Temple of Abu Simbel Travel Forum

I am panning to travel from Aswan to Abu Simbel by road. is it possible to travel bu bus around 10:00 a.m from Aswan to Abu Simbel and then return the next day by bus around the afternoon.

Also are there any private cars/taxi's available which I can hire and if yes what are the costs for the trip - one way/return?

Thanks!

Ask @ your hotel front desk in Aswan. There are tour companis that will take independent traveler. I left early morning around 5 a.m. and returned same day. therre were 20 other passengers in the same bus. I don't remeber the price though.

The Doctor and I agree on this one. I think he took a larger bus than I did. I consulted with the front desk of the hotel and climbed aboard a minivan at about 4-5am. Be prepared for that early start. I think you will want to arrive at Abu Simbel with the sun and then return in the mid-afternoon, as the desert between is really HOT. There may be lights for the facade, but I doubt a full-blown light show would be worth staying overnight for. The morning is also when the furtherest interior reaches get lit up, as the temples are astronomically oriented (even after having been moved).

Thanks guys!
The plan is that we get off from the night train from Cairo and then directly proceed to Abu Simbel and then come back the next day and stay over in Aswan. So I won't really be having the hotel help!

I do have the plane option but would like to see if I can arrange for something cheaper (even if its only for the return trip)

Thanks!

If you are for looking the cheaper option than stay in Aswan and take a day trip to Abo sombol. You'll leave early morning and come back early evining. It does not make any sence to save money taking the night train only to waste it on expensive private Taxi. Hotels in Aswan are cheaper than those in Abo somble. Beside there is nothing to do in abo sombel while aswan has lots of attraction. don't waste you time spending the night in Abo simble.

I don't remeber the coast of the trip.

The sleeper train is great.

The first-class non-sleeper train is also great, and much cheaper than the sleeper. The chairs are wide, recline a lot, and swivel around. It's much more comfortable than an airplane, and for a sixteen hour trip you can save the hotel room one day, and just nap well on the first-class seats. Your hotel in Cairo can book these for you, so that you don't waste time getting tickets at the station.

I dont have info on the day time bus nor taxi to Abu Simbel, but I can offer you the schedule and price of minibus/big coach arranged by local hotel for individual travellers (if you can adjust or arraanyour short trip from Cairo to Aswan.

I was in Aswan and went to Abu Simbul a month ago. The hotel that I stayed charged 60 EGP per pax. The minibus picked us up at 3:30am, then went to a place when all the coaches and buses gathered together before the convoy took off at around 4:20am. The minbus returns back to Aswan around 3:3pm after visiting a couple of more sights on the way. See more detail from my the my page - Temple of Abu Simbel transportation page.

Thanks all you guys!
I've got a deal which lets me travel to Abu Simbel by private car (includes overnights stay and entrance fees and return trip for about USD 160 per person)
Does this sound like a good deal to you?

Attuft - thanks for the info on the non sleeper trains. The prices are really lower. BTW - are the overnight non sleeper 1st class trains safe? And would tickets be easily available in July (its supposed to be the non tourist season)?

Thanks again!

Let me get this straight first of all--for 160 pp, you have a car & driver from Aswan to Abu Simbel, plus overnight stay? I would say $160- TOTAL for 4 people, plus car & driver, plus hotel, might be a good price. See my tip for the Ramses Hotel in Aswan, which had a great view of the Nile and matrimonial suite for $15- per night. The van was $35-, as I recall, for the trip to Aswan and back. That's $50- per person versus $160-. Prices have probably gone up since 1997, but not that much. In Egypt, there's really little need nor practical reason to book everything in advance, except maybe by your hotel in Cairo as a matter of time saving convenience. Even during high season, I found nobody that had a hard time finding a satisfactory room. We had reservations set by the hotel in Cairo, and when we got there the hotel was OK and we stayed one night, but I happened upon the Ramses during a walk and we changed hotels. The price and view was too good to pass up even for the remaining three nights. Many hotels are hard to reach by phone, and they depend upon walk-in tourists. As for the trains, yes, they are safe. I tied my shoe laces to my bag just to make sure, but I felt silly doing it. The 1st class train was roomy and those sleepy eyed families around me simply didn't look like theives. On the trip from Luxor back to Cairo, I recall we took second class. There are actually many classes as I recall, down to the wooden benches, that some students might be willing to take, preferring to put their body rather than their pocket book to the test. I recall having less room--seats were more closely spaced--but it was still comfortable enough, and still I didn't see any reason to be concerned. When sleeping, it makes sense to lock up the little locks and stow the bag in a way that it can't be taken without jerking me awake. After all, even though I don't carry jewelry or anything, the loss of the bag would be a major inconvenience, especially for loss of the camera equipment it may hold. Cairo has it's con-artists, but there are more dangerous places on this planet than Egypt, that's for sure. Use the camera bag as a pillow and don't worry about the big luggage. Incidentally, I'm NOT a fan of the backpack. I may be alone on this, but they seem impractical to me despite their popularity. Too many open pockets, no protection for souvenirs, hard for customs to check, awkward to hoist into the cargo hold, deadbeat look, and so on. I like reinforced softsided luggage with wide wheels and a solid collapsible handle that retracts to inside the bag. I want a bag that I can stack more bags on top, and then jank the whole mess up and down stair cases in a hurry if I need to without damaging the handle. It should be able to be literally thrown up to the top of the bus and strapped down with fear of anything inside being damaged. Sorry for the bag tirade...

Thanks attuft!

All the details help!
Am pretty sure now that I'm not making the trip for this price from Aswan to Abu Simbel

Thanks!

You are certainly welcome. You will need to update and research this all a little bit, but the same van ride I took was reportedly taken by anothe VTer just last summer. See my tips about where to stay in Cairo. There are differences of opinion about this, judging by comments left by VTers for Cairo forums, but I prefer staying in the area between the Egyptian Museum and Islamic Cairo, in one of the older less frills hotels. Besides the advantage of being right were the action is for sightseeing and for catching the metro to Old Cairo and Giza, many of these "backpacker" style hotels have excellent service at the desk for getting the "student ID", which you'll want for a whopping discount at all the temples and such, and for booking the train, first night's stay in Aswan, and so on. Check the Lonely Planet guide and try to find one that suites your budget and quality. Some of the marginal quality hotels in this area are also places I myself would not stay. If you post again on this forum, you might get lucky and find a reply. I believe the Doctor lives in Cairo. Let me know how the trip turns out...

Michel, that's good news about the bus line. Are the accommodations in Abu Simbel affordable too?