MS Hapi V Nile Cruise

Overview

The MS Hapi V sails the stretch of river between Luxor and Aswan in both directions, so you pick the departure that fits your flights rather than building a trip around a fixed one. Five days and four nights leave Luxor every Monday. Four days and three nights leave Aswan every Friday. The site list is the same on both; what changes is the order and how much room the schedule leaves you.

Southbound, Thebes comes first. You board in Luxor and go ashore the same afternoon for Karnak, a complex that successive pharaohs enlarged across two thousand years, where the Hypostyle Hall's 134 sandstone columns still hold traces of paint high up where the light does not reach. Luxor Temple follows on the corniche, joined to Karnak by an avenue of sphinxes now cleared along its full length. The West Bank takes the next morning: three tombs in the Valley of the Kings with their painted ceilings intact after three thousand years underground, Hatshepsut's mortuary temple terraced against the cliff at Deir el-Bahari, and the Colossi of Memnon, the only surviving fragments of Amenhotep III's own temple. The ship casts off after lunch, which means the demanding part of the trip is behind you before the sailing days begin.

The passage south is the quiet half. You cross the Esna lock in the afternoon, a slow business worth watching from the deck, and wake at Edfu. A horse-drawn carriage takes you into town for the Temple of Horus — roof intact, enclosure walls intact, the most complete pharaonic building left standing in Egypt, with the Horus and Seth story carved in sequence along the inner walls. Kom Ombo comes later the same day, sitting directly above the riverbank and unusual for being built double: one half for Sobek the crocodile god, the mirrored half for Haroeris, Horus the Elder. Between the two stops the landscape shifts from farmland and palm belts to open desert with the escarpment close behind.

Aswan closes the voyage. The Unfinished Obelisk still lies in the granite quarry where it cracked, tool marks visible along its flank; had it been raised it would have been the largest ever cut. Philae, dedicated to Isis, is reached by motorboat — it stood on a neighbouring island until the Aswan dams raised the water, and was taken apart and rebuilt block by block on Agilkia in the 1970s.

On board, the sun deck and pool take the hours when the temples are too hot to be worth visiting, and there is a gym, a lounge and a dining room where meals run as buffets of Egyptian and international dishes. Full board throughout means every meal from the first lunch to the last breakfast is covered, and an Egyptologist accompanies every excursion ashore.

Tell us which direction suits your flights and we'll come back with availability and a per-person price.

Daily Itinerary

What's Included

• Meet-and-assist by our representative on arrival and departureGuest relations support for the length of your stayAir-conditioned vehicle for all transfersFour nights aboard the 4-star MS Hapi V on full boardShore excursions run as small-group tours with fellow passengersLuxor East Bank: Karnak Temple and Luxor TempleLuxor West Bank: Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hatshepsut, Colossi of MemnonEdfu and Kom Ombo temple visitsAswan: Unfinished Obelisk and Philae TempleEntrance tickets to every site named in the itineraryLicensed English-speaking Egyptologist on all excursionsAll meals as set out day by day belowAll service charges and applicable taxes

Not Included

• Any optional tours 
• Personal spendings 
• Tipping