Nile River Boat CruiseElephantine Island: The Complete Visitor Guide
Elephantine Island sits in the Nile right in front of Aswan, and it is only about 1.5 km long. This guide covers the Temple of Khnum ruins, the two ancient nilometers, the Aswan Museum, the Nubian villages of Siou and Koti, and the botanical garden on neighbouring Kitchener's Island. You will also find the practical side: ticket prices from the ministry price list, opening hours, the public ferry fare, and how a short felucca sail compares. For the wider picture of sailings on this stretch of the river, see the guide to Nile river cruises.
Old stone walls and a gateway stand above the Nile on Elephantine Island. Photo: Marc Ryckaert, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Quick answer Elephantine Island at a glance
Elephantine Island is a Nile island in Aswan about 1.5 km long, with Temple of Khnum ruins, two ancient nilometers, the Aswan Museum and Nubian villages, and entry costs EGP 200 for foreign adults. You reach it by the public ferry or by felucca. The island is open 8:00 to 16:00. A short felucca circuit with Aswan Felucca to Elephantine costs $15 per person for two hours, with about one hour of sailing.
Key takeaways
- The archaeological zone ticket is EGP 200 for foreign adults and the site runs 8:00 to 16:00, so go early. Details in the sights section.
- The cheapest crossing is the public ferry, listed at LE5 for foreigners, though haggled felucca rides run LE50 to 80. Compare both in Ferry or Felucca.
- For a guided sail that circles Elephantine and passes Kitchener's Island, Aswan Felucca to Elephantine costs $15 per person for two hours, with about one hour of sailing.
- Planning a longer trip through Aswan? Browse Nile river cruises or see things to do in Aswan.
What Elephantine Island Is
Elephantine is the island in the middle of the Nile at Aswan.
Size and Setting
Sources disagree slightly on the island's size. The Wikipedia text gives 1.6 km long and 450 m wide at the widest, while the same article's infobox gives 1,200 m by 400 m. A safe summary is about 1.5 km long. That is small enough to walk end to end, yet the island holds an entire archaeological zone, a museum and villages.
The Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan was built by Thomas Cook and opened on 8 January 1900, and it reopened as the Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan on 18 October 2011 after closing in 2008.
Why the Island Mattered
The island's main temple belongs to Khnum, and the Aswan Museum shows a mummified ram of Khnum found in the German excavations.
Today the island holds three Nubian villages, named Siou and Koti in the travel references, where many houses are domed mud brick and painted blue.
What Is on the Island Today
The southern tip holds the ruins of the Temple of Khnum, which spread over most of that end of the island. The archaeological zone also contains a Third Dynasty granite step pyramid and a small temple for the nomarch Heqaib. Two nilometers survive, one beside the Temple of Khnum and one at the Temple of Satis, and the Aswan Museum displays finds from the German excavations on the island.
Beyond the ticketed zone, the villages of Siou and Koti cover the rest of the island. Note that the Nubian villages on the island are only one part of Nubian Aswan. The better known village visits on the west bank, such as Gharb Soheil, are covered in the guide to the Nubian village of Aswan.
Sources: Nile, Wikipedia, Aswan, Wikipedia
Ruins, Nilometers and the Museum
One ticket covers the archaeological zone at the island's southern end, where the temple ruins and both nilometers sit within a short walk of each other, with the Aswan Museum nearby.
What Your Ticket Covers
The ministry price list shows the Elephantine Island ticket at EGP 200 for foreign adults and the site open 8:00 to 16:00. That covers the archaeological zone. The table below gathers the sights on the island and what each one is.
The Nubia Museum on the Aswan mainland is a separate site with its own ticket, EGP 400 for foreign adults, open 9:00 to 17:00. It won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2001 and its site covers 50,000 square metres. The table gives no Aswan Museum ticket price because no official figure is available for it.
The Sights on the Island
The table compares the four main sights inside or near the ticketed zone, with figures from the ministry price list and reference sources.
If you like nilometers, Kom Ombo has one too, and the Kom Ombo site is covered in its own guide to Kom Ombo Temple. The step pyramid dates to the Third Dynasty.
| Sight | What it is | Ticket |
|---|---|---|
| Temple of Khnum ruins | Ruins covering most of the southern tip of the island, dedicated to the ram-headed flood god Khnum | EGP 200 island ticket |
| Khnum nilometer | A rectangular stone basin near the Temple of Khnum, probably the older of the island's two nilometers | EGP 200 island ticket |
| Satis temple nilometer | Ninety steps down to the river, marked with Arabic, Roman and hieroglyphic numerals | EGP 200 island ticket |
| Third Dynasty step pyramid and Heqaib temple | A small granite step pyramid from the Third Dynasty plus a temple for the nomarch Heqaib | EGP 200 island ticket |
| Aswan Museum | Displays finds from the German excavations on Elephantine, including a mummified ram of Khnum | not stated |
The Two Nilometers
Nilometers were the measuring stations of ancient Egypt. They measured the level of the river. Elephantine kept two.
The nilometer beside the Temple of Khnum is a rectangular basin, and it is probably the older of the two. The Satis temple nilometer is a staircase of ninety steps descending to the river, with markings in Arabic, Roman and hieroglyphic numerals, which shows it stayed in use across very different eras. The Elephantine corridor nilometer was last rebuilt in Roman times and was used into the nineteenth century.
Egypt's Poor but Very Touristic Nubian Village | Elephantine Island, Aswan, Egypt
A walking tour of the Nubian village on Elephantine Island in Aswan. Third-party video by Walk Me There | Walking Tours Around the World 🌎. This site did not shoot it and has no relationship with the creator.
Kitchener's Island Botanical Garden
Kitchener's Island lies just downstream of Elephantine, and the whole island is one garden.
How the Garden Began
The island is also called Geziret En Nabatat, or Plant Island. Lord Kitchener received it while he was Consul-General in Egypt, holding that post from 29 September 1911 to June 1914. He filled the island with exotic trees, many of them from India. The island is about 750 m long, and today the whole of it forms the Aswan Botanical Garden, covering 17 acres in seven sections.
The garden drew state visitors over the decades. Records name Nehru, Tito and Elizabeth II among its guests. Not every famous Aswan connection is confirmed though: the claim that Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile at the nearby Old Cataract Hotel is marked by Wikipedia as needing a citation, and the film was shot at the hotel in 1978.
Visiting the Garden
Entry is listed at LE45, per a travel reference from late 2021, so treat that figure as a rough guide rather than an official price. Motorboat hire is listed at LE200 for two people. Feluccas reach the southeastern side of the island, so many visitors combine Elephantine and the garden in one boat trip.
A warning about tickets: Aswan Felucca to Elephantine, the $15 two-hour sail, does not include Botanical Garden entry if you want to go inside. The sailing itself needs no entry ticket. Budget the garden ticket separately if you plan to land there.
Small painted boats rest in the shade on the shore of Elephantine Island. Photo: Marc Ryckaert, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Ferry or Felucca
You cannot drive to Elephantine Island, so the choice is the public ferry or a boat of your own.
The Public Ferry
A public ferry serves the island, and the travel reference lists it at LE5 for foreigners. It is the cheapest way in by a wide margin. The ferry does not arrange a circuit of both islands, so ask locally for departure times.
If you take the ferry and later want time on the water anyway, a separate felucca sail works well as a second outing. The haggled rate for a short felucca ride is listed at LE50 to 80.
By Felucca
A felucca is a traditional wooden sailboat with a lateen sail that relies on wind and river current, so crossing times vary with the breeze. For a straightforward hour on the water, Aswan Felucca to Elephantine sails from Aswan for $15 per person, runs two hours with about one hour of sailing, includes bottled water and hotel pickup (a hotel on Soheil Island, Hisa Island, at Aswan airport or a Nubian hostel carries an extra pickup cost), and comes with free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Note that its Botanical Garden entry is not included, and it includes no food.
If you want the boat to be the trip rather than the transfer, the Overnight Felucca from Aswan costs $25 per person as its lowest option across five choices from two hours to three nights, and its route stops at Elephantine Island and Kitchener's Island before heading downstream. Meals cooked by the crew are included on the overnight options. General felucca questions, from rig types to multi-day routes, belong to the guide to the felucca ride.
Dos and Don'ts
Do
- Do go before mid-afternoon, because the site closes at 16:00 and Aswan's average summer highs stay above 40 C, which makes the last hours of the day hard going.
- Do bring cash in Egyptian pounds, because the island ticket is EGP 200 and the ferry fare is a small LE payment.
- Do combine Elephantine with Kitchener's Island in one boat trip, since feluccas reach the southeastern side of the garden island and the two sit close together.
- Do pack for heat, because Aswan's record high is 51 C.
- Do wear shoes you can walk in, because the island is about 1.5 km long and the temple ruins, both nilometers and the museum are spread along its southern end.
Don't
- Don't assume the $15 felucca tour includes Botanical Garden entry, because the listing states clearly that garden entry is not included if you go inside.
- Don't budget temple tickets into a standard cruise price, because most listings exclude entrance fees, as the page on what the price covers explains, and Elephantine is not on most cruise itineraries at all.
- Don't visit in the early summer afternoon without water, because highs above 40 C are the seasonal average in Aswan, not an exception.
- Don't treat the LE45 garden entry and LE5 ferry figures as current prices, because both come from dated travel references and should be confirmed on site.
Where to Stay in Aswan
Each link opens the live room list for that place on the booking site, with today's prices. Most Nile cruises from Aswan start with a hotel pickup in the city, so a night before the sailing is common.
Aswan Corniche
- Suits
- City hotels along the riverfront
Wikivoyage says felucca boatmen can be contacted on the Corniche, the start of most river trips in Aswan.
See stays in Aswan CornicheElephantine Island
- Suits
- An island stay reached by the public ferry
Elephantine is an island in the Nile at Aswan, served by a public ferry.
See stays in Elephantine IslandGharb Soheil
- Suits
- Nubian guesthouses on the west bank
Gharb Soheil cannot be reached by car and visitors go by motorboat, and many homes have become guesthouses.
See stays in Gharb SoheilFrequently Asked Questions
Is Elephantine Island worth visiting?
Yes if you care about ancient sites, because one EGP 200 ticket buys the Temple of Khnum ruins, a Third Dynasty step pyramid and a ninety-step nilometer in one walk. The sights section lists what is covered.
What is Elephantine Island known for?
It is known for the Temple of Khnum ruins at its southern tip, its two ancient nilometers, the Aswan Museum with its mummified ram of Khnum, and its Nubian villages of Siou and Koti. The island overview sums up its history.
How do I get into Elephantine Island?
By the public ferry, listed at LE5 for foreigners, or by felucca. A guided option is Aswan Felucca to Elephantine at $15 per person for two hours with hotel pickup and bottled water.
How much does Elephantine Island cost?
The ministry price list shows EGP 200 for foreign adults, open 8:00 to 16:00, plus your crossing cost. The ferry and felucca comparison sets out the transport prices.
Can you combine Elephantine Island with Kitchener's Island?
Yes, the two islands sit close together and feluccas reach the southeastern side of Kitchener's Island, where the whole 750 m island forms a 17-acre botanical garden. The botanical garden section has the details.
Is Elephantine Island on a Nile cruise itinerary?
Not usually, since most cruises sail straight between Aswan and Luxor with stops such as Philae and Kom Ombo. The closest boat experience here is a felucca, such as the Overnight Felucca from Aswan, whose route includes both Elephantine and Kitchener's Island.