A hotel fit for a king, a tsar and Princess Di doesn’t disappoint

The hotel

Mandarin Oriental Old Cataract, Aswan, Egypt

Checking in

I like a hotel that takes things in its stride without batting an eyelid, and I arrive at this venerable hotel in possibly the most beat-up Peugeot station wagon on the planet. Sitting beside the driver is a villainous looking teenager in a white gallabiyah with a red keffiyeh, with his sidekick – a mischievous but persuasive youth of about 10 – who have together procured this inelegant conveyance for me. The driver realises there is no possibility of being allowed inside the cool, manicured domain I am about to enter, and so I am dumped unceremoniously outside the gate, but the fez-topped staff are an unflappable breed and praise be, my name is on the guest list.

The look

Perched on granite cliffs overlooking humpback islands in the River Nile, the hotel was opened in 1900 by Thomas Cook. The style fuses Ottoman-style arches with Arabic mashrabiya woodwork and Victoriana. The mood is hushed and club-like. Linen is much in evidence, Panama hats for the chaps. In the birdcage lift, I wonder who might have ridden before me, and the list of candidates includes Winston Churchill, the Aga Khan, Tsar Nicholas II, Diana, Princess of Wales, Omar Sharif and kings from Faisal of Saudi Arabia to Zog of Albania. Among the luminaries, Agatha Christie reputedly wrote Death on the Nile here. A suite is named in her honour, yours for $10,000 a night – but it does have a view.

The room

My garden suite, a step-down from the river-facing suites, has brown curtains and a separate sitting area with a brown couch and a brown desk. The dimensions are palatial, the bathroom is huge but the furnishings and fabrics might have come from the parlour of a dowager aunt whose taste atrophied in the 1950s. There are two separate buildings with very different rooms. The Palace Wing is the original while the Nile Wing was built in 1961 to house Russian engineers working on the Aswan High Dam. These are functional rooms, and while they share the Palace Wing rooms’ riverside location, they lack their grandeur and opulence. In May, management of the hotel was transferred from the Accor group to Mandarin Oriental. The hotel is currently undergoing a renovation expected to last until July 2027, and some rooms and suites will be unavailable in the meantime. Expect lighter, prettier colours, panache and a style uplift from the Mandarin Oriental makeover.

Food + drink

Al Saraya serves an Ottolenghi-does-Egyptian dishes, handmade pasta, fish from the Nile and the yummy treats of the Levantine kitchen. A sundowner on the Terrace, perched high above the river, almost justifies the room rate. The bar is terrific. You can imagine Winston Churchill here with brandy and a cigar, or Orson Welles with Rita Hayworth, but the barman isn’t telling any tales. Some of the former restaurants are closed for renovation. When the current makeover is complete the hotel will have six dining venues.

Out + about

You’re probably only staying two nights, with an early morning visit to Abu Simbel taking up most of one day. There’s not too much to tempt you into Aswan, the souk is nothing special and the merchants are merciless hagglers. The unfinished obelisk and the Nubian Museum are within walking distance of the hotel. Just to the south, the Temple of Isis at the Philae temple complex was the last major temple built in the classical Pharaonic Egyptian style. A felucca ride around Elephantine Island is the proper thing to do in late afternoon. The hotel will arrange it, with a bar on board. You’ll be besieged by small children on surfboards who will anchor themselves limpet-like to your vessel singing “Frere Jacques” in expectation of a reward. The song hasn’t changed in 20 years.

The verdict

The location is sublime, the suites in the Palace Wing are palatial, the pedigree is uplifting, but it feels frozen in a time warp. It needs to shake off the stodge, and the Mandarin Oriental group has what it takes.

The essentials

The nightly rate for rooms in the Palace wing ranges from about $1000 in the mid-year low season to about $1400 in the relatively cooler months between October and March. Aswan Airport is a 30-minute drive. See mandarinoriental.com

Our rating out of five

★★★★½

Highlight

Sunset cocktails on the Terrace overlooking the swan-like feluccas on the Nile.

Lowlight

Service was glacial in the breakfast room when I stayed under Accor management, but hopefully the Mandarin Oriental will inspire waitstaff to lift their game.

The writer stayed at his own expense.