Few places in Egypt feel as remote, or as improbable, as Abu Simbel. You come to the very edge of the country, where the desert runs down to the blue expanse of Lake Nasser and Sudan lies just beyond the horizon. The scale of the ambition here is staggering twice over: first that Ramesses II ordered colossi of this size carved straight into a Nubian cliff more than three thousand years ago, and again that in the 1960s engineers sawed the whole monument into blocks and lifted it, piece by numbered piece, to higher ground above the rising waters of the new dam. The two stories together are the genius of the place.

The Great Temple announces itself with four seated colossi of Ramesses, each towering over the entrance, gazing out across the lake with the calm of gods. Pass between them into the rock and the mountain swallows you — a hall lined with pillared statues, walls carved with the pharaoh's battles, and far inside, the sanctuary where four deities sit in darkness. Twice a year, around 22 February and 22 October, the dawn sun threads the length of the temple to light them. Beside it stands the smaller Temple of Nefertari, dedicated to Hathor, where for once the queen is carved as tall as her king.

Most visitors arrive, see the temples and leave within a couple of hours, which is a pity, because Abu Simbel rewards those who linger. Stay for the evening Sound and Light show, when the façades become a screen for the old story told in colour and voice. Better still, spend a night: the small Nubian village has its own gentle rhythm, and at Eskaleh, a mudbrick eco-lodge on the lakeshore, you can eat Nubian food and watch the light change over the water. Some travellers reach the temples by Lake Nasser cruise, gliding in from the water as the colossi rise ahead.