Astonishing and thought-provoking - We took a private tour from Aswan with the English-speaking guide. We were picked up on time, the car was clean and air-conditioned, driven carefully by Fouly. The road took about three hours each side so the stop at a roadside cafe to drink a cup of Turkish coffee was a sound decision. The short chasing after the mirage in the desert was a pleasant bonus also. We decided to start from Aswan at 7:00 am, not 4:00 am to use the advantage of enjoying this unique place almost in private because many tourist groups were heading back at the time we arrived. The entrance tickets were more expensive than usual (215 EGP) and you need to buy a separate ticket to take photos inside the temples (standard price for temples and open tombs 300 EGP) that definitely worth it. And you better do some homework to study temples' relocation process in order to skip the Visitors centre dedicated to this topic. On our way to the temples our professional and knowledgeable guide Hussein provided us with the perfect amount of information about the history of the place, pointed out and explained the must see details of the Great temple and the Small temple and their surroundings. The astonishing view that opens when you finally come around the corner makes you to forget about the temples' relocation that affected the initial plan of their creator in so many ways. This view invites you to concentrate on the Ramesses II's temple uniqueness: a temple carved out of the rock by one pharaoh only and that pharaoh proclaimed himself divine and immortalized that act by different means inside and outside his temple. The pharaoh's campaign scenes on the walls of the Hypostyle Hall are required careful study due to the excellent quality of each detail. You must have enough time for that and probably a binoculars and a flashlight to see them because the scenes are on several rows and the highest are up to ten-meter-high with the limited light access. The Small temple dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Ramesses II's chief consort, Nefertari attracts attention by its Hathoric pillars, colourful mural reliefs of the royal couple and their offerings to the various deities and to Hathor, who is depicted both as a cow and as a woman. Try to identify inside the niche of the sanctuary the rock-cut statue of the goddess Hathor in the shape of a cow and Ramesses II under her protection. Our patient and friendly guide Hussein allowed us plenty of time to study each temple. There was enough time even to smoke a cigar while sitting on the bench in front of the Ramesses II's temple to admire and memorise its exterior. It helped also to notice the existence of the two small chapels mentioned by Hussein that are on each side of the Ramesses II's temple: one dedicated to the sun god (north) and another dedicated to Thoth (south). So the statue of God Thoth in the form of Baboon from the Abu Simbel that we saw in Nubian museum the day before this visit probably belongs to the chapel of Thoth. I highly recommend this tour and if you decide to do it with the Imperial Egypt you definitely need to ask for Hussein as your guide because it is his favourite site related to the Ancient Egypt and he'll do his best to make this visit something special for you.

Abu Simbel private tour - Nice experience touring and learning about Abu Simbel and it's history. Guide was accommodating to our request and knowledgeable about the site. We would do business with Imperial Egypt again.

Private tour to Abu Simbel - What a great experience. Hany from Imperial Egypt accommodated our request for a later departure from Aswan. When we got there, most of the tourists had gone so it wasn't too crowded. Our guide Hany was very informative & the car was comfortable & driver was good. Abu Simbel is a must visit place when you go to Egypt.

The tour guide was on time picking... - <p>The tour guide was on time picking us up at 5 am, and we stopped to see the sunrise on our way to Abu Simbel, and the oasis on our way back. We were not told it would cost us extra to take pictures in the tombs, but the tour guide was helpful in taking pictures of us, and dropping us off at the airport on the way back.</p>

A little underwhelming - I echo what has been said previously about this not really being a tour. It was a very expensive day out but the tour guide wasn’t able to actually come into the temples so spent some time prior to this going through some photos and explaining what we were about to see. As for the transportation, I don’t remember the last time I was this uncomfortable- the driver and passenger seat was right back and reclined so myself and my husband had very little leg space, and there wasn’t any air conditioning so in 28 degree heat, we were extremely hot so could hardly stay awake! There was also a beeping noise too which possibly was coming from the driver not wearing his seat belt so we endured this for the full 6 hour drive!! The guide and the driver were both very pleasant and answered questions which we asked.

Disappointed - Don't bother getting a guided tour - We were very disappointed with this "guided" tour, especially as we paid a considerable amount more to get a guide. Our guide provided a very basic summary which we already knew from reading webpages prior to our trip. When we asked questions, he changed the topic or simply didn't answer. At the site, he flipped through some pictures. We felt very rushed and weren't able to take in the museum portion. As for the transportation, an airplane seat would have been more comfortable.