When I stood in the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak I forgot to take a photo for about ten minutes. That never happens. I just stood there with my neck cricked back, staring up at 134 columns the size of oak trees, wondering how anyone dragged that lot into place three and a half thousand years ago.
Luxor does that to you. It is a small, slightly scruffy Nile town of around 285,000 people, and it also happens to hold the biggest concentration of ancient sites anywhere on earth. Temples on one bank, tombs on the other, a river in between with feluccas drifting across it at 5pm like nothing has changed since 1400 BC.
I visited as part of a longer Egypt trip, and if I’m honest, I didn’t give it enough days. Luxor is the kind of place where the schedule you arrive with falls apart by lunchtime on day one, because everything takes longer than you planned and everything deserves it. This guide to the best things to do in Luxor is what I wish I had known before I went: what is worth your money, what is worth your early alarm, and what you can skip without any guilt at all.
This article may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps fund the site and keeps our guides free. See our full affiliate disclosure for details.
Luxor, Egypt: Quick Facts
Book your West Bank day for your first morning, not your last. If a tomb you wanted is closed for restoration (it happens constantly), you still have a day spare to go back.
If you only book one thing before you land, make it this. A guided day on either the East Bank (Karnak and Luxor Temple) or the West Bank (Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut), with an Egyptologist, transfers and lunch sorted. It takes the guesswork out of your first morning and gets you into the sites before the coach crowds land.
Karnak Temple: the one that flattens you
Karnak is not one temple. It is roughly 200 acres of temples, chapels, pylons and obelisks that pharaohs kept adding to for about 2,000 years, each one determined to out-build the last. The result is gloriously chaotic and completely overwhelming if you walk in cold.
The Great Hypostyle Hall is the bit you have seen in photos. Columns 21 metres high, packed so tightly you lose your friends within seconds, still carrying flecks of the original paint near the tops where the sun has not got to them. Look up. Then look at the base of the columns, where the carved reeds sit, because the whole hall is meant to be a stone marsh.
Beyond the hall it gets quieter and, I think, better. The Sacred Lake, Hatshepsut’s fallen obelisk (you can see the tip up close, which you cannot do with the standing one), and the Open Air Museum tucked off to the left, which almost nobody bothers with. I had the reconstructed Red Chapel practically to myself while coach groups queued behind me at the entrance.
- Time needed: two hours minimum, three if you have a guide
- Entry: around 400 EGP (about £6 / €7 / $8), with the Open Air Museum charged separately
- Best slot: 6am opening, or after 3pm when the light goes gold and the coaches have gone
A guide genuinely earns their fee here. Without one you are looking at very impressive stone. With one you are reading a 2,000-year argument between pharaohs, which is far more entertaining. Plenty of half-day GetYourGuide tours pair Karnak with Luxor Temple and an Egyptologist, and they tend to time it to dodge the worst of the crowds.
Walk out through the first pylon and stand at the far end of the ram-headed sphinx avenue looking back. It is the view the ancient processions had, and it is free.
Luxor Temple after dark
Luxor Temple sits right in the middle of town, which makes it the easiest site to visit and the easiest to underrate. Go in the daytime and it is fine. Go after sunset, when the floodlights come on and the columns throw shadows twenty feet up the walls, and it is one of the best hours you will spend in Egypt.
It is smaller than Karnak and far easier to read. Two seated Ramesses II colossi at the entrance, a single surviving obelisk (its twin has been standing in Paris since 1836), and then the odd, wonderful layer cake inside: a Roman chapel painted over pharaonic reliefs, and a working mosque perched halfway up a wall, because the temple was buried in silt when that mosque was built.
The Avenue of Sphinxes now runs the full 2.7km from here to Karnak after a long restoration. You can walk it. In November it is a lovely stroll. In June you will regret it within four minutes.
- Time needed: an hour, maybe 90 minutes at night
- Entry: roughly 260 EGP (about £4 / €4.50 / $5)
- Open: until around 9pm or 10pm depending on the season
Save Luxor Temple for the evening of your West Bank day. You will have been up since 4am, you will not want another early start, and it is a ten-minute walk from most East Bank hotels.
The Valley of the Kings: how the ticket actually works
This is the one everybody comes for, and it is also the one people get wrong. Here is the system, because nobody explains it at the gate.
Your main ticket costs 750 EGP and gets you into three tombs from whichever list is open that day. Three. Not all of them. An attendant punches a hole in your ticket at each entrance, and once you have three holes, that is your lot. Four tombs sit outside that system and need their own separate ticket, bought at the visitor centre before you ride the shuttle in.
That last part matters. Once you are through the gate you cannot buy anything, so if you change your mind about Tutankhamun you are riding the tram back out. I watched a couple do exactly that in 38 degree heat and they were not speaking to each other by the end of it.
← Swipe to scroll on mobile
| Ticket | EGP | Approx. £ / € / $ | Worth it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main entry (3 tombs) | 750 | £11 / €13 / $15 | Compulsory, and good value |
| Shuttle (return) | 20 | Under £1 | Yes, your legs will thank you |
| Seti I (KV17) | 2,000 | £29 / €34 / $40 | Pricey, and the finest tomb in Egypt |
| Tutankhamun (KV62) | 700 | £10 / €12 / $14 | Small and plain, but his mummy is there |
| Ramesses V and VI (KV9) | 220 | £3 / €4 / $4.50 | The best value ticket in Luxor |
| Tomb of Ay (West Valley) | 200 | £3 / €3.50 / $4 | Only if you fancy the hilly walk |
If I could add only one extra tomb it would be KV9, Ramesses V and VI. The astronomical ceiling in the burial chamber is the single most jaw-dropping thing on the West Bank and it costs about the same as a coffee back home. Seti I is objectively finer, and 2,000 EGP is a lot to swallow, so treat that one as a proper splurge rather than a default.
Of the tombs on the standard ticket, Ramesses IV (KV2) gives you the most colour for the least walking, Ramesses IX (KV6) is beautifully preserved, and Tausert and Setnakht (KV14) sits deep in the valley so it stays quiet. My full breakdown of which tombs to pick lives in the Valley of the Kings complete guide.
The old photography pass has been scrapped. Recent visitors report walking in with proper cameras and paying nothing extra, so do not let anyone at the gate persuade you otherwise.
Recommended Tours from GetYourGuide
Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari
Three terraces cut straight into a cliff the colour of a digestive biscuit. It looks weirdly modern, which is what everyone says, and then you get close and spot the reliefs of Hatshepsut’s trading expedition to Punt and remember it is 3,500 years old.
Hatshepsut ruled as pharaoh for around two decades and was very good at it. After she died, her stepson Thutmose III set about chiselling her name and face off the walls. You can still see where, which is half the fun: someone tried to erase a woman from history and made a slightly rubbish job of it.
There is almost no shade here. The ramps face a cliff that bounces heat straight back at you. Go first thing, before 8am if you can manage it, and take more water than you think you need.
Luxor regularly hits 40C from May to September and the West Bank feels hotter than town. In high summer most people are done outdoors by 10am and hiding indoors by noon.
Medinet Habu and the Ramesseum: the quiet giants
If you only have time for one more West Bank site, make it Medinet Habu. Ramesses III’s mortuary temple has the deepest, most violently detailed carvings anywhere in Luxor, some of them a hand’s width into the stone, and huge patches of original colour on the ceilings. Half the walls are taken up with him thumping the Sea Peoples in graphic detail, complete with piles of severed hands being counted by scribes. Cheerful stuff.
Best of all, it is usually near empty. I spent an hour there and saw six other people. Six. Compare that to Karnak at 10am.
The Ramesseum is the more melancholy option. Ramesses II built himself an enormous mortuary temple and most of it has fallen over, including a colossal statue that now lies face-up in pieces. It is the ruin that inspired Shelley’s Ozymandias, and standing next to that toppled head does put a certain amount of ambition into perspective.
- Medinet Habu: around 150 to 200 EGP (about £2.50 / €3 / $3.50), allow an hour
- Ramesseum: similar price, 45 minutes is plenty
- Colossi of Memnon: free, roadside, five minutes and a photo
Most half-day West Bank tours cover the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut and the Colossi, then head back for lunch. If you want Medinet Habu, say so when you book, because it is rarely in the standard route.
Gear we actually travel with
Passport holders, packing cubes, travel wallets. Stuff that earns its place in the bag.
Browse the shopSunrise in a hot air balloon
Yes, it means a 4am pickup. Yes, it is worth it.
You get collected in the dark, taken across the Nile by motorboat, and dropped in a field where a dozen balloons are being inflated with a noise like a jet engine having a tantrum. Then you go up, and the whole West Bank unrolls underneath you: sugarcane fields, mudbrick villages, the Ramesseum, Medinet Habu, the cliffs hiding the Valley of the Kings, and the sun coming up over the river behind you.
Flights run 40 to 60 minutes. Expect to pay roughly £45 to £75 (about €52 to €87 / $60 to $100) per person depending on the operator and season, usually with hotel transfers and a bit of breakfast thrown in. Prices are lower than Cappadocia by a wide margin, which is part of why almost everyone does it here.
A word on safety, since people ask. Flights are grounded for wind without warning and you may get rescheduled or refunded. That is a good sign, not a bad one. Book through a reputable operator, check your travel insurance covers ballooning before you go, and take the earliest slot in your trip so a weather cancellation still leaves you a spare morning.
Baskets hold up to 20 people and are divided into compartments. If you want elbow room and a clear view, pay the extra for a smaller basket or a private flight. The cheapest tickets are cheap for a reason.
Valley of the Queens, Deir el-Medina and the Tombs of the Nobles
These three get skipped by nearly everyone on a two-day trip, and that is exactly why I like them.
Deir el-Medina is my favourite site in Luxor and I will die on this hill. It is the village where the craftsmen who dug the royal tombs actually lived, with their own small tombs on the slope above. Because they were the professionals, their own tombs are gorgeous: bright yellow backgrounds, tiny detailed scenes, ceilings you have to crouch to see. Sennedjem’s tomb in particular is like stepping into a painted jewellery box.
Tombs of the Nobles gives you daily life rather than gods and afterlife formulas. Fishing, harvesting, banquets, a man getting told off. Rekhmire and Sennefer are the two to aim for.
Valley of the Queens is worth it mainly for Nefertari’s tomb when it is open, which is not always, and which carries a hefty separate ticket when it is. The rest of the valley is fine rather than essential.
Luxor Museum and the Mummification Museum
Luxor Museum is small, air-conditioned, superbly lit and almost always quiet. After a day of squinting at reliefs in blinding sun, an hour in here is genuinely restorative. The statuary is world class, the labelling is clear, and there is a cache of statues found buried under Luxor Temple that will make you rethink what “well preserved” means.
The Mummification Museum along the Corniche is much smaller and a bit grisly, with tools, canopic jars and a mummified crocodile. Twenty minutes, and only if you are curious.
Both make excellent early-afternoon plans in summer, when being outside is not really an option. Entry to each sits in the region of 200 to 300 EGP (about £3 to £4.50 / €3.50 to €5 / $4 to $6).
Luxor Museum holds two royal mummies, Ahmose I and one believed to be Ramesses I, displayed in a dedicated darkened room. It gets far fewer visitors than the mummy halls in Cairo.
A felucca at sunset (the cheapest good hour in Luxor)
No engine, no commentary, no schedule. Just a lateen sail, a captain who steers with his foot, and the Nile turning orange while the West Bank cliffs go pink behind you. An hour on a felucca costs somewhere around 300 to 600 EGP for the whole boat (roughly £4.50 to £9 / €5 to €10 / $6 to $12) depending on how you negotiate, and it is the best value hour in the city.
Agree the price and the duration before you step on. Say the number out loud, twice. Every misunderstanding I have heard about in Luxor started with someone assuming the price was per boat when the captain meant per person.
Longer trips run out to Banana Island, which is a small plantation where you get fed sugarcane and shown a crocodile in a tank. It is mildly naff and quite fun. Two to three hours all in.
Walk south along the Corniche past the Winter Palace before you negotiate. Captains a few hundred metres from the main tourist cluster quote noticeably less for the same hour on the same river.
Day trips: Dendera, Abydos and the road to Aswan
Two full days in Luxor covers the headline sites. A third day opens up Dendera, and honestly, Dendera might be the best temple in Egypt that nobody photographs.
The Hathor Temple at Dendera has had its ceiling cleaned in recent years, and the result is astonishing: deep blue night skies, gold stars, the goddess Nut swallowing and rebirthing the sun, colours that look like they were painted last decade rather than 2,000 years ago. It is about 90 minutes north of Luxor by road.
Abydos, further north again, is where you find the Temple of Seti I and the famous king list carved into a corridor wall. Most operators pair the two into one long day, roughly 10 hours door to door. It is a lot of driving. It is also two of the finest temple interiors in the country, so I would still do it.
Plenty of small-group and private day tours run this route with an Egyptologist and a driver, which works out simpler than arranging a car and guide separately. If you are heading south afterwards, Luxor to Aswan by road lets you pick up Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo on the way, and my Abu Simbel visitor’s guide covers the far end of that run.
A Dendera and Abydos day is around six hours in a vehicle. If your group includes anyone who wilts in cars or heat, do Dendera on its own as a half day and skip Abydos without regret.
Getting around Luxor without getting fleeced
Luxor is small and the sites are not. The East Bank is walkable. The West Bank is not, unless you fancy 12km between temples in the sun, which some cyclists do and I salute them from a taxi.
The local ferry across the Nile costs a handful of Egyptian pounds and takes about ten minutes. It is the best few pence you will spend, partly because it is genuinely useful and partly because you are crossing the Nile on a working commuter boat with people carrying shopping.
← Swipe to scroll on mobile
| How | Rough cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Public ferry | 5 to 10 EGP each way | Crossing the river cheaply |
| Taxi around town | 50 to 100 EGP a hop | Corniche to Karnak and back |
| Taxi for the West Bank day | 600 to 1,000 EGP (£9 to £15 / €10 to €17 / $12 to $20) | Independent visitors, three or four sites |
| Bike hire | 100 to 150 EGP a day | Cool months only, and confident riders |
| Airport transfer | Fixed price, booked ahead | Late arrivals and 4am balloon days |
Luxor Airport is only about 20 minutes from the East Bank hotels, but arrivals often land late and the taxi rank is a scrum. Booking an airport transfer in advance means someone is standing there with your name and a fixed fare, which after a day of flying is worth every penny.
One more practical thing: get an eSIM sorted before you land. Data makes negotiating taxis, checking site opening times and finding your way back to a hotel infinitely easier, and Egyptian tourist SIMs bought at the airport are usually more faff for the money.
Agreeing a full-day taxi rate does not usually include waiting time at every site by default. Confirm how many stops and how long at each, or you will get gentle pressure to move on.
Holafly eSIM Discount
Use code THETRAVELTINKER for:
- 5% off any Holafly travel eSIM
- 10% off Holafly plans for the first 12 months
Or skip typing the code entirely, this personalised Holafly link applies the discount automatically at checkout.
How to fit it all in: a two and three day plan
The structure that works is simple. West Bank early, because of the heat. East Bank late, because of the light.
← Swipe to scroll on mobile
| Day | Morning | Afternoon | Evening |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Valley of the Kings from 6am, then Hatshepsut | Medinet Habu, Colossi of Memnon, late lunch | Luxor Temple floodlit |
| Day 2 | Karnak at opening, two to three hours | Luxor Museum in the air con | Felucca at sunset |
| Day 3 | Balloon at sunrise, breakfast after | Deir el-Medina and Tombs of the Nobles, or Dendera | Corniche wander and a proper dinner |
Doing it in two days? Drop Medinet Habu and the museum, and put the balloon on the morning of day two before Karnak. It is a long day but perfectly doable, and you will sleep well on the train.
Buy your Valley of the Kings tickets the afternoon before if you are doing a 6am start. The ticket office opens with the site, but the queue at dawn moves slowly and every minute before the coaches arrive is worth having.
Best time to visit Luxor
Luxor has two seasons: pleasant, and punishing. There is not much in between.
← Swipe to scroll on mobile
| Season | Daytime highs | Crowds | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov to Feb | 22C to 26C | Highest | The best weather, the highest hotel prices |
| March and April | 28C to 35C | Moderate | My pick, warm but manageable |
| May to Sep | 38C to 45C | Lowest | Cheap, brutal, dawn starts only |
| October | 33C to 36C | Building | Good value shoulder month |
I was there in late September and lasted until half nine in the morning, then hid in a hotel pool until four. It still worked, it just meant the days had a very particular shape.
Balloons fly year round but are grounded more often in the windier spring months. Summer flights are the most reliable, which is one of the few arguments for a July visit.
Is the Luxor Pass worth it?
Short answer: probably not, unless you are staying a while.
The standard Luxor Pass costs $130 (about £96 / €112) and covers every site on both banks except the tombs of Seti I and Nefertari. The premium version is $250 (about £185 / €217) and adds those two. Both are valid for five days, both are sold in dollars or euros only, and both need your passport plus a passport photo.
Do the maths against your own list. A visitor doing the Valley of the Kings with an extra tomb, Karnak, Luxor Temple, Hatshepsut, Medinet Habu and the museum is looking at well under half the standard pass price in individual tickets. The pass only starts making sense if you are visiting a long list of smaller sites, going back to favourites twice, or paying for both premium tombs.
Where it does win: the Cairo Pass and Luxor Pass combination gives you 50 percent off the second one, so if you are doing an extended Cairo and Luxor trip with a serious hit list, run the numbers again.
The pass is a paper card with your photo attached by a single staple and dates written in biro. Keep it in an envelope and hold onto it when you show it at gates. People do lose them.
Where to stay in Luxor
Most people stay on the East Bank, and for a first trip that is the right call. You are walking distance from Luxor Temple, the Corniche, the restaurants and the train station, and a short taxi from Karnak.
- East Bank Corniche: Nile views, the historic grand hotels, easiest for evenings out
- Near Karnak: quieter, slightly cheaper, a taxi from the restaurants
- West Bank: small guesthouses among the sugarcane, wonderfully peaceful, but you are ferry-dependent after dark
A friend who stayed West Bank loved waking up to donkeys and a view of the cliffs. She also missed a dinner because the last ferry was earlier than she thought. Both things are true.
Luxor is one of those places where the price gap between a decent room and a lovely one is small, so it is worth comparing properly on Booking.com before you commit. If you are travelling solo or on a tighter budget, the hostels here are sociable and well set up for arranging shared West Bank taxis, which cuts your biggest daily cost in half.
Hotels with a pool are worth paying up for between April and October. A shaded afternoon by the water is not a luxury in 42C, it is the thing that lets you go out again at five.
Final thoughts before you go
Luxor rewards patience more than any other place I have been in Egypt. The rushed version is still extraordinary, because it is impossible to stand in the Hypostyle Hall and feel nothing. But the good version, the one you remember, comes from an extra day, an early alarm, and choosing one quiet site over one more famous one.
Get the West Bank done at dawn. Pay the extra 220 EGP for KV9. Spend an hour at Medinet Habu with nobody else around. Sit on a felucca at six o’clock and let the whole thing settle.
Ready to plan the rest? My Egypt travel hub has everything from Cairo and the pyramids to Aswan and Abu Simbel, the Valley of the Kings guide goes tomb by tomb, and if you are going it alone, the solo travel in Egypt guide covers the practical bits nobody warns you about. Book your West Bank tours a few days ahead in high season and you are set.
Adventure on,
The Travel Tinker Crew 🌍✨
FAQs
How many days do you need in Luxor?
Two full days covers Karnak, Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut without sprinting. Three days lets you add a sunrise balloon, Medinet Habu and either Deir el-Medina or a Dendera trip, and it is the length I would recommend to anyone with the flexibility.
Do you need a guide in Luxor?
Not strictly, since the main sites have English information boards and you can navigate independently. But an Egyptologist transforms Karnak and the tombs from impressive stone into actual stories, and guides are not permitted inside the tombs anyway, so you get the briefing outside and then explore at your own pace.
Is Luxor safe for tourists?
Yes, and it is one of the more relaxed places in Egypt for independent travel. The main annoyance is persistent selling around the sites and the ferry landing rather than anything more serious. A firm, friendly “la shukran” and continuing to walk works nearly every time.
What should you wear in Luxor?
Light, loose, covered. Shoulders and knees covered is respectful and also cooler than you would expect, plus you will want proper shoes for the tomb steps and the gravel. Add a hat, sunglasses and more sunscreen than feels reasonable.
Can you visit Luxor as a day trip from Hurghada?
You can, and hundreds of people do it every day, but it means around ten hours in a coach for maybe four hours at the sites. You will see the Valley of the Kings and Karnak at the hottest, busiest point of the day. If Luxor is the reason you came to Egypt, stay at least one night.
Travel Hubs
Recommended Websites and Resources:
- Flights: Find the best deals on Trip.com
- Hotels: Best rates on Booking.com · Best hostels on HostelWorld · Ratings and bargains on TripAdvisor
- Apartments: Affordable rentals on VRBO
- Car hire: Best prices on RentalCars.com
- Travel insurance: EKTA for worldwide cover · AirHelp for flight delay compensation
- Activities: Tours and skip-the-line tickets on GetYourGuide · Instant mobile tickets on Tiqets
- Trains: Most affordable trains on Trainline · Rail passes on Rail Europe
- Travel eSIMs: Use your mobile phone anywhere worldwide with Airalo
- Need more help planning your trip? Visit our Resources Page to see all the companies we trust and use for our travels
You May Also Like
Share this post
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.






