One day to five
How much time do you have?
Three days for the city, four if Abu Simbel is in. These are not the same list at five different lengths — what changes is what gets left out, and every itinerary here says what it dropped and why.
1Aswan in one dayOne day in Aswan means Philae and one island, and nothing else. Everyone tries to add the High Dam and the unfinished obelisk, and that turns a good day into a bus day. If your cruise starts tomorrow, this is the day to have.2Aswan in two daysTwo days makes the city work: Philae, Elephantine, the Nubian Museum and a sunset sail, with the High Dam and the obelisk folded into a half-day. It is tight but not rushed, as long as Abu Simbel stays off the list.3Aswan in three daysThe one we’d pickThree days is where Aswan stops being a stopover. It adds the west bank, the quarries and a whole afternoon with nothing in it — and that empty afternoon is the part people remember. This is the length we would pick.4Aswan in four daysFour days is three days for the city plus a full day for Abu Simbel, with the evening after it deliberately empty. That empty evening is not padding — a pre-dawn departure and a three-to-four-hour drive each way is a genuinely long day and anything scheduled after it will be wasted.5+Five days or moreAt five days and beyond the question changes from "what do I fit in" to "what do I want this trip to be". The options are genuinely different holidays: a Lake Nasser cruise, a night at Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo overland, or simply more river.