The Aswan High Dam: A Visitor Guide

Size and Capacity

The table pulls together the headline figures for the Aswan High Dam, from its construction dates to the output of its power station. It is a rock-fill structure, not a concrete wall, and it used 43,000,000 cubic metres of material. Anwar Sadat inaugurated the lake and dam in 1971. The reservoir behind it filled in stages, starting in 1964 and reaching full capacity in 1976.

Whether the Aswan Dam is the largest dam in the world has no simple yes here. What the reference sources do say is that Lake Nasser behind it is the world's second-largest human-made lake, covering 5,250 km2 with a capacity of 132 km3 of water. The power station runs 12 generators of 175 MW each, for a total of 2,100 MW.

Why It Was Built and What It Changed

Egypt needed to control the Nile flood and store water for irrigation, and to generate power. The earlier attempt was the Aswan Low Dam, completed in 1902, which Sir William Willcocks designed and John Aird and Co. built. That dam is 1,950 m long and 36 m high above the original riverbed. It was raised twice, by 5 m between 1907 and 1912 and by 9 m between 1929 and 1933, but it could not store enough water for a growing country. The High Dam sits about 6 km upstream of the Low Dam according to Wikivoyage.

The Soviet Union played the central financing and engineering role, providing about 425 million dollars in credits along with Soviet technicians and heavy machinery. Nikolai Malyshev of Hydroproject designed the dam. About 25,000 Egyptian engineers and workers built it alongside them. What changed was the river itself: the annual flood was replaced by a managed release, electricity came at scale, and the water backed up into a reservoir around 500 km long, a figure sources place between 479 and 550 km.

The Lake Itself

Lake Nasser is named after Gamal Abdel Nasser, the second President of Egypt. It covers 5,250 km2, stores some 132 km3 of water, has an average depth of 25.2 m and a maximum depth of 130 m. The Egyptian part holds about 83 percent of the total, and the Sudanese call their smaller portion Lake Nubia.

The lake's length is one figure the sources do not agree on. The Wikipedia Aswan Dam article says 500 km while the Lake Nasser article says 550 km, so treat it as roughly 500 km. Today the lake is a tourist destination for recreational fishing, sightseeing cruises and visits to relocated monuments such as Abu Simbel, which sits on its shore south of Aswan and is not on the river route between Luxor and Aswan. A ferry also sails once or twice a week across the lake to Wadi Halfa in Sudan, and it does not call at Abu Simbel.

The Displacement of the Nubians

The rising water moved people as well as temples. Wikipedia says the Aswan High Dam displaced 100,000 Nubians in Egypt and Sudan. In Egypt, about 50,000 Nubians were moved to New Nubia near Kom Ombo and Edfu. In Sudan, 50,000 to 70,000 Nubians were moved, including to New Wadi Halfa. Egypt began compensating displaced Nubians in 2019 and 2020, decades after the flooding.

The Nubian story did not end with the move. Nobiin, the Nubian language, has about 690,000 native speakers and one community lives near Kom Ombo. Nubians are credited with inventing the Nubian vault, a building technique still visible in the domed mud brick houses of villages you can visit today. You can learn more in the guide to the Nubian village Aswan or at the Nubia Museum, which was inaugurated on 23 November 1997, covers 50,000 square metres and won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2001.

The Rescued Temples

An international campaign moved the monuments that stood in the flooding zone. The rescued monuments on Lake Nasser include the temples of Kalabsha, Wadi es-Sebua and Amada, and the most famous rescue of all, Abu Simbel. Not everything could be saved. The fortress of Buhen could not be rescued and now lies underwater.

The best-known case is Philae, the island temple of Isis, which was relocated in the late 1970s and reopened on 10 March 1980. The ministry price list shows Philae at EGP 550 for foreign adults and EGP 275 for students, open 7:00 to 16:00. Most Aswan cruises visit Philae and the High Dam on the same day, which is why the two sites appear together on nearly every itinerary out of the city. For full details, see the Philae Temple guide.

Ticket and Hours

The ministry price list for Aswan sites does not include a High Dam entry fee, so the only sourced figure is Wikivoyage's, which lists High Dam entry at LE200. Opening hours for the dam are not stated in the published sources. For comparison, the ministry list prices other Aswan sites, and the table shows what the official and reference figures give.

Most cruises from Aswan list the High Dam as a day 1 stop. Note that most cruise listings exclude the entry fee, so you pay the ticket on site. One listing in the comparison includes all entrance fees, and that changes the maths, which is why what the price covers matters before you book.

What You See

The visit has two fixed points. The first is the dam itself, along its crest, with Lake Nasser stretching south behind it. Remember the scale from the table above: 111 m high, 980 m wide at the base, holding back a lake of 5,250 km2. The second is the lotus-shaped monument to Arab-Soviet Friendship, which stands at the dam and marks the partnership that financed and engineered the project. It is the spot for photos.

There is no temple, museum or tomb here, so it is a quick stop, usually paired with Philae and the Unfinished Obelisk, which the ministry lists at EGP 220 for foreign adults. For a full day plan, see the guide to things to do in Aswan. Also worth knowing: Aswan's average summer highs stay above 40 C, so a morning visit is the comfortable one.

Which Cruises Stop Here and What They Charge

The table and notes below compare the cruises that list the Aswan High Dam as a stop, using the card prices on this site and each listing's own statement about entrance fees. Read the entry line carefully, because it is where the money difference sits.

The 3-Night Cruise with Temple Tickets at $600 per person is the only listing with the High Dam as a stop whose price includes entrance fees: it covers all entrance fees to the mentioned sights, Philae, the High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Karnak, Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut. Abu Simbel is not included. It is full board with bottled water, two small bottles per person per day, and it carries a free cancellation 24h policy.

Most of the others stop at the dam and exclude the ticket. The 3-Night Cruise with Abu Simbel and Balloon at $340 per person excludes entrance fees to every sight it names, including the Aswan High Dam, so budget the LE200 on site. It also adds $110 in mandatory charges at checkout, a from-price of $450, and the listing does not say what that covers. The 3-Night Cruise with Balloon Ride at $580 per person likewise says entrance tickets to all temples and attractions are paid locally and vary by site. The 2-Night Small-Group Cruise at $590 per person, limited to 18 participants, lists entrance fees as excluded. The same applies to the Nile Cruise from Cairo with Flights at $1,300 per person and the 7-Day Luxor and Aswan Cruise at $1,772 per person, both of which include the High Dam among their stops but exclude entry tickets.