Aswan to Luxor, 3 nights
From £1,530 per person
- Double Deluxe cabin£1,530Festive £2,040
- Junior veranda cabin£1,830Festive £2,590
Per person, full board, visits, entry tickets and private guide included
Dahabiya cruise · Nile
The Per-ba keeps its cabin list short and to the point: a Double Deluxe berth for travellers happiest on deck, or a Junior cabin with its own veranda over the Nile. She is a five-star dahabiya, full board throughout, sailing between Aswan and Luxor.
From £1,530 per person
Among the three boats in our Nile dahabiya cruise collection, the Per-ba keeps the shortest cabin list of the fleet, and that is rather the point of her. There is a Double Deluxe cabin, straightforward and comfortable, and a Junior cabin with a private veranda that opens straight onto the river.
That second option gives the Per-ba her character, and it sits within reach from the second cabin category rather than being kept for a top tier only.
A private veranda changes how a dahabiya cruise unfolds day to day. It gives you somewhere to watch the banks slide past with a coffee at sunrise, or somewhere to sit out for the last light over the water without ever leaving your cabin. On the Per-ba this option begins one rung above the entry cabin, which sets her apart from the Akhenaton, where a veranda is the single upgrade on a double cabin, and from the Iris, where verandas belong to the top two tiers of a four-category range.
A dahabiya is not run in the way the large river cruisers on this stretch of the Nile are run. She sails wherever the wind allows rather than motoring to a fixed schedule, carries a modest number of guests rather than several hundred, and tends to moor along quieter banks away from the crowded jetties where the big boats queue.
That slower, quieter way of moving through the valley is precisely what makes a private veranda worth having in the first place; our guide to choosing between a dahabiya and a Nile cruise ship sets out the differences in full.
Chartering a sailing boat for the length of a Nile journey is not a new idea to British travellers. It was common practice in the nineteenth century, when visitors hired their own dahabiya to move at the pace of the wind rather than a timetable, calling at many of the same temples that appear on this route today.
The novelist and traveller Amelia Edwards described one such winter on the river in an account published in 1877, and much of what caught her eye then, watching the valley pass from a boat's deck, still holds true from the Per-ba's veranda now.
The Double Deluxe cabin suits travellers who will spend most of their waking hours on the shared deck and want a fair price for a comfortable berth. The Junior veranda cabin suits travellers who want a private outdoor space of their own looking onto the Nile, which makes it a natural fit for a honeymoon or any trip built around time together; our honeymoon in Egypt page sets out other ways to shape that kind of trip. The SEV team confirms the exact specification of each cabin with your quote.
The gentler months on the Nile run broadly from October to April, with mild mornings and evenings and a warmer middle of the day, which suits a veranda particularly well: coffee in hand, watching the valley slide by. Summer, from June to August, is very hot across the whole valley, and a dahabiya relies far more on shade and a breeze off the water than a large cruiser's air conditioning, so it is worth weighing this alongside the calendar dates themselves.
School breaks such as October half-term, the Christmas holidays and the Easter holidays tend to book up earliest: the SEV team can help you weigh the season against your own travelling dates.
Two cabins, three lengths of cruise, two fare tables. The Junior veranda cabin is the Per-ba's signature booking; the Double Deluxe stays the more measured option. Prices below are per person, full board, for the private Aswan to Luxor cruise (3 nights, departing every Friday) or the private Luxor to Aswan cruise (4 or 7 nights, departing every Monday). All prices are given in pounds sterling. The SEV team confirms availability with your quote.
Large figures: 2026-2027 season departures. “Festive”: Christmas, New Year and Easter departures.
From £1,530 per person
Per person, full board, visits, entry tickets and private guide included
From £1,730 per person
Per person, full board, visits, entry tickets and private guide included
From £2,300 per person
Per person, full board, visits, entry tickets and private guide included
Runs four times a year: 1 Oct to 21 Dec 2026, all of Jan 2027, 1 Feb to 30 Apr 2027, and all of May 2027.
Three fixed dates only: Christmas (Mon 21 Dec 2026), New Year (Mon 28 Dec 2026), Easter (Fri 26 Mar 2027 southbound, Mon 29 Mar 2027 northbound).
Prices converted from euros at the European Central Bank reference rate of 2 October 2026; your quote confirms the final amount.
Lounges, dining room, cabins and the promenade deck: a closer look at life aboard the Per-ba.
The eight sites below are included whichever length of cruise you choose. The exact order of visits depends on the direction of travel and the timings on the day, and it is confirmed with your booking. Abu Simbel, further from the river than the rest, is reached on a day excursion by road from Aswan, a highlight you will then see again from the Per-ba's deck on the way back upriver.
Four cabin categories, from a Double Deluxe up to a Royal cabin with veranda, for a wider spread of choice.
A Double Deluxe cabin and a Double cabin with veranda: the most accessible dahabiya in the fleet.
The Junior veranda cabin has a private outdoor space looking onto the Nile, unlike the Double Deluxe cabin. The difference in price varies by length of cruise and by season. The SEV team confirms the exact specification of each cabin with your quote.
Philae, Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon are included, together with all site entrance tickets, a private guide and a private air-conditioned vehicle for the visits and transfers.
Three lengths are offered: 3 nights on the private Aswan to Luxor cruise, or 4 or 7 nights on the private Luxor to Aswan cruise, depending on the direction you choose.
The 3-night Aswan to Luxor cruise departs every Friday. The 4 or 7-night Luxor to Aswan cruise departs every Monday.
Abu Simbel is reached on a day excursion by road from Aswan, since the two temples of Ramses II do not sit directly on the banks where the dahabiya sails.
It is one of the trips it suits particularly well: a private space over the Nile for a couple who want time to themselves between visits. The SEV team can help you weigh up the cabin categories against your priorities when you request a quote.
Yes. Festive departures (Christmas on 21 December 2026, New Year on 28 December 2026, Easter on 26 and 29 March 2027) follow a separate fare table, shown under the Festive departures tab above.
The months from October to April generally offer the gentlest conditions on the Nile, with mild mornings and evenings that suit a private veranda particularly well. Summer is very hot. The SEV team can help you choose a departure window that fits your own dates.