Photo Story: Sailing the Nile River on an Egyptian Felucca

By Mark Wiens 31 Comments

Lounging around in a traditional jellibaya, sipping on tea and gnawing on dates while peacefully slicing through the Nile River with mist lightly dampening my face, was a dream come true (slightly opposite of crazy Cairo)!

We set out from Aswan for a 3 day, 2 night felucca (Egyptian Nile sailboat) trip, desperately searching for a few days to gather our thoughts, inspire our ideas and enjoy the beauty of Egypt’s lifeline.

The entire felucca trip was crafted with relaxation in mind and flowing with Egyptian hospitality.

Our boat was outfitted with mattress pads covering the entire surface of the sailboat and the staff attempted to meet all of our needs. We slowly sailed against wind, having to zig zag our way back and forth to make progress while slicing through the current.

Real sailing was only a few hours per day, but even during anchored down time, the slight current from the Nile ripples offered a rocking dosage of rest and relaxation.

Hope you enjoy these pictures (details on how you can enjoy a Nile River felucca trip at the bottom)!

How you can have a Nile River Felucca trip:

I heard many stories of tourist’s organizing long felucca trips with captains on the side of the river, only to end up having to turn around or simply not satisfied with their journey.

We haggled around for the best price, joked and made friends with the staff at the Noorhan Hotel where we were staying and eventually agreed on a package deal for 3 days, 2 nights. We began our trip in Aswan and ended in Luxor.

Day 1

Picked up from hotel at noon
Boarded the sailboat and waited for others to join
Ate lunch
Sailed for about 3 hours until we reached a beach to spend the night
Ate dinner and slept

Day 2

1/2 the tourists on the boat were picked up by a van and the rest remained
Ate breakfast
Hung around the beach all morning, relaxed and walked around, took a swim in the Nile!
Ate lunch
Afternoon arrived and more tourist’s boarded the sailboat
Sailed in the afternoon for 2 hours
Got off at a small village to walk around for 30 minutes
Sailed into the sunset
Stopped at another beach to spend the night

Day 3

Ate breakfast
Boarded a minivan and traveled to Kom Ombo Temple for 1 hour
Drove to the Temple of Edfu, stayed for 1 hour
Tour ended in Luxor at about 2pm

We got a very good deal for 115 LE all inclusive (not entrance to the temples). Expect to pay anywhere from 115 LE to 175 LE for the tour. My only complaint was that there were too many people on the boat, but with the price we paid, we weren’t complaining!

Other Tips:

You need to provide your Passport or copy of it. After we sailed out of Aswan city center, our boat was approached by an Egyptian police boat, making sure our captain had all legal documents in order.
I would encourage taking the 3 day, 2 night trip to get a lot more sailing and further breaking in to the relaxation!
Bring toilet paper!

Hope you have as good of a time as I did on a Nile River felucca sailing trip!

– Migration Mark

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