Abu Simbel Day Trip from Aswan

Abu Simbel sits roughly 280 km south of Aswan, near the border with Sudan, and this full-day trip typically departs very early in the morning, either by road convoy or by a short domestic flight (flight upgrade available on request).

The Great Temple, fronted by four colossal 20-meter statues of Ramses II, was designed so that twice a year sunlight reaches deep into the inner sanctuary to illuminate statues of the gods, a level of astronomical precision remarkable for its time. Beside it stands the smaller Temple of Hathor, dedicated to Ramses II's favorite wife, Queen Nefertari.

In the 1960s, as the Aswan High Dam threatened to submerge the site, an international UNESCO effort cut both temples into large blocks and reassembled them on higher ground, inside an artificial mountain, a project widely regarded as one of the great feats of archaeological engineering. Your guide will walk you through both temples and the story of their relocation before the return journey to Aswan.