Aswan is Egypt’s southernmost city, the gateway to Africa and Abu Simbel, Egypt’s most impressive temple. Due to its location near the border with Sudan and an ancient trade route between Egypt and Africa, the city is home to a large African Nubian community. The Nubians have their own values and traditions, and live in the city as well as in villages located on Aswan’s islands.

Aswan offers so much variety that we recommend you stay for at least two days. The Nubian Bazaar is full of exotic smells, perfumes, aromatic spices, fresh vegetables and live chickens. The chaotic, tightly packed network of narrow alleyways makes the souq a fascinating place to wander about. You can enjoy a felucca sailing trip to the islands such as Elephantine or Kitcheners Island. Elephantine Island is the oldest inhabited part of Aswan and derives its name from the elephant size granite boulders at the southern end of the island. A gigantic unfinished obelisk, dating from the New Kingdom lies in an ancient granite quarry 1mile south of Aswan. The Temple of Philae is a well-preserved monument and was the centre of the cult of Isis. This splendid site was built in the late Ptolemaic and early Roman periods; the huge temple combines ancient Egyptian and Graceo-Roman architecture.

You can take a camel ride out to the desert monastery of St Simons, on the west bank of the Nile, built in the 7th Century and once home to 700 monks. Stretching across the Nile is the immense High Dam, which can be visited by road on your way back from Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel is a site definitely not to be missed. This breathtaking monument is accessible by road or a short flight and is best visited early in the morning. It was built by Ramesses II in ancient Nubia, where he wished to demonstrate his power and divine nature. Four colossal 20 meters high statues of the monarch sit in pairs flanking the entrance.