Getting to Aswan
Three ways in: fly to Aswan airport from Cairo in about an hour and a half, take the sleeper or day train from Cairo or Luxor, or arrive by Nile cruise. The train from Luxor is the one most people underuse — it is short, cheap and runs along the river.
Aswan airport is about twenty-five kilometres from the centre and every hotel can arrange a transfer. Flights are the fastest option from Cairo by a wide margin.
The railway runs the length of the Nile valley and Aswan is the southern terminus. From Luxor it is a straightforward daytime journey; from Cairo it is an overnight one, and the sleeper service is a different product from the ordinary train.
Arriving by cruise means you dock at the corniche and the city starts at the gangway. If your cruise begins here, consider arriving a night early rather than treating Aswan as an airport transfer.
| Cairo → Aswan by air | About 1 hr 30 |
| Cairo → Aswan by train | Overnight |
| Luxor → Aswan by train | A daytime journey along the river |
| Airport → centre | About 25 km |
| Current fares and timetables | not verified |
We publish no fares, departure times or frequencies on this page. Transport information carries a 90-day review cycle on this site and nobody has re-read the operators’ timetables inside it. Book through the airline or railway directly and check the day before you travel.
Plane if the trip is short and the schedule is tight. Sleeper train if you would rather not lose a day and you like the idea of waking up in Upper Egypt. Both are ordinary, well-used journeys.
Route existence only. No schedule, fare or frequency on this site is published from memory — transport facts carry a 90-day review cycle and are slots until checked.
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