The Hathor Hotel

The Hathor has good-sized rooms which are clean if not overly luxurious - you have a choice between a Nile view (road side, therefore noisy) or a quiet room. We went for the quiet room, and were pleasantly surprised when we discovered we could still actually see the Nile from the side window; admittedly only just, but still. I think we paid 80LE a night for a double.

It's in a great location, right on the river front - the ferry ports to Elephantine island are just down the road, there are restaurants nearby and the souq is right round the corner.

We booked a trip to Abu Simbel/Philae at the front desk, and were so pleased with the price and outcome that, after asking around various captains, we decided to book our felucca trip to Luxor through them as well, which worked out well enough.

Unique Quality: The best part of the Hathor has to be the roof terrace with swimming pool. It's lovely to relax there during the hottest part of the day, with plenty of shade over the loungers, and tables for playing cards/backgammon!