By Flight

EgyptAir runs daily flights to Aswan and the flight duration is about 70 minutes from Cairo. Flights land at Aswan International Airport, the most sophisticated airport in Upper Egypt, located 15Km to the south west of the city.

By Train

You can reach Aswan by train from Cairo or Luxor; the train station is located in the city centre.

Elephantine Island

The verdant island of Elephantine (1,650yd/1,500m long, 550yd/500m wide), with its luxuriant growth of palms, known in Arabic as Geziret Aswan or El-Gesira ("the Island") for short, can be reached by boat (preferably a felucca) in a few minutes. It is one of Aswan's principal tourist attractions, and accordingly is in danger of losing its quiet idyllic charm. On the island are two picturesque Nubian villages, the inhabitants of which still speak Nubian and preserve their national traditions.

Aswan Museum

The museum collection includes antiquities and artefacts from Aswan and Nubia. Items include weapons, pottery, mummies and sarcophagi. The museum site overlooks the remains of the original town.

Rock Temple

To the northwest of the Kalabsha Temple is the Rock Temple of Beit el-Waii or "House of the Wali" (holy man), also rescued from the rising waters of Lake Nasser with financial assistance from the United States. The temple, built by Ramesses II, consists of a vestibule, a transverse chamber and the sanctuary.

Lake Nasser

The damming of the Nile by the High Dam has created an immense reservoir, Lake Nasser, with an area of 2,025sqmi/5,250sqkm the largest artificial lake in the world after the one formed by the Kariba Dam on the Zambezi. The lake is 317mi/510km long (a third of this length being in Sudanese territory) and 3-22mi/5-35 km wide. The average altitude of the surface of the lake is about 600ft/182m above sealevel. It is planned to build several towns and villages on the shores of the lake.

Felucca Trip

A felucca trip round Elephantine is full of interest. Some 550yd/500m south, near the right bank of the Nile, is a small islet on which can be seen a number of "potholes", gouged out of the rock and worn smooth by the Nile flood.

December - February

June - July -> 42(°C) - Summer
January - February -> 10(°C) - Spring

Advertisement