Aswan
A town on the Nile where the river has granite islands and cataracts, the people are Nubian and the temples were moved from where they were drowned
- When to go
- October 29° · 0 rainy days
- Per day
- €€price 2 of 5
- How many days
- 2days
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- Nearest airport
- 17 km Aswan
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Aswan is the end of the Egypt you tour and the start of the one you look at: the temples here are smaller than Luxor's, but you come for the river — Philae stands on an island, and a felucca is hired by the hour. Two days are enough, and a third goes to Abu Simbel, three hundred kilometres south by road.
Philae is the reason to come and is done the first morning: the temple of Isis, which after the old Aswan dam of 1902 stood underwater except from July to October, until in 1977–1979 it was cut into blocks and moved to the neighbouring island of Agilkia, five hundred metres away. You reach it by motorboat from the landing by the dam; the boat is paid per boat, for up to eight people, so it is worth waiting half an hour to share it. Entry to the island is €9.20, from seven to four.
The felucca is the Aswan thing you do not skip: a sailing boat without an engine, hired by the hour for the whole boat, at a price agreed before boarding, return included. Go at four in the afternoon so the last hour sails into the sunset.
The High Dam is one view of Lake Nasser and a plaque, and not worth the half day tours give it; what the dam drowned is explained by the Nubian Museum in town. The sound-and-light show at Philae at night is the same scene with floodlights, and can be skipped.
What to see in Aswan
The temple of Philae
The temple of Isis on Agilkia island, with Trajan's Kiosk on the shore, once the main entrance from the river and moved together with the temple. From the boat the kiosk comes into view first, and it is the picture Philae is known by.
A felucca on the Nile
Two hours are enough for a loop around Elephantine, past Kitchener's Island, which Lord Kitchener turned into a botanical garden, to the Aga Khan mausoleum on the west bank. The captains wait along the Corniche.
The Nubian Museum
A museum about the country drowned by Lake Nasser, opened in 1997 out of the UNESCO campaign to save the Nubian monuments. Two hours, air-conditioned, in the afternoon when it is worst outside. A better introduction to Abu Simbel than any signboard.
- Q
Qubbet el-Hawa
Tombs of nobles and expedition leaders from the Old and Middle Kingdoms — Harkhuf, Sarenput I and II — cut into the hill on the west bank, below the domed sheikh's tomb that gives the hill its name. By boat across the river, then uphill; from the top you see the town, the islands and the cataract.
The Unfinished Obelisk
A granite quarry in town where the most famous obelisks were cut, with one of almost 42 metres, probably Hatshepsut's, that cracked and was left in the rock. It explains how they were made better than any museum; an hour, in the morning.
Elephantine
The island opposite the town with three Nubian villages, the ruins of the temple of Khnum and the nilometer that measured the flood and set the tax. A public ferry goes across, and you walk between the villages.
Two things you probably did not know
Around 240 BC Eratosthenes measured the circumference of the Earth starting from the fact that at Aswan the midsummer noon sun cast no shadow in a well. He was off by about two per cent.
The Aswan dam stopped the annual Nile flood that had spread silt over the fields for thousands of years. The land has been fertilised artificially ever since, and the silt settles at the bottom of Lake Nasser.
Ready for Aswan?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Aswan — day trips or weekends.
Egypt
→Two countries under one name: the Nile with its temples, which needs a plan, and the Red Sea, which needs only a charter — few people do both in one trip
Tunisia
→Ten towns in a line, from the capital to the sand at Tozeur — in the order they're actually travelled, not listed
Morocco
→The north by train, the south by road, and in July you leave Marrakech for the coast
Turkey
→Istanbul, then one direction: Cappadocia by plane, Ephesus and Pamukkale by train, or the Lycian coast by bus
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
Within reach from here: Luxor, Abu Simbel and Hurghada
See how much of that actually suits you — or pin Aswan if you have been.
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