Philae Temple, High Dam & Felucca Sail

Philae is the temple as the Romantics imagined it: colonnades rising straight from the Nile on its own granite island, reached only by boat. Rescued from the rising reservoir in the 1970s, it is Egypt's most beautifully sited monument — and your guide tells the rescue story where it happened.

After the engineering awe of the High Dam, trade engines for wind: a traditional felucca sails you around Elephantine Island as Aswan turns gold. Half a day, perfectly paced.