The best time for a Nile cruise, month by month

Why the river is a different question from the country

Most timing advice for Egypt describes standing outside in Upper Egypt, and rightly so. What changes on a cruise is that the hard part of the day is bounded. You are out early, at a temple, in full sun with almost no shade; then you are back aboard, and the rest of the day happens under an awning or in an air-conditioned cabin. That makes a hot month survivable in a way it is not on a land tour, where the afternoon is a coach and a hotel lobby.

The reverse is true in midwinter. Evenings on deck are the thing people picture when they book, and in December and January they are cool enough for a jacket. It is the most common packing mistake on the river: people pack for a hot country and spend the best hour of the day indoors because they have nothing warm with them.

The temperatures below are typical daytime highs for Luxor, and they are approximations rather than promises. Our month-by-month pages carry Cairo and Red Sea figures alongside them, and the country-wide verdict is on the best time to visit Egypt page. This one is only about the boat.

December to February: the best walking weather, the worst moorings

Luxor sits around 24C in December, 23C in January and 25C in February. That is close to ideal for a full morning at Karnak or a long walk on the West Bank. It is also why these are the busiest and most expensive weeks of the year. Christmas and New Year are the two dearest weeks in the Egyptian calendar, and the boats worth being on fill months ahead. January cabins usually go by autumn, and what remains is what nobody wanted.

February is the quiet win. It keeps almost all of January's temperature and loses the Christmas surcharge, though European half-term traffic lifts prices for a week or two in the middle of the month. The Abu Simbel sun alignment falls around 22 February, which is an Aswan excursion rather than a cruise stop, and it needs accommodation booked well ahead.

The catch in all three months is congestion rather than weather. High season is when boats raft up two, three or four abreast at the smaller moorings, so a river view can become a view into another boat's lounge, and when queues at the Esna lock are at their most tiresome. Book early enough to choose the boat, not just the week.

March and October: the two months where nothing is a compromise

Luxor is around 29C in March and 34C in October. Both are warm enough to feel like a proper holiday and cool enough that a full morning at a temple is comfortable rather than an endurance test, and the deck is usable all day in both. If someone asks for one month for a Nile cruise, March is usually the answer, with October its near-identical counterpart at the other end of the summer.

March has one variable worth knowing. The khamsin, a hot southerly wind, can arrive from late March and carry sand for a day or two at a stretch. It rarely ruins a trip, and it does not usually stop a boat, but it flattens visibility and it will spoil the photographs you came for.

October has a pricing quirk instead. Rates climb through the month as the season starts, so the first half is usually better value than the second for identical weather. The second Abu Simbel alignment falls around 22 October and draws the same crowds as February.

April, May and September: the edges of the season

April runs around 35C in Luxor. It still works if you build the day properly: out early, back aboard before the worst of it. April is also the month where a cruise combines best with time on the Red Sea, because the sea reaches about 25C and both halves of the trip work rather than one carrying the other. Easter moves year to year and takes prices and crowds with it, so check where it falls before assuming April is quiet.

May is around 39C and the balance tips. The temples become a dawn job and the middle of the day is not usable for sightseeing, which is a smaller problem afloat than ashore but still shortens what you see. September is the mirror image, and the better bet of the two. Around 38C in the first half, noticeably easier in the last ten days, and rates that lag the improving weather by two or three weeks. If your dates in September are flexible, push them later.

June to August: cheap for a reason, and not always the wrong call

Luxor runs around 41C through all three months. On a boat that has three effects. The sun deck is unusable from mid-morning until late afternoon, excursions move to first light, and the day divides into a hard two hours and a long air-conditioned pause. Boats are cheaper in summer for exactly this reason, and the discount is substantial rather than token.

August has a genuine oddity attached to it. European school holidays fill the Red Sea resorts while Luxor and Aswan are as empty as they ever get, so the Valley of the Kings can be close to yours alone. If you tolerate real heat and travel without children, that is a serious trade to consider.

It is a poor idea with young children, or with anyone who struggles in heat, and we would rather say so than sell it. Heat exhaustion in Upper Egypt in July is a practical risk, not a caveat in small print.

Two things that move independently of the weather

Ramadan shifts through the calendar each year, so it lands in a different season every time. It affects opening hours and the mood ashore rather than the sailing. Check where it falls before you fix dates. Coptic Christmas on 7 January is a public holiday, and some sites keep shorter hours around it.

Daylight is the other one. November is comfortable at around 28C, but the days are getting short, and on the West Bank that matters more than people expect. An itinerary that assumes a long afternoon in November will run out of light before it runs out of temples.

So when is the best time for a Nile cruise?

March or October if the dates are yours to choose. November if they are not, because it is comfortable everywhere and the sea is still warm enough to swim at around 26C. February if you want winter conditions without the December bill, avoiding the half-term fortnight.

The last ten days of September if value matters more than certainty, and June to August only if the price is the deciding factor and you know what 41C asks of you. December and January give the best walking weather in the country and cost the most for it — book those months early enough to pick the boat, because by autumn the choice has usually gone.