By type of trip
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
Nile cruises · Couples
For a honeymoon Nile cruise, take the four-night sailing from Luxor to Aswan and pay for the boat you will enjoy between the temples. Go between October and April, with March or October as the pick. A dahabiya, a small sailing boat, gives the most privacy, at a higher price per night. Then add an extra night in Aswan or a few days on the Red Sea. Below is how to choose the boat, the cabin and the month.
A Nile cruise shipA dahabiya| A Nile cruise ship | A dahabiya | |
|---|---|---|
| Who else is on board | A full ship of passengers, with fixed meal times | A handful of cabins, so a small group |
| Where it moors | At the town quays, often rafted beside other boats | Often at banks and sandbanks away from the towns |
| Pace | Engine power and a fixed timetable | Sails with the wind, towed when it drops |
| How many nights | Three nights north, or four nights south | About five nights at least, and a week is comfortable |
| On board | Larger public areas. Confirm facilities for the boat you are offered | Small cabins and bathrooms, and most boats have no pool |
| Price | Usually the cheaper way to travel the river per night | Usually more per person per night |
| On our tours | Every set tour we sell with a cruise | None of our set tours |
The short answer
A dahabiya is the more private honeymoon, if you can give it five nights or more and accept simple cabins. A cruise ship fits a shorter trip and a firm timetable. On a ship, the four-night leg on a higher plan gets you closest to the same slow feeling.
The temples are the same on every boat. Every cruise between Luxor and Aswan visits much the same sites, and on most boats the visits are shared with a group. So the boat decides how the rest of your time feels: the afternoons on deck, the evenings and the cabin.
That makes three choices matter most. Pick the length that gives you time on board. Pick the boat by how much of the trip you will spend on it. Then pick the cabin with care, because it is your room for the whole sailing.
The standard sailings are three nights from Aswan to Luxor and four nights from Luxor to Aswan. They visit the same temples in a different order.
For a honeymoon, the four-night leg is the better one. It gives you one more night on board and more slow afternoons on deck. That extra night matters more on a boat you have paid extra for. It also finishes in Aswan, the calmest of the three cities, which is a good place to stay on.
We sell the tours of one Egyptian operator, Memphis Tours. Every cruise trip they run comes in three plans. The standard plan uses the MS Radamis II. The comfort plan uses the Movenpick Royal Lily. The luxury plan uses the Sonesta St. George.
The day plan, the temples and the guiding are the same on all three. Moving up a plan changes the boat, and on longer trips the hotels too. The sightseeing from the boat stays shared, with a group of about 15 people, on every plan.
For a honeymoon, pay for a higher plan if the time on board is part of the holiday. That fits a milestone trip and a four-night leg with long afternoons on deck. If you will spend most days off the boat, the standard plan is fine, and the savings can buy an extra night in Aswan.
The operator's documents note that a boat can be swapped for a comparable one. Check the boat named on your booking before you pay. We do not list cabin sizes or facilities for any boat, because they change with refits. Ask for them in writing.
A dahabiya is a small, flat-bottomed sailing boat with a handful of cabins. It sails with the wind and is towed by a small tug when the wind drops. It can moor at banks and sandbanks away from the towns, where the big ships cannot stop.
For two people that is usually a good trade. Meals happen around a small table. Evenings are quiet. You hear water instead of a generator. The costs are real too: a higher price per night, small cabins and bathrooms, stairs instead of lifts, and usually no pool.
A sailing boat also needs more time. About five nights is the minimum that works, and a week is comfortable. Chartering the whole boat for two is rarely worth the cost. It makes more sense when several couples travel together.
None of the set tours we sell uses a dahabiya. Our dahabiya page explains how the boats work and what to ask before you book one.
Ask which deck the cabin is on. Lower decks sit nearer the engine and the waterline. A higher deck puts you further from both.
Ask which side it faces, and whether the boat moors alongside the bank or rafted between other boats. Rafted means your window may look straight at another hull, sometimes all evening.
Ask when the boat was last refurbished, and ask for recent photos of the exact cabin type you are offered. Nile boats age fast in the heat. A recent refit matters more than the brochure suite.
October to April is the season. If you can pick freely, choose March or October. Luxor is around 29C in March and 34C in October, warm enough to feel like a holiday and cool enough for a full temple morning. The deck is usable all day.
December and January are the coolest months for the temples, around 23C to 24C in Luxor, and the busiest. Evenings on deck need a jacket. Cabins for January are usually gone by autumn, so book early for a winter wedding.
June to August is very hot in Luxor and Aswan, around 41C in Luxor. A honeymoon then means early starts and long afternoons indoors.
A week of temples is enough for most couples. Finish with a few days of rest. There are two easy ways to add it.
The first is an extra night in Aswan after a four-night sailing. It buys a felucca at sunset, a walk on Elephantine Island and a morning with no alarm. If you must choose between a better cabin and an Aswan night, take the night.
The second is the Red Sea. A cruise that ends in Luxor is about four hours by road from Hurghada. On our tours the luxury plan uses KaiSol Romance Resort in Sahl Hasheesh, south of Hurghada, which describes itself as adults only. We checked this on the hotel's own website in November 2026.
Prices are per person, land only, on the standard plan. Ask for the comfort or luxury price in your request.
The five-day Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan starts at US$1,095. It is the four-night sailing on its own. Domestic flights are not included, so you book your own way to Luxor and back from Aswan.
Cairo, a Nile Cruise and Hurghada in 13 days starts at US$2,945. It adds Cairo, a night in Aswan before a three-night cruise, and three nights at Hurghada. The Grand Tour of Egypt in 16 days starts at US$3,910. It adds two days of Luxor on land before the coast.
Tips are extra on every trip. For the boat crew, allow about US$5 to 10 per person per night.
Yes, if you plan it slowly. Pick the four-night sailing, a boat you will enjoy between the temples, and a month between October and April. End with a night in Aswan or a few days at the Red Sea.
For privacy, a dahabiya for five nights or more. On a cruise ship, the four-night Luxor to Aswan sailing on a higher plan. On the tours we sell, that is the Sonesta St. George on the luxury plan.
Four nights on a cruise ship, sailing from Luxor to Aswan. A dahabiya needs about five nights at least, and a week is comfortable.
For quiet and privacy, yes. A dahabiya has a handful of cabins and moors away from the towns. It costs more per night, has simple cabins, and usually has no pool.
An upper-deck cabin, away from the engine. Ask which side it faces, whether the boat moors rafted beside others, and when it was last refurbished. Ask for recent photos of that exact cabin type.
March or October, if you can choose. Both are warm without the summer heat, and the deck is usable all day. December and January are cooler and busier, with chilly evenings on deck.
Not on the cruise ships we sell. The temple visits from the boat are shared with a group of about 15 people, on every plan. Transfers are private, and so is the touring in Cairo on our longer trips.
Yes. A cruise that ends in Luxor is about four hours from Hurghada by road. Two of the tours we sell for couples add three nights at Hurghada after the boat.
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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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A real itinerary with real prices, usually within 24 hours. Nothing is booked and nothing is charged until you say yes.
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