There is no better place to be at midnight on 31 December than the top deck of a Nile cruise ship. The river goes quiet, the temples on the bank are lit, fireworks open over the water from the ships moored around you, and the gala is happening one deck below.
This is the short version of the classic Nile cruise: four days, three nights, Aswan down to Luxor, taking in Philae, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Karnak, Luxor Temple and the Valley of the Kings. You unpack once. The ship moves while you sleep.
One thing to get right before you book. Ships sail on fixed days of the week, so not every departure has you on board on the night itself. So, this cruise is available on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Only certain sailings put you on the river at midnight, and those are the ones that sell out first. The table below shows exactly which.
Egypt Best Vacations is a licensed Egyptian tour operator based in Luxor and a TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice winner for 2024, 2025 and 2026. Every departure is led by a qualified Egyptologist. Children under 6 travel free and ages 6 to 11 pay half.
| Departure | Nights on board | Midnight is spent | New Year’s Day looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 30 Dec 2026 | 30, 31 Dec, 1 Jan | Moored at Edfu, after the day’s sail from Kom Ombo | A dawn horse-and-carriage ride to the Temple of Horus, then sailing on to Luxor for Karnak |
| Wed 29 Dec 2027 | 29, 30, 31 Dec | Moored in Luxor, after Karnak and Luxor Temple | The Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut’s temple, then disembarkation |
| Fri 31 Dec 2027 | 31 Dec, 1, 2 Jan | Moored in Aswan, your first night on board | A free morning on the river, or the optional run to Abu Simbel |
Other departures in the same weeks — Monday 28 December 2026, Monday 27 December 2027, Friday 1 January 2027 — run the identical itinerary but do not have you on board on New Year’s Eve. They are excellent cruises. They are simply not New Year cruises, and we would rather say so than let you find out on arrival. If none of the three sailings above fits your dates, our Egypt New Year tours cover the Pyramids, Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada over the same nights.
Meet your Egyptologist guide at Aswan airport, railway station or your hotel. Begin at the High Dam, the 1960s project that ended the Nile’s annual flood and created Lake Nasser behind it. Continue to the Temple of Philae, dedicated to Isis and rescued block by block from the rising water — it now stands on an island it was never built on.
Finish at the Unfinished Obelisk, still lying in the granite quarry where it cracked around three thousand five hundred years ago. Had it been raised it would have been the largest ever cut.
Board your ship in the afternoon and settle in.
Optional: Nubian Village tour
Meals: Lunch and dinner
A free morning on the river, or take the optional early run south to Abu Simbel — the two rock-cut temples of Ramesses II and Nefertari, also relocated stone by stone above the waterline.
The ship sails around lunchtime for Kom Ombo. Disembark in the afternoon for the temple, unusual in Egypt for being built symmetrically along its axis and shared between two gods: Sobek, the crocodile, and Horus the Elder. The Crocodile Museum beside it holds mummified crocodiles recovered from the site.
Sail on for Edfu in the evening, with the sundeck open and the riverbank going dark on both sides.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Before breakfast, take a horse and carriage through Edfu to the Temple of Horus — the most completely preserved temple in Egypt, walls fully inscribed inside and out, and the best surviving picture anywhere of how an Egyptian temple actually worked.
Carriage back to the ship, which sails for Luxor through the lock at Esna. On arrival, visit the Temple of Karnak, the largest religious building ever constructed, and the Temple of Luxor at the other end of the avenue of sphinxes. Both were dedicated to the Theban Triad: Amun, Mut and Khonsu.
Return on board for your final evening.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Disembark after breakfast and cross to the West Bank. The Valley of the Kings holds sixty-odd tombs cut into the rock of a single dry valley; three are open on any given day and your guide will advise which are worth your time on yours.
Continue to the terraced temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, built for the woman who ruled Egypt as pharaoh for roughly two decades, and finish with a photo stop at the Colossi of Memnon — all that stands of what was once the largest temple in Egypt.
Transfer to Luxor airport, railway station or your Luxor hotel.
Optional: sunrise hot-air balloon over the West Bank
Meals: Breakfast
