Egypt does not do a northern-hemisphere Christmas, and that is part of the appeal. There is no shutdown, no grey fortnight — the sites carry on, the boats sail, and the light is the best of the year. Cairo sits in the low twenties by day, Luxor and Aswan a few degrees warmer, and the sun is reliable in a way December cannot manage almost anywhere else within a short flight of Europe.
Egypt's own Christmas comes later anyway: the Coptic Church celebrates on 7 January, so the country's religious calendar barely overlaps with the Western holiday at all. What late December means here, practically, is high season — full boats, early starts, and New Year's Eve celebrated on hotel terraces and cruise-boat decks up and down the river.
The two departures we run
Both are eight days built on the same backbone — Cairo plus a Nile cruise — but they are near mirror images of each other, and the differences matter more than the names do.
| Departure | Route | What makes it different |
|---|---|---|
| 08 Days Egypt Christmas Holiday | Cairo · Luxor · Edfu · Kom Ombo · Aswan · Abu Simbel | Sails south, the river's classic direction, and crowns the cruise leg with Abu Simbel before flying back to Cairo. |
| 08 Days Egypt New Year Tour | Cairo · Aswan · Kom Ombo · Edfu · Luxor | Sails north instead, skips the Abu Simbel dawn run, and keeps a free day in Cairo at the end — which after a New Year's Eve on the river is exactly the day you will want. |
The routes are taken from each tour's actual day-by-day programme, not from the brochure adjectives. If Abu Simbel is on your list, the Christmas departure is the one that includes it; if a slower landing back into ordinary life appeals, the New Year tour's free Cairo day is the better shape.
What the crowds are like — and how to work around them
Honestly: this is the fortnight when the Pyramids, the Valley of the Kings and Abu Simbel are at their fullest. Mid-morning at the headline sites means coaches, queues at the famous tombs, and photography that needs patience.
The counter-moves are the same ones that work all year, applied with more discipline: be at the gates when they open, take the biggest site of the day first, and give the afternoon to the places the coaches skip. We have written a full guide to this — how to avoid the crowds in Egypt — and late December is the fortnight it earns its keep.
The weather, honestly
Days are glorious and evenings are cold — both things are true. On a cruise deck after sunset, or in the desert around the Pyramids at dawn, you will want a proper jacket, not a token cardigan. Unheated hotel pools are cold in December; the Red Sea is still swimmable, though snorkellers stay in longer with a short wetsuit.
If you are weighing December against the other months, our month-by-month guide sets the whole winter side by side — January and February share the same weather with slightly thinner crowds once the holiday fortnight empties out.
Booking reality
This is the one time of year when waiting genuinely costs you the trip you wanted. Cruise cabins are the pinch point — boats are finite, the festive sailings fill first, and the later you book the more you are choosing from what is left rather than what is best.
Two things to ask about before you commit, on any operator's festive trip, ours included: whether New Year's Eve on your boat or hotel involves a compulsory gala-dinner supplement, and what the single-supplement position is on the sailing you want. Neither should be a surprise on arrival.