Aswan

Aswan is the southernmost city in Egypt and the point where the country starts to feel Nubian rather than Mediterranean. The Nile is at its most beautiful here, broken by granite islands, with the desert reaching the water on the west bank and painted Nubian villages along the shore.

The granite is the reason the city exists. Almost every obelisk and colossal statue in Egypt was quarried here and floated downriver. The Unfinished Obelisk still lies in its quarry, abandoned when the stone cracked — at 42 meters it would have been the largest ever raised, and because it was never finished you can see exactly how the work was done.

Philae Temple, dedicated to Isis, was one of the last places the old religion was practiced, into the sixth century AD. When the High Dam raised the water, the temple was cut into 40,000 blocks and rebuilt on higher ground — you reach it by boat.

What we run in Aswan

A full-day tour of Philae, the High Dam and the Unfinished Obelisk, an hour-long felucca sail on the Nile, and long-distance transfers between Aswan and the Red Sea coast.

Practical notes

• Aswan is around eight hours by road from Hurghada. Many visitors arrive or leave by Nile cruise.
• Late afternoon is the time to be on the river. The light on the granite is the reason people photograph Aswan.
• The High Dam created Lake Nasser and displaced Nubian communities whose villages lie beneath it. Any honest guide will tell you both halves of that story.