Aswan is the southern-most city in Egypt, located 800 km south of Cairo at the first of six cataracts on the Nile. The city is an old commercial town and in antiquity it was known under the name of Syene.

Since construction of the Aswan Dam, the city has become an important industrial centre with steel, aluminum and chemical industries based on the electrical power drawn from the turbines of the Dam.

During the winter season the city is a junction for tourist voyages on the Nile and the starting point for tours to the Abu Simbel temple. The climate is warm and dry all year through - during winter, the temperature could reach 23-30 C, during summer it easily reaches 28-50C.

As a vacation destination, Aswan has been a favorite winter resort since the beginning of the nineteenth century, and it is still a perfect place to get away from it all.