These are the best cruises for exploring ancient civilizations

Water has memory they say and what would it reveal if someone followed its ways? Fortunately, the most remarkable heritage sites of antique societies are dotted along the coastlines and riverbanks of our modern world. With Cruisers remaining among the most popular means of maritime travel this year, they are an easy choice to combine a sea-scape with a true culture fix. Here are six of the best sailing routes to take this summer when the wanderlust doesn’t simply lead to far-away places but to a trip down ancient memory.

Tombs & temples: Egypt

Ancient Egyptian society owed much to the Nile, its fertile banks providing rich farmland, its waters allowing for the construction of vast tombs and temples. Featuring illuminating tales from on-board experts such as veteran storyteller David Braun and Egyptologist Nora Shawki, Lindblad’s Passage Through Egypt welcomes its 44 passengers in Cairo, where the National Museum of Egyptian Culture hosts the remains of 22 kings and queens, including the 3,500-year-old mummy of Amenhotep I (1514-1494 BCE). After a stop in Luxor to wander the sphinx-lined walkways of the Karnak Temple Complex, the Oberoi Philae flows downriver from Dendera to Aswan. Complete with a library stocked with books about Egyptian history, the sleek river cruiser takes its name from the island of Philae, a highlight of day 10. Mentioned by ancient writers like Seneca and Strabo, the lonely isle was a place of worship for millennia and today hosts the reconstructed Temple of Isis, a goddess of fertility, motherhood and magic worshipped throughout the ancient world.

How to do it: Lindblad’s 11-night trip costs from $15,052 (£11,596) per person, including hotel stays and internal flights.

Don’t Miss: The ornate temple of Dendera, home to bas reliefs depicting the empress Cleopatra.

Spices & spirituality: South Asia-Southeast Asia

Taking in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India, Azamara’s 20-night Ancient Trade Routes itinerary traces an oceanic trade network almost as old as human civilization itself. Historically, the Spice Routes saw the exchange of pepper, cinnamon, star anise and cloves between Southeast Asia and the Arabian and Mediterranean worlds, with seafaring merchants exchanging precious goods along with radical religious ideas from as early as 2,000 BCE. Passengers board the Azamara Onward in Singapore before embarking on a voyage that includes a stop in Hambantota in Sri Lanka, where spice traders from China, Indonesia and Siam (modern-day Thailand) once sought anchorage in the beach-trimmed harbour. Later, in India, heritage-seekers can opt to explore the Elephanta Caves — fifth- and sixth-century monolithic temples hewn into the basalt of Elephanta Island. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to some of the most revered examples of rock art in western India, including several colossal, ornate sculptures depicting the god Shiva.

How to do it: Azamara’s 20-night voyage costs from £4,639 per person.

Don’t Miss: A guided walking tour of Mumbai’s Lalbagh Spice Market, where vendors tout cardamom, nutmeg and more.

Fjords & Islamic palaces: Norway

Follow the passage of medieval merchants on Viking’s Trade Routes of the Middle Ages voyage. Travelling on the Viking Sky, passengers trace the flow of Portuguese wine, Norwegian walrus tusk, English wool and other commodities that once connected Europe’s pre-modern powers. With a resident historian bringing each day’s adventures to life by way of lectures and round-table discussions, the seven-nation voyage begins in Bergen in Norway, where timbered wharfs once powered northern European trade in herrings and furs. On day three, passengers sail on to Belgium, northern France and England on a route blazed by Norwegian Vikings trading honey, fish and ivory centuries earlier. Cruising days in the Atlantic Ocean include calls at trading settlements founded by Carthaginians, Romans and Moors, including Grenada in Malaga — home to the Alhambra palace. With 35 acres of honeycombed domes, filigree pavilions and myrtle-fringed pools, this architectural marvel was constructed during the reigns of 13th-century sultan Ibn al-Ahmar and his successors following the Moorish conquest of Spain in the eighth century.

How to do it: Viking Cruises’ 14-night trip starts from £5,290 per person, including international flights.

Don’t Miss: The ancient Roman city of Cartagena, Spain. Its 6,000-seat Roman amphitheatre was only discovered in 1990, some 2,000 years after it was built.

Olive trees & ancient wonders: Turkey

Founded by British archaeologist and documentary filmmaker Peter Sommer, this UK-based operator offers tours of Turkey’s Aegean coastline aboard gulets— traditional Turkish sailing boats. Its Cruising to Ephesus voyage begins and ends in Bodrum, home to the ruins of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the 147ft-high funereal temple was built for Carian ruler Mausolus between 353 and 351 BCE, with Artemisia II, his sister and widow, leading the project. Explorers step aboard their gulet in Bodrum’s historic harbour. Travelling by sail allows the sleek boat’s 14 guests to disembark at seldom-visited ancient sites like Iasos — a Bronze Age, Greek then Roman settlement where olive trees throw dappled light onto the ruins of age-old burial grounds and temple sanctuaries. Day five takes visitors ashore to Ephesus in Anatolia, perhaps the world’s best-preserved Roman metropolis. Wander its marble streets to see the remnants of a 25,000-seat amphitheatre, grand libraries and fresco-washed villas once home to well-heeled Romans.

How to do it: A guided seven-night trip with Peter Sommer Travels costs from £3,095 per person.

Don’t Miss: The ruins of Priene, a near-perfectly preserved ancient Greek city shadowed by the looming bulk of Mycale mountain.

Sea monsters & lost cities: Italy

Offering a taste of the opulence once enjoyed by the Roman elite, this seven-night Amalfi and Sicily sailing begins in Civitavecchia, where passengers step aboard the Royal Clipper — a stately tall ship whose spiral staircases and marbled bathrooms hark back to a gilded age. Once aboard, the centuries quickly recede, with passengers soon arriving in Sorrento, a cascade of lush bougainvillea and a pale cathedral overlooking the Bay of Naples. It was these waters that Pliny the Elder crossed in 79 CE to investigate the eruption of Vesuvius — the same that swallowed Pompeii and Herculaneum. An optional excursion offers the chance to explore the ill-fated towns before continuing on to sun-bleached Syracuse. Once the rival of ancient capitals like Athens and Corinth, the city is home to some of Sicily’s most important archeological sites. Follow its baroque streets to Parco Archeologico della Neapolis, home to an ancient Greek theatre where thousands gathered to watch the final tragedies of Athenian playwright Aeschylus.

How to do it: Star Clippers’ seven-night trip starts from £1,965 per person.

Don’t Miss: Sailing the Strait of Messina, where Homer’s legendary hero Odysseus battled with the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis.

Pearl divers & desert palms: Arab Gulf

Treasures of the Arabian Gulf is a nine-day sailing that connects maritime trading hubs to ancient oases. Things kick off in the Omani capital of Muscat, where adventurers can explore centuries-old souks before sailing to the whitewashed city of Sur, a nexus for trade with East Africa since the sixth century. Here, an off-board excursion takes in the Omani coastal town’s traditional boatyards, where artisans still craft dhows— traditional wooden sailboats that have been used for thousands of years. Before oil built mega-cities like Dubai and Doha, the Arab Gulf traded in pearls and incense, with these ships carrying spices and other commodities from as far as India and Zanzibar. The time travel continues in Abu Dhabi, a gateway to the verdant Al Ain Oasis. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, this winding network of farms and date palms is still fed by an Iron Age irrigation system forged some 3,000 years ago, its waters a life source for the nomadic tribes that once rested here.

How to do it: Ponant’s eight-night voyage starts from £3,750 per person.

Don’t Miss: The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, whose winding halls are home to artefacts including manuscripts from Qur’ans dating to the seventh century