What is Abu Simbel Sun Festival?
Pharaoh Ramesses II had the temple carved into a sandstone cliff above the Nile in the 13th century BC. Its builders aligned it so that on two mornings a year the rising sun shines straight along its axis, lighting the seated statues of Ra-Horakhty, the deified Ramesses and Amun, while Ptah, a god linked with the underworld, stays in shadow. Many say the dates mark the king's birthday and his coronation, but that is a story more than a proven fact.
In the 1960s the whole temple was cut into blocks and moved 65 metres higher and about 200 metres back from the river, in an international campaign led by UNESCO, to save it from the lake rising behind the new Aswan High Dam.
When is Abu Simbel Sun Festival? Dates for 2026 and 2027
2026
- Sunday 22 February 2026Sun Festival at sunrise
- Thursday 22 October 2026Sun Festival at sunrise
2027
- Monday 22 February 2027Sun Festival at sunrise
- Friday 22 October 2027Sun Festival at sunrise
The dates are set by the sun, not the moon: 22 February and 22 October every year, at sunrise. The light stays on the statues for only around twenty minutes.
How people celebrate
- Crowds gather in the dark before dawn and file into the temple to see the beam reach the sanctuary.
- Music, dancing and a market outside the temple through the day.
- Visits to the smaller temple next door, built for Queen Nefertari.
Good to know
- Arrive very early: the queue forms in the night, and only part of the crowd can be inside when the sun enters.
- Can't come on the day? The temples are just as impressive on any other morning, with far fewer people.
- Abu Simbel is about 280 km south of Aswan: go by road or take a short flight.