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Aswan

The Nile in slow motion, Nubian houses, and Egypt's best sunset.

The gentlest city in the country. The river here is wide, green, scattered with granite boulders and feluccas; you come to slow down, for Philae, and for Nubian culture, which is nothing like the rest of Egypt. Abu Simbel is on this page but not in this town: about three hours of desert each way, leaving at three or four in the morning — or under an hour by plane, which costs a lot and gives you your day back. The rest is done by boat and on foot, and paid in cash more often than not: agree the fare, the length and the waiting before you step aboard, never after.

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Photo : Holger Uwe Schmitt — CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Pyramids, temples, museums, mosques, Coptic churches

Monuments & sites

  • Temple of Philae

    Unmissable

    A sanctuary of Isis dismantled stone by stone, then rebuilt on another island.

    AswanAgilkia Island

    4.8Ratingour own rating€€ Mid-rangeUNESCO

  • Nubian Museum

    Our favourite

    Nubia before Lake Nasser, and the villages that had to be left behind.

    AswanAswan

    €€ Mid-rangeFamily-friendly

  • Unfinished Obelisk

    An obelisk still lying in its quarry, cracked: the one place that shows how they were cut.

    AswanQuarries

    €€ Mid-rangeBest in the morning

  • Abu Simbel

    Unmissable

    Two temples cut into the cliff by Ramesses II, then sliced apart and rebuilt higher up, 280 km south.

    AswanAbu Simbel

    €€€ High endUNESCO

  • The temple of Kom Ombo

    A double temple, shared between the crocodile Sobek and the falcon Haroeris.

    AswanKom Ombo

    €€ Mid-rangeHistoric venue
  • A split granite block standing in the middle of a stone quarry.

    Aswan's granite quarries

    The worksite that produced the obelisks and colossi of all Egypt.

    AswanAswan

    € BudgetHistoric venue

Feluccas, desert, diving, markets, cruises

Outings & activities

  • Temple of Philae

    Unmissable

    A sanctuary of Isis dismantled stone by stone, then rebuilt on another island.

    AswanAgilkia Island

    4.8Ratingour own rating€€ Mid-rangeUNESCO
  • The Nile at Aswan

    Gharb Soheil Nubian village

    Off the beaten track

    Indigo houses, a dune behind them, and a culture that is nothing like Egyptian.

    AswanGharb Soheil, west bank

    4.5Ratingour own rating€€ Mid-rangeNile view

  • A felucca in Aswan

    Our favourite

    One sail, no engine: the wind decides how your hour on the river goes.

    AswanNile

    €€ Mid-rangeSunset

  • Elephantine Island

    The island in mid-river: two Nubian villages, ruins, and the nilometer that set the tax.

    AswanNile

    €€ Mid-rangeWhere locals go

  • Sehel Island

    Off the beaten track

    A granite jumble covered in inscriptions: floods, expeditions, a seven-year famine.

    AswanNile

    €€ Mid-rangeHistoric venue

  • Aswan High Dam and Lake Nasser

    The work that stopped the Nile flood: the river on one side, a freshwater sea on the other.

    AswanThe Dam

    €€ Mid-rangeBest in the morning

  • Monastery of Saint Simeon

    A fortified monastery abandoned in the thirteenth century, alone in the west-bank sand.

    AswanWest bank

    €€ Mid-rangeCash only
  • A split granite block standing in the middle of a stone quarry.

    Aswan's granite quarries

    The worksite that produced the obelisks and colossi of all Egypt.

    AswanAswan

    € BudgetHistoric venue
  • A felucca under sail on the Nile, before a village and a sand hill.

    Heissa island

    Off the beaten track

    A Nubian village on a lake island, almost without visitors.

    AswanSouth of the dam, Aswan

    €€ Mid-rangeWhere locals go

Egyptian, street food, fine dining, brunch

Restaurants

  • The sun sets over the Nile, the town in silhouette on the far bank.

    Panorama

    A simple terrace on the corniche, to dine while the feluccas come home.

    AswanCorniche, Aswan

    €€ Mid-rangeNile view
  • Ochre vaulted houses and blue-painted terraces backing onto the hillside.

    Nubian House

    A Nubian dinner on the west bank, in a house painted blue and ochre.

    AswanGharb Soheil, Aswan

    €€ Mid-rangeWhere locals go
  • Pieces of grilled chicken laid on flatbread, with a fire-roasted green pepper and tomato.

    Al-Masry

    Aswan's grill house, on the souk street for decades.

    AswanSharia el-Souk, Aswan

    €€ Mid-rangeWhere locals go
  • A white-sailed felucca crossing the river at sunset.

    El Dokka

    Our favourite

    A restaurant on a Nile island, reachable only by boat.

    AswanEssa island, Aswan

    €€ Mid-rangeNile view
  • A table laid with stews, rice, hummus and flatbreads.

    Aswan's Nubian kitchens

    Mild tagines, spiced rice and flatbreads, served in the village houses.

    AswanWest bank and islands, Aswan

    € BudgetWhere locals go
  • A foil tray of pasta, rice and chickpeas, topped with tomato sauce ladled over it.

    The tables of Edfu

    Off the beaten track

    Grills and koshari in a town the cruises pass through without stopping.

    AswanEdfu

    € BudgetWhere locals go

Parks, gardens, beaches, reefs, walks

Nature & downtime

  • The Nile at Aswan

    Gharb Soheil Nubian village

    Off the beaten track

    Indigo houses, a dune behind them, and a culture that is nothing like Egyptian.

    AswanGharb Soheil, west bank

    4.5Ratingour own rating€€ Mid-rangeNile view

  • El Nabatat Island

    Our favourite

    A whole island turned into a botanical garden, a few minutes by boat from the corniche.

    AswanNile, Aswan

    €€ Mid-rangeNile view
  • A felucca under sail on the Nile, before a village and a sand hill.

    Heissa island

    Off the beaten track

    A Nubian village on a lake island, almost without visitors.

    AswanSouth of the dam, Aswan

    €€ Mid-rangeWhere locals go

Specialty coffee, historic ahwas, rooftops

Cafés & tea houses

  • A white-sailed felucca on the Nile, in front of granite rocks and a tall sand dune.

    The Old Cataract terrace

    Egypt's most famous tea, facing the white sails and the rocks of the first cataract.

    AswanCorniche, Aswan

    €€€ High endHistoric venue

  • The cafés of the Aswan corniche

    Tea beside the calmest stretch of the Nile in Egypt, with feluccas gliding past.

    AswanCorniche, Aswan

    € BudgetNile view

Souks, fair-trade crafts, concept stores

Shopping

  • Aswan souk

    Our favourite

    One long covered street a block back from the river: hibiscus, Nubian basketry, spices.

    AswanSouk

    € BudgetHandmade
  • Hand-woven baskets with their handles, stacked one against another.

    Nubian crafts in Gharb Soheil

    Woven baskets, necklaces and spices sold in the painted houses of the Nubian village.

    AswanGharb Soheil, Aswan

    € BudgetHandmade
  • A mound of dried chillies in a woven tray, beside a basket of turmeric roots.

    Aswan's Nubian market

    Pyramids of spices, karkadeh, baskets and perfumes, over a kilometre of street.

    AswanSharia el-Souk, Aswan

    € BudgetHandmade

Bars, pubs, clubs, lounges — local rules flagged

Nightlife

  • Aswan's corniche after dark

    Black water, moored feluccas, and headlights sliding along the parapet.

    AswanCorniche

    € BudgetNile view
  • The sun sets over the Nile, the town in silhouette on the far bank.

    Panorama

    A simple terrace on the corniche, to dine while the feluccas come home.

    AswanCorniche, Aswan

    €€ Mid-rangeNile view

  • The Philae sound and light show

    A temple on an island, lit, reached by boat in the dark.

    AswanAgilkia island, Aswan

    €€ Mid-rangeHistoric venue
  • Two stone colossi carved into the cliff face, under a blue sky.

    The Abu Simbel sound and light show

    The colossi of Ramesses II lit beside Lake Nasser, once the coaches have left.

    AswanAbu Simbel

    €€ Mid-rangeHistoric venue
  • Wooden skin drums set down in the evening light.

    Nubian evenings in Gharb Soheil

    Drums, songs and dancing in the village houses, after dinner.

    AswanGharb Soheil, Aswan

    € BudgetWhere locals go