Abu Simbel Sun Festival Tour

During the era of Ancient Egypt so many festivals occupied the calendar with grand parades made through the cities & the holy waters of the River Nile. Most of these carnivals either marked noteworthy agricultural events in the solar year, worshiped powerful gods or famous kings and queens. Some of these carnivals have survived the test of time & persist to be celebrated at present and perhaps none is as renowned as the Abu Simbel Sun Festival, the ideal nuptials of human endeavors & natural phenomena.

What’s the Abu Simbel Sun Festival?

The Abu Simbel Sun Festival is a bi-annual festival that takes place at the splendid shrine of Ramses II in the south of Egypt. On 2 days of the year the main part of the shrine is lightened by the sun. For a brief span of time as the sun completely lines up with the generally masked interior, light is shed on the seated figurines of Ramses II (pharaoh), Ra (sun god) and Amun (king of the gods). Only the figurine of Ptah, stays in the shadows. This festival has been taking place for more than 3,200 years.

Domestic tourists, international travelers and locals gather before sunrise to see the lighting as the sun rises & cuts through the shadows of the shrine’s inner compartment. To get to the heart of the temple tourists must first stroll through the remarkable entrance with its grandiose façade of colossal figurines. You will arrive into the grand hall enclosed by 2 treasury rooms & through to the Hypostyle Hall with adorned pillars & bas-reliefs embellishing the walls. A second pillared lobby guide to the sanctuary where the 4 sculptures are seated & the crowd stands two-people deep from the exterior walls to let the sun get through the interior.

At the end of the day you’ll be transferred back to your hotel filled with new memories to relish forever.