Sorry, I can't tell you much about those two hotels, having never stayed at either, but they are about a 20 minute walk, or short taxi ride apart. The Nile Palace is at the end of Luxor where there are several 'Brit' style restaurants & bars, whereas the Winter Palace is more central & useful for the local ferry over to the W Bank, where you find all the tombs, Temple of Hapshepsut, Habu Temple etc. There is a great deal to see & do in Luxor. I would suggest basing yourself there, then arranging with a local Travel AGent to take the night train to Cairo, spend the day there seeing the Pyramids, Sphinx, Museum etc, the train back that night. Cairo is very busy & noisy, so Luxor is a much nicer place to stay. The Agent will arrange a guide for the whole day in Cairo so you will be well looked after. I am not sure of the price, but I don't think it is too expensive, but of course more, if you fly rather than taking the train.

We did the overnight sleeper train from Luxor to Cairo in May this year. We booked it independently through http://www.memphistours.com with the agent there, Mr Sherif. He was brilliant.

We used him because it was difficult to book online and arrange for tickets to be sent to our home address. His representative came to our hotel in Aswan and gave us our tickets on our arrival. We paid a 25% deposit and the remainder to the local rep in Aswan.

The train cost $55pp including sleeper carriage, evening dinner tray (bit like airplane food) and breakfast.

We also did a 3 night cruise from Aswan to Luxor at a cost of $60pp per night, which included all meals and excursions.

A great holiday and we will be back there again soon enough - for our 6th visit to Egypt