The best time for a Nile cruise, month by month

The best time for a Nile cruise is October to April, when Luxor and Aswan sit between the mid twenties and the mid thirties in the day and the evenings are comfortable on deck. December and January are the coolest and the busiest. May to September is very hot, above 40C most days, and the river is quiet. It almost never rains on this stretch of the Nile in any month, so the question is only heat, crowds and how much you mind either.

The best time for a Nile cruise, month by month

Average daytime highs and night-time lows, in Celsius. Aswan is about a degree warmer than Luxor in the day and two to three degrees milder at night.

Month	Luxor day	Luxor night	Aswan day	Aswan night
January	23	7	23	10
February	25	9	26	11
March	30	13	30	15
April	35	17	35	20
May	39	22	40	25
June	41	25	42	27
July	42	26	42	28
August	41	26	42	28
September	39	23	40	26
October	36	20	36	22
November	29	13	30	16
December	24	9	24	11

Figures rounded from long-term averages for Luxor and Aswan. A particular week can run five degrees either side of them.

November to February: the comfortable months

This is the season the whole river is built around. You walk through Karnak in the morning in a shirt, sit on the sundeck in the afternoon without hiding from the sun, and want a jacket after dinner. January nights in Luxor drop to around 7C, and on a moving ship that feels colder than the number looks, so bring something warm for the evenings and the early starts.

The trade is company. Every ship is sailing, every temple has groups in it, and the good cabins go first. If you want a particular ship in this window, book well ahead.

October, March and April: warm, and easier

These are the months we would choose ourselves. Days are hot rather than cool, 30C to 36C, which is fine if you are out early and back on board by lunchtime. The sites are noticeably less crowded than in midwinter, and there is more choice of ship on any given week.

One thing to know about the spring: this is the season of the khamsin, a hot, dry wind out of the south that carries dust and can blow for three or four days at a time. It arrives in late winter and spring, pushes the temperature up, and turns the sky yellow. It does not stop a cruise, and most visitors never see one, but if you are here in March, April or early May and the horizon goes hazy, that is what it is.

May to September: the hot months

June, July and August are above 40C in the day in both Luxor and Aswan, and September is not far behind. That is real heat, and nobody should book it thinking the number exaggerates.

What makes it possible on a Nile cruise, in a way it is not on a walking holiday, is the shape of the day. You are out at the temples around 6:30 in the morning while the stone is still cool, back on board for lunch, and the ship then sails through the worst hours of the afternoon. The cabins are air-conditioned, there is a pool on the sundeck, and the movement of the boat makes its own breeze. Aswan and the river are also dry, not humid, which is a different kind of hot from the coast.

The compensations are real: temples that are almost empty, a river with far fewer ships on it, and guides who have time. If you can handle the heat and you drink water constantly, summer is not the mistake people assume. If you are travelling with small children, or with anyone who struggles in the heat, take one of the other months.

The weeks to avoid, and one to aim for

The busiest weeks of the year are Christmas and New Year, then February half term and the Easter weeks. The ships fill and the Valley of the Kings is at its noisiest. If your dates are fixed inside one of those weeks, book as early as you can. If they are flexible, moving a week either side changes the trip.

The one date worth planning around rather than avoiding is the sun festival at Abu Simbel, on 22 February and 22 October. Twice a year the rising sun reaches down the length of the Great Temple and lights the statues of Ramesses II, Amun-Ra and Ra-Horakhty in the sanctuary, while Ptah, the god of darkness, stays in shadow. It is crowded and it means a very early start from Aswan, and it is still worth seeing once.

What the month changes, and what it does not

The programme does not change with the season. The same temples, the same order, the same guiding, whichever month you sail. What the month changes is how the day feels: in January you linger at Karnak, in July you are grateful to be back on the water by one o’clock.

Two practical points. In the hot months, ask for a cabin on a lower deck rather than directly under the sundeck. And in any month, the early start is not negotiable if you want the sites at their best, which is why our day begins at around 6:30. The day by day itinerary sets out the rest.

So which month is the best time for a Nile cruise?

If you want the classic Egypt and you do not mind the company, take December to February. If you want the temples quieter and still comfortable, take late October, March or early April. If the heat does not frighten you and you want the river to yourself, take the summer and start every day early.

Whichever you choose, the ships run to fixed weekly departure days, so the day you land matters as much as the month. That is the first thing we check, and it is set out in how to book a Nile cruise, along with how many nights to take and what the cruise costs class by class.

Tell us the month you are thinking of on WhatsApp or through our contact page, and we will tell you which ships are sailing then and what the river is like that week.

Once you have the month, what to pack for a Nile cruise covers the clothes, the shoes and the one warm layer for winter evenings.