4-days Nile Cruise Sails Aswan To Luxor &Abu Simbel. Balloon Tour

Good experience, highly recommended. The only downside was that the hot air balloon flight we had booked was cancelled (we were told we would receive a refund). Other than that, everything was great: our guide Mina, the activities, the visits, etc.

Excellent experience! Our guide Khaled is really nice and helped us to cover everything. Btw I love the food on the cruise

Very good and the guide is very good human

One of the highlights of our Egypt trip! Well-paced itinerary and great service onboard. Guide Mina made every temple visit meaningful. Highly recommended.

Amazing experience. Great value for money and our guides Mina and Carlos just made everything easy for us and packed full of knowledge.

We were fortunate enough to have Mina as our tour guide. Mina was incredibly knowledgeable, as he is working on his PhD in Egyptology. Mina was very communicative, organized, and nice. 5 stars for Mina for sure. The cruise ship, itself, is probably a 3 Star in western standards at most. We were on the Nile Jewel. It was a little dated, but the staff was very friendly and the communal areas were nice. The food was buffet style for every meal and was more continental. We were hoping for more food leaning towards traditional Egyptian food. We were a couple assigned to one cabin and we had two twin sized beds. Only downside is that I wished they were more transparent about the schedule. Although we paid for the entrance fees, we did not visit the High Dam. To beat the crowds, Mina scheduled very early mornings. If you’re not a morning person, don’t book this. Another downside is that you have to pay in cash for all of the entrance fees and tips in the beginning. So don’t forget to bring about an extra $150USD in cash to pay for everything (which is more than what is mentioned in the listing). You also don’t have free time to go shopping, site seeing, and/or go eat off of the boat. I suggest you book a couple nights in Luxor or Cairo/Giza before or after the cruise. Other than that, it was fantastic seeing all of the sites and overall a good deal. I would definitely recommend this tour company, as they were incredibly communicative throughout the whole process and made sure that everything was ok from start to finish.

Good time in egypt… Had a good time on the cruise… Good weather as well and good food… Views are nice from the boat as well especially at sun set.

It was a great experience with my family, getting to know some of the most important places of ancient Egypt whole traveling comfortably on the cruise, even with some schedule changes it was a very enjoyable journey, our guide Khaled is really well informed and provided us with really interesting fact in every location we visited

This tour will completely satisfy your curiosity around ancient egyptian culture and history. The itinerary is packed in but you still get some free time to enjoy the sun deck and pool area. The rooms are good, staff are helpful, and good variety of food options. Our guide mina had everything well organised and explained everything on the tours - and took good care of pregnant lady in our group. It is a good experience and defo a must if you are in egypt. You get to meet new people and make friends with the people in your group.

Had the best trip ever sailing along the Nile, food was amazing, boat was amazing, Egypt was amazing, and our tour guide King Mina was amazing. Thanks so much!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

It was an amazing trip. Temples and views of the river Nile are astonishing and charming. Mina is the best guide I have ever met. He is humorous, caring, intelligent and knowledgeable. He has a very deep understanding of ancient Egypt mythology and also other religions. He also helps a lot during our trip besides introducing Egyptian stories to us. I would recommend everyone to be here to choose Mina as your tour guide.

Great experience. The boat was very comfortable, the crew was very kind. Service and food was great. All the tours as described with great guides. The highlight was Luxor, with the balloon tour and Carlos as a guide for everything in the city. He has a lot of knowledge but also he was in every detail to make the group and the time in luxor the best part of the trip. Thanks!.

We did the 4-day-3night Nile cruise from Aswan to Luxor including Abu Simbel and the Luxor hot air balloon ride, excluding entrance fees, for the price of $290pp (double occupancy cabin, August 2025, low-season). We didn't actually book this through TripAdvisor, but through a local tour agency, and we were given this link by our guide for the review. It looks like the correct tour. Overall, we thought the price was pretty good value for what was offered. However, budget-conscious backpackers could consider just booking a cabin on the ship for about €50 per person per night (through a local tour agency) and organising all the excursions themselves. Read the rest of the review for details. The ship - MS Queen of Sheba The ship matched our expectations. It's an old ship (at least 50 years) but this wasn't really a problem. The rooms fairly spacious for a couple, and equipped with the essentials. The queen bed was very comfortable. The room didn't have a floor-to-ceiling window like the newer ships, but the view from the bed was still impressive. I was pleasantly surprised that the ship's AC didn't have any problems keeping the rooms and common areas cool even in the 42° summer heat. The deck of the ship was pretty nice, it had a pool, sunbeds and views. The food in the buffet restaurant was surprisingly good in my opinion, a great mix of local and international food. Unfortunately, we had several early excursions, so the breakfast was replaced by a takeaway breakfast, which was not great. The ship sold drinks, including alcohol, for an additional cost, which was quite high. Fortunately you are allowed to drink external alcohol in rooms and on the top deck. The staff on the boat were very friendly and helpful, however we didn't like the tipping culture that seems to be pervasive on Nile cruises. The staff were desperate to perform unnecessary tasks like carrying our (little) luggage from the taxi to our rooms, then asking for tips. I suspect that the ship pays these porters no fixed wage at all. This kind of employment model is neither Egyptian nor European culture - how is it still existing here? If this Egyptian government doesn't fight this, then tourists should fight this by booking tours with 'tips included' or 'no tips' where you know that everyone is paid fairly with no reliance on tips. It's a shame that we didn't spend that much time enjoying the ship because we visited so many temples, often early in the morning, so had to spend some of the daytime sleeping! We would definitely recommend a longer cruise to alleviate this. The guide Our guide, Carlos (a Spanishisation of his Egyptian real name) was a friendly, knowledgeable and hardworking man who accompanied us on all our excursions (except Abu Simbel). He spoke excellent English and the quantity of memorised information was impressive. He also gave us tips for getting around Egypt, offered us help booking onward travel, and even insisted on accompanying us to the shops for snacks and alcohol (although as relatively independent travellers, we felt this was a bit unnecessary). Carlos was probably the only person who didn't demand an additional tip, despite being the person who most deserved it! The temple excursions Carlos took us to many temples, which are all very impressive but all badly managed by the Egyptian government. Considering the high entry cost for foreigners, we would expect free, clean toilets, free shuttle buses where necessary, free water, good signage, and peace from aggressive sellers and corrupt staff who offer to take you into the cordoned-off parts of the temple that they're supposed to prevent you from visiting. Carlos did his best to help us navigate this somewhat stressful environment. The worst example was Edfu. For some reason, the local police enforces a rule that cruise tourists MUST take a horse-drawn carriage between the ship and the temple, rather than walk/taxi/tuktuk. This is increasingly problematic as many modern tourists don't want to support this practice that inevitably involves cruelty to horses, which are malnourished, overworked and heat-stressed. Not to mention, the tipping culture is strong in this industry too. In our case, this ended in a heated argument between our guide and the local police. I can't blame our guide or the company for this situation, only the local Egyptian government. Overall, the temples are of course still worth visiting, despite these stresses. The hot air balloon ride This was a highlight of the tour, we really loved it. My only criticism is that although it costs $20 extra if you reserve it at the time of booking, the tour company wanted $70 to add it last minute, which seems abusive. Make sure you reserve it with the booking. The company Because we booked through a local tour agency, I still don't know the name of the organising tour company. Is it Hola Egipto? Maybe. There were certainly a lot of Spanish guests. But anyway, they did an excellent job of organisation - all the transport was on time, and everything went smoothly. Overall, we had a good time and we would recommend this cruise/tour to other people, especially at the discounted off-season price. However, the tipping culture on the ship was frustrating, and some of the excursions were a bit stressful, especially in the summer heat. The pace was also fairly high. I don't recommend this cruise for families.

The cruise experience was really amazing. The food was great, the staff were really friendly and King Mina our tour guide was absolutely amazing, explaining everything in great detail, guiding us around the sites and being so helpful to us when we needed help. I really appreciate everything our tour guide and the staff have done to make feel at home. I would highly recommend this company 100%. Thank you so much to our tour guide King Mina long may he ran 😂 and to the staff for the extraordinary experience 😁👍.

I think Nile cruise is a must do when visiting Egypt. Cruise crew, the boat end the food was really good but, what made our experience unforgettable was our guide Carlos. His passion for his job is something I really admire. He shared with us real knowledge about Egypt history and also take care with the needs of every single person of the cruise. Normally we are independent Travellers and we are not much into scheduled tours, but honestly if all tour guides would be like Carlos we could change our mind. Wish you all to have a great experience as it was ours with Carlos and, don't forget to book also hot air Ballon option!

It was a great cruise. The crew was very nice, and Carlos, the tour guide, did a very nice job and was really helpful. We really enjoyed our time.

Very helpful and friendly tour guide, we all had a very good time on the cruise. Was very informative and helped us understand the history behind the monuments we saw.

On this trip, I met wonderful people and guides, and it was a truly enjoyable experience. I was deeply moved by experiencing Egyptian culture and history.

I didn’t have too high expectations when I booked this because I was unsure of the quality of the tour, the rooms, the food etc, but WOW, it far exceeded all my expectations and beyond. Great program with a good mix of tours and relaxation - be prepared for some early starts, but it’s worth it ;) Our guide Michael was a legend with perfect English, and was engaging and fun. The boat was very nice, our room was spacious, staff were friendly and the food was awesome. It was such a magical experience that I will cherish forever and I highly recommend it!

The experience exceeded all expectations and the guide, Carlos, proved to be a true professional and an excellent person.

We had a fantastic overall experience on our Nile River cruise. “King” Mina was an exceptional guide—knowledgeable, professional, and attentive to every detail. He made sure all the logistics were seamlessly handled, allowing us to simply relax and enjoy the journey. I would highly recommend this cruise, especially with Mina as your guide.

We had the absolute pleasure of exploring Egypt with Talaat Abdo as our guide, and we can’t recommend him highly enough. From the very start, Talaat made us feel welcome, comfortable, and excited for every moment of our journey. He is incredibly knowledgeable about Egypt’s history, culture, and sites, and he shared fascinating stories that brought each place we visited to life. Talaat was patient, organized, and always willing to answer our questions with a smile. His passion for his country is contagious, and he went above and beyond to make sure we had the best experience possible. Thanks to Talaat, we felt safe and well taken care of throughout our entire trip. We learned so much and made memories we will cherish forever. If you are planning a visit to Egypt, we can’t imagine a better guide than Talaat Abdo — he truly made our trip unforgettable!

We enjoyed our overall Nile Cruise experience but unfortunately the tour company (Hola Egipto) had too many negatives that outweighed the positives. Cons: - the Nile cruise ship looked nothing like the pics in the reviews. Much more run down and dated. The main carpet was soooo dirty and the towels did not look clean either. The ship looked like one of the oldest ones along the docks. we added the hot air balloon cost separately but it was cancelled due to weather and they gave us only partial refund. Said we did not pay the amount we did, despite receipts. our airport pick up car in Aswan was very old and beat up with blankets covering the deteriorating seats. our van on our 1st tour day in Aswan did not have air conditioning and it was over 105F after driving 3 hours to Abu Simbel (in a nice van with A/C), our tour guide let us out and told us to meet back at the van in 1.5 hours to drive back - no tour included. Pros: we had a different tour guide everyday but they were all amazing (except Abu Simbel). Very knowledgeable Egyptologists, friendly and accommodating (we highly recommend Amany, Hany, I forgot the female name from Aswan). the cruise staff was also amazing! Always made us feel welcome and remembered all of our names. They were so friendly and entertaining. Hany, our tour guide in Luxor (the last day of our tour) went out of his way to make sure we could see most of the sites before our flight out. He even called to find out the latest time we could check-in at the airport. He genuinely wanted us to enjoy our last day by prioritizing our sites.

This cruise was such an incredible experience overall. We did everything in a span of 4 days! And although it felt like a lot for just a few days, it was absolutely worth it. The cruise itself was lovely, the food was incredible, our room was comfortable and we had a great view of the Nile. Everyone in the cruise was really friendly and nice. Our tour guide Talaat was SUPER helpful and had everything organized so we didn’t have to worry about anything. He was very knowledgeable about all the places we visited and he took us shopping to unique places at the end of each day. I highly recommend booking with Talaat.

This experience was really incredible! Our guide, Talaat, was a charming guy with a good sense of humor. He explained everything about all of the sites to us and answered all of our questions. He was flexible about time spent at each location and always checked in with us about how long we wanted to stay at each place. He was very communicative about transportation timing, pickups and drop offs, and information about ancient (and modern) Egyptian culture. I especially appreciated how he gave us advice about the appropriate prices to pay for items, how to get water before entering the ship (for a fair price), and how to carry yourself with Egyptian salespeople outside of tourist areas. He organized the tips for the cruise staff as well as the tickets for the historical sites beforehand with us, which made it easy during the trip. He seemed to know almost everyone wherever we went, which made us feel very comfortable. He also helped us book a boat trip to a Nubian village from Aswan, which I would definitely recommend! We got to swim in the Nile near the Nubian village which was super refreshing. As for the ship, (Queen of Sheeba) it was comfortable with clean rooms, and the food was better than we were expecting for buffet style food. Drinks and water are not included, but you can buy these at markets near the docking stations (ask Talaat!). All of the staff on the ship was super friendly and always smiling and greeting you. There was a slight issue with our air conditioning on the last night we were there, but this had nothing to do with our tour guide and was more just about the ship itself. Anyway, nothing could stop us from enjoying this magical journey through time via the majestic ruins and picturesque nile river. Pictures do not do these places any justice and I am sure you will realize this when you book this experience. If you are reading this and trying to decide where to book, look no further, you found a good one! And at a good price as well! Again, thank you Talaat for all of your help! Until next time!

It was a great experience, well organised and many things to do. The boat and the food was very good. There sae a small but nice pool. It was quite tiring because we saw many places, everything that was in the program. Early wake up. I could do a tomp less to be more relaxing.... The entrance tickets are extra of course but it's 100 dollars extra plus 20 dollars tips per person.

Very nice views a lot of sun . The cruise was nice the pool was good the stuff were very helpful but there were a lot of them. It’s a bit overwhelming but they have good intentions

Talaat is a very educated guide he know everything about the temple and the kings & queens . Perfect guide for Egypt. If you come Egypt Talaat is will be best guide and good human being

Talaat Abdo was incredible tour guide very professional, help us with everything. Very nice , respectful and kind . Talaat explain the history very well and I recommend him . Thanks Talaat Habibi

Amazing journey from start to the end. Our friendly guide khalid saved us from all the hassle by collecting money for tickets and tips beforehand on the first day and saving time at the visiting sites. Everything was managed smoothly and timely. The tour guide khalid took us to the sites timely when the weather and temperature was good. Only thing I didn't like was that out of 3 days only 1 breakfast was done as buffet in restaurant, the rest of the 2 breakfast meals were given in disposable boxes (noting that there were more items in the buffet which were not in the boxes). All other meals were great served as buffet. The trip also included visits to souvenir shops like spices shops, alabaster shop and gold shop and dance party at night in the cruise. Rooms, cleanliness, staff, reception, tour guide, restaurant, food, laundry all 5/5 stars✨️ Would definitely recommend the cruise trip to others.👍

Wonderful sites especially Abu Simbel. Everything was very well planned and organized and our guide Khalid El Saadi took care of everything so that it was a seem less worry free experience. We always got interesting information and a clear plan of the day. Accommodation and food etc were excellent. The sites were not hard to get around safely and it was good value for me.

Unforgettable experience with this cruise along the Nile thanks to Khaled an his devoted team : boat, service, food, activities, personal attention, etc. which will leave me a dazzling memory of Egypt for sure

It was an amazing trip . Cruise was top class food was delicious and healthy and staff was so friendly. Enjoyed our days on cruise. Khalil our tour guide was very good .

We truly enjoyed our trip on the King Tut 3. The staff were super friendly and helpful. After just 3 days, they felt almost like family. Laughing playing and getting to know each other's cultures. Our guide for the cruise was very attentive and organized. And we would definitely recommend this cruise!! The only negative that we had was the guide at Abu Simbel. He was not attentive to our group and would walk off without waiting for the whole group to be together. Several were left in the restrooms and we had to work together as a group to keep up with each other. Also, He may want to look at giving his short over view of the temple in a different area as it was very hard to hear anything he said over the crowd. All in all this trip was very nice!! We do recommend!

Our guide Kaleh did a great job with the multinational group we were and we run aways begind him with enourmous pleasure and joy. Boat is a bit old but its ok. Deck's talks were the best experience we all have shared together. We saw the main monuments in the Nile route including the amazing Abu Simbel Temples. We would repeat this adventure for sure somehow again. Pilar, José and Antonio

This was a full itinerary taking in all of the major sites. We were greeted by our assigned guide (Khaled El Saady) who said he would be looking after us throughout the trip; and simply put, he did. And a real guide should have real historical knowledge, which Khaled has in abundance.

Khalid was great and a wealth of knowledge! Stand near the front of you can for the best chance to learn about the rich history. Every site we went to was more impressive than the last, most impressive ruins I have ever seen. The staff on the boat were also so so lovely, shoutout to the chefs and housekeeping crew for always making us laugh.

The tour has been excellent. The guide has done a very good job of explaining the different sites to us and the significance of the sites in light of both Egypt and ancient Egypt history. The boat has been very comfortable and the staff has been very polite and helpful. our guide, Khaled El saady, has been very good to work with as has the tour company. The people along on the tour with us have also been quite delightful and come from quite a few cultures, including Canada, United States, United Kingdom, France, and Ecuador. Would highly recommend this tour.

Khaled Al Saadi was an excellent tour guide, extremely knowledgeable about the culture, ancestry, and history. He ensured our comfort throughout the tour and made sure all arrangements for our return were taken care of. I highly recommend this tour

The cruise was incredible & the tours amazing! The only negative is that the men on the boat do try and sell you a lot of things, and don’t listen when you say no, so know that going in. The locations are amazing and the food is very good. A beautiful view from your room as well!

The ship was so fun! The sailing was smooth and the food was delicious. Our guide was very knowledgeable and the sites were incredible!

Enjoyed the trip. Saw some magnificent views. Cruise ship were comfortable and food great. Khakid very helpful to me with walking aid. He is very passionate about his topic.

We got a three night tour from Aswan to Luxor. The tour was well organized and we knew when to be there. At sites we all agreed on how long of a free time we want ad a group and Khaled Al said, our tour organizer, was accommodating. His knowledge of Egypt history is very good and he was able to answer all of our questions. He made sure to point interesting facts to us at each site we visited. The sites you visit are amazing and they only get better as it goes on. Be prepared to start early in the morning and most tours go all day long. Buses are all equipped with AC which is needed even in milder March climate. Khaled arranged a number of experiences during the tour from riding a tik-tuk to horse carriage and visiting local village in Aswan.

Talaat Abdo was our guide, he was very knowledgeable and helpful throughout this trip. I really recommend him for all thanks talaat

Great value trip with knowledgeable guides about all the temples who are happy to help and answer any questions. The whole crew were very organised which made everything alot easier. There's so much to see, you will be tired with the early mornings but it is well worth it.

Khaled was very knowledgeable about the Luxor sites & we learned a lot. The crew on the ship were all very nice & ended up knowing us by name

We had lovely tour with Khalid Saadi our guide he is so nice me and my mother from Luxor to Aswan Got too see many places all over which I really enjoyed, Friendly staff, Khalid was able to answer all our questions & helped us understand the history of ancient Egypt!

Talaat Abdo was an excellent guide during a wonderful tour along the Nile. A great help in the visits to the temples and an experienced guide in the area.

Talaat Abdo has been very helpful and kind in our tour in Egypt. He showed us beautiful temples in the way through the Nile. He really took care of us during our stay in Egypt.