The Nile is a 6,650-kilometre river, and the only sensible way to see Egypt in a single week is - to travel with it, not around it. Luxury cruising on the Nile is not mass tourism - it's a different sport, and the prices reflect it.

The classic route is Luxor - Aswan, and the reverse. Every cruise runs along it. But the difference between a mass cruise with 200 tourists and a luxury dahabiya with 12 guests is fundamental - not only in price, but in the experience. The dahabiya is a traditional Egyptian sailing boat. No engine. Quiet. It moves when the wind blows. It's river tourism the way it was 100 years ago.

Nour el Nil runs six-day dahabiya routes. Departure is from Esna, with visits to the Temples of Khnum, Nekhbet and Edfu. The boat „Dendera" has windows that give a 180-degree panoramic view. Price? Not for the average Balkan tourist, but for those saving up for a specific kind of experience.

The Oberoi Zahra is the opposite approach - a five-star hotel on water. Spa, pools, gym, 24-hour restaurant, private guides. Short three-night trips or longer seven-night ones, starting at the temple of Philae in Aswan, with visits to Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Karnak and Luxor. It's „a hotel that floats", not „a boat with a room".

For Agatha Christie readers - the Steam Ship Sudan is a historic steamer built in the early 20th century, the very ship in which Christie set the murder in „Death on the Nile". The suites are named: Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot, Gustave Flaubert. Not the most modern, but the most atmospheric.

For the Balkans - luxury cruising on the Nile is what makes Egypt different from other cheap winter holidays. The same Cairo the Balkans know through travel agencies is one story. The Nile by dahabiya is another. The prices are high - but what you get is a more authentic experience than a luxury hotel in Sharm el Sheikh.