Experience the Luxury Nile Cruise Boutique-Dahabeya Queeny Of The Nile!
Luxury Nile Cruise with private touch: We are a small, family-run business that aims to offer Egyptian tradition and Swiss quality. You have the opportunity to experience original Egypt with its beautiful Nile landscape for a week in a small, exclusive setting and with a high standard of service, while we drive from Esna (Luxor) to Aswan in six days and visit the most important sights from ancient Egypt .
Our 15-strong crew will lovingly take care of you around the clock!
The Luxury Nile Cruise Boutique Dahabeya Queeny Of The Nile offers every comfort you could wish for. The well-groomed boutique dahabeya combines simple European elegance with playful, colorful elements of the Orient. Our sense of detail and design makes our “Queeny” so special. But the service on board also makes the trip unforgettable. A crew of 15 will lovingly look after you and anticipate your every wish. Because with us, the guest is king!
Warm welcome on your Luxury Nile Cruise: The owners Katharina and Mohamed and the crew
Queeny Of The Nile
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“If you are interested in the culture and history of Egypt and are looking for a Luxury Nile Cruise on a small, individual scale and with a high standard of service, then you have come to the right place. We look forward to welcoming you on board soon! Experience Luxury Nile Cruise Boutique-Dahabeya Queeny Of The Nile.“
– Your hosts, Katharina from Basel and Mohamed from Luxor
Advantages of a Dahabeya
There is something magical about a Luxury Nile Cruise on a Dahabeya: The motorless, leisurely travel without disruptive entertainment makes the journey a fascinating experience.
Luxury Nile Cruise: Forget the daily life
On the way to the famous monuments from the time of the pharaohs you will pass fields and palm trees, mud huts and colorfully painted balconies.
Exclusive berths only on a Dahabeya Nile Cruise
Since a Dahabeya Luxury Nile Cruise can dock in places where large cruise ships cannot, you can enjoy places with fewer visitors and have the opportunity to get to know Arabic culture better.
A Nile Cruise offers Idyllic silence
Apart from the rippling of the water and the muezzin singing, there is idyllic silence. As the ship slowly glides along the banks of the Nile, you’ll have time to admire the ever-changing landscape and immerse yourself in a slice of Egyptian life on the Nile.
Constantly changing scenes
Watching the constantly changing scenes makes you forget your everyday life: a young man leads his horse into the Nile to cool off, a boy brings his cows to the water to be watered, the laughter of bathing children sounds through the air, a colorful bird follows the ship and is waiting for prey, two young women are washing their clothes on the water, anglers are waiting on their small boats for a fish to bite.
Time for sightseeing during your Nile Cruise
Everything is more leisurely on the Dahabeya Luxury Nile Cruise. Visiting the temples is not limited in time. Meals are taken together at a large table on the sun deck. At night the Dahabeya docks at the shore. Nothing can be heard except the chirping of the crickets.
What is a Dahabeya?
Dahabeya means “the golden one”. A dahabeya is a traditional Egyptian, long and narrow sailing ship with a deck and several cabins. It is also known to readers of Karl May through his “Oriental Cycle”.
Originally, these ships were built for Egyptian celebrities and the royal family who enjoyed cruising the Nile for recreation.
In the mid-19th century – before Thomas Cook imported modern steamships from Scotland – Dahabeya Nile cruises were also very popular with European travelers to Egypt.
Historical Guides
Numerous travel guides and travel diaries describe in great detail how such a Dahabeya Nile cruise was experienced from the point of view of the tourists of the time. For example, in 1847 Sir John Gardner Wilkinson described the extensive preparations that had to be made before setting out on a journey in his travel guide “Handbook For Travelers In Egypt”. The ship was first sunk to remove vermin and rats, then holes were plugged and walls repainted. R. Etzensberger and Keith Johnston describe in their book “Up The Nile By Steam” in 1872 how a dahabeya stopped at one point when there was no wind and had to be towed further up the Nile by the crew.
Asterix and Cleopatra
A strenuous work, because not everyone had magic powers like Obelix in “Asterix and Cleopatra”.
Today, a tugboat accompanies the dahabeya and pulls the ship when the wind is weak.
However, whenever the wind conditions permit, the sails are hoisted.