Aswan or Luxor?

Neither city is a beach destination, and in both you will mostly cool off in a hotel pool. The difference is the river. In Aswan, boatmen stop at sandbanks below the west-bank dunes where some visitors swim in clear water, with care around the current. In Luxor, swimming in the Nile is not advised, and the nearest real sea is the Red Sea coast around Hurghada, about four hours away by road.

The food is equally modest in both, so the difference is in what kind of cooking you get. Aswan's best meals are Nubian: clay-pot stews, Nile fish and hibiscus drinks, often eaten on a village terrace across the water. Luxor sticks to mainstream Egyptian dishes such as koshari, molokhia and grilled pigeon, while its rooftop restaurants offer temple views better than the food. In both, alcohol is limited to hotels and a few licensed places.

Luxor is in a different league here. Ancient Thebes gives it Karnak's Great Hypostyle Hall, Luxor Temple floodlit in the middle of town, and a West Bank holding the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu and the Ramesseum. Seeing it properly takes several early starts.

Aswan has real highlights: Philae on its island, Elephantine's ruins and Nilometer, the Nubian Museum and the Tombs of the Nobles below Qubbet el-Hawa. Still, it is a two- or three-day programme, and most sights need a boat. Aswan's advantage is Nubian culture, which Luxor does not offer.

Both cities go quiet after dark, and neither has clubs. Aswan's evening is a walk along the Corniche and through the souk, which stays lit and busy late, followed by a drink on a terrace facing the river. Luxor turns in even earlier, because most visitors have a dawn start at the tombs or a balloon flight, so the evening is a rooftop bar or tea in a street café.

Aswan has the more dramatic setting. Black granite boulders break the river at the First Cataract, Sahara dunes reach the west bank, and there is birdwatching in the reeds, a shady garden on Kitchener's Island and camel rides up into the desert.

Luxor's landscape is simpler: a green strip of cane and palms against bare cliffs. It does offer more to do on foot and by bike, with the path over the Theban hills to Deir el-Bahari and easy cycling through West Bank villages.

Luxor has the better choice of trips. Dendera's Temple of Hathor, with its painted ceilings, is an hour north, Esna's brightly coloured reliefs are an hour south, Edfu is within two hours, and Abydos makes a long but rewarding day. Every option is a temple, though.

Aswan has a single strong run north to Kom Ombo and Edfu, with Daraw's camel market and Gebel el-Silsila along the way, plus Kalabsha by boat on Lake Nasser. Abu Simbel is the big draw but means a pre-dawn desert drive of more than three hours each way, or a flight.

For children, Aswan's appeal is the river and the desert: felucca and motorboat rides, a camel up the dunes and a painted Nubian village where families keep baby crocodiles. Luxor works best for older children who are already fascinated by mummies, with painted tombs to crawl into, the Mummification Museum and a dawn balloon flight. The long walks across shadeless sites are hard on younger children, though.

Nothing in either town is built for children, so the things that make the trip work are the same in both: a winter visit and a hotel with a pool and shade.

In both cities you walk the centre and hire transport for the rest, with fares agreed before you set off. Aswan's compact centre runs along the Corniche, and the islands and tombs mean motorboats or feluccas, with taxis for Philae and the High Dam. Luxor is split by the river. The East Bank is walkable, with Karnak a calèche ride away, but the West Bank sites spread over several kilometres of desert, so most visitors hire a driver for the day or cycle in the cool season.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Aswan's souk is the more rewarding. Locals shop there for hibiscus, dates, henna and spices, and the west-bank villages sell Nubian baskets, beadwork and colourful pottery. Luxor's offering is mostly mass-produced souvenirs from stalls outside every site, and the main exception is the West Bank alabaster workshops, where you can watch the carving done by hand.

Both are very cheap for meals, ferries and rooms, and in both the costs that add up come from the sights rather than daily life. In Aswan those are chartered boats to the islands and Philae and the long trip to Abu Simbel. In Luxor it is entry fees at temple after temple, plus the supplements for special tombs, which over several days of sightseeing become the biggest part of the budget.

Neither city has theatre or a concert programme, and in both the evening show is a sound-and-light performance at a temple, Philae in Aswan and Karnak in Luxor. Aswan has a living tradition of its own in Nubian drumming and call-and-response singing, heard at village evenings and wedding processions. Luxor's music and dance are mostly belly dance and tanoura shows staged for guests in hotels and on cruise boats.

Aswan is the more restful place, and it has been a winter retreat since the nineteenth century. Afternoons on a felucca, golden light on the dunes and nights in a Nubian guesthouse set an unhurried pace, and the villages still offer the hot-sand cure for aches.

Luxor's itinerary is busier, built around early starts at the sites, and the East Bank's traffic and touts work against calm. To unwind, stay on the West Bank among the fields, or book one of the riverside hotels that have a hammam.