Venue
west bank of Lake Nasser, Abu Simbel, Aswan Governorate, Egypt
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Abu Simbel Sun Festival guide
Sunrise reaching Ramesses II's inner sanctuary.
In short
History lovers prepared for a pre-dawn start should plan on 22 February or 22 October, when the rising sun travels into the Great Temple at Abu Simbel and lights its innermost statues. The moment lasts only a few minutes, and crowds gather in the dark beside Lake Nasser, so arrive early and allow for the journey from Aswan.
The Abu Simbel Sun Festival is the sunrise, twice a year, when daylight travels deep into the Great Temple of Ramesses II and falls on the statues of its innermost sanctuary. Crowds gather in the dark beside Lake Nasser to watch an alignment planned by Egyptian builders more than three thousand years ago.
The moment itself is brief, a few minutes of light on stone. What gives it weight is the story behind it: a pharaoh's monument on the edge of Nubia, half-hidden by sand when European travellers reached it, later cut apart and rebuilt to save it from a reservoir, and still keeping its appointment with the sun.
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Key Facts & Stats:
Where: Aswan, Egypt
Venue: Abu Simbel temples
Held: Every year
Type of event: Leisure Events, Cultural Events
Currency: Egyptian pound (E£, EGP)
Time zone: UTC+2; daylight saving (UTC+3) from late April to late October
Language: Arabic
Map
Close to the venue
- Abu Simbel Temples Attraction · 0 m
Getting around
Hotels near the venue fill up around the event dates.
Warm clothing and a torch for the early wait
Do not be fooled by the afternoon heat. Before sunrise the temple forecourt is cold, and the wind off the water can make it feel at least 10°C colder than the city you drove from.
- Wear a warm jacket or fleece over a T-shirt you can strip down to later.
- Closed shoes help on the stone paths in the dark.
- Carry a small torch or use your phone light for the walk to the gate.
- Bring water and a snack for the long wait.
Moving through the crowded sanctuary
The halls inside the Great Temple are narrow, and on festival mornings they are packed. Only a few people at a time can see into the sanctuary, so move on once you have had your look and let the next group through.
Small children and anyone uneasy in tight crowds may be happier outside, watching the façade light up. Agree a meeting point beforehand in case your group gets separated. Keep your voice down inside, and do not push towards the sanctuary while the beam is on the statues.
Photography rules inside the temples
Guards inside the temples check what visitors are using to take pictures, especially in the Great Temple. Wikivoyage reports that photography inside is allowed only with mobile phones, and guards may also restrict flash and tripods on festival mornings.
- Turn the flash off: it ruins the shot of the beam anyway.
- Do not hold your phone up for long in the sanctuary; others are waiting.
- The best wide shots of the orange façade come from outside, at a distance.
Haggling at the souvenir stalls
Souvenir stalls line the path from the temple exit to the car park. Haggling is expected, and opening at a quarter to a third of the asking price is normal. Stay friendly, take your time and walk away politely if the price does not suit. Small notes in Egyptian pounds make paying easier. Look an item over carefully before you agree a price, and do not feel obliged to buy after a chat.
What happens on the day
- Small hours
The convoy leaves Aswan
Most visitors travel down from Aswan through the night, about three hours across open desert. Staying in Abu Simbel village turns this into a short walk.
- Before first light
Queueing at the gate
People line up well before dawn, and the narrow halls of the Great Temple are packed long before sunrise. How the dawn entry works is decided afresh each year, so confirm the arrangements with your hotel or operator a few days ahead.
- Sunrise
The beam reaches the sanctuary
As the sun clears the horizon, a narrow shaft of light runs down the temple's axis, through the halls and onto the back wall of the sanctuary. It lights three of the four seated figures for a few minutes, then slips away. Outside, the four colossi of the façade turn from grey to orange.
- After the beam
The Small Temple
The crowd thins quickly. The Small Temple, dedicated to Hathor and Nefertari, is far quieter once the festival crowd has left. Stay for a slower second look at both temples; the village is small enough to explore on foot.
- Daytime
Music and dance
Performances are often staged near the site around the festival, though the programme changes from year to year. On ordinary days the Great Temple is open from 06:00 to 17:00.
Ramesses II, the sanctuary and the temple's relocation
Ramesses II ordered both temples carved out of the sandstone of a riverside cliff around the 13th century BC, in Nubia, the gold-rich land to the south that his monuments were meant to impress. At the far end of the inner sanctuary sit four carved figures: Ptah, Ra-Horakhty, Amun and the deified king himself. On festival mornings the light reaches the king, Amun and Ra-Horakhty, while Ptah, a god tied to the underworld, is left in darkness.
Many guides repeat a story that the two dates mark Ramesses' birthday and his coronation. It makes a good tale, but no direct evidence supports it.
The modern chapter is as remarkable as the ancient one. The reservoir rising behind the new Aswan High Dam threatened to drown the site, and an international campaign led by UNESCO cut the temples into 1,036 blocks between 1964 and 1968. They were rebuilt 65 metres higher and more than 200 metres back from the water, and re-aligned so carefully that the sun still finds its way to the sanctuary. When engineers checked on 22 February 1966, the light reached 63.1 metres into the rock. The rebuilt temples were formally inaugurated on 22 September 1968.
Getting there
Aswan, the gateway
Abu Simbel is near the Sudanese border, roughly 300 km by road south-west of Aswan, and almost every visit starts there.
Tourist convoy
A long line of tourist buses leaves Aswan in the middle of the night and takes about three hours. Return convoys must be out of Abu Simbel by 16:00.
Public bus
Two public buses leave Aswan at 04:00 and 11:00 and take a similar time. Sit on the left going south for the desert sunrise, and on the shaded side coming back.
By air
EgyptAir flies from Aswan to Abu Simbel's small airport up to four times a day, the quickest way down.
Lake Nasser cruise
The slow, scenic option: cruises sail from Aswan to Abu Simbel over several days.
In the village
Once there you need no transport. Abu Simbel is small and walkable, and the temple gate is close to the hotels.
Where to stay during the festival
Sleeping in Abu Simbel village the night before is the single best decision for the Sun Festival. There are only a handful of hotels: the Nefertari Hotel is under ten minutes on foot from the temples, the Seti Abu Simbel about twenty, and the Eskaleh Nubian Ecolodge has mud-brick rooms and serves dinner. October and February are peak months on the Nile, so book as soon as your dates are fixed.
If the village is full, Aswan has far more choice, at the price of a night-time convoy to the temple.
Aswan
Old Cataract, Aswan5-star hotel
No reviews yet
from$650.00/ night
- Internet – Wifi
- Swimming pool
- Air conditioning
8 Rooms available
Book Now
Weather and what to pack
Abu Simbel sits in the hot desert of far southern Egypt, where it almost never rains. The nearest long-term record is Aswan's: its 1991 to 2020 normals give an average daily high of 36.4°C and a low of 22.3°C in October, and 25.9°C and 11.7°C in February, with practically no rain in either month.
The contrast between night and day is the thing to plan for. A February pre-dawn queue can be genuinely cold, while an October morning warms up fast once the sun is up.
Worth packing
- A warm layer for the pre-dawn queue, especially in February
- A torch or phone light for the walk in the dark
- Sun hat, sunglasses and sun cream for the rest of the day
- Water and a snack, as the wait before sunrise is long
- Comfortable shoes for standing for hours
- Cash in Egyptian pounds for tickets, cafés and tips
Car hire in Aswan
Airport transfer to Abu Simbel Sun Festival
Met at arrivals at Aswan International Airport (ASW) and driven door to door to Abu Simbel temples.
- Aswan International Airport (ASW) → Abu Simbel temples
- 268 km · 3 hr 20 min
Restaurants and food in Egypt
Places to eat in Egypt before or after the celebrations.
Mohamed Ahmed
17 Shakour Street, Raml Station, Alexandria, Egypt
Cuisine:EgyptianFul
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
Sofra Restaurant & Café
90 Mohamed Farid Street, Al Manshiya, Luxor, Egypt
Cuisine:EgyptianMiddle Eastern
- Dine-in
- Outdoor seating
Koshary Abou Tarek
Champollion Street, Downtown, Cairo, Egypt
Cuisine:EgyptianKoshary
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Getting there
Yes. The engineers re-oriented the rebuilt temple to reproduce the two sun dates with a tolerance of about 5 mm, and a check on 22 February 1966 confirmed the light still reached the statues of Ramesses, Amun and Ra-Horakhty.
Generally not. Foreign visitors are usually not allowed to drive their own car to Abu Simbel, so the realistic options are the tourist convoy, the public bus, a flight or a cruise on Lake Nasser.
General
Yes. It lasts 30 minutes, with headphone commentary in several languages, and runs at 6PM and 7PM from October to April if enough people turn up. Tickets cost 20 USD, or 11 USD for children aged 6 to 12.
Sometimes. Abu Simbel Airport has flights to Aswan all year, but services to Cairo are seasonal and limited, so most travellers connect through Aswan.
Tuya Restaurant, about 700m from the temple entrance, has a garden and shisha. Traditional ahwa cafés serve mint tea, Turkish coffee and hibiscus tea. Alcohol is served only in the bars of the bigger hotels.
The traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt saw the Small Temple and the top of the Great Temple's façade in March 1813. Giovanni Belzoni cleared enough sand to enter the Great Temple on 1 August 1817.
Each of the four seated colossi is about 20 m high. The whole façade rises 33 m and stretches 38 m across, with a frieze of baboons along the top.
The hypostyle hall, 18 m long and supported by eight pillars carved as Osiris, is covered with reliefs of the Battle of Kadesh. The best known shows Ramesses in his chariot firing arrows at fleeing enemies; others show campaigns in Libya and Nubia.
The rescue cost about 41.7 million dollars. Egypt paid half, and 48 other countries covered the rest through the international campaign.
Booking
Wikivoyage lists the standard ticket at LE822, or LE450 for students, and it covers the Small Temple of Hathor and Nefertari as well. Check the current price before you travel.