Agatha Christie’s Egypt

The prospect of being cooped up in a huge tourist ship and herded around ancient sites with a crowd of strangers is enough to put anyone off taking a Nile cruise. But there are more intimate, old-fashioned ways to do it – such as the dahabbiya, says Nick Maes in the Guardian.

These are grand houseboats with beautiful stripy sails, carrying about 20 passengers in comfort – "more Agatha Christie than Thomas Cook".

Mine had daybeds and rugs on the upper deck and a "camp, Victorian-style salon" below, leading to "airy white berths with colossal beds".

On the slow, 120km journey from Esna to Aswan, you'll dock at archaeological sites that are inaccessible to large cruise ships, such as the temple of Nekhbet at El Kab, and visit others after the hordes have left.

Nour El Nil (+20 105 70 53 41) has a five-day trip from €1,000 incl. transfers. ·