HomeNuun and Nuut Dahabiyas
.jpg "Ashranda Nuun and Nuut Dahabiyas")
.jpg "Ashranda Nuun and Nuut Dahabiyas")
.jpg "Ashranda Nuun and Nuut Dahabiyas")
.jpg "Ashranda Nuun and Nuut Dahabiyas")
There is an older, slower, more beautiful way to travel the Nile. Before motor cruisers, before schedules, before crowds — there were dahabiyas. Traditional wooden sailing vessels that carried 19th century explorers and aristocrats up the river under full canvas, stopping wherever the wind and curiosity took them. The Nuun and Nuut are that experience, rebuilt for today.
Twin sister dahabiyas operated by Ashranda, Nuun and Nuut are among the most luxurious traditional sailing vessels on the Nile. Each carries a maximum of 12 guests across 6 cabins and 2 private-terrace suites — small enough that the crew knows your name by the end of Day 1, and quiet enough that you can hear the water moving under the hull at night. The routes they sail pass sites no motor cruise ship stops at: sandstone quarry temples, island anchorages, and stretches of the river where the only thing on the banks is sugar cane and silence.
What to Expect
- Vessel type: Traditional wooden dahabiya — wind-powered sailing, not a motor cruise ship
- Capacity: Maximum 12 guests across 6 cabins and 2 private-terrace suites
- Guide: English-speaking Egyptologist on every excursion
- Meals: Full board throughout — all breakfasts, lunches, and dinners plus tea and coffee
- Inclusions: All entrance fees, all ground transfers, soft drinks in minibar
- Routes: 4-day Aswan to Luxor / 5-day Luxor to Aswan / 8-day Luxor to Luxor
- Departures: Selected dates — contact Memphis Tours to confirm availability
On Board
- Cabins & Suites: 6 cabins with twin or large beds, 2 suites with private terrace. All cabins feature large panoramic windows with Nile views, in-room private safe, modern duvets, hairdryer, and free Wi-Fi.
- Common Areas: Elegant dining room and lounge, sun deck with chaise-longue chairs, Arabic seating area, soft drinks in the minibar.
- Services: Free Wi-Fi throughout, electronic fire and smoke detection, wireless internet in rooms, accompanying motorboat for calm-wind days.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a dahabiya different from a regular Nile cruise?
A dahabiya is a traditional wooden sailing vessel — the original way to travel the Nile before motorized cruise ships existed. Where large cruise ships carry 60 to 160 passengers and follow fixed schedules, the Nuun and Nuut carry a maximum of 12 guests each and sail at a pace that allows you to stop at islands, quarry temples, and anchorages that larger vessels simply cannot reach. It is a fundamentally different experience — slower, quieter, and considerably more personal.
What sites do you visit on the Nuun and Nuut dahabiyas?
Depending on your chosen itinerary, sites include Kom Ombo Temple, Edfu Temple, Gebel el Silsila and the sandstone quarries, El Kab village and rock-cut tombs, the Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple, and Philae Temple. The 5-day and 8-day routes include stops at island anchorages like Beshir Island, Fawaza Island, and Sheikh Rehan Island that are exclusive to dahabiya travel.
How many guests are on each dahabiya?
Each vessel carries a maximum of 12 guests. Nuun and Nuut are twin dahabiyas — identical in layout and specification — so if your group is larger, both can sail together on the same route.
What is included in the price?
Full board meals including tea and coffee with every meal, all temple and site entrance fees, an English-speaking Egyptologist guide for excursions, all transfers by air-conditioned vehicle, and soft drinks in your cabin minibar. Tips and personal extras are not included.
Is a dahabiya suitable for first-time visitors to Egypt?
Yes — but it suits a particular kind of traveler. If you want to cover as many temples as possible in the shortest time, a motor cruise ship is faster. If you want to actually feel the Nile — to sail on it, sleep on it, and see the Egypt that exists between the famous sites — a dahabiya is the right choice. Many guests who have already done a standard cruise choose a dahabiya for their second trip.
What is the best time of year to sail?
October through April offers the coolest temperatures and the most consistent winds for sailing. May through August is hotter but the river is quieter. The dahabiyas sail year-round on selected departure dates.
How do I secure my cabin?
A deposit of 50% secures your cabin and all included services. The remaining balance can be paid up to two days before arrival or in cash on arrival.
Ready to sail the old way? Send us your travel dates and group size and we'll confirm availability.
→ Get Your Free Quote
- Meet and assist service upon arrival & departure
- Assistance of our personal during your stay and excursions
- All transfers by a modern air-conditioned deluxe vehicle
- Accommodation on board 5-star Dahabiya on full board basis
- Tea and Coffee during meals on board your Dahabiya
- Free Soft Drinks at Minibar
- All Dahabiya excursions as mentioned in the itinerary
- Entrance fees to all sights between Luxor and Aswan
- Egyptologist guide during your excursions
- All service charges and taxes
- Any extras not mentioned in the itinerary
- Tipping Kitty
N.B.:
- Itineraries may be changed without prior notice due to navigational circumstances, the change will only affect the sequence of the visits, but not in visits themselves.
- The Nile Dahabiya departure is dependent on booking at least 2 double cabins to guarantee sailing for 4 nights and 3 cabins for 3 nights Dahabiya Cruise.
- The Nile Dahabiya departure is dependent on booking at least 1 double suite to guarantee sailing for 7 nights Dahabiya Cruise.
Your dahabiya journey begins at noon in Aswan. The moment you step on board, the pace of travel changes — no airport announcements, no coach transfers, no crowds. Just the deck beneath your feet, the Nile ahead, and lunch served as the sails fill and Aswan slips behind you. By late afternoon you reach Kom Ombo, where the temple rises directly from the riverbank in the golden hour light. After the visit, you sail on to anchor near the quiet shore of Beshir Island for the night.
- Embarkation and lunch on board
- Set sail toward Kom Ombo (14:00)
- Guided visit to Kom Ombo Temple — dedicated to Horus and Sobek (17:00)
- Dinner on board (20:00)
- Overnight near Beshir Island
Kom Ombo Temple stands at a bend where the Nile curves sharply — a location the ancient Egyptians considered spiritually charged. It is the only perfectly symmetrical double temple in Egypt, its entire structure mirrored for two gods: Horus the Elder on the north side, Sobek the crocodile god on the south. Every hall, every gateway, every inner sanctuary exists twice. A small museum on the grounds displays ancient crocodile mummies — votive offerings to Sobek that were buried near the temple for thousands of years before being discovered and preserved.
Overnight: Near Beshir Island
Meals: Lunch, Dinner
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to navigational or environmental factors.
Breakfast is served on deck as the dahabiya pulls away from Beshir Island at first light. The morning sail to Edfu is one of the most pleasant stretches of the journey — desert cliffs on the west bank, farmland and date palms on the east, and the unhurried rhythm of the river setting the pace. By mid-morning you arrive at Edfu for the most impressive temple visit of the cruise.
- Breakfast on board (07:00)
- Sail to Edfu (08:00)
- Guided visit to the Temple of Horus at Edfu (11:00)
- Continue sailing toward Esna (13:00)
- Lunch on board
- Dinner on board
- Overnight in Esna (18:00)
The Temple of Horus at Edfu is the best-preserved ancient temple in Egypt — and one of the largest. Built during the Ptolemaic period over nearly 200 years of continuous construction, it was buried under desert sand and river silt for centuries, which is precisely why it survived in such extraordinary condition. Its entrance pylons rise more than 36 meters, its inner chambers are still roofed, and its carved reliefs still carry traces of original paint. Two massive granite statues of the falcon god Horus flank the entrance, each carved from a single block of stone. Walking through it gives a rare sense of what an ancient Egyptian temple actually looked and felt like when it was in active use.
Overnight: In Esna Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to navigational or environmental factors.
This is the day the Nile does the work. After breakfast, you enter the Esna Lock — a working river lock that raises and lowers vessels between different water levels and is one of the most unexpectedly captivating things to experience from the deck of a dahabiya. The afternoon sail into Luxor is unhurried, the West Bank cliffs appearing on the horizon as the city announces itself ahead.
- Breakfast on board (07:00)
- Cross the Esna Lock while having lunch on board (07:00)
- Sail toward Luxor (14:00)
- Dinner on board
- Overnight in Luxor
The Esna Lock channels the entire flow of vessel traffic through a single gated passage — watching your dahabiya rise or fall between the lock walls, with the ancient temple of Esna visible just beyond the embankment, is one of those moments that feels genuinely cinematic. The afternoon sail from Esna to Luxor passes through the most densely farmed stretch of the Nile valley, where the fields run right to the water's edge and the West Bank cliffs glow amber as the sun moves west.
Overnight: In Luxor
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to navigational or environmental factors.
A final breakfast on the river as Luxor wakes up on both banks around you. Then check-out, transfer, and the end of your dahabiya journey — carrying memories of a Nile that most travelers never get to know this well. We hope this journey has been everything you imagined, and we can't wait to welcome you back.
- Final breakfast on board
- Disembark and transfer to your next destination
- Meals: Breakfast
Your dahabiya journey ends in Luxor — ask us about adding the Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple, or a Cairo extension before you fly home.
→ Talk to Our Egypt Travel Experts
Noon in Aswan, and your dahabiya is waiting. After boarding and the welcome of the crew, you set sail north as lunch arrives on deck — the granite boulders of Aswan giving way to open river as the city recedes behind you. The first afternoon belongs entirely to the Nile, ending with a temple visit at Kom Ombo just as the late sun turns the stone columns gold.
- Embarkation in Aswan (13:00)
- Lunch on board while sailing to Kom Ombo
- Guided visit to Kom Ombo Temple — dedicated to Sobek and Horus the Elder
- Dinner on board
- Overnight near Beshir Island
Kom Ombo Temple was built for two gods who demanded equal treatment — Sobek the crocodile god, lord of fertility and the Nile's power, and Horus the Elder, falcon-headed god of the morning sun. The result is a temple unlike any other in Egypt: two symmetrical entrances, two parallel halls, two inner sanctuaries, two of everything, running side by side the full length of the building. It is the only double temple in the ancient world. The site sits directly on the riverbank, and arriving at it by dahabiya — watching it emerge from the bend in the river as you approach from the south — is a very different experience from arriving by road.
Overnight: Near Beshir Island
Meals: Lunch, Dinner
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to navigational or environmental factors.
Today separates a dahabiya journey from anything a standard cruise offers. Gebel el Silsila — the great sandstone quarry site where ancient Egyptians cut the building material for most of Upper Egypt's greatest temples — is not on the itinerary of any motor cruise ship. Your dahabiya is one of the very few vessels that ties up here, and the visit is quietly extraordinary.
- Early sailing with breakfast on board (07:00)
- Visit Gebel el Silsila and the sandstone quarries (09:00)
- Sail toward Fawaza Island (11:00)
- Lunch on board while sailing
- Afternoon tea at sunset while sailing (17:00)
- Dinner on board
- Overnight near Fawaza Island (18:00)
Gebel el Silsila is where the Nile narrows dramatically between towering sandstone cliffs on both banks — the ancient Egyptians considered this constriction a sacred threshold, a place where the river had concentrated power. The quarry walls still carry the chisel marks of workers who cut stone here for thousands of years, and the rock-cut Temple of Horemheb — carved directly into the cliff face and virtually unknown to general tourism — contains painted reliefs dedicated to eight Nile gods in surprisingly good condition. Anchoring near Fawaza Island for the evening, with the cliffs fading to silhouette against the darkening sky and tea served on deck, is one of the great quiet pleasures of Nile dahabiya travel.
Overnight: Near Fawaza Island
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to navigational or environmental factors.
The third day visits two completely different kinds of ancient site — a colossal state temple in near-perfect condition, and an ancient walled city with rock-cut tombs that almost no tour group ever reaches. Together they give a picture of ancient Egypt far broader than the famous monuments alone.
- Breakfast on board while sailing to Edfu (09:00)
- Guided visit to Edfu Temple
- Sail to El Kab village (11:00)
- Lunch on board (13:00)
- Visit El Kab temple and rock-cut tombs (14:30)
- Dinner on board
- Overnight in Esna (20:00)
Edfu Temple is the most completely intact ancient temple in Egypt. Its roofed inner chambers, soaring entrance pylons, and carved wall reliefs — depicting the mythological battle between Horus and Set in extraordinary detail — survive in a condition that makes it feel less like a ruin and more like a building that was simply closed one day and never reopened. El Kab, visited the same afternoon, tells a different and older story. The massive mud-brick walls of this ancient city predate most of the famous Luxor monuments, and the rock-cut tombs carved into the cliffs above contain New Kingdom biographical inscriptions of remarkable historical detail — records of officials who served during some of ancient Egypt's most dramatic military campaigns.
Overnight: In Esna
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to navigational or environmental factors.
A final breakfast with the Nile outside your cabin window. Then check-out and transfer to your next destination — carrying the particular kind of quiet that a few days on the river tends to leave behind. We hope this journey has exceeded your expectations, and we can't wait to welcome you back.
- Breakfast on board
- Disembark and transfer to your next destination
- Meals: Breakfast
Your dahabiya journey ends in Esna — ask us about combining it with Luxor sightseeing or a Cairo extension.
→ Talk to Our Egypt Travel Experts
Your southward journey begins at the Luxor West Bank before noon. After check-in and a welcome lunch on deck, you set sail toward Esna as the city's ancient temple skyline recedes behind you. The Esna Lock is crossed late in the evening — a working river passage that the dahabiya navigates slowly and deliberately, the lock walls rising above the hull as the water level shifts.
- Check-in at Luxor West Bank before noon (12:00)
- Sail toward Esna with lunch on board (13:00–14:00)
- Cross the Esna Lock (21:00)
- Dinner on board
- Overnight in Esna
Crossing the Esna Lock after dark is one of the more unexpected highlights of the southbound dahabiya journey. The lock gates close behind you, the water level drops, and the dahabiya descends slowly into the passage — a working piece of 20th century infrastructure that still channels every vessel on this stretch of the Nile through the same narrow gate.
Overnight: In Esna
Meals: Lunch, Dinner
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to navigational or environmental factors.
The second day opens before dawn and ends beside a Nile island at sunset. Between those two points: an ancient walled city with cliff tombs, one of Egypt's greatest temples, and an afternoon sailing past riverside villages and sugar cane fields that look much the same as they did a thousand years ago.
- Early morning sailing (05:00)
- Breakfast on board (07:00)
- Visit El Kab city and rock-cut tombs from the New Kingdom (09:00)
- Sail to Edfu (10:30)
- Lunch on board (13:00)
- Guided visit to Edfu Temple (14:30)
- Afternoon sailing past farmland, sugar cane fields, and riverside villages
- BBQ dinner anchored near Ramadi Island at sunset (18:00)
- Overnight near Ramadi Island
El Kab is one of Egypt's oldest continuously inhabited sites — its enormous mud-brick enclosure walls, built during the Early Dynastic period, still stand to considerable height in places. The rock-cut tombs carved into the limestone cliffs above the ancient city belong to high officials of the 18th Dynasty and contain painted biographical texts that describe campaigns, honors, and court life in vivid detail. Very few travelers visit El Kab, which makes spending time there feel like genuine discovery. Edfu Temple, the afternoon visit, is the most architecturally complete ancient temple in Egypt — its entrance pylons, hypostyle hall, and granite sanctuary all survive intact, giving a clarity of understanding that the more fragmentary monuments at Luxor and Karnak cannot.
Overnight: Near Ramadi Island
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to navigational or environmental factors.
The day most guests remember. Gebel el Silsila is where the sandstone cliffs press in on both sides of the river and the ancient world feels immediately, physically present — in the quarry marks cut into the rock, in the small temple carved into the cliff face, in the silence the site carries even today. Your dahabiya is one of the only vessels that stops here.
- Early sailing with breakfast on board (08:00)
- Relaxed morning sailing
- Lunch on board
- Go ashore at Gebel el Silsila — Pharaonic sandstone quarries and Temple of Horemheb (14:00)
- Sail toward Beshir Island (18:00)
- Overnight near Beshir Island
The quarries of Gebel el Silsila supplied sandstone for Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, and dozens of other monuments across Upper Egypt. Ancient workers carved their names and prayers into the quarry walls alongside the extraction channels — an informal record of human labor that survives more vividly here than almost anywhere else in the ancient world. The Temple of Horemheb, cut into the cliff directly above the quarry face, is dedicated to eight Nile deities and contains painted reliefs in surprisingly good condition given their exposure to the elements. From the top of the cliff, the view up and down the Nile in both directions is exceptional.
Overnight: Near Beshir Island
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to navigational or environmental factors.
An early departure brings you to Kom Ombo by morning for a temple visit before the final long sail south to Aswan. The approach to Aswan by dahabiya — the first granite boulders breaking the surface of the river, the Nubian houses appearing on the banks in shades of ochre and blue — is one of the finest arrivals anywhere in Egypt.
- Sail to Kom Ombo (07:00)
- Breakfast on board (08:00)
- Guided visit to Kom Ombo Temple — the only double temple in Egypt
- Lunch on board and proceed toward Aswan
- Sail to Aswan East Bank (around 14:00)
- Dinner on board
- Overnight in Aswan
Kom Ombo Temple's perfect bilateral symmetry makes it unlike any other ancient Egyptian monument. Haroeris — Horus the Elder, god of the sky and kingship — presides over the northern half. Sobek the crocodile god governs the south. Two entrances, two hypostyle halls, two inner sanctuaries, two of everything — built side by side for two separate cults that shared the same sacred ground. The riverbank setting, where the Nile is visible from inside the temple precinct, makes it one of the most evocative stops on the entire journey south.
Overnight: In Aswan
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Please note: scheduled timings may be adjusted due to navigational or environmental factors.
A final morning on the Nile. Breakfast on deck, then check-out and transfer to Aswan airport or the railway station. Four nights on the river — and a version of Egypt that most visitors never find. We hope this journey has been everything you imagined, and we can't wait to welcome you back.
- Breakfast on board
- Disembark and transfer to your next destination
- Meals: Breakfast
Your dahabiya journey ends in Aswan — ask us about adding Abu Simbel, Philae Temple, or a Cairo extension.
→ Talk to Our Egypt Travel Experts
Number of Rooms:
- 6 cabins with twin or large beds
- 2 suites with a private terrace
- In-room private safe
- Large windows with a panoramic view
- Fluffy and modern duvets
- Hairdryer
- Elegant fine dining room and lounge
- Electronic fire and smoke detection
- Wireless internet capabilities
- Chaise-longue chairs on the sun deck
- Soft Drinks in the minibar
- Free Wi-Fi in the room
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