Shellal
Shellal is a small ancient village on the banks of the Nile, south of Aswan in Upper Egypt.
It was the traditional northern frontier of the Nubian region with both the Egyptian Empire and the Roman Empire. During the period of ancient Egypt, it was a very important quarry area for granite production. A canal was excavated in the vicinity of Shellal under Merenre Nemtyemsaf I during the Old Kingdom period in order to facilitate the navigation of the first-cataract of the Nile. This canal was restored under Senusret III in the Middle Kingdom period
Nowadays it is possible to see some unfinished granite works on the site ; some of the objects on display include incomplete statues of Osiris and Ramesses II and unfinished Roman baths.
Getting around Shellal the local way
- Get inThe following airlines operate services to Aswan International Airport: Astraeus (from London Gatwick), EgyptAir (from Abu Simbel, Cairo, Luxor), LotusAir (from Cairo) and Petroleum Air Services (PAS) charter service (from Cairo).
- Get inThese are luxury cruise tours taking 5 or more days for a splurgy price, they're not ferries.
- Get inA passenger ferry operated by Nile River Valley Transport Corporation sails across Lake Nasser to Wadi Halfa in Sudan once a week.
- Get aroundThe public ferry to Elephantine Island is LE5 for foreigners (LE1 for Egyptians, Nov 2018).
- Get aroundThe ferry to the West Bank is also LE5 for foreigners and LE1 for locals.
- Get aroundFor Philae, the High Dam, and the unfinished obelisks, you can take a taxi, tuk-tuk or a horse-drawn carriage.
- Get aroundFrom the terminus it is only 1.2 km by foot, but there are also tuk-tuks willing to bring you further.
- Go nextMany hotels and tour agencies can offer a mini-bus service, often departing at 4AM and going as part of a larger convoy, often with police together.
From Wikivoyage: Aswan, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: H. Zell (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.