HomeDWA Nile Cruise
Not every great Nile cruise needs to reinvent the wheel. The DWA gets the fundamentals right — a well-appointed 5-star ship, a small group of just 12 guests, an expert Egyptologist guide for every excursion, and a route through the most spectacular stretch of the ancient world — and delivers them with the kind of consistency that keeps travelers recommending it to friends.
Sailing between Aswan and Luxor, the DWA covers the same legendary temples and monuments that have drawn travelers to Upper Egypt for centuries. What sets it apart is how it delivers that experience — with comfortable, well-designed cabins, attentive service, full board meals, and a relaxed pace that gives you time to absorb what you're seeing rather than rushing through it. This is a cruise that gets out of the way and lets ancient Egypt be the star.
What to Expect
- Group size: Maximum 12 guests — small enough for a genuinely personal experience
- Guide: Expert English-speaking Egyptologist on every excursion
- Meals: Full board throughout — all breakfasts, lunches, and dinners included
- Inclusions: All temple entrance fees and ground transfers covered
- Evening entertainment: Cocktail reception, Galabeya party, Egyptian cultural show
- Departures: Every Friday from Aswan / Every Monday from Luxor
On Board Facilities
- Cabins: Comfortable, well-appointed 5-star cabins with individually controlled air conditioning, private bathroom, satellite TV, and Nile views.
- Dining & Social Spaces: Main restaurant serving full board meals throughout the cruise, sundeck for afternoon tea and open-air relaxation, lounge and bar for evening entertainment.
- Services: Wi-Fi on board, room service, laundry service, daily housekeeping, meet and assist service throughout.
Frequently Asked Questions
What temples do you visit on the DWA Nile cruise?
Both itineraries cover the key sites between Aswan and Luxor. On the 4-day Aswan to Luxor route you visit Philae Temple, the Unfinished Obelisk, Kom Ombo Temple, Esna Temple, Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings, and the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. All entrance fees are included.
How many people are on the DWA cruise?
A maximum of 12 guests per departure. This keeps the experience personal — your guide can focus on the group, excursions move efficiently, and you never feel like part of a crowd at the temples.
How is the DWA different from other Nile cruises on the Memphis Tours website?
The DWA is a focused, well-priced 5-star small-group cruise that delivers the essential Nile cruise experience without extras you may not need. If you're looking for a larger all-suite ship with a higher crew ratio and multiple lounges, the MS Salacia is worth comparing. If you want a reliable, comfortable, small-group cruise at a strong price point, the DWA delivers exactly that.
Which direction is better — Aswan to Luxor or Luxor to Aswan?
Both routes visit the same temples. The 4-day Aswan to Luxor direction begins in the quieter, more atmospheric south and builds toward the dramatic West Bank finale in Luxor. The 5-day Luxor to Aswan direction starts with Luxor's East and West Bank sites on Day 1 and 2, then takes you deeper south toward Aswan — ideal if you prefer ending your cruise in a slower, more relaxed city.
What is included in the price?
All meals from the first lunch through the final breakfast, all temple and site entrance fees, an English-speaking Egyptologist guide for every excursion, and all transfers by air-conditioned vehicle. Tips and personal expenses are not included.
What is the best time of year to sail?
October through April is the most comfortable season for sightseeing, with cooler daytime temperatures. May through September is hotter but less crowded and priced lower. The DWA sails year-round.
How do I secure my spot?
A deposit of just 25% confirms your cabin and all included services. The remaining balance can be paid up to two days before arrival or in cash on arrival.
Can I book the DWA as a standalone cruise?
Yes — you can fly directly into Aswan or Luxor depending on your chosen direction. Memphis Tours also offers combined packages that include Cairo and the Pyramids of Giza if you want a fuller Egypt itinerary.
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- Meet and assist service upon arrival & departure
- Assistance of our personnel during your stay and excursions
- All transfers by a modern air-conditioned deluxe vehicle
- Accommodation on board 5 star cruise on full board basis
- All Nile Cruise excursions as mentioned in the itinerary sharing nile cruise group
- Entrance fees to all sights between Luxor and Aswan
- English-speaking tour guide during your excursions
- All service charges and taxes
- Any extras and personal spending
- Tipping
Aswan is where your Nile journey begins — and it sets the tone perfectly. Smaller and quieter than Cairo or Luxor, this southern city sits where the Egyptian desert meets the river in a landscape of golden sand, granite boulders, and slow-moving feluccas. A Memphis Tours representative meets you at Aswan airport or train station and transfers you directly to the DWA for embarkation before lunch. After checking into your cabin, your Egyptologist takes you to two of Aswan's standout sites before dinner on board.
- Meet and assist at Aswan airport or railway station
- Private transfer to the DWA for embarkation before lunch
- Check-in and settle into your cabin
- Lunch on board
- Guided visit to Philae Temple
- Guided visit to the Unfinished Obelisk
- Dinner on board
Philae Temple occupies a small island in the Nile — you reach it by a short motorboat crossing, which makes arriving feel like a proper discovery. Dedicated to the goddess Isis, it was one of the last temples in Egypt where the ancient religion was still practiced. When the Aswan High Dam threatened to submerge it permanently, UNESCO coordinated its complete dismantling and reassembly on higher ground — one of the most remarkable feats of archaeological preservation ever undertaken. The Unfinished Obelisk nearby tells a different kind of story: abandoned mid-carving after a crack appeared in the granite, it still lies in the quarry exactly where the workers left it, offering a uniquely raw look at the engineering behind ancient Egypt's most iconic monuments.
Overnight: Aboard the DWA in Aswan
Meals: Lunch, Dinner
The morning after breakfast belongs to the river. You set sail north toward Kom Ombo with no agenda until the afternoon — time to find a spot on the sundeck, watch the landscape change from granite desert to palm-lined banks, and let the Nile work its particular kind of calm on you.
- Breakfast on board
- Morning sailing toward Kom Ombo
- Lunch on board
- Afternoon tea
- Guided visit to Kom Ombo Temple
- Sail to Esna
- Dinner on board
Kom Ombo Temple stands directly on the riverbank — one of the few ancient Egyptian temples built in a position where you can see the Nile from inside its sanctuaries. What makes it architecturally unique is its dual dedication: the entire structure is perfectly symmetrical, with duplicate halls, gateways, and sanctuaries built side by side for two separate gods — Sobek the crocodile god on one side and Horus the Elder on the other. Ancient crocodile mummies discovered near the site are displayed in a small museum on the grounds. After the visit you sail on to Esna as the evening settles in.
Overnight: Aboard the DWA in Esna
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to operational or environmental factors.
Today moves quickly and covers a lot of ground — an early morning temple visit in Esna, a sail through the famous Esna Lock, and two of Luxor's greatest East Bank monuments in the afternoon. The evening brings a belly dance show on board, a lively end to your most action-packed day.
- Guided visit to Esna Temple
- Breakfast on board
- Lunch on board while sailing toward Luxor through the Esna Lock
- Afternoon tea
- Guided visit to Karnak Temple (East Bank)
- Guided visit to Luxor Temple (East Bank)
- Dinner on board
- Belly dance show on board
Esna Temple is easy to overlook on a Nile cruise itinerary — but it shouldn't be. Dedicated to Khnum, the ram-headed god believed to have shaped humanity on a potter's wheel, it was buried under the city for centuries and only partially excavated, so the street level of modern Esna sits several meters above the ancient temple floor. Walking down into it feels like descending into another time entirely. The Esna Lock, navigated mid-morning, brings cruise ships through one at a time and is a surprisingly compelling thing to watch from the deck. Karnak Temple, the afternoon's main event, is the largest religious complex ever built on earth — 200 acres of sanctuaries and columns raised by 30 different pharaohs across 1,300 years. Luxor Temple, visited close to evening, is best seen as the light fades and the floodlights take over, turning its stone façade a deep amber against the darkening sky.
Overnight: Aboard the DWA in Luxor
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Entertainment: Belly dance show
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to operational or environmental factors.
Your final morning takes you to the West Bank — the ancient burial ground of Egypt's pharaohs, where the cliffs hide more than 60 royal tombs and the landscape itself feels charged with history. After the visits, your Memphis Tours representative transfers you to Luxor airport or the train station.
- Breakfast on board
- Check-out after breakfast
- Guided visit to the Valley of the Kings
- Guided visit to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
- Transfer to Luxor airport or railway station
Inside the Valley of the Kings, painted tomb walls remain as vivid as the day they were sealed — the dry desert air has preserved colors and details that would have faded anywhere else on earth. Your guide takes you inside several tombs, each with its own scenes of the afterlife, offerings to the gods, and hieroglyphic texts intended to guide the pharaoh's soul safely through death. Tutankhamun's tomb — the most famous of all, discovered in 1922 with its treasures virtually untouched — is here. The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, a short distance away, is one of the most architecturally striking buildings in Egypt: three colonnaded terraces rising in clean horizontal lines directly against the sheer limestone cliffs behind it. Hatshepsut was one of ancient Egypt's most successful rulers, reigning as pharaoh for over two decades — a fact her successors tried hard to erase from history, and failed.
Meals: Breakfast
Your cruise ends in Luxor — but Egypt doesn't have to. Ask us about combining this cruise with Cairo and the Pyramids of Giza, or extending to the Red Sea. We'll build the itinerary around your schedule.
Your Nile cruise begins in Luxor — the open-air museum of the ancient world. No city on earth packs this much history into a single place: on the East Bank alone, two of the greatest temple complexes ever built stand within a few kilometers of each other. A Memphis Tours representative meets you at Luxor airport or train station and transfers you to the DWA for embarkation before lunch. After settling in, your Egyptologist takes you straight to both. That evening, the boat manager hosts a welcome cocktail reception in the lounge — a chance to meet your fellow travelers and hear what the next five days have in store.
- Meet and assist at Luxor airport or railway station
- Private transfer to the DWA for embarkation before lunch
- Lunch on board
- Check-in and settle into your cabin
- Afternoon tea on the sundeck
- Guided visit to Karnak Temple (East Bank)
- Guided visit to Luxor Temple (East Bank)
- Dinner on board
- Cocktail reception and boat manager presentation in the lounge
Karnak is not just a temple — it is an entire sacred city, built and expanded by 30 different pharaohs across 1,300 years, covering more than 200 acres. Its hypostyle hall alone contains 134 massive columns, each carved with hieroglyphics and painted scenes. It remains the largest religious structure ever built anywhere on earth. Luxor Temple, a short distance south along the Corniche, has a different character — more unified in design, built primarily by Ramesses II, and extraordinarily well preserved. In the evening its stone glows amber under floodlights, and the fully excavated avenue of sphinxes leading to the entrance gives you a vivid sense of how the ancient processional route once looked.
Overnight: Aboard the DWA in Luxor
Meals: Lunch, Afternoon Tea on Sundeck, Dinner
Entertainment: Cocktail reception and boat manager presentation
This morning crosses to the West Bank — the city of the dead that mirrors the city of the living on the opposite bank. After two of the most significant sites on the entire cruise, you board again and sail south toward Esna, with the afternoon spent on the river as the landscape opens up around you.
- Breakfast on board
- Guided visit to the Valley of the Kings (West Bank)
- Guided visit to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (West Bank)
- Sail to Esna
- Lunch on board
- Afternoon tea on the sundeck
- Dinner on board
The Valley of the Kings was chosen by Egypt's New Kingdom pharaohs as their secret burial ground — hidden in the desert cliffs of the West Bank, far from the tomb robbers who had plundered earlier pyramid burials. More than 60 royal tombs have been discovered here, cut deep into the rock and decorated with elaborate painted scenes. Several are open to visitors, and no two are alike in layout, scale, or imagery. The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut stands at the base of the cliffs a short distance away — three sweeping colonnaded terraces that blend so naturally into the rock face they look almost grown rather than built. Hatshepsut ruled Egypt as pharaoh for over 20 years, commissioning more monuments than almost any ruler before her.
Overnight: Aboard the DWA in Esna
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon Tea on Sundeck, Dinner
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to operational or environmental factors.
Two temples in one day — both exceptional, both completely different from each other. You start early in Edfu, then spend the afternoon sailing to Kom Ombo for a riverside visit as the light turns golden, before continuing south toward Aswan. The evening closes with a Galabeya party in the lounge — one of the most fun and memorable nights of the cruise, where guests dress in traditional Egyptian robes and celebrate on board.
- Breakfast on board
- Guided visit to Edfu Temple
- Lunch on board
- Afternoon tea on the sundeck while sailing toward Kom Ombo
- Guided visit to Kom Ombo Temple
- Sail to Aswan
- Dinner on board
- Galabeya party in the lounge after dinner
The Temple of Horus at Edfu is the best-preserved ancient temple in Egypt, and the scale of it is genuinely arresting — two massive entrance pylons rise above you, their surfaces covered in carved reliefs that still show traces of original paint. Because it was buried under sand and silt for centuries, it escaped much of the damage that affected other Nile temples, leaving its reliefs, columns, and inner sanctuaries almost intact. Kom Ombo, visited the same afternoon, works on a completely different principle — a dual temple split perfectly down the middle for two gods, Sobek and Horus, each with their own entrance, halls, and inner sanctuary. The setting directly on the Nile, with the river visible from inside the temple precinct, makes it one of the most atmospheric stops on the entire route.
Overnight: Aboard the DWA in Aswan
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon Tea on Sundeck, Dinner
Entertainment: Galabeya party in the lounge
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to operational or environmental factors.
Aswan is the gentlest city on the Nile — its pace slower, its light softer, its waterfront lined with feluccas and backed by the dunes of the Sahara. After three days of temple visits, this day feels different. Aswan invites you to slow down and take it all in. The two sites visited today are among the most evocative on the entire journey, and the evening closes with a Nubian cultural show in the lounge — a deeply fitting finale in a city that has been the gateway to Nubia for thousands of years.
- Breakfast on board
- Guided visit to Philae Temple
- Guided visit to the Unfinished Obelisk
- Lunch on board
- Afternoon tea on the sundeck
- Dinner on board
- Nubian show in the lounge after dinner
Philae Temple is reached by motorboat across a stretch of the Nile — a short crossing that makes the arrival feel unlike any other temple visit on the route. Dedicated to Isis, goddess of magic and motherhood, it was one of the last places in Egypt where the ancient religion was still actively practiced before being closed by Roman decree in the 6th century AD. When the Aswan High Dam threatened to submerge it permanently, UNESCO coordinated its complete dismantling and reassembly on higher ground. The Unfinished Obelisk, a short drive away in the ancient granite quarries, would have been the heaviest single stone object ever moved by human hands — abandoned mid-carving after a crack appeared, it lies exactly where the workers left it, offering an extraordinary and unplanned window into the mechanics of ancient Egyptian construction.
Overnight: Aboard the DWA in Aswan
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon Tea on Sundeck, Dinner
Entertainment: Nubian show in the lounge
A final breakfast on the Nile, then check-out and transfer to Aswan airport or the railway station. Your DWA cruise ends here — but the memories of what you've seen along this stretch of river tend to stay considerably longer. We hope this journey through ancient Egypt has been everything you imagined, and we can't wait to welcome you back.
- Breakfast on board
- Disembarkation after breakfast
- Transfer to Aswan airport or railway station
Meals: Breakfast
Your cruise ends in Aswan — but Egypt doesn't have to. Ask us about combining this cruise with Cairo and the Pyramids, or adding Abu Simbel before you fly home. We'll put it together around your schedule.
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