Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan

We did afternoon tea at The Old Cataract this afternoon and it was absolutely wonderful. My expectations were low as reviews were fairly hit or miss, but I would 100% recommend it.

We haggled for a motorboat taxi from the dock ( I agreed 800 egyp for return journey for 2 people, plus tips) and they dropped us off at 4pm at the jetty with agreement to pick us up at 6:45.

It was a few steps up from the jetty (i jettisoned my heels for safety!) And we let the security guard know that we had pre booked with the manager and didn't need to buy tickets and he escorted us into the promenade.

From there we were met with the most lovely cavalcade of waiters who escorted us to a prime seat on the promenade. The afternoon was genuinely fantastic, I wasn't expecting much but the scones and cakes were amazing. They also provide a birthday cake and sang for me. My husband also let me know that the included English breakfast tea was delicious. The cocktails seemed quite expensive (circa £25-30 per) but the wine was very reasonable. We ordered two bottles during our stay, of local chardonnay for £25 per bottle and it was really surprisingly lovely. In total our bill for two people for food and drinks was £126 (plus tips, we tipped about £18ish on top) and it was an absolutely amazing experience, and we would 100% recommend it!

They just don’t make them like this anymore! Staying here was like being transported back in time in the best possible way. The grounds, the buildings, the architecture and the decor are immaculate. We were treated to an upgrade to the Sir Magdi Yacoub suite—world renowned heart surgeon—which was just over the top. We dined twice on the gorgeous Veranda, once for lunch and once for dinner. Service was a bit rough during the lunch period, but proved to be much better at dinner time. Food was solid, but not extraordinary. We also dined at the 1902 restaurant which was positively beautiful, but, alas, the menu was very small and the food not particularly French as billed. Gigantic room was nearly empty on a Saturday night which felt odd. Breakfast was also held in the 1902 restaurant and was more of a lively affair with many, many selections from which to choose. We also were fortunate to be able to spend an entire Sunday at the pool which was warm and inviting, but drink service was hard to come by and the flies were just horrendous—apparently it is fly mating season, who knew. We also availed ourselves of the Lobby bar which, again, had all the pizzazz and charm of a bygone era. The staff in the bar were extremely attentive as well as amusing. The Old Cateract is possibly the best reason I can think of to visit Aswan.

Great hotel, charming atmosphere of times past… with all the comfort and services of the 21st century.
The staff is well trained, friendly but very respectful, they bend over backwards to assure the wellbeing of customers.
There are many staff members we have met and all were helpful and efficient. I want to mention Shaza, who lead the tour in the Agatha Christie and Winston Churchill suites, Martina as host during breakfasts and in The Terrace restaurants, as well as waiters Kamel and Hussein. The lady in the concierge ríe was also very helpful and her informations were very useful. The gardens and swimming pool are finely attended. What a pleasure!
Its three restaurants offer excellent cuisine, with Europeans and Egyptian tastes depending on which one you choose. Ambience music nice and discrete.
This has been a highlight during our trip to Egypt.
Old Cataract was a dream of sorts for us… and the dream came true.

AWESOME- no other word can describe this place! The mix of history and fabulous service with lovely people is rare to find- but this place is magnificent.

Truly wonderful relaxing 3 nights of excellent food- the restaurant staff were all so professional, Mr Hussain in the 1902 was exceptional. The luxury rooms in the old hotel were huge and serviced perfectly by Ossama. Sunset by the pool or on the terrace was breathtaking. A real escape in a historic gem.

Impressive hotel with its historic legacy and a newer building with stunning rooms, overlooking the harbour area of Aswan. We had room in the new building on the 7th floor, with a larger terrace, including a seating area and a separate area with deck-chairs. It was just a joy sitting there, watching all the action on the harbour. The pool area was empty, as most people are on excursion during the day. Hence, take a day extra to just enjoy the hotel. The restaurants are very good, however, the French one is only indoor and requires a formal dress code. Nevertheless, the Arab restaurant is excellent and not as crowded as the main restaurant. Because this terrace is the most famous one, it is also attraction a lot of selfie-making tourists, taking hours for the perfect picture instead of enjoying the view…(a general problem one encounters traveling these days…)

Located centrally on the water, this hotel is truly majestic in its looks and in service.
As we checked in, we were greeted by Nour. She showed us the property and escorted us to beautiful rooms, very very spacious, with a separate sitting area and a huge walking closet. View was amazon.
Hotel had many services like spa etc.
Restaurants need attention. Terrace restaurant, with the most beautiful view of the sunset has a great menu.
But the kitchen is far away and food was always cold, by the time it arrived at the table.
VERY SURPRISED FOR A LARGE RESTAURANT LIKE 60 people, only one server. Server was amazing, but he could not serve so many people
Hotel needs to help him

Truly appalling service. We visited for cocktails and sunset at 5pm. You have to buy a voucher at the reception for approx £25 per person which is knocked off whatever you spend. There is no explanation of this and we spent 15 mins trying to even do that with long queue of people we thought were checking in.
We then got access to the hotel grounds and went to the bar to be told we couldn’t use the bar as we were outsiders - charming. We had to use a different outside terrace or lower level terrace.
We went to the first terrace and was told there were no tables as they were all booked for afternoon tea. We went to the lower terrace to be told the tables were all reserved. All empty I might add. But apparently all reserved.
Why sell tickets for cocktails at sunset if you cannot seat people or take orders - it feels like a scam just to charge entrance. Everyone that also had tickets was confused and angry and the staff all looked bemused and disinterested at how busy it suddenly was.
We eventually persuaded the waiter to let us sit at one table because my parents in their 80s were getting frustrated. He took orders for four drinks and didn’t return for 20 mins.
We then went to complain to someone but a table came available on the upper terrace - we asked if we could sit and were told there are no reservations so yes we could sit . We then had another woman come over to tell us we couldn’t sit down as there was a waiting list. We argued and just sat down to later see NOBODY on any wait list.
At the same time the lower level terrace we were told was all reserved was completely empty.
Another waiter came over after 15 mins and we explained we ordered cocktails (at this point) 40 mins ago and he said they clearly were not coming so we reordered.
Now we had a table we decided to eat - having missed the sunset due to the walking around to find a table or a waiter.
Drinks came. Food did not. After almost 45 mins the waiter came over and sheepishly said ‘can you repeat your order’. He hadn’t ordered it. This was really clear but wouldn’t admit it.
We eventually got starters at 7:15pm having arrived at 5pm
The food wasn’t even hot.
We complained and were simply told it was a busy time at sunset and there were a lot of Chinese visitors. We said that’s no excuse and if you don’t want outsiders to visit then don’t charge them to come in and just refuse. Or just get more staff. He agreed and said everyone was tired because of Ramadan.
This just is not a valid excuse. It’s Egypt. It’s Ramadan. It’s Chinese new year. This must be one of the most visited hotels at sunset - how can they not know that and staff
The entire entrance and drinks and food came to over £350 - no apology - not even a free drink as a sorry. Honestly appalling. And as we left the outside restaurant for guests had three tables eating, the inside bar and inside restaurant not a soul - maybe you should be kinder to people from outside who are not guests prepared to spend more money in your hotel than the actual guests. Sort yourself out Sofitel.

To describe the service at this hotel, the only fully appropriate term is SHAMEFUL.

A five-star hotel that charges a €30 entrance fee just to get in, only to provide this kind of treatment. Low-quality food arrived after 1 hour and 45 minutes of waiting under the sun, with flies hovering around us and mosquitoes biting us. We waited half an hour just to get water. The food did not arrive all at once but in 15-minute intervals. There were 10 of us seated at a table meant for 5, and when we asked for the situation to be improved, we were treated with indifference and dismissiveness.

It’s truly a shame because the location is beautiful, but it’s frustrating to hand over money to those who live off a reputation built decades ago and presume they no longer need to care about hospitality and customer service. Many other people around us were also unhappy with the poor service.

To sum it up, the experience simply put me in a bad mood. I strongly recommend that management seriously reconsider how they handle non-hotel guests and their restaurant service, because I will be telling everyone I can not to set foot there.

The only thing that makes this hotel receive good reviews is location. It is located in a very beautiful site of Aswan providing magnificent Nile view from many room types.

HOWEVER, a more important thing that needs to BE IMPROVED is FOOD HYGIENE. I got a severe food poisoning from the food I consumed here. I'm confident about this because I chose to dine at the restaurants in the hotel for my whole stay. Even with on the trip to Abu Simple, the lunch box was provided by the hotel (with quite expensive additional charge, of course). My symptoms started about six hours after the last meal I had here and there is no way that I could get this from any food from elsewhere (I stayed for 2 nights, more than 48 hours, not eating outside). It was so bad. I had chill, persistent nausea that lasted 3 days, and frequent watery diarrhea for 5 more days. It was one of the worst food poisoning I ever had.

This illness ruined the rest of my trip, which was a wonderful Nile cruise. I had a very difficult time going on excursion to many temples and I had to skip visiting Valley of the King, which is one of my dream destination because of this.

I am aware that there are some risks of getting food poisoning during travel. It's totally understandable if you get it from some poor-hygiene street food. But it shouldn't be from one of the most luxury hotels in Egypt like Sofitel Legend Old Cataract.

Moreover, their "renowned" service is something unreal. I think it is just a pretentious service to escalate the guests' experience more than a sincere willingness to service. To explain this, the staff who checked us in was very polite but acting like a robot. He explained everything with a well-trained flowery language. But when we asked for a USB charger that we forgot to bring from home, the only thing he could do was insisting that the hotel only had a normal adaptor without USB port. No further assistance. On the next day when we mentioned this to the chauffeur that drove us to Abu Simbel, he just simply made a quick stop at the mobile shop on the way back and we got our USB charger. That's it! We wonder why the staff at the hotel couldn't recommend this. It was so simple.

Overall experience at this hotel was awful. The only good thing that impressed us was the view of the Nile from our room's balcony but the illness ruined the rest of our trip and gave us a bad impression of going back to this beautiful country.

Had a wonderful afternoon tea at the beautiful Old Cataract Hotel watching the sunset over the River Nile The location in the Promenade Bar was superb, the tea and food excellent, and Soliman provided impeccable service. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough!

We stayed at this hotel expecting a true luxury experience, given the rate of over $950 USD per room per night. Unfortunately, what we encountered was deeply disappointing.

First and most concerning: the room cleanliness was unacceptable. There was visible dried nasal residue left on the headboard from a previous guest. This is simply indefensible at this price point. The slippers provided were cheap and visibly not properly cleaned. For a hotel charging nearly $1,000 per night, this level of hygiene is shocking.

We stayed in a room on the 4th floor of the new building, where intermittent drilling and construction noise could be heard during our stay. This significantly impacted the comfort and rest we expected.

The balcony floor was also dirty and poorly maintained.

In addition, the front desk service was disappointing. The staff member named Madonna appeared visibly unhappy when interacting with us. Her attitude felt indifferent and unwelcoming, almost as if we owed her something. It was uncomfortable enough that I withdrew the USD tip I initially intended to give her after the room tour, and only left a small amount in local currency out of basic courtesy.

Most concerning is that none of the issues we reported were resolved in a timely or satisfactory manner.

If you are someone who frequently stays in true luxury properties and values cleanliness, professionalism, and service standards, I would not recommend this hotel. It seems more suited for Instagram photography than for guests seeking genuine high-quality hospitality.

Historical and lovely property with a fantastic location and view. We checked out one day early but our agent #high end journey didnt give us the refund which I beleive sofitel passed on to them. Staff in general across need training to bring jn the level of refinement and service expected of this rich heritage.

We had afternoon tea as a group from a cruise ship. We had poor tables, no view, rude staff and poor service. Not 5 star service at all.

I’ve stayed as a guest at the Old Cataract for a total of 6 nights in the last two years, and most recently just visited with 6 friends for dinner. As a resident I felt there were too many non residents drifting around, taking photographs and behaving intrusively. At times it felt more like a tourist site than a hotel. This gives guests a negative feeling. As a resident I always experienced fairly slow / very slow bar and dinner service . After sitting in the bar you’d be lucky to have a drink in hand within 15 mins. Recently ‘the tables were turned’ and I visited as a non resident. We were there for dinner. We paid 1500 EGP each to ensure we would spend: that’s no problem and we probably spent more than double that per person. I’d say it took about 20 mins after sitting down before we got menus. And another 20 before the drinks arrived. And another 20 before our starters …and so on . There were simply too many customers and not enough waiters and staff: for one it seems there are no dedicated bar waiters. All in all when food and drinks came they were good. But the hotel is on honesty trying to please everyone and probably cheesing off the high paying residents and non residents with high expectations alike.

Dear Soleman and Carlos,

We just wanted to say how fantastic the experience was. Dinner was wonderful, and overall, we can’t say enough good things. Thank you both!

Impressive view of the nile! Service is good, hotel tour is fun, Shaza gave a nice tour of the Churchill and Agatha suite!

Lovers of Agatha Christie will revel in a visit to this magnificent hotel. We were taken by our host Shaza on an amazing tour of the suite where Agatha lived for a year getting inspired to write her novel "Death On The Nile". This was followed by a delicious Agatha Christie cocktail on the outdoor deck of the bar overlooking the magnificent Nile River. Highly recommended but best to book prior to arrival.

An iconic colonial-era hotel in an exceptional Nile-side location, surrounded by a beautifully maintained historic garden. The architecture, setting, and views make the property visually striking and one of the most distinctive hotels in Aswan.

The service level is high, with attentive and professional staff throughout the stay. Butler Carlos deserves specific recognition for his discretion, efficiency, and proactive approach—exactly what is expected at this level of hospitality.

A notable drawback is the presence of non-resident visitors who are allowed to move freely through the hotel for photo opportunities. This compromises both the sense of security and exclusivity that guests rightly expect from a luxury property and is particularly disruptive given the price positioning.

A travel to the beautiful world of old days
We loved our dinner and the personal and efficient service