If you want to have some time relaxing, but still taking in the sights (and sites), then take a motorised cabin cruiser along the Nile. These floating hotels also boast a couple of shops, usually a gift shop and jeweler. Travel between Luxor and Aswan, stopping at Edfu and Kom Ombo along the way to visit temples and the Sobek (crocodile) museum. Watch as the cruiser slows down at Esna to go through the lock, where for many, the highlight of going through is the local vendors who throw items up to people standing on the top deck and if you want to buy the goods, you place the money into a small container, and throw it back down to them. Of course the usual haggling takes place during this time. See how some of the local farmers live as you go past small villages along the way. The Nile cruisers have nightly entertainment, including a galabeya party which is always a lot of fun.

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If something smaller and quieter is more to your taste then a sailing trip on a dahabiya might be more your liking, while still enjoying your own cabin, fine food, and a chance to relax while taking in the views. Being a smaller vessel allows it to stop at places along the way that you can't do in the larger cruiser, such as Gebel el-Silsila, the old quarry sites for sandstone from the 18th dynasty through to the Graeco-Roman period, temples, shrines and a location where important excavation work has been taking place since 2012.