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Things to do in Luxor

Twenty-four sites, walks, markets and meals across both banks. In Luxor the hour you arrive matters as much as what you visit, so everything here is filed by when to go.

24
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06:00
Earliest opening
5
Free to visit
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Plan by the clock Showing the whole day, tap a slot to narrow it
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All twenty-four

Everything we cover, filed by the hour that suits it best.

Type
Path through the Valley of the Kings under the Theban hills West Bank Unmissable 06:00 opening2 hours Valley of the Kings Three tombs on the standard ticket. Be at the gate at six and the corridors are yours. Plan the visit → Hot air balloons rising over the West Bank at dawn West Bank Unmissable Pre-dawn pickup3 hours door to door Balloon over the West Bank Up before sunrise over the mortuary temples and sugarcane. The one splurge nobody regrets. How to book → Terraces of the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari West Bank Unmissable 07:3090 minutes Hatshepsut Temple Three terraces cut straight into the cliff. The rock shades them early and not at all later. Plan the visit → Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak Temple with massive columns East Bank Unmissable 06:00 or 16:002 hours minimum Karnak Temple Complex The hypostyle hall is the most overwhelming room in Egypt. Go at opening or in the last light. Plan the visit → Entrance to a tomb in the Valley of the Queens West Bank 08:00One hour Valley of the Queens Quieter than the Kings, and Nefertari’s tomb is the finest painted surface in Egypt. Plan the visit → Painted tomb walls in the Tombs of the Nobles at Luxor West Bank 08:3090 minutes Tombs of the Nobles Daily life rather than gods, harvests, banquets, fishing. Often completely empty. Plan the visit → Ruins of the workers village at Deir el-Medina West Bank 09:00One hour Deir el-Medina The village of the men who cut the royal tombs, with their own small painted tombs above it. Plan the visit → Fallen colossus and columns at the Ramesseum West Bank 09:30One hour Ramesseum Ramses II’s fallen colossus, the ruin that prompted Shelley’s Ozymandias. Plan the visit → The Colossi of Memnon standing in the West Bank fields West Bank Free On the way past15 minutes Colossi of Memnon Two eighteen-metre guardians in a field, and nothing to pay. Everyone stops here. Read more → Statuary in the galleries of the Luxor Museum East Bank Unmissable Hottest hours90 minutes Luxor Museum Small, beautifully lit, air-conditioned. The right thing to do when the sun is unbearable. Plan the visit → Display cases in the Mummification Museum in Luxor East Bank Hottest hours45 minutes Mummification Museum One room, well done: the tools, the process and the animals that were mummified too. Plan the visit → Books and café tables at Aboudi bookshop in Luxor East Bank Any afternoonAn hour Aboudi Bookshop & Café Egyptology shelves, cold karkadeh and a fan. The best place in Luxor to wait out the heat. Read more → Palms and banana plantation on Banana Island near Luxor East Bank Midday boatHalf day Banana Island A short felucca upriver to a plantation. More about the sail than the bananas. Read more → Painted reliefs at the mortuary temple of Ramses III West Bank Unmissable 16:0090 minutes Medinet Habu The best-preserved colour in Luxor, and usually near-empty by late afternoon. Plan the visit → Alabaster carving workshop on the West Bank West Bank Any afternoon30 minutes West Bank alabaster workshops Carvers working along the tomb road. Watch the lathe first, talk price second. Read more → The restored Avenue of Sphinxes between Karnak and Luxor Temple East Bank Free Late afternoonOne hour walk Avenue of Sphinxes Two and a half kilometres of restored processional road from Karnak to Luxor Temple. Walk it → The Corniche promenade along the Nile at sunset East Bank Free Golden hourAn hour Corniche al-Nil walk Feluccas, caleches and the light going gold on the water. Free, and the best hour of the day. Walk it → Stalls and lanterns in the covered souq in central Luxor East Bank Free Early eveningAn hour or two Luxor Souq Spices, karkadeh and alabaster. Walk deeper in than the first stalls before you buy. Read more → Illuminated columns of Luxor Temple at night East Bank Unmissable After sunsetOne hour Luxor Temple after dark Skip it by day. Lit at night, from the Corniche railing, it is the best free view in the city. Plan the visit → Egyptian mezze dishes on a table at a Luxor restaurant East Bank DinnerTwo hours Sofra Restaurant An old house full of mezze, molokhia and slow-cooked tagines. Book at weekends. Read more → Rooftop restaurant tables overlooking Luxor at night East Bank DinnerTwo hours Al-Sahaby Lane A rooftop over the souq with Luxor Temple lit below. Go for the view and stay for the pigeon. Read more → Painted ceiling of the Temple of Dendera Day trip Unmissable Leave by 07:00Half day Temple of Dendera An hour and a half north, and the painted ceilings are the best-preserved in Egypt. Plan the trip → Pylon of the Temple of Horus at Edfu Day trip Leave by 07:00Half day Temple of Edfu The most completely intact temple in Egypt, two hours upriver towards Aswan. Plan the trip → Carved columns in the Temple of Khnum at Esna Day trip AfternoonTwo hours Temple of Khnum, Esna A hall of astronomical ceilings sunk below the modern town, recently cleaned back to colour. Plan the trip →
Complete index

Everything to do in Luxor

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If you only have two days

The six that matter most

The 48-hour plan →
  1. Valley of the Kings Painted corridors cut into a mountain. Nothing else in Egypt is like being inside one. Dawn
  2. Karnak Temple Complex Two thousand years of building in one site, and the hypostyle hall at the centre of it. Opening or 16:00
  3. Balloon over the West Bank The only way to see how the necropolis, the cane and the river actually fit together. Pre-dawn
  4. Hatshepsut Temple Architecture answering a cliff, the most deliberate building on either bank. 07:30
  5. Luxor Temple after dark Lit columns in the middle of a living city, visible from the Corniche. After sunset
  6. Medinet Habu The colour survives here. You leave knowing what the others originally looked like. 16:00
Practicalities

Before you set out

What is worth booking in advance?+

The balloon, and little else. Tomb tickets are bought at the gate, the Luxor Pass at the ticket office, and no temple sells out. In high season a balloon slot can take several days to come free.

What tickets to buy in advance →

Is the Luxor Pass worth it?+

Only if you are doing the expensive extras, Nefertari, Seti I, the Valley of the Queens and both museums. For a two-day trip covering the headline sites, individual tickets usually come out cheaper.

Money and tipping in Luxor →

How early do the sites actually open?+

Six in the morning on the West Bank, and that is the single most useful fact on this page. Most groups arrive between nine and ten, so an early start buys you three near-empty hours.

48 hours in Luxor →

Can I see both banks in one day?+

Yes, and it is the standard first day: tombs and temples in the morning, cross for the museum in the heat, Karnak in low sun, dinner on the Corniche. Two days is far more comfortable.

Two days for a first-timer →

What is free?+

The Colossi of Memnon, the Avenue of Sphinxes, the Corniche walk, the souq, and Luxor Temple lit up from the railing at night. You could fill a good day without a ticket.

Free things to do in Luxor →

Sleep close to the ones you care about.

Dawn tombs mean the West Bank. Temples on foot mean the East. Pick the bank, then the room.

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