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Nile Cruises Luxor to Aswan: Routes, Boats and Prices
Classic Egypt Tours: Cairo, Luxor and Aswan Itineraries
Nile Cruise and Red Sea Holidays: Two-Week Egypt Trips
White Desert Tours from Cairo: Oases and Desert Camping
Short Breaks in Egypt: Three and Four Day Cairo Trips
Tailor-made Egypt Tours: Private Trips Built Around You
Seasonal
Egypt's main festivals are Ramadan, the two Eids, Coptic Christmas on 7 January and Coptic Easter. Sham el-Nessim is the spring festival everyone shares. Six more fixed national holidays, the Abu Simbel sun festival and two autumn film festivals complete the calendar. Below are the dates from October 2026 through 2027, and what each one changes for a visitor.
15 to 23 October 2026: El Gouna Film Festival, on the Red Sea coast.
22 October 2026: the Abu Simbel sun festival. The rising sun reaches the inner sanctuary of the Great Temple.
11 to 20 November 2026: Cairo International Film Festival, at the Cairo Opera House.
7 January 2027: Coptic Christmas, a public holiday. 25 January: Revolution Day and National Police Day.
Expected 8 February to 8 or 9 March 2027: Ramadan. The sun festival on 22 February falls inside it.
Expected 9 or 10 March 2027: Eid al-Fitr, a public holiday of several days.
25 April: Sinai Liberation Day. 1 May: Labour Day.
2 May 2027: Coptic Easter. 3 May 2027: Sham el-Nessim, the spring festival.
Expected 16 May 2027: Eid al-Adha, with Arafat Day on 15 May. About three weeks later comes the Islamic New Year. The Prophet's Birthday, Mawlid al-Nabi, follows about ten weeks after that.
30 June, 23 July and 6 October: national days marking the 2013 and 1952 revolutions and the 1973 war.
22 October 2027: the Abu Simbel sun festival.
Where these dates come from. Fixed holidays: Cabinet decisions published by the State Information Service. Islamic dates: estimates by the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, as reported in the Egyptian press. Dar al-Ifta confirms each one after the new moon is sighted, often the evening before. Coptic dates: the Coptic Orthodox Church calendar. Film festivals: the organisers. Checked October 2026.
Egypt has seven fixed national holidays. They fall on 7 January, 25 January, 25 April, 1 May, 30 June, 23 July and 6 October. The religious holidays move with the moon or the church calendar.
The day off is often shifted. The weekend is Friday and Saturday. When a holiday lands midweek or on a Friday, the Cabinet often moves it to a Thursday by decree. In 2026, the 25 January holiday was taken on Thursday 29 January. Labour Day, a Friday, was taken on Thursday 7 May.
So do not plan around the printed date. The decree usually comes shortly before. If a holiday matters to your plans, ask your guide or hotel that week.
On the day off, banks, government offices and many businesses close. Cairo traffic is lighter. For a visitor, the national days are mostly invisible. There is little to see and no reason to travel for them.
Ramadan is the month that changes a trip the most. Days run on shorter hours, and the evenings are the liveliest of the year. Our Ramadan in Egypt page covers the 2027 dates, eating in daytime, site hours and iftar.
Eid al-Fitr ends Ramadan. Eid al-Adha, about ten weeks later, is the larger feast. Both Eids are holidays of several days.
Both are peaks for domestic travel. Trains, domestic flights and coastal hotels fill up with Egyptian families. If your trip starts or ends near an Eid, book transport and rooms early. A package with its domestic flights included helps here. The Grand Tour of Egypt, 16 days from US$3,910 per person, includes the flights from Cairo to Aswan and Hurghada to Cairo. Our Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor runs three nights from US$840 per person. Flights to Aswan and home from Luxor are not included, so book them early.
Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas on 7 January. That is the public holiday. 25 December is a normal working day, marked mainly in hotels and on cruise boats. Our Christmas in Egypt page covers what that means for a winter trip.
Coptic Easter follows the Orthodox calendar. In 2027 it falls on 2 May. It ends the long Lenten fast, and churches hold long services through Holy Week. The national day off comes the next day, at Sham el-Nessim.
To see Coptic life on an ordinary day, go to Coptic Cairo. The old churches there are working churches. Our Cairo Short Break, five days from US$935 per person, includes the Hanging Church with a private guide.
Sham el-Nessim is Egypt's spring festival, held on the Monday after Coptic Easter. In 2027 that is 3 May. Muslims and Christians celebrate it alike, and it is a national holiday.
The day is a picnic. Families head for parks, gardens and the banks of the Nile early and stay out all day. The traditional foods are coloured eggs, green onions and feseekh, a salted, fermented fish. Many Egyptians trace the festival back to the pharaohs.
For a visitor it is a good day to be in a city and watch. Parks, riverbanks and anything green will be packed. It is a poor reason to fly in, though. There is no parade, show or single event to see.
Around 22 February and 22 October, the rising sun runs the length of the Great Temple at Abu Simbel. It lights three of the four seated statues in the sanctuary. Ptah, tied to the underworld, stays in shadow. The next dates are 22 October 2026 and 22 February 2027.
Expect a queue in the dark, large crowds and a few minutes inside.
Abu Simbel is an optional extra, at your own cost, on several of our tours that pass through Aswan. The Grand Tour of Egypt, 16 days from US$3,910 per person, offers it on day five. Ask whether your dates can be set so that day lands on the alignment.
A moulid is a festival for a saint's birthday. Muslims and Christians both hold them. The biggest draw huge crowds for several days, with processions, music, stalls and fairground rides.
The Prophet's own birthday, Mawlid al-Nabi, is a national holiday. Pastry shops fill with moulid sweets and sugar dolls in the weeks before it.
The moulid most visitors can reach is that of Abu al-Haggag in Luxor. His mosque sits inside Luxor Temple. During the festival, boats are carried through the streets around the site. Scholars have noted how closely this echoes the ancient Opet procession on the same ground.
Moulid dates follow the Islamic calendar, so they shift every year. Ask your guide or hotel what falls during your stay. These are local festivals, crowded and loud. They suit travellers who enjoy that. Small children and anyone uneasy in dense crowds will find them hard work.
The El Gouna Film Festival runs from 15 to 23 October 2026. El Gouna is a resort town on the Red Sea, about twenty minutes north of Hurghada. The Cairo International Film Festival runs from 11 to 20 November 2026 at the Cairo Opera House. Dates are from the organisers, checked October 2026.
Both are industry festivals first. Check each organiser's website for public screenings and tickets before you plan around them.
Our Cairo, Luxor and the Red Sea tour includes two nights on the coast at Hurghada. It runs eight days from US$2,040 per person. For the Cairo festival, the Cairo Short Break does its sightseeing by day, so your evenings are your own.
Ancient Egypt had its own festival year. The best known is Opet in Luxor. Once a year the statue of Amun travelled from Karnak to Luxor Temple. It went by river or along the avenue of sphinxes. By the Ramesside period the festival lasted weeks, with bread and beer handed out to the crowds.
You can still read it on the walls. The reliefs along the great colonnade of Luxor Temple show the procession in both directions. Look for the boats, soldiers, musicians and acrobats. Ask your guide to walk you through them.
The Beautiful Festival of the Valley took Amun across the river to the temples of the west bank. Families visited the tombs of their dead and feasted there. Nothing of it survives as a public event today. The temples on the route are the visit.
Ramadan is the one most worth seeing, for its evenings. In 2027 it falls in February and March, when the weather is at its best.
The sun festival is worth it only if the alignment is why you came.
Coptic Christmas changes a single day. Sham el-Nessim is pleasant to watch if you are already in Cairo. Neither justifies moving a trip.
The Eids and the national holidays are the ones to plan around for logistics. On a moved day off, banks and offices close.
If your dates fall near any of these, say so when you enquire. We will ask Memphis Tours, who run our trips, what changes on your days.
Ramadan and the two Eids, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Coptic Christmas on 7 January and Coptic Easter. Sham el-Nessim, the spring festival on the Monday after Coptic Easter. The Abu Simbel sun festival on 22 February and 22 October. Film festivals run in El Gouna in October and Cairo in November.
Seven fixed days: 7 January, 25 January, 25 April, 1 May, 30 June, 23 July and 6 October. Then the movable ones: Eid al-Fitr, Arafat Day, Eid al-Adha, the Islamic New Year, the Prophet's Birthday and Sham el-Nessim. The Cabinet often moves a day off to a Thursday, so check the actual day nearer the time.
On 7 January every year. It is a national public holiday. The main Christmas Eve service is held on the evening of 6 January. 25 December is a normal working day in Egypt.
Monday 3 May 2027, the day after Coptic Easter on 2 May. It is a national holiday. Families picnic in parks and along the Nile, so green spaces in every city are crowded.
Eid al-Fitr is expected on 9 or 10 March 2027. Eid al-Adha is expected on 16 May 2027. Both are astronomical estimates, confirmed by moon sighting shortly before. Each is a public holiday of several days and a peak for domestic travel. Checked October 2026.
No, but plan ahead. Trains, domestic flights and coastal hotels fill with Egyptian families. Book transport and rooms early. A package with its domestic flights included removes most of the problem.
A festival for a saint's birthday, held by Muslims and Christians. The big ones bring processions, music, stalls and rides for several days. In Luxor, the moulid of Abu al-Haggag fills the streets around Luxor Temple. Dates follow the Islamic calendar and change every year.
The two Eids and the nights of Ramadan. Eid al-Adha is the greater feast, and Egyptians call it the big Eid. Sham el-Nessim is the one that Muslims and Christians share. For visitors, Ramadan evenings are the easiest to join.
Around 22 February and 22 October each year. The next dates are 22 October 2026 and 22 February 2027. Sunrise lights three of the four statues in the sanctuary. Expect crowds and a very early start.
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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8 days · Classic Egypt
The route most people take first, at the length it was built for: Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, then a flight to Luxor and four nights sailing down to Aswan.
from US$2,135 / per person
8 days · Nile & Red Sea
No boat on this one. Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum, a night in Luxor for both banks, two nights on the Red Sea, then back to Cairo for the Citadel, Coptic Cairo and the Royal Mummies.
from US$2,040 / per person
10 days · Classic Egypt
Five nights in Cairo either side of a four-night sail from Luxor to Aswan. The Cairo days are private, just your party and a guide; the sightseeing off the boat is shared with a small group.
from US$2,635 / per person
