Philae by day or at the sound and light show?

Go by day to see Philae Temple in daylight with a guide explaining it, either on its own or on a tour that also takes in the Aswan High Dam and, on the longer version, the Unfinished Obelisk. Go to the sound and light show to walk among the lit columns at night while the legend of Isis, Osiris and Horus is told. With a free day and a free evening in Aswan, do both.

Day visit and evening show compared

Philae by day

Philae is open 7 AM to 4 PM daily, with last entry at 3 PM in summer, winter and Ramadan, and the ministry advises arriving at least one hour before a site's closing time. It is a Ptolemaic temple of the goddess Isis; on the shorter tour the guide explains its myths and its UNESCO-led relocation. It now stands on Agilika Island, where it was moved after the dam's reservoir flooded its first site.

The two longer day tours begin at the High Dam, 20.6 km from the hotel, about 20 minutes without traffic. It was built in the 1960s to control the Nile floods and generate electricity, and it has views of Lake Nasser and the Nile. The longer tour adds the Unfinished Obelisk, 18.7 km from the dam, about 19 minutes without traffic: an obelisk left in the ancient granite quarries that shows how stone was worked. Its last entry is also 3 PM. That tour can also drop you at Aswan Airport instead of your hotel. Philae Temple by boat skips the dam and the obelisk: it picks you up at your hotel or Nile cruise in Aswan, takes the motorboat from the marina to the island and back, and gives the whole visit to the temple, with your guide. It is one of the site's newer tours, so its program is confirmed with your quote.

Prices are in Egyptian pounds (EGP) and for reference: entrance fees are included on our tours. Student tickets need a valid student ID and an age of 24 or under.

Philae at the sound and light show

The show tour picks you up at your Aswan hotel in the evening. A boat takes you to the island, where you walk among the lit temple columns while the legend of Isis, Osiris and Horus is told with lights and narration. A boat brings you back, and the transfer returns you to your hotel or Nile cruise in Aswan.

The listing does not give the show's start time, length or language. Ask for them when you book; the pickup time is confirmed at booking. Ask too whether a guide comes with you for the evening.

Doing both

The day visit and the show are separate bookings, and they see the temple two ways: explained in daylight, and told as a legend at night. Whether both fit on one date depends on the pickup times confirmed when you book. Aswan's average daily low is 8.8°C in January, so bring a layer for a winter evening on the water; in July the average high is 41.4°C and the low 26.2°C. Philae and Abu Simbel belong to one UNESCO World Heritage listing, the Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae, inscribed in 1979.

Our tours: the High Dam, Unfinished Obelisk and Philae tour, the shorter High Dam and Philae Temple tour, Philae Temple by boat on its own, and the evening Philae sound and light show. For more on the island's hours and tickets, see Philae Temple from Aswan; to compare with the shows at Giza and Karnak, sound and light shows compared. Every Aswan tour is on the Aswan page.