Question 1

Kom Ombo on Your Own

Accepted Answer

Kom Ombo is easy to visit without a guide, because the temple is beside the landing and the Crocodile Museum next to it is covered by the same ticket. The heat and the hawkers are the two things to plan around. Tickets: A foreign adult ticket was EGP 450 in October 2026, and a foreign student ticket EGP 225. Check before you go. Inside the temple: You enter through the gateway on the west side into a courtyard of columns, then the inner columned hall. From there the doorway on the left leads toward the falcon-headed Haroeris, and the one on the right toward the crocodile-headed Sobek. The Crocodile Museum: Next door, it shows objects from the worship of Sobek. Cafés: There are cafés at the foot of the temple and along the main road into town. Hawkers: Sellers approach visitors who look like tourists, so decide beforehand what, if anything, you want to buy. Getting back on time: Your boat posts the time to be back on board, and it will not wait for passengers who are late.

Question 2

Getting Around

Accepted Answer

No transport is needed for the temple, which is a short walk from the boat. Anything farther, such as the ancient quarries at Silsila, means a car, a taxi or an organized tour. Silsila is about 15 km north, where cliffs squeeze the river. From around 1500 BC its sandstone was cut for monuments all over Egypt. Most of what there is to see at Silsila, including the rock-cut temple of Horemheb, is on the west bank. Agree on a taxi fare before you set off.

Question 3

Tipping and Currency

Accepted Answer

Restaurants in Egypt do not need a tip, although some fancier places add a service charge of 10 to 12 percent to the bill. Carry small notes, since small tips are the norm. Do not let anyone pressure you into tipping for a service you did not ask for, such as a self-appointed guide. For a taxi, rounding up a little on the agreed fare is enough. Do not tip police officers or other officials in uniform. Ask before you photograph anyone, and expect a request for a tip at busy tourist sites. The Egyptian pound (EGP, also written LE) was sharply devalued in 2024, so older printed prices are unreliable.

Question 4

Visiting the Temple

Accepted Answer

The temple is shared by two gods, so each part of it comes in a pair: a doorway, a passage and a sanctuary for each. The two halves mirror each other along the main axis. Sobek, the crocodile god, has the right-hand, southern side. Horus the Elder, also called Haroeris or Harwer, has the left-hand, northern side. Sobek was linked with water, the Nile flood and crops, and he was honored here together with Hathor and Khonsu. Look for the carved calendars of temple festivals on the walls, and for a 2nd-century AD scene thought to show tools used in surgery. Dress conservatively in Egypt, and carry a scarf or a light layer to cover up at sites.

Question 5

History

Accepted Answer

The temple you see is Ptolemaic and Roman, but the town is far older. As Nubt, the golden city, it stood on the trade routes between Nubia and the Nile valley, and it was a garrison town under the pharaohs, the Ptolemies and Rome. A temple stood here as early as the New Kingdom, and a sandstone doorway from a temple to Sobek built by Thutmose III survived into modern times. Work on the present temple goes back to Ptolemy VI, who ruled from 180 to 145 BC, and most of its carving dates from the reign of Ptolemy XII, about a century later. The Roman poet Juvenal wrote in his 15th Satire about a bloody feud between the people of Ombos, who honored the crocodile, and the crocodile hunters of Dendera. In Late Antiquity the town was the seat of a bishop, and Christians used the temple as a church, defacing some of its reliefs. The river, earthquakes and builders taking its stone all damaged the temple. Jacques de Morgan cleared and restored the southern part of the site in 1893. An earthquake damaged the temple again in 1992, and it has since been repaired. In 2018, work to protect the site from groundwater turned up the head of a bust of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, and later that year a small sandstone sphinx was announced. Kom Ombo has a large Nubian population, including families moved from their land when Lake Nasser was created. To learn more ashore: The Crocodile Museum beside the temple tells the story of the cult of Sobek.

Question 6

Traveling with Family

Accepted Answer

Kom Ombo is an easy stop with children, because the temple stands right beside the landing and the crocodile mummies next door give younger visitors something to look for. In the hot months, carry water and keep the visit brief. Younger children: More than 300 mummified crocodiles were found at Kom Ombo, and a handful are on display in the Crocodile Museum, which is included in the temple ticket. School age: Let them find the two doorways, one for the falcon-headed god and one for the crocodile-headed god, and then look for the scene thought to show surgical tools. Teenagers: The carved festival calendars and the temple's mirror-image plan make a good puzzle for older children who like history. The climate is hot desert: pleasant in winter and very hot in summer.

Kom Ombo

Good to know

What to Expect

Kom Ombo on Your Own

Getting Around

Tipping and Currency

Visiting the Temple

History

Traveling with Family

Port crowds

Photos from travelers

Traveler reviews