Choosing a Nile Boat: Standard Cruiser, Suite Boat, Luxury or Dahabiya

The same temples on every boat

The route between Luxor and Aswan is short and set: 215 kilometres, stopping at Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo. Every boat visits the same temples on the same tickets, and all of them are full board.

So you are not choosing what you will see. You are choosing how you spend the time between the sites.

Standard cruisers: 60–80 cabins

Price: $325–450 per person for 3–4 nights.

You get a compact cabin with a big window, buffet meals, a sun deck with a small pool, and evening entertainment — a Nubian show, a galabeya party, a belly dancer.

Worth knowing: everyone goes ashore together, so expect queues. Loungers on the sun deck go early. The food is fine, not memorable.

Choose one if you would rather spend your money on Abu Simbel and the balloon than on the cabin.

Deluxe and all-suite boats: 25–40 cabins

Price: $695–800 per person.

You get 36 sqm or more, floor-to-ceiling windows that open, à la carte meals, a spa, and about half as many fellow passengers — which makes every excursion quicker.

Choose one for a honeymoon, for travelling with older parents, or if you already know four days in a 16 sqm cabin would get to you.

Luxury boats: the Oberoi Zahra and its peers

Price: $1,600+ per person for six nights.

You get 27 cabins looked after by 25 crew, a full spa and hammam, and everything included, bar and all. Most importantly, the six-night route reaches Dendera and Abydos — two of Egypt's finest temples, and out of reach for four-night boats.

Dahabiyas: 8–12 cabins, under sail

Price: $1,200+ per person for five nights.

A flat-bottomed boat with two lateen sails, towed only when the wind drops, carrying twenty passengers at most.

You get moorings the big boats can't reach — sandbanks, islands, village jetties — and temple visits when the cruisers are somewhere else. Meals are cooked for you and served on deck. There is no entertainment programme whatsoever.

Choose one if "galabeya party" makes you wince. Skip it if you want a pool and a gym.

Upstream or downstream?

Luxor → Aswan is four nights, against the current, and leaves you in Aswan — handy for Abu Simbel.

Aswan → Luxor is three nights, with the current: quicker, cheaper, and better if you want Abu Simbel first.

When to skip the cruise

June to August. The cabins are air-conditioned, but the temples reach 45°C and the sun deck is unusable from 10am. Travel by road and stay in hotels, or wait until October.