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Abu Simbel · Festivals · Updated October 2026
The Abu Simbel sun festival takes place on 22 February and 22 October each year. Soon after dawn, the rising sun shines down the length of the Great Temple and lights three statues in the sanctuary. In recent years the light arrived at about 6:20am in February and 6:55am in October. It stayed for 20 to 22 minutes. The next dates are Thursday 22 October 2026, Monday 22 February 2027 and Friday 22 October 2027. A normal day trip from Aswan arrives too late to see it, so the morning takes planning. This guide covers the times, the ticket price on the day, the crowds and how to be there in time.
| 22 February | 22 October | |
|---|---|---|
| Next date | Monday 22 February 2027 | Thursday 22 October 2026, then Friday 22 October 2027 |
| Light arrived, recent years | 6:20am in 2020, 6:22am in 2024 and 2026 | 6:53am in 2024, 6:54am in 2025 |
| How long it stayed | 20 minutes in 2020 and 2024, 22 minutes in 2026 | Nearly 20 minutes in 2024, 22 minutes in 2025 |
| Crowd reported | Over 5,000 in 2020, about 2,000 in 2026 | Over 1,400 in 2024, about 4,000 in 2025 |
| Foreign adult ticket that day | EGP 1,200, against EGP 750 on other days | EGP 1,200, against EGP 750 on other days |
| Also on the calendar | Falls inside Ramadan in 2027 | A folk arts festival, 17 to 22 October, in 2025 |
The short answer
Both mornings show the same light for about the same time. Choose the date that fits the rest of your trip. February 2027 falls in Ramadan, so read what changes first. In October the light comes about half an hour later on the clock, which gives a night transfer a little more time.
Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities gives two fixed dates: 22 February and 22 October. Only the weekday changes from year to year.
The next three are Thursday 22 October 2026, Monday 22 February 2027 and Friday 22 October 2027. The February 2027 date falls inside Ramadan, which is expected to run from 8 February to 8 or 9 March.
These are the official celebration days. The higher ticket price, the crowds and the folk shows all belong to the 22nd. The light reaches into the temple on a few mornings around it, as the questions at the end of this page explain.
The light comes in with the first sun of the day. Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) has reported the event in most recent years, and its figures barely change from year to year.
In February the light reached the sanctuary at 6:20am in 2020, and at 6:22am in 2024 and 2026. In October it arrived at 6:53am in 2024 and 6:54am in 2025. These are Egyptian clock times. It stayed for 20 to 22 minutes each time.
The light reaches the statues one after another, so the first minutes count. The queue forms in the dark, long before the light arrives. Ask your operator what time to be at the gate.
The sanctuary at the back of the Great Temple holds four seated figures: Amun-Ra, Ra-Horakhty, Ptah and Ramesses II himself. On the festival mornings the sun runs the full length of the temple's axis to reach them. It lights three of the four.
The SIS report from October 2025 gives the order. The light falls on Ramesses first, then on the faces of Amun and Ra-Horakhty. Ptah stays in shadow. The Ministry ties him to the underworld and calls him the God of Darkness.
Some pages say all four statues are lit, including two Egyptian government pages. The Ministry's own event page and most SIS reports say three. We follow the Ministry.
On a normal day-trip timing, no. Abu Simbel is 280 km south of Aswan, according to the SIS. The drive takes three to three and a half hours each way. Ordinary day trips usually leave Aswan around 4am.
That puts you at the gate at about 7am to 7:30am. In February the light has gone by about 6:45am. In October it fades around 7:15am, and thousands of people are already queued ahead of you.
So the standard Abu Simbel excursion misses the event. None of our tours times its optional Abu Simbel trip for the festival morning as standard.
There are two ways to be at the temple before dawn on the 22nd. Both need arranging in advance, so ask your operator early.
Stay the night in Abu Simbel. The town is small and has a few hotels. Sleeping there takes the long drive out of the festival morning. It is the most dependable way to be in the queue on time.
Take a festival transfer from Aswan. The road takes three to three and a half hours, so a festival transfer leaves Aswan in the middle of the night. Ask your operator whether a festival transfer runs on your date, when it leaves and when it brings you back.
Road travel in the far south of Egypt has its own rules. Check the US State Department and UK FCDO pages for current advice before you go (checked October 2026).
More than usual. The Ministry lists a foreign adult ticket at EGP 1,200 on 22 February and 22 October, against EGP 750 on other days. A foreign student pays EGP 600 on the two days and EGP 375 otherwise. Egyptian adults pay EGP 60 on the festival days and EGP 30 otherwise. Source: egymonuments.gov.eg, checked October 2026.
Normal opening hours are 6am to 5pm, every day. The light arrives after that 6am opening, but the queue forms long before it. The Ministry publishes no separate opening time for the festival mornings, so ask your operator when to be at the gate.
If you book Abu Simbel as an optional extra on a tour, ask whether the entry ticket is in the excursion price. Our tour pages give no price for the excursion.
Very. The SIS counted over 5,000 visitors in February 2020, 2,800 of them from abroad. It reported more than 1,400 in October 2024, about 4,000 in October 2025 and about 2,000 in February 2026.
All of them want the same 20 minutes in one small room. The queue forms in the dark, and you get a few minutes at the sanctuary before you are moved on. In October 2025, large screens were set up in the temple courtyard for the crowd outside.
Expect a short look at the light among a crowd. The facade at sunrise, the music and the mood in the courtyard make up much of the morning.
The alignment comes with music and dance. In October 2025 the Ministry of Culture ran a folk arts festival from 17 to 22 October as part of the celebrations. Eight troupes from Aswan, Luxor, Mallawi, Sohag, Kafr El-Sheikh, Port Said, Arish and Anfoushi performed at venues across Aswan governorate. The final shows took place in front of the temple on the morning of the 22nd. The Governor of Aswan ordered the town decorated for the visitors.
In February 2020, 23 folk troupes from the Aswan International Culture and Arts Festival performed the night before the alignment. The programme differs from year to year. We found no official programme for October 2026 when we checked in early October 2026.
Ramadan 2027 is expected to run from 8 February to 8 or 9 March, so the February festival falls inside it. The sunrise and the light are the same. What changes is the country around them.
Sites often keep shorter hours during Ramadan, and the evenings become the liveliest time of day. If you plan a trip around 22 February 2027, read our Ramadan in Egypt page for what changes for a visitor.
You will often read that the dates mark Ramesses' birthday and his coronation. Egyptian officials repeat it. In 2022 the Governor of Aswan described the two days as the king's birthday and coronation day. Treat that as tradition.
Scholars see it differently. A 2021 study by K. A. Weyburne, in the Egyptology journal ENiM, reviews the evidence. It says leading historians of the period have effectively ruled out the birthday and coronation idea. It links the illuminations to Khoiak, a festival in the ancient Egyptian calendar.
A second common claim is that the dates moved from the 21st to the 22nd when the temple was relocated. The SIS says so. The same study points the other way. In October 1959, before the move, Jan van der Haagen of UNESCO recorded the sanctuary lit on ten mornings in a row, from 13 to 22 October. The study finds a one-day shift across three thousand years, between Ramesses' time and 1959.
Yes, if you plan for it. You need a night in Abu Simbel or a festival transfer, a clear answer on the ticket, and patience with a crowd. In return you see a design more than 3,000 years old still at work, with a town celebrating around it.
If you only want to see Abu Simbel, choose another day. Any other morning is calmer, and a foreign adult ticket costs EGP 750. A night in Abu Simbel then gives you the temples at the 6am opening, before the day trips from Aswan arrive.
The festival suits travellers who build a trip around it. With only one spare morning in Aswan, see Abu Simbel on a normal day.
Nine of the trips we sell with our partner, Memphis Tours, offer Abu Simbel as a paid optional extra. None includes it in the price. None is timed for the festival morning as standard. Prices below are from-prices per person, in US dollars.
Cruise only: the Nile Cruise from Luxor to Aswan, 5 days, from US$1,095, offers it on the final morning, before your flight from Aswan.
Cairo and a cruise, offered on the morning you leave Aswan: Cairo, Luxor and a Nile Cruise, 8 days, from US$2,135, on day 7. A Nile Cruise and Two Days in Cairo, 9 days, from US$2,385, on day 7. Cairo and a Nile Cruise, 10 days, from US$2,635, on day 8. Cairo, Luxor and a Nile Cruise, 12 days, from US$3,160, on day 10. Cairo, Luxor, a Nile Cruise and the White Desert, 14 days, from US$3,815, on day 10.
Longer trips with a hotel night in Aswan: Cairo, a Nile Cruise and Hurghada, 13 days, from US$2,945. The Grand Tour of Egypt, 16 days, from US$3,910. Both offer it on day 5, after a night in an Aswan hotel. Cairo, Luxor and a Nile Cruise, 15 days, from US$3,985, offers it on day 10, when you leave the boat for an Aswan hotel.
If your dates cover 22 February or 22 October, tell us when you enquire. We will ask Memphis Tours whether a night in Abu Simbel or a festival transfer can be added, and what it costs. We confirm it only once they do.
Possibly, in part. The 2021 ENiM study found the sunrise in line with the temple on 20, 21 and 22 February and October in 2018. Its author also saw part of Ramesses lit on 23 October 2017. No official source confirms the full effect on those days. The festival-day ticket price, the screens and the folk shows belong to the 22nd.
About 280 km south, according to Egypt's State Information Service. The road crosses desert for most of the way and takes three to three and a half hours each way.
Yes, on any other day, if you stay the night in Abu Simbel. The site opens at 6am. The day trips from Aswan arrive later in the morning and leave by late morning. The first hour and the late afternoon are the quiet times.
The Aswan High Dam created Lake Nasser, which would have flooded the temples. A UNESCO-led rescue cut them into blocks and rebuilt them on higher ground. The Ministry dates the move to 1968. In 1979 the temples joined the World Heritage List as part of the Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae.
A torch for the queue in the dark, water, and a hat and sunglasses for after sunrise. There is no shade anywhere on the site. Wear shoes you can stand in for a few hours.
As soon as you know your dates. A night in Abu Simbel or a festival transfer has to be arranged in advance. No official source says when festival tickets go on sale, so do not leave the ticket question to the last week.
Entry rules, opening hours, security advice and exchange rates all move. Check them at the source, not here.
Written and checked by the Nile Trip Guide editorial team · Last reviewed . Entry rules, prices and opening hours change — check anything critical against the official sources linked on this page.
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