Dahabiya Nile Cruisethree 5-star sailboats between Aswan and Luxor
Three 5-star dahabiyas, full board throughout, sail between Aswan and Luxor under canvas, well away from the large river cruisers. The SEV team in Cairo puts together your dahabiya Nile cruise aboard the Iris, the Akhenaton or the Per-ba, depending on the cabin, the season and the number of nights you have in mind.
Three boats to pick from: Iris, Akhenaton, Per-ba, sailing south to north or north to south
Southbound run is the short one: 3 nights, off every Friday
Northbound is longer: a choice of 4 or 7 nights, off every Monday
All meals covered, no exceptions, on every boat
Eight stops built in, tickets and all: Philae, Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's temple and the Colossi of Memnon
Your own guide, your own driver, for the length of the trip
Rates quoted in pounds sterling per person; standard season and the festive dates sit on separate tables below
Sailing the Nile differently
Picture a working sailboat rather than a floating hotel: two tall canvas sails, a shallow hull built for the Nile's sandbanks, and only a handful of cabins. That is a dahabiya. Where a big river cruiser keeps several hundred holidaymakers moving on a fixed timetable, often through the night, a dahabiya Nile cruise answers to the wind instead of a clock, and ties up wherever the crew finds a peaceful stretch of bank rather than a crowded landing stage.
Spelling varies a good deal in English: dahabiya, dahabeah and dahabieh all transliterate the same Arabic word, so search however you like, you will land on the same boat.
The SEV team has picked out three of these boats for British travellers: the Iris, the Akhenaton and the Per-ba, each sailing between Aswan and Luxor on full board, with a private guide and a private, air-conditioned car laid on for every excursion and transfer.
None of this is new. Well before package tours existed, wealthy Victorians chartered their own dahabiya in Cairo for a season on the river, and it was a British pen that made the format famous: Amelia Edwards wrote up her own Nile winter in A Thousand Miles up the Nile (1877), a book that sent a good number of her readers looking for a boat of their own.
A century and a half on, the sailing rhythm is the same; only the plumbing has caught up.
What that means day to day: a handful of fellow passengers rather than a few hundred, dinner served without a queue, and moorings picked for their quiet rather than their capacity. It works well for a honeymoon (our honeymoon in Egypt guide has more on that), for repeat visitors wanting a different angle on sites they have already ticked off, and for anyone who would simply rather read on deck than queue at a buffet.
Visits to Philae, Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon
Every site entrance ticket
A guide of your own for the whole cruise
An air-conditioned car, yours alone, for transfers and every stop ashore
Not sure a sailboat is for you?
Nothing wrong with a bigger ship, and plenty of our clients book one. The practical difference is scale and schedule rather than luxury: a river cruiser has lifts, a swimming pool and a full entertainments programme, a dahabiya has neither, trading them for a crew who know your name by the second evening.
Extended families and small groups of friends often take to a dahabiya for the same reason honeymooners do: the boat effectively becomes theirs for the duration, rather than one deck among many aboard a much larger vessel.
Three dahabiyas, one focused selection
The SEV team has chosen three 5-star dahabiyas for this collection, each on full board and built around the same core of included visits. What sets them apart is the range of cabin categories, and the rate that follows from it. All three sail the Aswan to Luxor route in 3 nights, departing every Friday, as well as the Luxor to Aswan route in 4 or 7 nights, departing every Monday.
Iris
Four cabin categories, from the Double Deluxe up to the Royal with veranda. A small pool sits on the sun deck.
Two cabin categories, the Double Deluxe and the Double with veranda. The most accessible 5-star dahabiya in our selection, also with a small sun deck pool.
Our three dahabiyas sail two routes. The Aswan to Luxor cruise in 3 nights departs every Friday and suits a shorter break, added on to a stay in Cairo or Aswan, or a honeymoon that runs to a week or less. The Luxor to Aswan cruise in 4 or 7 nights departs every Monday and suits a more immersive trip, with more time on the water between each stop.
Most of our British clients fly out of Heathrow, Gatwick or Manchester, connecting through a European or Gulf hub to Cairo, then picking up a short domestic hop on to Aswan or Luxor to join the boat. The SEV team can talk you through connection times once you have a departure date in mind, though flights themselves sit outside what we book directly.
Egyptology runs deep in British travel history too: Howard Carter, working for Lord Carnarvon, uncovered Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, a find that still shapes how the world pictures Luxor. Sailing the same stretch of river by dahabiya puts you closer to that history than a coach party ever gets.
Choosing a cabin
Two questions decide it: which deck, and whether you want a veranda of your own. Aboard the Iris there are four steps up from Double Deluxe to Royal; on the Akhenaton and the Per-ba the choice narrows to a Double Deluxe or a veranda cabin. A veranda buys you the river without leaving your room, useful on a hot afternoon when the shared deck fills up.
Stuck between two boats or two categories? Tell the SEV team your budget and your dates and they will steer you.
When to sail the Nile
Handily for families working around a school calendar, the pleasant stretch on the Nile (roughly October to April) lines up with the October half-term, the Christmas fortnight and the Easter holidays. Midsummer is a different matter: June to August is properly hot in Upper Egypt, and few travellers find it comfortable on deck, even though the boats keep sailing regardless.
Book festive dates early: Christmas, New Year and Easter fill up faster than the rest of the calendar, and our Christmas cruise on the Nile guide has the specifics. Temple visits, whatever month you sail, are scheduled around dawn and late afternoon, when neither the sun nor the crowds are at their worst. And as ever before a trip like this, check the FCDO's current advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.
Rates by dahabiya
The rates below show the price per person, in a Double Deluxe cabin, for each dahabiya and each length of cruise. The festive departures table applies to the Christmas, New Year and Easter departures; the seasonal rates table applies to every other departure, within the windows given under each table. The full detail of cabins and prices for each dahabiya is set out on its own page.
Large figures: 2026-2027 season departures. “Festive”: Christmas, New Year and Easter departures.
To weigh these rates against a classic cruise ship, see our page on the 5-star Nile cruise.
The itinerary: eight sites between Aswan and Luxor
The eight sites below are included on both routes, visited in reverse order depending on the direction of travel. The exact running order is confirmed at the time of booking, according to the schedule for each departure.
Philae, Isis's island sanctuary, jacked up wholesale onto Agilkia when the old dam threatened to drown it. Full write-up on our Philae page.
Abu Simbel, Ramesses II's rock-cut giants, reached by a road excursion from Aswan rather than by boat; the 1960s salvage job is its own story, told on our Abu Simbel page.
Kom Ombo, split down the middle between crocodile-headed Sobek and falcon-headed Haroeris; see our Kom Ombo guide for the layout.
Edfu, Horus's temple, buried under desert sand for centuries and thereby remarkably intact; our Edfu guide explains how.
Karnak, Amun's sprawling precinct, expanded by pharaoh after pharaoh for the best part of two thousand years; our Karnak guide helps you plan the visit.
Valley of the Kings, the rock-cut royal tombs behind Luxor's west bank; our guide lists which are open when you travel.
Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahari, stacked in terraces against the cliff face; more on our Hatshepsut page.
Colossi of Memnon, two weathered giants marking where Amenhotep III's temple once stood; our Colossi guide has the backstory.
On board, through the day
A few images of the Iris under sail, and of daily life aboard a dahabiya on the Nile.
The Iris under full sail, facing the Theban cliffs.The Nile banks seen from the deck of the Iris dahabiyaThe Iris at dusk, her reflection on the Nile.A dahabiya moored along the riverbank, upper deck in shade.An aerial view of a dahabiya under full sail on the Nile.
The three dahabiyas, deck to cabin
A closer look at all three boats, to compare the feel of each before you choose.
Sun loungers on the upper deck of the Iris dahabiyaThe small pool on the Iris's upper deck.The mosaic pool on the Akhenaton's deck.A Double Deluxe cabin aboard the Akhenaton.The main saloon aboard the Per-ba.A Junior cabin aboard the Per-ba.A bathroom with a bath and a Nile view aboard the Iris.
Pick a boat and a cabinHave a look at the Iris, the Akhenaton and the Per-ba and settle on whichever cabin grade suits you.
Settle on a directionSouthbound from Aswan runs 3 nights and leaves on Fridays; northbound from Luxor runs 4 or 7 nights and leaves on Mondays.
Send a messageDrop the SEV team a line on WhatsApp with your dates and you will have a written quote back shortly.
Leave the rest to usOnce you confirm, the team locks in the booking and lines up every transfer and every excursion ashore.
Frequently asked questions
How does a dahabiya actually differ from a normal Nile cruise ship?
Mostly in scale. A cruise ship is a floating hotel with several hundred guests, running to a set night-time schedule; a dahabiya carries a fraction of that number, sails largely by daylight and picks quieter moorings. Read our dahabiya versus cruise ship guide if you are still weighing it up.
How many boats are there to pick from?
Three: Iris, Akhenaton and Per-ba. All three run the same full-board format and the same eight-site itinerary; what changes between them is the cabin range and the price.
What is actually included in the price?
Full board throughout, entrance tickets to Philae, Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's temple and the Colossi of Memnon, plus your own guide and driver for the whole trip.
Can I sail any day I like?
No, the schedule is fixed either way: Fridays for the 3-night run from Aswan, Mondays for the longer run from Luxor.
When should I go?
October through April suits most people best. High summer turns Upper Egypt properly hot, and the festive dates around Christmas, New Year and Easter book out well ahead of time.
Iris, Akhenaton or Per-ba: how do I pick?
Budget and cabin preference, mainly. The Iris runs four grades up to a veranda suite; the other two keep it to a straightforward pair of choices. Tell the SEV team your dates and they will talk you through it.
What happens once I decide?
Message or use our contact page with your chosen boat, date and cabin, and the team comes back with availability confirmed and a full quote.
Put together your dahabiya cruise
The SEV team in Cairo answers your questions on the three dahabiyas, the cabins available and the departure dates, and prepares a tailored quote.
