Abu Simbel sun festival: 22 February, 22 October and your Aswan tour
3 min read
The sun reaches the inner sanctuary at Abu Simbel on 22 February and 22 October, at dawn, and none of the four Aswan day-trip pages we read mentions it. If you want to be there on one of those days, you have to ask the operator, because none of the pages says it gets there by dawn.
What the ministry says
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities describes a biannual solar alignment at the temple of Ramses II, happening twice every year, on 22 October and 22 February. The sun’s rays enter the sanctum and light three of the four statues inside: Ramses II, Amun-Re and Re-Horakhty. Ptah, whom the ministry calls the god of darkness, stays in shadow. The ministry’s Abu Simbel page lists the two dates and shows a higher ticket rate for those two days: EGP 1,200 instead of EGP 750 for a foreign adult, and EGP 600 instead of EGP 375 for a foreign student.
The temples were moved to higher ground when the Aswan High Dam was built. They belong to the UNESCO listing Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae.
What the booking pages say
We read the pages of four Abu Simbel day trips from Aswan: the group tour with guide and entrance fees (€57.94), the hotel-pickup day trip (€35.65), the private guide and car trip (€114.09) and the private day trip with lunch (€129.25). None of them mentions the alignment or the two dates.
| Day trip | Duration | From | Rating | What the page says about the start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group tour with guide and entrance fees | 10 hours | €57.94 | 4.5 · 629 | Early start with the daily convoy from Aswan |
| Hotel-pickup day trip | 10 hours | €35.65 | 4.5 · 3,457 | Early morning pickup at the time on your voucher |
| Private guide and car | 10 hours | €114.09 | 4.5 · 467 | Early start; the supplier confirms the pickup the day before |
| Private day trip with lunch | 9 hours | €129.25 | 4.6 · 270 | Pickup at 8:00 AM, about three hours’ drive |
The timing matters. The ministry places the effect at dawn. The private trip with lunch gives an 8:00 AM pickup in Aswan and about three hours on the road, so on that itinerary you would arrive after sunrise. The group tour travels with the daily convoy from Aswan after an early start, so ask the operator for the departure hour; the private car trip says the supplier confirms your pickup time the day before. Cruise trips that include Abu Simbel, such as the 4-day cruise with Abu Simbel and balloon flight, list a pickup around 4:30 AM; ask about the alignment before booking those too.
What to do
Choose a private trip, write to the operator before booking and ask three things: whether the pickup can be moved earlier on 22 February or 22 October, whether the entrance supplement is in the price, and what the plan is if the sky is overcast. Do not assume the answer is yes. For the road trip itself, read our guide on getting from Aswan to Abu Simbel, and see all options on the Abu Simbel tours page.
