This Nubian village tour from Aswan is the gentlest half-day in Egypt and one of the most memorable. You board a private motorboat on the Corniche, wind between the granite boulders of the First Cataract, and land on the west bank at Gharb Soheil, a Nubian village of blue, yellow and pink houses painted with suns, palms and camels. A Nubian family welcomes you for tea, and you have time to walk the sandy lanes, browse the crafts and watch the sun go down over the Nile on the way back.
It takes four to five hours from your hotel or cruise ship and back, runs every day, and is private: the boat and the guide are yours alone.
You could drive to Gharb Soheil, but you would miss half the experience. The river between Aswan and the village is the First Cataract, the stretch of rapids and black granite islands that marked Egypt’s southern frontier for three thousand years. From the boat you pass Elephantine Island, home of ancient Abu and its Nilometer; the gardens of Kitchener’s Island; the domed Aga Khan Mausoleum on the west bank hill; and the rock tombs of the Nobles of Aswan, cut into the cliff above the river. Further south, Sehel Island is covered in more than 200 ancient inscriptions left by officials and expeditions heading into Nubia.
By the time you step ashore you will have seen why this border mattered, and why the people who live here today are so proud of a culture far older than the frontier itself.
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 2:00 p.m. | Pickup from your Aswan hotel or Nile cruise ship by your guide. |
| 2:15 p.m. | Board your private motorboat at the Corniche and sail south past Elephantine Island, Kitchener’s Island and the Aga Khan Mausoleum, into the granite islands of the First Cataract. |
| 3:00 p.m. | Arrive at Gharb Soheil. Walk up from the landing through the village, with its vaulted, domed and brightly painted houses. |
| 3:15 p.m. | Tea in a Nubian home: sweet black tea or karkadeh (hibiscus), fresh bread and a chance to talk with the family about daily life, the Nubian language and the old villages lost to Lake Nasser. |
| 4:00 p.m. | Free time to wander the lanes and the craft stalls: hand-woven baskets, beaded jewellery, spices and scarves. Optional henna painting. |
| 5:00 p.m. | Back on the boat for the return to Aswan, timed so you sail north as the sun sets behind the west bank dunes. |
| 6:00–6:30 p.m. | Drop-off at your hotel or ship. |
We also run a morning departure at 9:00 a.m., which is cooler in the summer months. Times shift a little with the season and with sunset.
Nubia is the land along the Nile between Aswan and Khartoum, and its people have lived there for as long as the Egyptians have lived to the north. In antiquity the kingdom of Kush was Egypt’s great rival and trading partner, the source of gold, ebony, ivory and incense, and in the eighth century BC its kings conquered Egypt and ruled it as the 25th Dynasty, the so-called Black Pharaohs.
In the twentieth century the Nile dams changed everything. Each heightening of the old Aswan Dam flooded Nubian villages, and the High Dam, finished in 1970, put the whole of Egyptian Nubia under Lake Nasser. Around 50,000 Nubians were moved to new settlements near Kom Ombo, far from the river. Gharb Soheil, just north of the dam, stayed where it was, which is why it is the best place near Aswan to see a living Nubian village on the water.
Nubians still speak their own languages, Nobiin and Kenzi, alongside Arabic, and the painted house fronts carry on a tradition of decoration that visitors to Nubia remarked on long before tourism arrived. To learn more before you go, read our article on Aswan’s past, or visit the Nubian Museum in Aswan, which tells the story of the drowned villages.
| Group size | Price per person |
|---|---|
| 1 traveller | $80 |
| 2 travellers | $50 |
| 3–7 travellers | $40 |
| 8–16 travellers | $30 |
Children under 6 travel free and children aged 6–11 pay half the per-person price for your group size; from 12 years the adult price applies.
The Nubian village pairs well with a temple day. See all our Aswan day tours, sail the Nile at a slower pace on our 2 day felucca cruise from Aswan, or visit the river temples on the Kom Ombo and Edfu tour from Aswan. If you are planning a few days in the city, the 3 day Aswan tour package includes Philae, the High Dam and Abu Simbel.
