Sitting on the financial institution of Lake Nasser is certainly one of Egypt’s most putting monuments, the dual temples of Abu Simbel. Constructed by Ramesses II over 3,000 years in the past, these temples have stood the take a look at of time. The story behind Abu Simbel turns into much more fascinating if you be taught that the whole advanced was dismantled and relocated to increased floor, after the development of the Aswan Excessive Dam.
To get right here, you possibly can plan a day journey from both Aswan or Cairo. Journey instances may be lengthy (if you happen to journey by land) or costly (if you happen to journey by air), so is it value it? Completely! The temples of Abu Simbel are a few of most spectacular and distinctive temples you will note in Egypt, so it’s properly well worth the go to.
Right here’s the right way to do it.
The place is Abu Simbel?
Abu Simbel is situated 300 kilometers south of Aswan and simply 20 kilometers north of the border with Sudan. It sits on the western financial institution of Lake Nasser in a a area known as Nubia. Nubia is a big area alongside the Nile River that spans southern Egypt and northern Sudan.
Fascinating Details About Abu Simbel
The temples of Abu Simbel had been constructed over 3,000 years in the past by Ramesses II, one of the vital highly effective rulers of historical Egypt.
The Nice Temple of Abu Simbel is devoted to the gods Amon-Ra, Ra-Harakhti, and Ptah, nevertheless it was additionally erected to show the may of the Egyptian empire and for the everlasting glorification of Ramesses II.
The Small Temple is devoted to Queen Nefertari, the beloved and favourite spouse of Ramesses II (he had eight wives and, relying on the supply, as many as 200 youngsters).
Building of the 2 temples took twenty years and was accomplished in 1244 BC.
Over time, the temples had been forgotten and slowly lined with sand. In 1813, Jean-Louis Burckhardt rediscovered the temple, discovering the highest frieze of the Nice Temple. 4 years later, Giovanni Battista Belzoni managed to take away among the sand and discover the doorway into the temple. As soon as the sand was cleared away, this turned a vacationer vacation spot, attracting guests even on the finish of the nineteenth century.
With the development of the Aswan Excessive Dam, rising water ranges threatened to flood the temples of Abu Simbel. Within the 1960’s, the whole advanced was dismantled, moved to increased floor, and utterly reconstructed. It took the mixed effort of over 50 international locations and 5 years of labor to avoid wasting the temples.
Once you stand in entrance of the temple, and if you go within it, it’s laborious to think about that the whole advanced as soon as sat at a distinct location.
How one can Get to Abu Simbel
To go to Abu Simbel, you are able to do so both on a day journey from Aswan or when flying between Cairo and Aswan.
There are 3 ways to get to Abu Simbel:
- Roundtrip flight from Aswan
- By land from Aswan
- When flying between Cairo and Aswan
Can You Go to Abu Simbel on a Day Journey from Luxor? No. Technically, you possibly can fly to Abu Simbel from Luxor, however we don’t suggest it. You’ll have to change planes twice (in Cairo and Aswan) and one-way flight instances common 10 to fifteen hours.
Roundtrip Flight from Aswan
That is the quickest solution to journey between Aswan and Abu Simbel. Flight instances common 45 minutes one-way. The flights are timed such that you’ve roughly an hour and a half to go to the 2 temples earlier than you catch the flight again to Aswan.
Egypt Air is the one airline that provides flights to Abu Simbel. This airline affords two spherical journey flights per day between Aswan and Abu Simbel, though this could differ relying on the time of 12 months. Additionally, after we did our flight search, we didn’t see any flights on Sundays.
Once you e-book your tickets, you’ll e-book them as a roundtrip reservation from Aswan. The flights are direct flights between Aswan and Abu Simbel. Time your flights such that you’ve roughly 2.5 hours in Abu Simbel, with a view to give your self sufficient time to go to the temples.
What We Did: We booked a 9:25 am flight Aswan to Abu Simbel and a 1:10 pm flight Abu Simbel to Aswan. Together with transportation time to and from our lodge in Aswan, at the present time journey took a complete of seven hours. Nevertheless, these flight instances differ daily.
When flying to Abu Simbel on Egypt Air, the airline supplies a free bus service between the Abu Simbel airport and the temple advanced. When you exit the airport, you simply hop on the Blissful Yr Transport bus that’s ready exterior of the airport (extra about this under). It’s already paid for by Egypt Air, however the driver may ask you for a tip.
The bus waits for you on the temple advanced car parking zone whilst you tour the temples. You should have about 1.5 hours to go to the temple advanced.
You’ll fly again to Aswan on the identical airplane that introduced you to Abu Simbel. Nevertheless, you aren’t allowed to go away something on the airplane. When you have something that you simply don’t need to carry to the temples, you possibly can go away it on the bus. We left some snacks on the bus whereas exploring the temples.
As a tough estimate, and with superior planning, you possibly can count on a roundtrip flight between Aswan and Abu Simbel to price $325 per individual. Verify the Egypt Air web site for present pricing primarily based in your journey dates.
By Land from Aswan
You possibly can journey from Aswan to Abu Simbel by land, both by tour or by hiring a driver.
A method, it’s a 290 km drive that takes between 2.5 and three hours. Most land excursions to Abu Simbel take a complete of eight hours.
Previously, vacationers traveled in a police convoy to get to Abu Simbel. That’s now not the case. You’ll nonetheless drive by means of police checkpoints however you’ll not journey in a convoy.
The Sofitel Outdated Cataract Resort affords a wide range of land tour choices primarily based on the kind of automobile. Pricing begins at $160 per individual in a daily automotive (max 2 folks), or $210 per individual in a minivan (max 8), or $375 per individual in a Pajero (max 2), or $425 per individual in a Land Cruiser (max 2). Additionally they have choices that can embrace a information and your entrance price. For full particulars, go to the Sofitel web site.
The Movenpick Resort additionally affords a land tour. We do not need the main points on this, but when you may be staying at this lodge, you possibly can contact them for his or her pricing info.
Egypt Tailor Made is a extremely rated tour firm that provides a day journey to Abu Simbel. This tour lasts 8 hours, features a information, and it’s a non-public tour. We didn’t use Egypt Tailor Made for our day journey to Abu Simbel, however we used them for the rest of our time in Egypt (Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan) and we extremely suggest them.
Visiting Abu Simbel When Flying Between Cairo and Aswan
This could be a handy solution to go to Abu Simbel in case your itinerary goes to incorporate a flight between Cairo and Aswan.
When you have plans to fly from Cairo to Aswan, you possibly can e-book a multi-hop flight so that you simply go to Abu Simbel on the way in which. Alternatively, if you happen to plan to fly from Aswan to Cairo, you are able to do the identical factor, and schedule a go to to Abu Simbel on the way in which.
Essential Observe: All Egypt Air flights to and from Abu Simbel undergo Aswan. The Cairo – Abu Simbel section and the Abu Simbel – Cairo section may have a cease in Aswan.
For instance, in case you are flying from Cairo to Aswan with a stopover in Abu Simbel, your flight order will likely be Cairo to Aswan to Abu Simbel to Aswan. Conversely, in case you are flying from Aswan to Cairo with a stopover in Abu Simbel, your flight order will likely be Aswan to Abu Simbel to Aswan to Cairo.
Tim spoke to an Egypt Air gate agent and was instructed that the checked baggage doesn’t get flown to Abu Simbel. On a flight from Cairo to Abu Simbel, the plane will cease in Aswan and the checked baggage will likely be faraway from the plane and held on the Aswan airport till you come back later that day. Should you begin your day flying from Aswan to Abu Simbel, then they won’t load your baggage onto the plane till your flight returns to Aswan on the way in which to Cairo.
It is advisable to e-book this as one reservation so use the multi-destination choice on the Egypt Air web site or name Egypt Air for help.
Nevertheless, there may be one issue to contemplate. You don’t have to fret about what to do along with your checked baggage, because the airline handles that for you. However if in case you have a carry-on bag, you can’t go away it on the airplane. You’ll both need to verify your carry-on bag, go away it on the bus that takes you from the airport to the temple advanced, or carry it with you to the temples.
We in the end determined towards this feature as a result of we usually journey with laptops and we didn’t need to go away these on the bus and we didn’t need to discover the temple advanced with them in our backpacks. That made flying spherical journey from Aswan a extra interesting choice to us.
How A lot Does this Value? As a tough estimate, and with superior planning, you possibly can count on this feature to price $500 per individual. Verify the Egypt Air web site for present pricing primarily based in your journey dates.
A one-way flight on Egypt Air between Cairo and Aswan prices roughly $155 per individual, so you might be paying $345 extra per individual to fly to/from Abu Simbel. That quantity is essential when evaluating the price of this feature to the opposite choices.
What We Did (And the Reasoning Behind our Alternative)
We selected to go to Abu Simbel by flying spherical journey from Aswan.
Flight prices are similar to the choice of visiting Abu Simbel whereas flying between Cairo and Aswan. By doing this as a day journey from Aswan, we may go away all of our valuables, akin to our laptops, on the lodge.
Previous to our go to to Abu Simbel, we had two large driving days in our itinerary: an enormous day journey to Dendera and Abydos from Luxor and a day of driving in between Luxor and Aswan. The considered spending one other day in a automotive didn’t sound very interesting.
Going by airplane is just one hour quicker than touring by land, however for us, it was a really good break from land journey. Plus, we had been again at our lodge simply after 2 pm and the whole day was a pleasant, leisurely day.
What to Anticipate on a Go to to Abu Simbel
Attending to the Temple Advanced
Should you arrive to Abu Simbel by land, you may be dropped off on the temple advanced.
Should you arrive by airplane, there may be an Egypt Air shuttle bus that, for no matter motive, has the title “Blissful Yr Transport” painted on the facet of the bus. This can be a free shuttle bus, though the driving force may ask you for a tip.
Once you exit the airport, there will likely be quite a few taxi drivers providing to drive you the very quick distance to the Abu Simbel temple advanced. Merely say “no thanks” and board the shuttle bus.
It takes 5 minutes to drive to the temple advanced. Once you exit the bus, ask the driving force what time the bus leaves to return to the airport.
You’ll exit the bus in a small, crowded car parking zone. You will notice Lake Nasser in a single course after which a sequence of small buildings in one other course. Stroll in direction of the small buildings.
From left to proper, you will note a meals stand, a sitting space, and bogs (that is one of the best place to make use of the toilet). Stroll between the meals stand and the sitting space. When you go by means of the meals stand it is best to see an indication pointing in direction of the temple advanced. Stroll down the road till you attain the Customer Heart.
Buying Your Tickets
Within the Customer Heart, there’s a film that explains how the temples had been relocated. Save this for the top of your go to, if in case you have time. Subsequent to the customer heart is the ticket sales space.
Costs for Abu Simbel in 2022 are:
- 255 EGP per individual
- 133 EGP per pupil
- 300 EGP per digicam ticket
- 20 EGP for a tripod
PRO TRAVEL TIP: Images is allowed within each temples with a cellphone. If you wish to take images with one thing apart from a cellphone, or if you wish to shoot video along with your cellphone, you could buy a digicam ticket.
To enter the temple advanced, you’ll undergo a fast safety screening. Observe the paved path to the temples.
The Nice Temple
As you stroll down the hill, the primary temple you will note is the Nice Temple.
4 large statues of Ramesses II stare down at guests. Sitting subsequent to and between the legs of Ramesses are members of the royal household, together with his beloved spouse Nefertari, sons, daughters, and his mom. The damaged statue was broken in an earthquake and a portion of the statue sits on the bottom in entrance of the façade.
Inside the temple, eight statues of Osiris, with the facial options of Ramesses II, fill the primary principal chamber. There are quite a few smaller chambers and vestibules to discover.
To not be missed is the sanctuary. Positioned at the back of the temple, this small room comprises the statues of deified Ramesses II, Ptah, Amon-Ra, and Ra-Harakhti. Twice a 12 months, on February 22 and October 22, the primary rays of the solar penetrate this room (even after the temple advanced was painstakingly relocated within the 1960’s).
The Small Temple
The Small Temple is a temple of Hathor, devoted to Nefertari. Of the statues on the façade of the temple, Nefertari is represented as Hathor, with the horns of a cow, a photo voltaic disc, and two plumes.
As soon as inside, you will note that this temple is way smaller than the one devoted to Ramesses II. The hypostyle room comprises pillars with the heads of Hathor. The hieroglyphics inform the story of the king and queen.
Panoramic Level
If you wish to seize each temples in a single photograph, you are able to do so from the small lined terrace that sits close to the Small Temple.
Exiting the Temple Advanced
You’ll exit the temple advanced on a distinct path. Search for the paved path the leads uphill from the Small Temple. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes to stroll again to the customer heart and car parking zone. You’ll stroll by means of a sequence of memento retailers to get to the car parking zone.
Take the shuttle bus again to the airport or search for your driver within the car parking zone.
Spending the Evening at Abu Simbel
It’s attainable to spend the night time at Abu Simbel. Individuals who do that are often right here to observe the Sound and Gentle Present or to catch dawn on the temple advanced.
High rated accommodations embrace the Kabara Nubian Home and the Eskaleh Nubian Home.
One final have a look at the temples of Abu Simbel
