Zein Nile Chateau
Though the word dahabiya refers to a kind of boat, it also means “golden one” in Arabic. You’ll feel like a golden one aboard this extraordinary vessel – slender and low, with billowing sails fore and aft, impeccable lines and an air of absolute grace. Zein Nile Chateau was the first dahabiya of its kind to be created in imitation of its 19th-century predecessors and remains one of the loveliest sights on the river today. With capacity for just 12 guests, it is available exclusively for private charter. Glamorous, intimate and quintessentially Egyptian.
Ruby-red sunsets over groves of palms and endless amber desert
A day-by-day, expert-guided introduction to 5,000 years’ worth of history
The smallest of the Sanctuary fleet, able to dock where others cannot
The chance to visit less familiar sites such as Gabal Selsela
Bespoke itineraries between Luxor and Aswan tailored to guests’ wishes
Setting
The River Nile wends its way more than 4,000 miles from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean Sea. Yet it’s the 130-mile section between Aswan and Luxor in southern Egypt that exerts the most powerful hold on the collective imagination. Here are many of the largest, most elaborate and intriguing structures built in ancient times, including the massive Temple of Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Kom Ombo and the Greco-Egyptian shrine to Isis at Philae. The river and landscape themselves possess an elemental beauty; expect ruby-red sunsets over groves of palms and endless amber desert.
Unforgettable Experiences Built Into Your Itinerary
Luxor
The capital of Ancient Egypt at the height of its glory and today not only a jumping-off point to many must-see landmarks – including Luxor and Karnak temples, the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hatshepsut – but also home to an astonishing collection of antiquities in the exemplary Luxor Museum.
Aswan
The gateway to southern Egypt since 2,000BC and still delivering astonishing finds – in recent years archaeologists have uncovered a bust of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, a sphinx and 35 mummies in a tomb dating back to the Ptolemaic Dynasty.
The Valley of the Kings
The resting place of more than 60 pharaohs – including Tutankhamun – whose subterranean tombs are stocked with treasures and adorned with intricate hieroglyphics.
Philae Temple
A ravishingly beautiful Greco-Egyptian shrine to Isis, extraordinary in its own right and made even more famous when it was relocated in the late 1970s from its original site to higher ground on nearby Agilika Island when rising Nile waters threatened to submerge it.
Kom Ombo Temple
Remarkable for many reasons, not least its dramatic position, its perfectly symmetrical design and dedication not to one but two gods, the crocodile-headed Sobek and falcon-headed Horus. The mummified reptiles in the Crocodile Museum are surprisingly moving.
Felucca Sailing
An outing aboard one of these gracious traditional sailboats, nonchalantly piloted by a skipper with a bare foot on the tiller, is a quintessential Nile experience.
