My husband and I are in Egypt and realized that we have an extra day in Aswan. Heard great things about a day trip to Abu Simbel. Any idea how much it would cost for a trip by car with a guide. The agents here jack up the price and charge in dollars and charge ridiculous amounts. Would love to hear from someone soon as we are leaving for Aswan tomorrow. Thanks.

I can't help you with car and driver prices, but we paid US$250 each to fly from Aswan-Abu Simbel R/T (although we flew back to Cairo, but that was already included in our tour) and we thought it was worth every penny.

I would not be willing to travel to Abu Simbel by road from Aswan, it's not that it can't be done, from what I have read/heard the journey can be fairly uncomfortable. I flew but the cost of the excursion was part of my package, so I can't help you there. Just be aware you can't leave from Aswan to Abu Simbel any time you'd like to, you need to travel in a convoy, these depart Aswan at specific times (not sure of the times), so you don't have flexibility in terms of when you leave Aswan and how long you can stay in Abu Simbel since you need to return [to Aswan] in the convoy too.

When you get to Aswan you can walk from Travel Agent to Travel Agent and get quotes. I'd say what ever they quote you is the price. You can ask for a discount, and you might get some discount, bu remember you get real cheap on them and they might change your mode of transport to something real uncomfortable. I'm sure Micro Buses make that route regularly with back packers and those that don't want to spend much to see it. That would not be the mode of transport I'd choose, but that's me.
If you want to be quoted the cheapest prices, go into the cheapest hotels you can find and see what their prices are. They have a clientel that can't afford high prices so they probably have cheaper deals - but again, you might want to view the transport once before going - not just look at a photo. The higher priced tours should either have a respectable coach taking you or a good car.... I'd hope.

The drive from Aswan to Abu Simbel is about 3.5hrs via the convoy and how comfortable you are, depends on your transport. In an air-conditioned mini-bus, or car it is perfectly ok. The convoys leave at 4am and 11am. Most people just go back to sleep on the 4am so the hardest part is waking up to make the convoy.

If you're having issues with agents, budget hotels/hostels (like Keylany Hotel) do this tour very inexpensively, and usually throw in Philae Temple, the Unfinished Obelisk and the High Dam. Transportation is an air-conditioned mini-bus (not the public micro bus) which stops and picks passengers up at the various hotels. My first visit was in March and the mini bus was perfectly fine. Since it's July, I would just make positively sure the a/c works. As cc says, you can always refuse to pay until you see the actual transport.

You can also hire your own personal car and driver...they are airconditioned cars. The going rate is around 500LE roundtrip and tickets to Abu Simbel are 90LE each (these include a guide but if you don't ask no one will volunteer one for you ;-)

Have a great time. Abu Simbel is totally worth the trip in my opinion.

K

ETA: The drive is 3.5 hrs each way. The private car and driver is 500LE per car, not per person.

500LE is only about 88 US dollars, which isn't bad at all. When I was in Egypt I kept on thinking LE as being the same as US dollar, and it really threw me off. So when someone quoted a price for an excursion as costing 900LE, for example, I immediately thought of it as being $900 and would say "No thanks", but in reality it was only about $157.

hi
I booked my trip in the hostel I was staying, the price was about 80-100LE for a trip to Abu Simbel, the high dam, philae temple, the price didn't include entrance fees. in Abu simble at the entrance there are guides offering their services if you want one. a minibus picked me up from the hostel early in the morning. it wasn't a private car, but it was comfortable enough

littlerunaway - how many people were in the minibus with you?