The Nile, Luxor to Aswan

Fly into Luxor and board at three. The boat manager walks you through the boat and the week over a late lunch, and the afternoon is yours: the sun deck, or Luxor Temple a short walk from the quay, at its best when the floodlights come on. Dinner on board at half past seven, then the first night's entertainment, a belly dancer and a Tanoura show, the Sufi whirling dance done in a skirt that spins into a disc of colour. Overnight alongside in Luxor.

• Boarding and the boat manager's brief at 15:00
• A late lunch on board
• Luxor Temple after dark, five minutes from the boat
• Dinner, then belly dance and Tanoura show on board

Breakfast early and across the river by nine for the West Bank: the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens and Hatshepsut's temple cut into the cliff at Deir el-Bahari. Five hours is enough to see the tombs properly without rushing. Back on board by half past two, and the boat sails as you sit down to lunch, the first afternoon of watching the banks go by. Overnight at Esna, the small town below the first lock.

• Valley of the Kings
• Valley of the Queens
• Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahari
• Lunch under way, the first afternoon on the river
• Overnight at Esna

The boat slips its lines at five, so you wake already moving and breakfast comes with the river. Edfu after noon: the temple of Horus is the most complete in Egypt, its roof still on, its inner rooms still dark, and at that hour the morning crowds have gone. Sail again at half past two. The afternoon passes Gabal el Silsila, where the Nile narrows between sandstone cliffs quarried for the temples you have just seen, and the boat serves tea on deck as they go by. Dinner on board and overnight at Kom Ombo.

• Sailing from Esna at dawn
• The temple of Horus at Edfu, roof intact
• Gabal el Silsila from the deck
• Afternoon tea on the river
• Overnight at Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo at eight, an hour before anyone else: the double temple to Sobek the crocodile god and Horus, right on the bank above the boat. Then the boat sails to Al Baloli, an island in the river, and the crew set up a beach on the bank: shade, loungers, a snack lunch, and nothing to do until the light goes. If you want it, dinner is served on the island under the stars. This is the day people talk about afterwards. Overnight at anchor off the island.

• Kom Ombo temple before the crowds
• Sailing to Al Baloli island
• A beach set up on the bank, snack lunch served
• Dinner under the stars on the island, optional
• Overnight at anchor off the island

A dawn sail again, breakfast under way, and Aswan by nine: the Nubian south, palms and black granite, a different country from Luxor. The morning is the unfinished obelisk in the ancient quarry, forty metres of granite still lying where it cracked, and a walk through the town. Lunch back on board. The farewell dinner is followed by a Nubian show, the music of the south. Overnight in Aswan.

• Sailing into Aswan at dawn
• The unfinished obelisk in the granite quarry
• Lunch on board
• Farewell dinner and Nubian show
• Overnight in Aswan

Breakfast on board and disembark at eight. From Aswan you can fly straight to Cairo for the pyramids, or take the early flight south to Abu Simbel and be back for lunch. Ask us, and we build either onto the week.

• Breakfast on board
• Disembark at 08:00
• Abu Simbel by air, or Cairo and the pyramids