Abu Simbel: how to get there, and when the sun reaches the sanctuary

The two temples, and who built them

The larger one is the Great Temple, fronted by four seated statues of Ramesses II, each around twenty metres high. One lost its head and shoulders to an earthquake in antiquity. The pieces still lie at its feet, and nobody put them back during the rescue. Inside, a hall of Osiride pillars leads to reliefs of the Battle of Kadesh, a battle Ramesses fought to a draw and recorded as a victory. The sanctuary at the back holds four seated figures: Amun-Re, Ra-Horakhty, Ptah, and Ramesses himself, promoted into their company.

The second temple, a short walk north, was built for Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. Six standing figures front it, four of the king and two of the queen, all carved to the same height. That equality is the unusual part, since royal wives are normally shown knee-high to their husband. The interior is smaller and quieter, and most visitors give it ten minutes when it deserves more.

Why the temples are not where Ramesses left them

The Aswan High Dam created Lake Nasser and would have drowned Abu Simbel completely. Between 1964 and 1968 a UNESCO-led operation cut both temples into numbered blocks, lifted them roughly sixty metres higher and some two hundred metres back from the water, and reassembled them against an artificial hill. The cliff you look at is concrete and rubble under a skin of sandstone, put back to the original orientation.

Behind the Great Temple there is a door into the dome that supports the hill. Whether it is open varies, but look in if it is: a bare concrete vault, and proof that what you have just walked through is a reconstruction. Some visitors find that deflating. Most find it more impressive rather than less, given what the move took.

The sun alignment in February and October

Twice a year the rising sun runs the full length of the axis and reaches the sanctuary, lighting three of the four seated figures. Ptah, the one of the four tied to darkness and the underworld, stays in shadow. The dates are usually given as around 22 February and 22 October, a day later than before the move, because the rebuilt temple could not be set in exactly its old position. Those mornings bring large crowds and a queue in the dark, and you get a few minutes inside before being moved on. If the alignment is not the reason you came, avoid the dates.

Driving from Aswan: the convoy and the 4am start

The road runs about 280 kilometres across desert and takes three to three and a half hours each way. Departures are usually around 4am. The police convoy system has been tightened and relaxed repeatedly over the years, so whether you travel in a numbered column depends on the month, though most vehicles still leave at much the same hour. The early start is not only about security. It puts you on site before the heat and while the facade is lit from the front, which is the only time it photographs properly. The drive itself is dull; most people sleep.

Flying in, and arriving by water

Flights from Aswan take about forty-five minutes, and the airport is minutes from the temples. They are normally sold as a return pair, which leaves roughly two hours on the ground: enough, not generous. Flying costs a good deal more than the road and buys back around five hours of your day, which is the right trade if you are short of time rather than money. Lake Nasser cruises also call here and arrive the way the temples were meant to be approached, from the water. There are few such boats and they run to fixed weekly patterns.

Day trip or overnight

Nearly everyone comes for two hours and leaves. The site takes its entire daily load in one block, from the arrival of the first vehicles from Aswan until they leave again late morning, and is close to empty either side of that. Staying the night is the cheapest way to improve the visit: you get the temples in late afternoon, once the coaches have gone, and again at opening before the first convoy lands.

The honest downside is that the town is small and there is nothing else to do in it. A few hotels, a Nubian settlement resettled when the lake rose, and the water. There is a sound and light show at the temples in the evening, which is a matter of taste. If you need something to fill an afternoon, this is not the place. If you want the temples without a crowd around them, it works.

How long you need on site

Ninety minutes covers it, two hours comfortably. The path from the car park curves round the back of the artificial hill, so the facade arrives all at once. Give the Great Temple forty minutes, including time sitting in front of it to take in the scale, twenty to Nefertari's, and the rest to the lake shore and the dome. The interiors are darker and tighter than photographs suggest, and there is usually a slow shuffle at the sanctuary door. Rules on photography inside have changed more than once, so check on the day.

There is no shade anywhere

Nothing here is covered. The car park, the path, the terrace in front of the colossi and the queue at the entrance are all in full sun, and the stone throws the heat back at you. From June to September the temperature passes forty degrees well before midday and the visit becomes an endurance test. The interiors are the only cool ground, and they are dark and crowded. Take more water than you think you need, a brimmed hat and sunglasses; the glare off pale sandstone is worse than the heat itself.

Is it worth the early start?

Yes, for most people. Abu Simbel is the most impressive thing in Egypt after Giza, and unlike Giza there is no city pressing up against it. Photographs flatten it: the statues were cut out of a cliff rather than assembled, and the whole facade was one piece of rock. It still costs a full day, six or seven hours of it in a vehicle, for two hours on site. With three days in Egypt, small children, or an overnight train behind you, Philae and the Nubian villages will use an Aswan day better.