Tour To Abu Simbel Temples From Aswan By Road

280 Kilometres South, and the Best Two Hours in Egypt

This Abu Simbel tour from Aswan by road is a full day and a genuinely early start: 280 kilometres south across the Nubian Desert to the two rock-cut temples Ramses II ordered carved into a sandstone cliff above what is now Lake Nasser, twenty kilometres from the Sudanese border.

It is a long day and we will not pretend otherwise. Roughly three and a half hours on the road each way, about two hours at the site, a pre-dawn pickup from your hotel. What you get for it is the single most imposing thing the ancient Egyptians ever built, and the modern story of how the whole cliff was sawn apart and rebuilt sixty-five metres higher to save it from the rising lake.

The tour is private. Your own Egyptologist and your own vehicle, priced by the size of your party rather than sold as seats on a shared coach. Entrance fees to both temples are included, so you carry no cash to the gate.

Timings are approximate and your guide will confirm the exact pickup the evening before, because the desert road has fixed operating hours and they occasionally move.

Around 4:00 am — Hotel or ship pickup

Your Egyptologist and driver collect you from reception. It is early — this is the part of the day worth knowing about before you book. Most people sleep for the first hour and a half.

4:00 – 7:30 am — The desert road

Straight south across the Nubian Desert on a well-surfaced highway, with a short rest stop on the way. There is nothing to see for the first hour because it is dark, and then the sun comes up over open sand on your left and the drive becomes the reason people say the road is better than the flight.

Around 7:30 am — Arrive at Abu Simbel

Early enough to be at the temples before the heat and ahead of the coaches that leave later. From the car park you walk around the artificial hill that now holds both temples — the reveal, when the four seated colossi come into view, is deliberately staged and it works.

7:30 – 9:30 am — The two temples

Roughly two hours with your Egyptologist across the Great Temple of Ramses II and the Temple of Hathor and Nefertari, including the inner sanctuary and the battle reliefs of Kadesh. Both are covered by your included ticket.

Around 9:30 am — Start back

The same road north. You will be back in Aswan by early afternoon, in time to join a Nile cruise, catch an onward flight or simply sleep.

Early afternoon — Drop off in Aswan

Back at your hotel or ship. If you are boarding a cruise the same day, tell us at the time of booking and we will time the return around your embarkation.

The Great Temple was cut into the cliff between roughly 1264 and 1244 BC, and it is not a building in any ordinary sense — there is no masonry. The façade, about 33 metres high and 38 metres wide, was carved to imitate a pylon, and the four seated colossi of Ramses II in front of it are around 20 metres tall each, the height of a six-storey building. The second from the left lost its head and torso in an earthquake in antiquity; the fragments were left lying where they fell when the temple was moved, which is why they are still there today.

Inside, the temple runs some sixty metres straight back into the rock. The Great Hall is lined with eight Osiride pillars of the king, and the north wall carries the reliefs of the Battle of Kadesh against the Hittites — Ramses II’s account of it, at any rate, which is a rather more decisive victory in stone than it appears to have been on the day.

At the far end sits the sanctuary and four seated figures: Ra-Horakhty, Amun-Ra, the deified Ramses II himself, and Ptah. Ptah sits on the far left, and he is a god of the underworld. The temple’s axis was aligned so that twice a year the rising sun reaches sixty metres down the length of the building and lights the first three — and leaves Ptah in darkness. That is not a coincidence, and after three thousand years it still works.

A hundred metres north stands the smaller temple, dedicated to the goddess Hathor and to Ramses II’s principal wife, Nefertari. Six colossi about ten metres tall stand across the façade in two groups of three: two of Ramses and one of Nefertari in each.

The detail worth stopping for is the height. Nefertari is carved the same size as the king. In Egyptian royal art a queen is conventionally shown at knee height or waist height beside her husband, and the departure here is deliberate and close to unique. She appears as Hathor, with the cow horns, the solar disk and two tall plumes, and the dedication text describes the temple as built for her sake — a remarkable statement from the most self-regarding builder in Egyptian history.

Both temples stand roughly sixty-five metres higher and two hundred metres further back from the water than Ramses II left them. When the High Dam was built, the reservoir behind it — Lake Nasser — would have put Abu Simbel under water.

UNESCO launched an international appeal in 1960, and between 1964 and 1968 an international team cut the cliff face away, sawed both temples into numbered blocks, lifted them out and reassembled them on higher ground behind an artificial mountain built to hold them. More than fifty countries contributed funds. If you look carefully at the colossi you can still see the joins.

In 1979 the site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae. Your guide will take you through the whole operation on site — there is more detail in our account of the rescue of the Abu Simbel temples.

Twice a year, on 22 February and 22 October, the rising sun runs the full length of the Great Temple and illuminates three of the four statues in the sanctuary. It draws large crowds and the site opens well before dawn.

The detail most pages leave out: because the temples were moved, the alignment is generally held to fall one day later than it did originally, when it is thought to have occurred on 21 February and 21 October. The engineers got the orientation very nearly right, and a single day out over a two-hundred-metre relocation is a considerable achievement.

If you want to be there for it, book well ahead — accommodation in Abu Simbel village is limited and a surcharge normally applies on those two dates. Tell us at the time of enquiry and we will build the day around the alignment rather than the usual schedule.

There are two ways to reach Abu Simbel from Aswan and this page sells one of them. Here is the honest comparison, because the road is not the right answer for everyone.

A third option, if you have the days, is a Lake Nasser cruise, which reaches Abu Simbel by water and moors there — you see the temples lit at night and again at dawn with almost nobody else present. Ask us about Lake Nasser cruises if that appeals.

• The road has operating hours — The desert highway is closed to tourist traffic overnight, which is why departures cluster before dawn and why vehicles must leave Abu Simbel by mid-afternoon. This is also why we cannot offer a later start.
• Carry your passport — There are security checkpoints along the route and you will need it. A photograph on your phone is not sufficient.
• Bring water and a hat — There is no shade at the site beyond the temple interiors, and the walk from the car park is open. We carry water in the vehicle; bring more than you think you need in summer.
• Breakfast — The start is too early for hotel breakfast. Most Aswan hotels and every cruise ship will make up a breakfast box if you ask reception the night before — worth doing.
• Photography inside — Rules on interior photography change from time to time and a photo ticket is sometimes required. Your guide will tell you the position on the day.
• What it is like in summer — Abu Simbel in July and August is genuinely severe. The early departure is not a stylistic choice — by eleven in the morning the site is punishing. If you are travelling in high summer with young children or anyone who struggles with heat, consider flying instead.

• How the bands work — All rates are per person, and the band is set by the size of your own party — this is a private tour, not a shared coach. Two people travelling together pay $150 each; a family of four pays $130 each.
• Why one person costs more — A private vehicle, driver and Egyptologist for a 560-kilometre round trip costs the same whether one person or six is in the car. If you are travelling alone and would rather share, tell us and we will let you know whether anyone else is going on your date.
• Children — 0 to 5 — Free of charge.
• Children — 6 to 11 — 50% of the adult rate.
• Children — 12 and over — Full adult rate.
• Sun Festival dates — A surcharge normally applies on 22 February and 22 October. Ask when you enquire.