09 Jun 2022
The five stars is for the tour guide Michael, who is friendly and amazing.
The best part of the experience is the boat ride itself, which is beautiful at sunset. That and the dinner, which was quite tasty.
As others have noted however, the Nubian Village itself is not really genuine. It is a small tourist trap full of hassling salesman. The trinkets are cheap resin from China (Xiamen to be exact), a lot of the alabaster is imported onyx from Pakistan, 100% of the "handmade Nubian masks" are fakes imported from Kenya and Tanzania, and the "handmade carpets" are machine made and about 3 times as expensive as the exact same carpets (most likely from the same factory supplier) in Aswan souk. The only authentic goods were the woven baskets and trivets, which are actually handmade made by local women, but you can get those in Aswan souk as well for a lesser price.
Worth it for the food, boat ride, the amazing company, and maybe the woven products. But for an experience of an authentic Nubian Village, see Elephantine island instead. It's only a 5 egp boat ride to get there, and it's the "real deal". I only went here out of fomo.