Day

Day Your private guide will collect you from your hotel in Aswan at 04:30 A.M for the three-hour drive south: you'll travel in your own comfortable air-conditioned vehicle for this private tour of Abu Simbel. Built during the reign of the great Pharaoh Ramses II, in the 13th century BC, these two vast rock-cut temples are dedicated to Ramses II and his wife, Nefertari. They are considered architectural masterpieces of Egypt's New Kingdom and so, when Aswan's High Dam was first built, flooding their original location, the Egyptian government and UNESCO worked together to save both temples from the flood. Your guide will escort you to the Great Temple, or Sun Temple, built in honor of Ramses II and dedicated to him and four other gods, as well as the smaller temple dedicated to his wife Nefertari, and also known as the Temple of Hathor. A qualified Egyptologist, he will explain the fine details of the rock-cut carvings and statuary, as well as how the temples were saved from the flood. After around two hours at the temples, you'll return to Aswan at 12:30.