Kom Ombo

Understand

Kom Ombo sits in an irrigated basin on the east bank of the Nile, producing sugar cane and corn. The reason to visit is its temple, built from circa 180 BC into Roman times; there is sure to be much older building beneath this area that has not yet been excavated.

The climate is hot desert, pleasantly warm in winter and blisteringly hot in summer. Imagine the slave labourers excavating and erecting the monumental stone in this heat.

Buy

There's a handful of stores midtown near the "23 July" bridge over the railway tracks.

Hawkers with overpriced tat will hunt down any visitors looking like tourists.

Sleep

There's a guesthouse in town, and a couple of others on the river island facing the temple, but no confirmation that they are still in business (as of April 2020). So unless a local agent can fix you up, plan on visiting Kom Ombo on a day trip or as a stopoff along the Luxor-Aswan road.

Go next

15 km north are the remarkable royal quarries of Silsila. The route south, upriver, leads to Aswan, which has an impressive collection of antiquities. North downriver are Edfu and Esna, small towns both with a temple; then unmissable Luxor with Karnak and the Valley of the Kings.