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Choose from our collection below of 5* Nile cruise boats and hotels in Luxor.
11 Guided Excursions included (NO HIDDEN EXTRAS)
Enchanting Egypt is an 11-night Nile cruise, and Luxor stay: 7 nights aboard a 5-star vessel sailing from Luxor to Aswan and back, followed by 4 nights based in Luxor. Prices start from £1795pp, making it the lowest lead-in price across our range, and that figure includes flights, transfers, and taxes, rather than a bare cruise fare with costs bolted on afterwards.
We built this particular Nile cruise and Luxor stay around a simple observation from more than 30 years of selling Nile cruise holidays from the UK: the cruise offers the temple sites between Luxor and Aswan on a fixed, guided schedule, but it does not give you time to return. The 4 Luxor nights fix that. You return to a city you already understand, with the West Bank necropolis, Karnak, and Luxor Temple all within a short transfer, and you set your own pace.
There are 11 guided excursions included, each led by an English-speaking Egyptologist guide, so the sightseeing is explained rather than simply visited. Every vessel and Luxor hotel we sell has been personally inspected by our own team, which is how we have built our position as the UK’s leading Nile cruise specialist. Departures are on Monday from Gatwick.
Sequencing matters here more than most operators admit. Cruising first and staying second means you arrive in Luxor already briefed: by the time your leisure days start, you know why the Theban hills were chosen for royal burials and what the cartouches in the tombs actually say. If you want a full week in the city instead, that is Mystical Egypt, our 14-night version with 7 Luxor nights. For most travellers, 4 nights is the efficient choice: room for a repeat West Bank morning and a balloon flight, without paying for a second week of hotel.
Luxor is routinely called the world’s greatest open-air museum, and the description is earned rather than decorative. The modern city sits atop ancient Thebes, the capital of Egypt for much of the New Kingdom, and the density of surviving monuments within a few miles of your hotel is unmatched anywhere along the Nile.
On the East Bank, Karnak was built and rebuilt over roughly 2,000 years by successive pharaohs into the largest religious complex of the ancient world. Its Great Hypostyle Hall contains 134 sandstone columns, the tallest of which carry architraves some 20 metres above the floor, and the sheer scale tends to silence people. Luxor Temple, a short distance south, was joined to Karnak by an avenue of sphinxes and remains in use as sacred ground: a mosque still stands within the temple walls, built up over centuries of accumulated debris before excavation.
Across the river, the West Bank was the land of the dead. More than 60 tombs are cut into the rock of the Valley of the Kings, including Tutankhamun’s, their corridors still carrying painted funerary texts in colours that have survived 3,000 years underground. Nearby sit the Valley of the Queens, Hatshepsut’s terraced temple against the cliffs, and the seated Colossi of Memnon on the flood plain.
Your 4 leisure nights are where this itinerary separates from a cruise-only holiday. A cruise excursion gives you one West Bank morning; 4 nights give you a second, so you can go back to the tombs that caught you first time round, take the sunrise balloon flight over the Theban necropolis, or spend an afternoon by the pool between temples instead of racing a departure time. Choose full board, half board, or bed and breakfast for the Luxor half, depending on how much you plan to eat out. Our Luxor hotels have all been visited and assessed by our own team.
Depart UK. Upon arrival met and transferred from Luxor International Airport to your Nile cruise boat. Dinner on board or for late arrivals a light snack will be served. Overnight in Luxor.
Breakfast on board, early morning visit to the West Bank, including the Colossi of Memnon, Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, burial sites for many of the most powerful and successful pharaohs and high priests, as well as the Temple of Hatshepsut.
Breakfast and lunch are on board whilst continuing the journey south before sailing to Kom Ombo to visit the temple before dinner. Unlike many others in Egypt, this temple was dedicated to two gods; the Southern section is dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile-headed man, god of fertility, and the Northern section to the Falcon-headed god Horus. There is also a fascinating crocodile museum to visit, which has many artefacts and mummified crocodiles. Sail to Aswan and overnight in Aswan.
After breakfast, visit the High Dam in Aswan, built between 1960-1971 to provide electricity to the villages along the Nile, the Unfinished Obelisk and the Temple of Isis on Philae Island. Lunch on board and afternoon at leisure with an opportunity to revisit the Temple of Philae for an **optional sound & light show in the evening (priced at approx. £50pp).
After breakfast, there is the option of a morning at leisure or an early morning **optional visit to Abu Simbel (priced at approx. £120pp by road or £280pp by air). This impressive temple, built by Rameses II stands on the banks of Lake Nasser. After lunch on board, there is a relaxing boat trip around Elephantine Island to the Botanical Gardens on General Kitchener Island. Dinner and overnight in Aswan.
Morning at leisure. Lunch on board and then set sail to Kom Ombo. After a brief stop at Kom Ombo, continue sailing and overnight.
After lunch, you will be taken by coach to visit the ‘world’s largest and greatest open-air museum’ known as Karnak Temple, which covers a large area of land and includes several temples, the largest of them being the Temple of Amun. Then, drive a short distance to Luxor Temple. Originally, the temple was joined to Karnak by a long avenue of Sphinxes, many of which can still be seen today. Returning to the boat for Dinner on board. Overnight in Luxor.
**Optional early morning balloon ride for the adventurous (priced at approx. £110pp). Breakfast on board followed by check-out and onward transfer to your hotel in Luxor for your 4 nights stay.
Time to relax and enjoy the many fascinating sights and sounds of Luxor, stroll through the colourful streets of Luxor. A wide range of optional excursions is available.
Transfer to Luxor airport for your return flight to the UK.
Please note: the order or content of your itinerary may be amended due to lock closures, low water levels or any other unforeseeable circumstances.
Call our UK team, open 7 days from 9 am to 9 pm, and we will price your Monday Gatwick departure with the Luxor board basis and any optional excursions you want added, backed by our peace-of-mind guarantee. Prefer to write? Contact our team through the online form, and we will come back with a full costing for your Nile cruise and Luxor stay, from £1795pp.
The cruise element runs 7 nights, Luxor to Aswan and back, on full board aboard a 5-star ship. You can see cabin details, deck plans, and facilities on our 5-star Nile cruise boats pages before you book.
The route is what sells this itinerary. Your first full day crosses to the West Bank for the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, the Colossi of Memnon, and the mortuary temple of Medinet Habu. Sailing south comes Kom Ombo, and at Aswan the Temple of Philae, the High Dam, and a boat trip around Elephantine Island, with a stop at the Unfinished Obelisk in the granite quarries. Back in Luxor at the end of the cruise, you visit Karnak and Luxor Temple on the East Bank. That is 11 guided excursions in total, all included.
Between the sites, the sailing days do very little and do it well. The river narrows and widens, sugar cane and date palms run right down to the bank, egrets lift off the shallows, and children wave from mudbrick villages that have looked much the same for generations. Most passengers end up on the sun deck with a cold drink and a book, watching the desert escarpment come and go behind the green strip of cultivation. Meals are served on board throughout, and the pace between excursions is deliberately unhurried.
Optional extras are priced openly so you can build your real spend before you call. The all-inclusive drinks upgrade on the cruise is £199pp. Abu Simbel is approximately £120pp by road or £280pp by air. The Philae sound and light show is approximately £50pp, and a hot air balloon flight over Luxor is approximately £110pp. All prices are per person and confirmed at the time of booking, subject to availability. None of these extras are compulsory, and we would rather you choose two you genuinely want than add all four on autopilot.
From £1795pp you get return flights from Gatwick, all airport and hotel transfers, taxes, 7 nights full board on a 5-star Nile cruise, 4 nights in Luxor on your chosen board basis, and 11 guided excursions accompanied by English-speaking Egyptologist guides. The £199pp all-inclusive drinks upgrade and optional trips such as Abu Simbel or the balloon flight are priced separately and can be added when you book.
11 nights in total. The first 7 are spent cruising from Luxor to Aswan and back, and the final 4 are in a Luxor hotel. You fly into and out of Luxor, so there is no internal flight or long overland leg to absorb. Departures are on Mondays from Gatwick, making it a straightforward 12-day door-to-door trip.
1 guided morning is rarely enough for the West Bank. With 4 nights, you can return to the Valley of the Kings, take a sunrise hot air balloon flight over the Theban necropolis for approximately £110pp, walk Karnak without a coach schedule, and explore Luxor Temple in the evening when the stonework is lit. You also get pool time between sites, which matters in the warmer months.
Luxor to Aswan and back, the classic stretch of the Nile. Southbound, you visit the West Bank tombs and temples, then Kom Ombo before reaching Aswan for Philae, the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk, and Elephantine Island. The return leg passes Kom Ombo again on the way back to Luxor, where you visit Karnak and Luxor Temple on Day 7 before transferring to your hotel on Day 8.
The cruise is full board as standard, covering breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. Drinks are not included at that level. If you would prefer not to sign for every bottle of water, soft drink, or beer, the all-inclusive drinks upgrade is £199pp for the 7 nights and can be added at the time of booking. Your Luxor hotel board basis is chosen separately.
The cooler months from around October to April suit sightseeing best, since the tombs and temples involve time outdoors with little shade, and Luxor and Aswan both sit in the genuine desert. Summer departures are hotter but usually cheaper, and early starts make them workable. Christmas, New Year, and Easter book up first, so we would suggest calling well ahead for those dates.
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