Nile cruise heat, 35 years of daily records: December to February, under 1 day in 100 passes 35°C at Luxor. In October, 45 days in 100 do.

Nile heat by month

Luxor 34 to 36 years a month (1990 to 2025), Aswan 26 to 31 years a month (1991 or 1992 to 2025). Days counted are real days with enough hourly reports; none are filled in.

1. December to February: under 1 day in 100 passes 35°C at Luxor (January 0, December 0, February 0.4 in 100). The average high is 22.4 to 24.4°C.
2. October: 45 days in 100 pass 35°C at Luxor, with an average high of 34.9°C. At Aswan it is 58 in 100.
3. Aswan runs hotter than Luxor in the shoulder months. In November 8.3 days in 100 pass 35°C at Aswan against 1.9 at Luxor. In March it is 14 against 9.1. Both are counted the same way, from each airport's hourly reports, but Aswan has fewer years (26 to 31 a month) than Luxor (34 to 36), so read the gap as a guide.
4. Summer: from June to August, 98 to 100 days in 100 pass 35°C at Luxor, and 55 to 60 in 100 pass 40°C.

Nile heat by month: average high and days passing 35°C and 40°C, in 100 (past conditions)

Scroll sideways to see every column.

"Over 35°C" means the highest reading of the day was above 35.0°C. Figures are shares of days over the years shown; the CSV has the day counts. Highlighted rows: December to February and October.

The total solar eclipse of 2 August 2027

Luxor sits inside the path of totality. Aswan, upriver to the south, sits just outside it.

Eclipse of 2 August 2027 at Luxor and Aswan (Egypt summer time, UTC+3)

Partial phase at Luxor Temple area: 11:40 to 14:26 (Egypt summer time, UTC+3). Percentages are of the Sun's visible area. The Sun's diameter is covered to 0.9955 at Aswan city and 0.9906 at Aswan airport.

Local times are Egypt summer time (UTC+3), which runs from 30 April to 29 October 2027. In UTC, totality at the Luxor Temple area runs from 10:02 to 10:08.

The FCDO's Egypt advice, change by change

How often the UK government's travel advice for Egypt, issued by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), has been updated, counted from the FCDO's own published change history. This page does not say whether Egypt is safe to visit. For the advice itself, read the FCDO page: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/egypt.

FCDO Egypt travel advice: dated changes in its published change history, by year

The history starts on 8 November 2018 because earlier changes are not listed. The advice was first published on 18 March 2013. 2018 and 2026 are part years. Read from the GOV.UK content API on 19 October 2026; the FCDO's Atom feed gives the same latest-update date.

The 8 changes to areas the FCDO advises against are dated 22 Oct 2019, 17 Mar 2022, 1 Sep 2022, 18 Oct 2022, 3 Nov 2022, 4 Apr 2023, 15 Oct 2024, 14 Jun 2025. Two nationwide Covid changes (16 March 2020 and 28 September 2021) are not counted among them, and the second, near-identical entry on 1 September 2022 is counted once. The FCDO's own note for every change is in the CSV, word for word.

Rhine and Danube low water, by month

How often the river gauges sat low, counted from 26 years of readings (2000 to 2025). A gauge reading is a height on a scale at one spot, not the depth of water, and there is no official reading at which a river cruise stops. So the tables show several marks, never a single "cruise stops here" line.

1. Rhine at Kaub: about 1 day in 8 in November (13 in 100) had a daily average reading under 77 cm, the Waterways Administration's low-water mark for that gauge (its GlW, the "equivalent water level"). From March to June it is under 1 in 100. 12 of the 26 years had at least one day under it.
2. Danube at Hofkirchen: the highest months are August to October, with 16, 16 and 13 days in 100 under 207 cm (WSV's regulation low-water level, RNW). March is 0.
3. 2026 has the lowest levels on record in this data. To 18 October (291 days), Kaub's lowest daily average was -5 cm, against 25 cm in 2018, the previous lowest since 2000. Hofkirchen's was 129 cm against 155 cm in 2022. Kaub had 98 days under 77 cm in those 291 days. 2018 had 104 in the whole year, so 2018 still has the most days under 77 cm. Both are single years, not rates, and 2026 is not finished.

Rhine at Kaub: days with a daily average gauge reading under each level, in 100, by month, 2000 to 2025

Danube at Hofkirchen: days with a daily average gauge reading under each level, in 100, by month, 2000 to 2025

Daylight by month

How many hours of daylight a day, on average, in each month at the Nile cities and at points on the Rhine and Danube. Winter days on the European rivers are short: about 8 to 9 hours in December and January, against 10.6 to 10.8 at Luxor and Aswan.

Daylight, sunrise to sunset, hours a day (monthly average over a year)

Sunrise to sunset with the Sun's centre 0.833 degrees below the horizon, averaged over each day of a non-leap year. Calculated by us from NOAA's general solar position equations and checked against a second standard formula, which agrees within 14 minutes. These are calculated values, not observations.

Images for your story

Three ready-made images, drawn from the data on this page. Free to use with a credit: Source: River Cruise Escapes own data 2026, River Cruise Escapes, rivercruiseescapes.co.uk/press/river-cruise-data/.

Each image carries the brand name, its source line and the caveat. Please keep them with the image.

How we worked it out

Every number on this page is a count of real past days, or of real entries in an official change history, divided by the number of real days or entries. Each section above carries its own method and limits. Where a source covers fewer than 20 years of a month it is marked and left out of headlines; Qena (11 to 13 years a month) is the only such series and it is used only as a cross-check.

These are records of what has happened. They do not forecast any date, and they say nothing about the cruise you would book. A record of past conditions, not a promise for any one trip.

Data credits

• Heat: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), Integrated Surface Database (hourly reports, Luxor International and Aswan International airports) and Global Historical Climatology Network Daily (Aswan station EG000062414, Qena station EGM00062403). Modified: highest daily readings selected, counted against thresholds and averaged into monthly shares. Readings outside the US are not redistributed; only our monthly shares are published.
• Eclipse: Eclipse predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC (eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov), Besselian elements and path table for the total solar eclipse of 2 August 2027. Modified: place-by-place times, lengths and coverage calculated by us.
• FCDO advice: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Egypt travel advice change history, GOV.UK content API, read 19 October 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Modified: entries counted by year and by date.
• Rivers: Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes (WSV), PEGELONLINE, raw water-level data, Kaub and Hofkirchen. Datenlizenz Deutschland Zero 2.0 (dl-de/zero-2-0). Modified: cleaned, averaged by day and counted against WSV marks. Raw data unchecked by the operator.
• Daylight: calculated by us from NOAA's general solar position equations. No outside data.

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