In antiquity, Upper Egypt started at Memphis and ran as far south as Aswan on the border with Nubia. Nowadays, with the designation of Middle Egypt, borders are a little more hazy, though the Qena Bend is generally taken as the region's beginning and Aswan is still effectively the end of the line.

 

Within this stretch of the Nile is the world's most intensive concentration of ancient monuments - temples, tombs and palaces constructed from the onset of the Middle Kingdom (c.1990 BC) up until Roman and Byzantine times. The greatest of the buildings are the cult temples of Abydos , Dendara , Karnak , Esna , Edfu , Kom Ombo , Philae and Abu Simbel , each conceived as "homes" for their respective deities and an accretion of centuries of building. Scarcely less impressive are the multitude of tombs in the Theban Necropolis , most famously in the Valley of the Kings , across the river from Luxor , where Tutankhamun's resting place is merely a hole in the ground by comparison with those of such great pharaohs as Seti I and Ramses II.

Monuments aside, Upper Egypt marks a subtle shift of character, with the desert closing in on the river, and dom palms growing alongside barrel-roofed houses, designed to reflect the intense heat. One of the greatest pleasures to be had here - indeed one of the highlights of any Egyptian trip - is to absorb the riverscape slowly from the vantage point of a felucca . This is easily arranged on the spot at Luxor or Aswan - the latter being the preferred starting point, so that you can sail downriver with no fear of being becalmed.