Cleopatra Hotel Luxor

What this stay is

Cleopatra Hotel Luxor is in West Bank. Dawn starts.

What staying in West Bank is like

The West Bank is the strip of fields, villages and desert edge on the far side of the Nile from Luxor city, sitting roughly four kilometres from the centre as the river runs. The river is the boundary that matters: everything here is reached by the public ferry, a private boat, or the bridge, and once across, the road west climbs toward the desert sites rather than through a grid of streets.

Staying here settles the question of dawn access. The Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, Hatshepsut Temple at Deir el-Bahari, the Colossi of Memnon and the Ramesseum are all on this side, so early starts do not begin with a crossing. The trade-off is the river itself: evenings, restaurants and the rail station sit on the east side, so any of those means a ferry or boat back.

Mornings begin early and outward, toward the desert sites and the balloon launches that lift over the fields. During the day the villages and the roads between the monuments are working places, not strolling ones, and movement is by road or on foot along the fields. Evenings are quiet. What is open is limited, and most people either stay close to where they are sleeping or cross the river.

This area suits travellers whose trip is built around the tombs and temples and who accept the crossing as part of the day, and it suits early balloon flights. It suits less well anyone who wants an easy evening walk to dinner or quick access to the station and the Luxor Temple side. Those travellers should base on the East Bank instead, where the centre, the station and most hotels sit.

Within the West Bank itself, Al-Qurna and Medinat Habu sit close enough to be part of the same base, so a stay here reaches the temples and tombs of the whole west side without a long journey. Anything further, including the city and the station across the river, is a crossing away rather than a walk.

Getting around from here

The West Bank is the quieter side and the sites sit far apart, so a day here usually starts early and runs on a bicycle, a driver or the public ferry.

• Public ferry, every few minutes
• Private boat, on demand
• Bridge, road, south of the city

Where it is

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