Abu Simbel

Getting there is the whole decision

Abu Simbel isn’t a sight you stumble onto — it sits 280km south of Aswan, close to the Sudan border, so the planning question isn’t “which ticket” but “how do I get there”. Two answers work. The desert road is roughly 3.5–4 hours each way; most tours leave Aswan around 04:00 so you arrive for the early light and before the day heats up. The compulsory police convoy was scrapped years ago, but operators still cluster departures and you’ll roll through checkpoints, so a 4am minibus with a group is the normal way to do it. The alternative is the short EgyptAir flight (about 45 minutes), which only runs on certain days and costs far more — buy it if the pre-dawn start or eight hours of driving is a deal-breaker, and note the airline shuttles you between Abu Simbel airport and the temples.

Buy the entry ticket separately at the gate — around EGP 750 (about £12) for a foreign adult, roughly half that for students, under-6s free. A “tour” price usually covers your driver and not the temple, so don’t assume it’s included. Egypt has moved its major sites to card payment, so carry a contactless Visa or Mastercard rather than counting on cash at a remote gate.

Is the long day from Aswan worth it?

Go early. The gate opens around 06:00 precisely because day-trippers from Aswan need it to, and the difference between 7am and 11am is the difference between cool quiet and a sun-baked car park full of tour coaches. Allow 1.5–2 hours on site to see both temples without rushing: the Great Temple with its four 20-metre seated colossi of Ramses II, and the smaller Nefertari temple, one of very few in Egypt where the queen is carved the same height as the pharaoh.

One thing worth knowing: the whole complex was sawn into more than a thousand blocks and lifted 60-odd metres up the cliff in the 1960s to escape the rising Lake Nasser behind the Aswan High Dam — a UNESCO rescue that’s part of why it feels so improbably clean and complete. That same move nudged the Sun Festival a day later: it now falls on 22 February and 22 October (older guides still quoting the 21st are using the pre-relocation date). On those mornings the dawn light runs the length of the Great Temple and lights the inner statues for about 20 minutes — a real spectacle, but with surcharged tickets and serious crowds, so book ahead or sidestep those mornings if you’d rather have it calmer.

If you’re already in Aswan, do it — it’s the most impressive single thing in southern Egypt and the relocation story makes it more interesting, not less. But it’s a long day for under two hours on site, so don’t try to staple it onto a one-day Aswan stop or a packed cruise schedule. Pair it with a felucca afternoon back in Aswan rather than another temple the same day.