One-way transfer tour4.9
Luxor
Luxor to Aswan Private Tour: Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo Temples
The Nile road south with the three temples cruise ships stop at, ending in Aswan.
10 hPrivate
€120
Luxor and the Nile
Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo
The Ptolemaic temples between Luxor and Aswan, complete from floor to roof.
- Esna
- Temple of Khnum; hypostyle hall of 24 columns, colours restored
- Edfu
- Temple of Horus, 237–57 BC; pylon 36 m; granite falcons
- Kom Ombo
- Double temple to Sobek and Horus the Elder; Nilometer
- Crocodile museum
- Mummified crocodiles of the sacred lake
Between Luxor and Aswan three late temples stand nearly intact: the Temple of Khnum at Esna (Roman hypostyle hall below street level), the Temple of Horus at Edfu (237 to 57 BC, the best preserved in Egypt) and the double temple of Sobek and Horus at Kom Ombo with its crocodile museum. Nile cruises stop at all three; by private car they make a ten-hour transfer-tour from Luxor to Aswan.
Visiting
The Ptolemies built in the old style but with a complete plan, and because these temples were buried in silt and villages until the 19th century, they kept their roofs and their reliefs. Edfu is the model: the tallest pylon after Karnak, a courtyard, two hypostyle halls, the sanctuary with the granite shrine of Nectanebo, and the walls carved with the myth of Horus defeating Seth in the form of a hippopotamus.
Kom Ombo sits on a bend of the Nile with two of everything: two entrances, two sanctuaries, one side for the crocodile god Sobek and one for Horus the Elder. The relief of surgical instruments on the rear wall and the Nilometer are the famous details; the crocodile museum next door shows the mummified animals from the temple's sacred lake.
Esna's temple survives only as its hypostyle hall, nine metres below the street of the modern town, with columns whose capitals are all different and a ceiling cleaned in the 2020s to its original colour.
Tips from our guides
- Edfu is reached from the road by horse carriage or on foot; the guide arranges it
- Kom Ombo is best in the late afternoon light
- The day ends in Aswan; add Philae the next morning
Best time: October to April.
Questions
No. Our private transfer-tour from Luxor to Aswan (or the reverse) visits all three by car with an Egyptologist and drops you at your Aswan hotel or boat.
24.9780 N, 32.8733 EOpen in Google Maps
Tours that visit Edfu and Kom Ombo