As enjoyable as ever

If traveling to Luxor while in Egypt this villa is a great find. The house is very nice includes many rooms for guests with a great local style. The food was excellent with many options for vegetarian and meat dishes. We did several meals at the house and enjoyed the outdoor atmosphere. The location is within walking distance to local restaurants to eat at we enjoyed one across the street where the owner Ali brought us on a sunset dinner boat tour. For local tours of temples and tombs you can get either transport by car or a 5 min boat trip across the Nile. You are able to book tours with the house guide if you need assistance. During our stay Syed was alway available to help with anything we needed while at the house truly a pleasure to have around and made the trip very enjoyable no worries about meals he would set everything up and assist whenever we needed him.

Do not expect a brand new villa with top of the art heating, cooling and lighting. Instead, you will find a modest but typical villa, which is sufficient for a stay of several days, and help you to feel as an explorer of the last century with the Nile just in front of you and the super monuments and tombs not far behind you. Rather than the roof top at the 4th level (although climbing stairs is an excellent cardio training for the visit of the Valley of the Nobles) and rather than the swimming pool (separated from the villa by a street), the reason why you should book this villa is the staff managing it under the supervision of Khairy. Khairy will organize your visits and answer all your needs, Saheed will discreetly take care of you all day long, and Mahmoud will provide good breakfast and dinners, so that, at the end, your only constraint will be to choose among the many incredible sites that you must visit. Whether you are a group of friends or a family, we recommend you to contact the host Christopher who will ensure a good communication from your booking to your arrival, before you pass in the safe and professional hands of Khairy and of his team

Stay at Riverbank House and it'll be the best holiday you'll ever have. This spacious home on the banks of the Nile is a tranquil oasis. However, the real stars of Riverbank are the staff who will take care of you. Nothing is too much trouble and the chef's meals are all from fresh local produce made daily. The house manager knows the best sites to visit and is a mine of information. All you have to do is to relax and you'll be taken care of!

Wow! What a lovely time we had while visiting the Riverbank House! The house exceeded our expectations and the pictures couldn’t possibly do it justice. The communication with Christopher before our arrival was easy and clear. We were blown away by the beauty of the house and it’s incredible view of the Nile from the rooftop! The meals prepared by the cook were top notch! I’m not kidding when I say that they were some of the best meals of our lives. Khyry really made our experience special! He came along as our guide and made our kids (3 boys, 10 and under) feel so comfortable. He had the ability to keep their interest on each topic and made it so much fun! He is a wealth of information on the many incredible sites around Luxor! Khyry was also able to facilitate anything we needed as far as transport to and from the airport as well as finding a great driver for us to Aswan. We will never forget our time spent at the villa! Thanks from the Smigelski crew for such a warm and wonderful stay!

Our stay at Riverbank House was one of the highlights of our Egyptian holiday. Views of the Nile from the rooftop terrace were spectacular and the meals prepared for us were delicious. The villa was comfortable with charming character and a great base for exploring Luxor. Khyry provided invaluable assistance for our sightseeing, meals and activities. If you are travelling with a group or family, then I would recommend Riverbank House.

Pros: 5 rooms, 5 baths, 3 stories. Beautiful roof top deck to take advantage of the view of the Nile, especially in the evening. Private swimming pool in an enclosed courtyard, with chairs and tables complete with umbrellas. Area around the pool has bathrooms, a small "garden" and nice lighting. A guide is available for trips to Valley of the Kings and other places; Khyry (guide) speaks English quite well and tries hard to make the excursions interesting. Comfortable bed (the room we stayed in is all I can vouch for), air conditioning, ceiling fans, seating area out front. Location on the West Bank of the Nile, pretty much right on the river. Option to have meals provided for a fairly nominal amount of money. We took advantage of the dinner on day 1 of our stay and it was well prepared and presented. The owners were always responsive (they are not in Egypt) and willing to assist in all requests. It was a pleasure doing business with them. CONS: The only air conditioning on the lowest level is in the two bedrooms; the kitchen and living area do not have air conditioning. If you want to prepare your own food, the kitchen can be uncomfortably hot. The only TV is on the lowest level in the living room. If you want to watch TV in comfort you're pretty much out of luck; Luxor is hot most of the year, and the lack of air conditioning makes it uncomfortable. I'm not even sure the TV or cable works. The cooking utensils, pots and pans are not the best, and by the 4th day of our stay we were fighting ants that were invading the kitchen. The owners arranged to have someone available to clean dishes and maintain the kitchen, but the dishes often had to be washed again. We used one room and bath; there were only two bath towels--no hand towels or wash cloths--in our bedroom/bath combination. Upon searching all the bedrooms I found a washcloth and hand towel in one of the downstairs bedrooms. The sink in our bathroom did not have a functional stopper; a minor inconvenience for most but I wear contact lenses and need to close the sink drain to insert and remove contacts so I don't lose them. The faucets on the sink were lose; the towel rack was barely attached to the wall. The shelf over the bathroom sink was drooping down and could easily fall at any moment. Overall quality of workmanship was poor throughout the house; maintenance was not the best either. I recommend it as a good place to stay on the West Bank, but don't expect 4+ star quality.

I am a seasoned traveller but Egypt had so far remained outside my radar so it was with great excitement I accepted an invitation to spend a week at Riverbank House in Luxor. It turned out to be a truly memorable trip in every way...The house is very beautiful with domed brick ceilings, gorgeous carved wooden doors, lovely floor tiles, spacious high ceilinged ensuite rooms with ceiling fans, latticed arched wooden windows in traditional Egyptian style, exquisite dining room furniture in wood and mother pearl , everything in the house has been designed with taste and refinement. The roof terrace where we had our breakfast in the sun every morning, has a wonderful view of the Nile and its feluccas, dahabyas, small colourful boats and huge steam ships ... The Valley of the Kings and the balloons that hang over it can be seen from the back windows. The Eastern bank with the Winter Palace , Luxor and Karnak temples is just a short and very pleasant boat ride away... And there is Khyry. Khyry , the Egyptian friend of Pamela and Christopher who with his good humour and intelligence will resolve any problems, organize your outings, camel rides, tomb visits - where he can be your knowledgeable guide - , take you to the nicest restaurants, protect you from persistent touts... he really is your key to Luxor! And opposite the house there is a beautiful , secluded swimming pool with a small garden , an oasis of calm and sunshine... I was forgetting to mention the food, the heavenly food cooked by Mahmoud... Guava or strawberry and banana juices, wonderful falafels, delicious tahina, fish from the Nile , stuffed pidgeons... Real feasts at breakfast and dinner! As I was invited by one of Pamela's sisters, I had the luck of meeting her and Christopher, two of the best hosts I have ever met as well as two of the nicest. To have built two houses as gorgeous as River Bank and Villa Rosamund from scratch is amazing, I really admire their passion for Egypt, for Luxor and for making the stay of whoever rents their beautiful houses a unique experience... one that I was lucky to have been able to enjoy and I would love to share some day with my family... maybe renting the house for a few days and then sailing down the Nile from Luxor to Aswan on their dahabiya, stopping at villages on the way , watching sunsets and full moons on the river... I truly can not think of many more enjoyable ways of spending a week in Egypt away from the crowds...This is the one!