Eating Cheaply in Luxor: Food Costs, Dishes and Budget Tips

The cheapest filling dishes

Koshari: rice, lentils, pasta and chickpeas with tomato sauce and fried onions. The classic cheap, filling meal.
Ful medames: slow-cooked fava beans, usually with bread, oil and spices. A typical breakfast.
Ta'ameya: Egyptian falafel made with fava beans, often in a sandwich.
Hawawshi: bread stuffed with spiced minced meat and baked.
Feteer: a layered pastry, savoury or sweet.
Grilled chicken, kofta and kebab at local grills, usually with bread, rice and salad.
Fresh juices: sugarcane, mango and orange in season, from juice stands.

How ordering and paying works

Menus: local places may have an Arabic-only menu or prices on the wall. Pointing at what others are eating works.
Ask the price before ordering if none is shown.
Paying: small local places usually take cash only; restaurants aimed at visitors often take cards. Carry small notes, because change for large notes can be short.
The bill: restaurants may add a service charge and VAT; check the bill before tipping. See Tipping in Luxor.
Bread usually comes with the meal; salads and dips may be charged separately.

Where the inexpensive food is

East Bank city centre, away from the Corniche: the streets around the station and the souq have the most koshari shops, bakeries, grills and juice stands. Prices fall as you move away from the riverfront and the restaurants aimed at visitors.
The souq area: snacks, bakeries and simple cafés.
West Bank villages: simple local restaurants near the river landings and along the main roads, plus guesthouse kitchens that cook for guests.

For named places, see Where to eat in Luxor.

Budget tips

Eat your main meal at lunch at a local place, and keep dinner light.
Choose busy places with high turnover: the food is fresher.
Buy water in larger bottles from shops rather than single bottles at sights.
Check whether breakfast is included in your room rate before you plan breakfasts out.
Avoid ordering without a price at restaurants aimed at visitors.

Food safety

Choose freshly cooked, hot food from busy places. Peel fruit, drink bottled or filtered water and be cautious with ice and raw salads if your stomach is sensitive.

What food costs: crowd-sourced prices updated 2 October 2026

Item	Average	Range reported
Meal at an inexpensive restaurant	E£200	E£125 to E£300
Fast-food combo meal	E£195	E£180 to E£428
Cappuccino	E£70	E£15 to E£200
Soft drink (0.33 litre bottle)	E£15	E£15 to E£61
Bottled water (1.5 litres, shop)	E£9.50	E£6 to E£11
Fresh white bread (500 g loaf)	E£35	E£23 to E£63

Source: Numbeo cost-of-living data for Luxor, last updated 2 October 2026, from 6 contributors over the previous 18 months. Treat these as a rough guide: a small sample, and prices vary by place and change often.