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Abu Simbel

Abu Simbel, Aswan, Egypt

Abu Simbel was offered as an optional excursion on the organized tour we took of Egypt (Trafalgar's Best of Egypt Tour). Although it was expensive, I'm very glad we visited - it was probably the highlight of the entire trip.

Since Abu Simbel is located almost 300km away from Aswan, most tourists either fly to the nearby Abu Simbel airport, or take a long bus ride from Aswan. There are shuttles from the airport that take tourists to/from the monuments. After arriving and purchasing tickets, it's approximately a 15 minute walk from the entrance around the mountain to the monument.

There are two temples at the site - the larger temple that has the four large statues of Ramses II at the entrance, and also the smaller temple that Ramses II had built for his great wife, Nefertari.

Before I visited the site, I didn't realize that the carvings at the entrance were only just an entranceway. I was unaware that there was such a huge indoor complex! It's just amazing to think that the entire complex was carved into the rock. I spent most of my time inside the larger temple in awe of all the work that went into carving the complex into the mountain. In addition to the main pillar room, there were probably at least ten smaller side rooms that were all cut into the rock. At the back of the temple, there are four statues - three of which get illuminated by the sun on two special days during the year.

Although the smaller temple wasn't as impressive as the larger temple, it was still very neat to go inside and walk around. It was still a spectacular temple, but the larger one was even more amazing.

In addition to all the work that went into carving these huge complexes into the mountain, it's even more amazing when you realize that the entire complexes were moved to their present site from what is now the bottom of Lake Nasser. The original temples were an amazing engineering masterpiece. Moving them from the original site to the current location is another modern engineering marvel.

At the entrance, before we left, we spent approximately 15-20 minutes inside the "museum" room. The room contained a number of displays with information about how the temples were cut into pieces at their original site and reassembled in their current location. It was definitely neat to read! There were also several shops, and a cafe at the entrance.

In addition to the amazing monuments, the view from the site is also quite nice. The temples look out onto Lake Nasser. Besides the lake, the area around the temples is pretty desolate and mostly sand.

Dress

Egypt is usually quite hot - dress appropriately for the weather. There is no special dress code for this site. Shorts and a t-shirt are fine.

Cost

Foreign tourists pay 70 LE per person to enter. Cameras and video cameras are permitted at the site, but it is forbidden to use them inside the monuments. (If you're feeling brave, you can probably give some money to the antiquities police, and they will likely allow you to take some pictures).

Estimated Visiting Time

The two temples are spectacular! Allow 1-2 hours to make sure you see everything.