the Ptolemaic period. In the evening the boat reaches Esna.

Day 3, Luxor. The boat sails on to Luxor overnight. At 07:00 you leave for the West Bank: Valley of the Kings, Medinet Habu temple, Colossi of Memnon. At 15:00, Luxor Temple and the Karnak temples. This is the fullest day of the trip.

Day 4. Breakfast, then disembarkation at 08:00.

On board, the Oberoi Zahra has a spa and an 11 m heated pool. Luxury Cabins measure 26.4 m², all facing the Nile; Luxury Suites reach 115 m², including a terrace with a heated whirlpool. Airport transfers and internet access are included; the spa, laundry and minibar are extra. The boat is on Travel + Leisure's World's Best list for 2025 and 2026.

Aswan to Luxor is the shorter direction: 3 nights, against 4 the other way. It suits this trip because it ends in Luxor, closer to Soma Bay than Aswan is.

Luxor's two banks: days 4 to 6

Luxor is ancient Thebes, a World Heritage site of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) together with its necropolis. The East Bank holds the city and the temples; the quieter West Bank holds the tombs and mortuary temples.

Day 4, settling in. From the quay you cross to Al Moudira, in Hager Al Dabbeya, on the necropolis side. Zeina Aboukheir created the hotel several decades ago. It is a honeycomb of ten courtyards, built with materials salvaged from old buildings that were disappearing, with domed ceilings, hand-painted frescoes and antiques gathered across the Middle East, all set in ten hectares of palm groves and gardens. It has 54 suites and 7 villas, a domed hammam and a pool large enough for lengths. With no set visits today, there is time to enjoy it. In the late afternoon the hotel arranges sunset trips on a felucca, the traditional Nile sailing boat.

Day 5, balloon and West Bank. Pick-up is before dawn; the outing lasts about 2 hours, with about 50 minutes in the air over the West Bank temples, the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut's temple. Two things to know:

• children under 10 may not fly, and flights can be postponed in bad weather: keep the morning of day 6 as a fallback;
• the operator picks up on the East Bank only; from the West Bank, a meeting point is set on the East Bank. Al Moudira also arranges balloon flights.

After a late breakfast, the outing listed in this itinerary lasts 6 hours, with a guide and entry tickets: Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Hatshepsut's temple, Colossi of Memnon.

The overlap. The Valley of the Kings and the Colossi of Memnon are already on the boat's programme on day 3. Two ways to handle it:

• keep the outing and see different tombs in the Valley of the Kings; the site has more than 60 tombs and opens at 06:00;
• replace it with a tailor-made day: Hatshepsut's temple, the Valley of the Queens and whatever the boat leaves out.

Tutankhamun's tomb needs an extra ticket: 700 Egyptian pounds (EGP).

At official October 2026 prices, a foreign adult pays 750 EGP for the Valley of the Kings, 440 EGP for Hatshepsut's temple and 220 EGP for the Valley of the Queens.

Day 6, morning. If the balloon flew the day before, this morning is free: Al Moudira also offers a sunrise visit to Karnak. Leave for the coast in the late morning.

The road to the sea: day 6

Allow half a day on the road. Night driving outside towns must be avoided altogether, and long journeys are made with a driver who knows the route and speaks Arabic. The transfer is not included in this itinerary: book it with a driver, by day, to reach Soma Bay before dark.

The sea: days 6 to 10

Soma Bay is a peninsula south of Hurghada with no town around it: resorts, two golf courses, kitesurfing and diving spots.

The Cascades is built around the Cascades course, an 18-hole layout by Gary Player that you reach straight from the hotel. Its thalassotherapy centre uses Red Sea water and has 65 treatment rooms. The private beach is 3 minutes away by shuttle, with a departure every 20 minutes; the hotel also has five pools, including one for children and a saltwater pool.

One way to spread the three full days:

• Day 7, rest. Thalasso in the morning, beach in the afternoon.
• Day 8, the Giftun islands. The outing listed in this itinerary lasts 8 hours from Hurghada, with two snorkelling areas chosen for their marine life and lunch on board; pick-up from Soma Bay costs an extra 18 US dollars per person, payable on the day. The CDWS (Chamber of Diving and Watersports, Egypt's diving authority) limits snorkelling groups to 12 people per guide.
• Day 9, your choice. A round of golf at Cascades, a kitesurfing lesson at one of the peninsula's centres, or a boat dive: from Soma Bay, centres go to Panorama Reef and the Salem Express wreck; Dolphin House reef is visited by many dolphins.

Day 10, departure. Hurghada airport is 45 km away.

When to go

October to April. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 1991–2020 normals, the average high in Aswan is 23.2 °C in January and 35.5 °C in April; it exceeds 39 °C from May to September. On the Red Sea, the water at Soma Bay averages 27.6 °C in October, 24.7 °C in December and 22.5 °C in February and March.

Variations

• Abu Simbel. The Oberoi Zahra offers it as an option on its 7-night programmes; for this 3-night cruise, it is arranged separately. The temples are about 280 km south, 3 to 4 hours by road or about 45 minutes by air: you need an extra night in Aswan before boarding. On 22 February and 22 October, the sun lights up the sanctuary of the Great Temple.
• The longer cruise. The Oberoi Zahra's 7-night programme adds Dendera. It means four more nights on board.
• A dahabiya. Nour El Nil's sailing boats take 5 nights from Esna to Aswan and stop at El Kab and Gebel Silsileh, where large boats may not moor. They sail south and do not run from June to August: the trip then runs in reverse, or with a flight from Aswan to the coast.
• Cairo first. Two nights in Cairo before the Aswan flight add the Giza pyramids and the Grand Egyptian Museum, at the cost of two extra days.