Felluca cruise on the Nile River

If you're ever lucky enough to enjoy a holiday tour or travel in Egypt, go to the banks of the Nile River and hire a felucca so you can cruise to spectacular sites such as Luxor, Aswan and the Valley of the Kings.

As is the case with just about everything you purchase during your Egypt holiday travel, bargain hard with the felucca owner for a decent price before you agree on a reservation to cruise the Nile River.

You can easily arrange for him to organise tour essentials such as food and cooking while he sails you through one, two, three or however many days you want of holiday bliss as you cruise along the Nile.

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If you're not happy using a felucca to cruise the Nile River during your holiday in Egypt, a comfortable alternative can be a train.

The Libyan Desert lies to the west and the Arabian Desert to the east of the Nile. It can be startling to see the abrupt beginning of the deserts on the edges of the fertile river banks.

The waters of the Nile were a cradle for one of the world's great civilisations, beginning with the Old Kingdom around 2686 BC and followed by almost 3,000 years of pharaonic rule involving more than 30 family dynasties.

Feluccas are adequately sized sailboats and canoe scenes such as above greet you as you cruise slowly down the Nile River enjoying your Egypt holiday travel. A felucca cruise can take you as far along the Nile as you want... from Cairo to Luxor, for example.

The length of the Nile River is 6695 kilometres from central Africa across the desert to the Mediterranean.

As you travel the Nile River, you'll note that in various places its banks are lined with green fields of sugar cane and the occasional banana plantation. Around Cairo, the waters of the Nile are littered with the refuse of the city.

The Nile River is very wide and slow at Luxor, where a road bridge has been built to span the waters. Ferries also carry tourists and workers from shore to shore.

The Temples of Luxor, Karnack and Hatshepsut are must-see holiday attractions for tourists at Luxor. You can venture down into the tombs of Ramses VI and King Tut while in Luxor, but note that it's better to see the incredible wealth of King Tut at the Cairo Museum.

A felucca cruise down the Nile is interrupted frequently by scenes of industry and chimney stacks near towns, often sugarcane factories spewing a brown smudge into the air.

Regardless, the journey meanders past plenty of traditional scenes such as mud and stone villages, small boys tending cattle by the riverbanks and fishermen poling their boats through the reeds - and always the Saraha is desolate and menacing on the horizon above the fertile floodplains.

Must-see sights during your holiday cruise along the Nile River are Karnak, Luxor, the Valley of the Kings, the Colossi of Memnon, the temples at Edfu and Kom Ombo, Deir al-Bahri, and the high dam and temples of Aswan in the deep south.

Aswan is Egypt's largest southern settlement just north of the Sudanese border, peppered with memories of French and British colonialism. Elephantine Island is dotted with resort hotels, villages and the Aswan museum, and is a paradise for lovers of ancient Egyptian archeology. Aswan is near the shores of the man-made Lake Nasser and the gigantic Aswan Dam, and has a large Nubian community of African Egyptians who give the town a unique cultural, culinary and linguistic heritage.

Some tourists can rush their way through these locations within a week but two weeks allows a much more relaxed and informative holiday.

It's possible to arrange a four or five day holiday cruise boat tour from Luxor to Aswan for about US$250, inclusive of a twin-share cabin, meals, entrance fees and English-speaking guides.

Egypt tourist information

Great Sphinx of Egypt

Luxor Egypt holiday tips

Ancient Egyptian statues

Pyramids of Egypt

Cairo holidays

Sinai holiday travel

Picture of Egyptian mummy

Nile River travel

Mt Sinai snaps in Egypt

Mt Sinai

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