Aswan lifestyle

If you love exploring bazaars, Aswan will be right up your street. Around the centre, you'll find numerous markets hawking spices, teas and shisha pipes, whilst two blocks behind the waterfront, Aswan's main bazaar offers up amazing shopping. Here, you'll find narrow streets bulging with stalls selling coloured caps, T-shirts, jewellery, leather goods, copperware, perfumes, baskets and more touristy souvenirs. Be sure to haggle to get the cheapest price and you're bound to leave with bagfuls of mementoes.

Most visitors head for the international hotel restaurants along the Nile, which offer a good choice of cosmopolitan cuisine. Many offer traditional Egyptian food and you'll also find authentic cuisine at numerous floating restaurants. One must is meze - bite-sized nibbles like hummous, olives and other delicacies. Freshwater fish from Lake Nasser is a speciality here, as is seafood and popular main dishes include koshari, a tasty combination of pasta, rice, lentils and onions. Egypt's sweet desserts are worth a try and include mahallabiyaa - a rosewater-infused rice pudding - and yoghurt with figs and honey. Alchohol is widely available, so wash everything down with some local wine or crisp Stella lager. And don't miss chai - refreshing mint tea.

Aswan bubbles with life at night, but never gets too rowdy. For a memorable evening, take a sunset cruise along the Nile, sipping sundowners as the bright orange sun slips below the hills. Alternatively, most hotels stage flamboyant Nubian dance shows, some with incredible whirling dervishes, where you can join in a carnival of colour and drums. Otherwise, stroll around the centre to find friendly coffee houses or book one of the romantic floating restaurants to dine overlooking the moonlit water.