The confirmed winter hours
From Friday 30 October 2026, Luxor's archaeological sites move to winter visiting hours, in step with Egypt's clock change. The General Administration of Egyptian, Greco-Roman Antiquities in Luxor has notified hours for three entries, and three only.
Source: notice issued by the General Administration of Egyptian, Greco-Roman Antiquities in Luxor, reported 21 October 2026 by Cairo 24 and Vetogate (both Arabic). The three reports we found carry the same single notice, so treat them as one source rather than as three that agree.
The number worth remembering is the gap. Karnak and the Qurna area shut at 17:00; Luxor Temple runs on until 20:00. That three-hour difference is the single fact that shapes a Luxor winter day, and it is the opposite of the usual advice to treat Luxor Temple as a quick stop. In December, when it is dark by about half past five, Luxor Temple is the only major site on either bank still open — and it is floodlit. Give it the evening rather than twenty rushed minutes before dinner.
The same gap sets the constraint at the other end of the day. With a 17:00 close on the West Bank, a late start costs you the afternoon entirely, so the Qurna sites have to be a morning. The practical shape of a winter day is therefore: West Bank at or near opening, the middle of the day indoors, and Luxor Temple after dark. If you are staying on the East Bank between the corniche and the railway station, the temple is a twenty-minute walk and you can go back a second time in the evening at no cost beyond the ticket.
Karnak in the morning, and what to skip
Karnak opens at 06:00 under the new timetable, and the winter months are the only time the first hours are genuinely comfortable. Arrive at opening, walk the Great Hypostyle Hall before the coach groups cross from the West Bank, and you will have the columns largely to yourself. The site is 2.5 kilometres northeast of Luxor Temple, a short taxi or a calèche ride along the corniche, and there is no useful public transport inside the complex. Allow two to three hours. With a 17:00 close, the late-afternoon light at Karnak that people recommend in summer is no longer available in winter — another reason to go early rather than at the end of the day.
The sound and light show runs after the temple itself has closed, and is a separate ticket and a separate booking. Its winter times are not in the antiquities notice, so check them directly rather than relying on any published schedule, this page included. Worth knowing before you book: it occupies exactly the window in which Luxor Temple is floodlit and open until 20:00, so the two are a genuine either-or on any given evening.
Skip the temptation to do both Karnak and the West Bank on the same day in winter. Both now close at 17:00, so a combined day means arriving at the second site with the clock against you. Better: one morning for Karnak and the East Bank museums, one full day for the West Bank, and Luxor Temple in the evenings in between. Hotel rates on the East Bank between the corniche and the station are broadly similar to the West Bank in winter, but the East Bank saves you a ferry or bridge crossing each evening — which matters more now that the only thing still open after 17:00 is on that side of the river.
The sites with no confirmed hours
This is where most opening-hours pages, including an earlier version of this one, get it backwards. The notice names three entries. It says nothing at all about the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, Medinet Habu, the Luxor Museum or the Karnak sound and light show. Those sites are not described as unchanged, and they are not described as changed. They are simply absent.
So any winter hours you see quoted for them — here or anywhere else — are custom rather than confirmation. In practice the Valley of the Kings and Deir el-Bahri do open early and have done for years, and that is a reasonable thing to plan around; it is not the same as a published timetable, and we are not going to present it as one. Ask at the ticket office, or have your hotel desk ring ahead, before you commit to a taxi.
One ambiguity is worth naming rather than smoothing over. The notice sets hours for the “Qurna archaeological area” without listing what that area contains. The tombs of the Nobles at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna and the mortuary temple of Seti I at Qurna both sit inside what is conventionally called that area, so the 06:00 to 17:00 window probably covers them — but the notice does not say so, and we have not been able to confirm it. Treat those two as probable rather than certain.
The practical rule follows from all of this: if you have three days in Luxor, put the three confirmed sites first and hold the unconfirmed ones for the final morning, when a closure costs you nothing. The West Bank ferry from the corniche near Luxor Temple runs from before dawn, so an early start is easy even if the site you are heading for turns out to open later than you hoped.
Where to stay and when to come
December and January are the peak months, with daytime temperatures around 20 to 25 degrees and cool evenings; February and March are busier still, and November is the sweet spot, warm but before the Christmas rush. Summer is cheaper and much hotter — July afternoons reach 42 degrees — and the winter timetable does not apply. For a first visit, we would book on the East Bank within walking distance of Luxor Temple: the corniche strip between the temple and the railway station has the widest range of mid-range hotels, and with the temple open to 20:00 an evening visit on foot is the single best thing the location buys you.
The West Bank suits longer stays and travellers who want quiet, but you will cross by ferry or the bridge each time you want the East Bank, and in winter the last useful ferries run early in the evening — which is a real trade-off against a temple that now stays open three hours after everything else. Check whether your hotel offers airport transfers; Luxor International Airport is about 6 kilometres east of the corniche, a fifteen-minute drive outside peak traffic. Book early for November through January.
And confirm hours on arrival regardless. A notified timetable is a guide, not a guarantee: individual sites adjust for restoration work, staffing and events without announcing it, and the authority that issued this notice is under no obligation to publish the next change in English.
How we checked this
The hours on this page come from one source: a notice issued by the General Administration of Egyptian, Greco-Roman Antiquities in Luxor. We have not seen the notice itself. We have read two Arabic reports of it, published on 21 October 2026, which give identical figures:
- Cairo 24, 21 October 2026, by Mina Salah — “Modified visiting hours at Luxor's archaeological sites from 30 October”
- Vetogate, 21 October 2026, by Mahrous Hendawy
A third report, in Youm7 on 22 October, carries the same notice. Because all three relay one announcement, we count them as a single source rather than as corroboration.
We have found no English-language source that publishes these figures. If you spot an error, or you have been to one of these sites since 30 October and found different hours, please tell us — we would rather correct this page than have it be confidently wrong. Corrections: an earlier version of this page, published 23 October 2026, described the Valley of the Kings and Deir el-Bahri as “reliably open early” and the Qurna sites as unconfirmed. That had it the wrong way round, and gave no hours at all. Corrected 27 October 2026.
Questions
What are Luxor Temple's winter opening hours?+
From 30 October 2026, Luxor Temple is open 07:00 to 20:00. Karnak and the Qurna archaeological area close much earlier, at 17:00. These are the hours notified by the General Administration of Egyptian, Greco-Roman Antiquities in Luxor. Confirm on the day at the ticket office, because local adjustments happen.
Which Luxor sites have no confirmed winter hours?+
The notice covers three entries only: Karnak Temples, Luxor Temple and the Qurna archaeological area. It gives no hours for the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, Medinet Habu, the Luxor Museum or the Karnak sound and light show. Treat hours published elsewhere for those sites as custom rather than confirmed, and check at the ticket office.
When do Luxor's winter opening hours start?+
Friday 30 October 2026, in step with Egypt's clock change. Expect the summer pattern to return at the April clock change, though no notice has been issued for that yet.
When is the best time to visit Luxor?+
November offers warm days before the December and January peak. December to March is busiest, with days around 20 to 25 degrees. Summer is cheaper but very hot, and the winter timetable does not apply, so check hours if you travel then.
