Nile - Choices, choises, choises

[Toofarfromthesea]

This looks pretty nice. We went in 2012 with A&K and saw all of this. Well worth it.

 

One thing I don't see on your list is whether you see anything in Esna. There is a temple of Khnum there and we made a short stop. Not earth-shattering if you miss it but it's weird that you stop there and don't go.

 

We stopped at the Memphis museum on the way to Saqqara, to see the colossal statue of Ramses II. But we had more time because we did not do Giza and Saqqara on the same day.

 

I agree that it is a terrible shame to go all the way to Aswan and miss Abu Simbel. A potential solution would be to try to arrange this after the cruise. Fly to Abu Simbel on the morning you disembark, tour a few hours, then fly back to Cairo on the same day to meet back up with your group.

 

It is very doable in terms of total time needed (not sure how the airline schedules will work, but you can check). I know it can be done because we did that in reverse for our tour - early morning flight from Cairo to Abu Simbel, tour, then flight from Abu Simbel to Aswan...and we were on board our boat by noon.

 

I'll have to see if there is a way to squeeze in the Memphis museum. The obvious answer would be to come a day earlier. Maybe split that day between a felucca ride on the Nile and the museum at Memphis. My sense is that so long as the cruise starts and ends on the appointed day we will be able to arrange anything else to suit. For a price.

 

I don't worry too much about lesser known temples because I'm sure there will be no temple shortage. My personal priority is putting together a memorable experience for my wife and I than checking off sightseeing boxes. Nothing wrong with that, of course, just not my style.

 

Fortunately the cost is so much less than the Euro lines (the itinerary, as shown, is less for 2 people than one person costs on the Viking itineraries) that these kinds of adjustments and the concomitant costs are doable.

 

Any thoughts on a day trip or overnighter to Alexandria from Cairo?

[Mark_T]

Were your transfers to and from Cairo flying or night train? We are contemplating doing one of them by night train, pending our first night train experience in a couple on months from Krakow to Budapest.

 

We didn't transfer by train or plane, we cruised the entire distance :)

 

Our aim was to see some of the locations you don't get to see on the typical 'Cairo then transfer' approach so we took 2 weeks and cruised all the way down on one of the Movenpick ships (Darakum).

 

Re Abu Simbel, it is about a half day trip however you do it, but it is a very early start and you'll get back to Aswan around lunch time, so easy to combine with a late afternoon flight back to Cairo for example.

[TravelerThom]

....Re Abu Simbel, it is about a half day trip however you do it, but it is a very early start and you'll get back to Aswan around lunch time, so easy to combine with a late afternoon flight back to Cairo for example.

There are several flights (generally 3) from ABS to ASW that either connect or continue on same plane to CAI. As an example most days there is a flight leaving Abu Simbel at 13:10; 45 minutes to Aswan; 30 minutes on the ground there; then an hour 25 minutes flight same aircraft arriving Cairo 15:50. As with any flights in developing countries YMMV.

[Mark_T]

There are several flights (generally 3) from ABS to ASW that either connect or continue on same plane to CAI. As an example most days there is a flight leaving Abu Simbel at 13:10; 45 minutes to Aswan; 30 minutes on the ground there; then an hour 25 minutes flight same aircraft arriving Cairo 15:50. As with any flights in developing countries YMMV.

 

That is true of course, it just means you need to be packed up very early in the morning so you can take everything with you.

 

We went for the relaxed option and left it all on the ship so we didn't have to pack until we got back and had lunch :)

 

If you are trying to make same day connections out of Cairo though you do pretty much need to be on the early afternoon flight out of Aswan at the latest.