Edfu & Kom Ombo Temples Day Tour from Aswan

Time at the site: about 1.5 hours, including the Crocodile Museum.

Kom Ombo stands on a bend of the Nile where crocodiles once basked on the sandbanks. Its temple, built mainly under the Ptolemies from about 180 BC, is split exactly down the middle. The southern half belongs to Sobek, the crocodile god of fertility. The northern half belongs to Haroeris, Horus the Elder. Each god has his own gate, halls, and sanctuary.

Then, head to the Crocodile Museum, not a temple. Once you see the mummified crocodiles, some still with their eggs and babies, the Sobek reliefs suddenly make sense. 

On the back wall of the outer corridor, find the famous relief of what looks like surgical tools: scalpels, forceps, and saws. Right beside them, women sit on birthing chairs in a medical scene. Also, the Nilometer well beside the temple, was used to measure the river's height each year.

💡Insider reveal: Between December and April, watch for the narrow-gauge sugar-cane trains crossing the road near Kom Ombo. The town is the sugar capital of Upper Egypt, and in harvest season, ask your driver to stop so you can taste fresh sugar-cane juice, asab, at a roadside stall.

Good to know:

• Your Kom Ombo ticket covers both the temple and the Crocodile Museum.
• Nile cruise ships moor right below the temple in the afternoon and evening; our morning visit beats the crowds.
• The site is on an open riverbank with little shade. Bring a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen.

Time at the site: about 1.5 to 2 hours.

The Temple of Horus at Edfu is the best-preserved temple in Egypt and the second largest after Karnak. It was built over 180 years, from 237 to 57 BC, by the Ptolemaic kings, the last of whom was the father of Cleopatra VII. The roof, walls, gates, and sanctuary still stand, so you walk through it exactly as the priests did. Look at the outer corridor for Horus spearing his enemy Seth, shown as a tiny hippo so as not to give him power.

📌Don't Miss: In the "Laboratory", off the first hall, the walls are carved with real recipes for the perfumes and incense used in the rituals. Then go to the very back of the sanctuary and look at the dark granite shrine. It was made for Pharaoh Nectanebo II around 360 BC, so it is older than the temple built around it.

💡Did you know? Edfu survived so well because it was buried. For centuries, sand and Nile silt filled it almost to the roof, and villagers built their houses on top. The French archaeologist Auguste Mariette cleared it in the 1860s.

Good to know:

• Cruise passengers reach the temple by horse carriage from the dock. We drive straight to the visitor centre, so you won't have to scramble for a carriage.
• The walk from the visitor centre to the temple passes a long row of souvenir stalls. A polite "la, shukran" (no, thank you) works best.