Egypt & the Nile

Egypt is a winter country for anyone who wants to be outside at midday. From October to March the heat that makes the summer impossible in Upper Egypt has gone, the light is clean, and the temples and the desert are comfortable from morning to evening. It is the only sensible window for the Valley of the Kings and for time on the water.

Fourteen nights, north to south and back to the sea. Cairo and the Giza plateau to begin, then the Nile itself between Luxor and Aswan aboard a private dahabiya, the temple at Abu Simbel to the far south, and a few days on the Red Sea to end on the reef. The river is the spine of the trip and the dahabiya is the reason to do it slowly.

The set pieces need no selling and reward an early start. The Pyramids and the Sphinx, and the Grand Egyptian Museum beside them, which has finally given the collection the setting it deserves; Saqqara and the step pyramid; Karnak and the Valley of the Kings at Luxor before the coaches; Edfu and Kom Ombo from the deck; Philae at Aswan; and Abu Simbel flown down for the morning light. Then the Red Sea, which most people forget Egypt has.

The aviation is straightforward at the ends and the river does the middle. Cairo takes any aircraft; Luxor and Aswan handle business jets; Abu Simbel has its own strip; and the Red Sea coast is reached through Hurghada or Marsa Alam. Between Luxor and Aswan you are under sail, not in the air, which is the point.

Among our preferred hotel partners we use Four Seasons at the First Residence in Cairo, a privately chartered dahabiya on the river, and the Old Cataract at Aswan, where Agatha Christie wrote and the terrace still earns the reputation.

Ask your advisor about the Valley of the Kings before the heat, a private dahabiya rather than a cruise ship, and Abu Simbel flown for the light rather than driven in convoy.