How to get from Aswan to Abu Simbel: group tour or private car?
4 min read
For most visitors, the group tour with guide and entrance fee is the simplest way to reach Abu Simbel from Aswan. The Abu Simbel group tour with guide and entrance fees costs €57.94 per person, and the ticket, the guide and the air-conditioned vehicle are all listed in what it includes. Every day trip below goes by road and runs 9 to 10 hours, so none of them is a quick detour.
The temples are worth the early start. UNESCO lists Abu Simbel as part of the Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae and notes that the Great Temple is carved out of solid rock. The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities says that on 22 February and 22 October the sun reaches the inner sanctuary; our guide to the Abu Simbel sun festival explains what the booking pages say about those dates.
| Tour | Duration | From | Rating | What the page says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group tour with guide and entrance fees | 10 hours | €57.94 | 4.5 · 629 | Shared group, guide and ticket included, travels with the daily convoy |
| Day trip with hotel pickup | 10 hours | €35.65 | 4.5 · 3,457 | Air-conditioned bus; ticket and guide only if you select the option |
| Private guide and car | 10 hours | €114.09 | 4.5 · 467 | Private car and English-speaking guide, entry ticket included |
| Private day trip with lunch | 9 hours | €129.25 | 4.6 · 270 | Private, entry fees, lunch and water included, book 48 hours ahead |
Group tour or hotel-pickup bus
The hotel-pickup trip has 3,457 reviews, and its page promises round-trip hotel transfers and time at the temple at your own pace. Read the includes carefully, though. The entry ticket and the English-speaking guide appear only “if the option is selected”, so compare it with the group tour on what you actually pay at checkout, not on the headline price. The page also lists wheelchair users as not suitable.
The group tour puts guide and ticket in the base price. It says the early start is needed to travel with the daily convoy from Aswan to Abu Simbel, and that it is a shared tour with other travellers. Food and drinks are not included, and the page suggests bringing a packed lunch.
Private options
The private guide and car trip lets you set the pace at the temple without a group. Pickup from some areas (Gharb Soheil, the Island, Nagaa al-Mahatta, New Aswan) is listed as an extra US$10 per person, so say where you are staying when you book.
The nine-hour private trip with lunch is the only one whose itinerary breaks the day down: about three hours in the car each way, two hours at the Great Temple and one hour at the Temple of Nefertari. It needs 48 hours’ notice, and you must give names, nationalities and passport numbers when booking. The page gives an 8 am pickup; the other pages only say “early”, so confirm the time in your voucher.
How long is the drive?
The pages disagree slightly: the private trip lists three hours each way, while a Nile cruise page that includes Abu Simbel mentions a four-hour drive. Plan for the longer figure. If you are already planning a cruise, some Nile cruises from Aswan add the Abu Simbel excursion.
Which to book
Take the group tour if you want one clear price with ticket and guide inside. Choose the private car if you travel with children or older relatives, or want to leave the temples when you are ready. Whichever you pick, all of these come with free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start, according to the booking pages. More options are on the Abu Simbel tours page.
