Aboudi Bookshop Café
A shaded Corniche café attached to Luxor's best English-language bookshop, ideal for a slow tea and a guidebook.
Small shaded café terrace with bookshop next to it
What to expect at Aboudi Bookshop Café
The Aboudi family have been booksellers in Luxor since 1909, and their small shop next to the Old Winter Palace on the Corniche is the best place in the city for English-language books on Egyptology, guidebooks, maps, and secondhand paperbacks. Attached to it is a friendly little café with a shaded terrace looking onto the Nile: about eight tables under bougainvillea, ceiling fans, and a menu of tea, coffee, fresh juices and light snacks.
This isn't a destination restaurant, it's a stop — the place you settle for an hour with a book and a mint tea or a fresh mango juice ($2-3). They do decent sandwiches, a couple of Egyptian breakfast plates (ful and eggs, around $4), and simple pasta. The coffee is fine — better than most Nile-view hotels. The bookshop next door will happily take orders for anything they don't have in stock.
Come mid-morning or late afternoon for the best light on the Nile. Wifi is decent. It's an easy place to plan the next day — spread out a map, pick your West Bank sites, chat to the staff who know exactly which tombs are currently open. Combine with a Corniche walk and a visit to the Winter Palace's grand hall next door. A very civilized $5 hour.
Questions about Aboudi Bookshop Café
About $3-8 per person; drinks $2-4, snacks $3-6.
It's a café — no entry fee, but a purchase is expected.
As long as you like — an hour is normal, longer is fine with wifi.
Fridays open only after 14:00 due to prayers. Otherwise daily.
No, walk-in only.
On the Corniche next to the Old Winter Palace, opposite Luxor Temple. Small green awning.
Hotels near Aboudi Bookshop Café
Every hotel we cover in Corniche al-Nil
- Zain Palace 1 km away
- Nile Shores Hotel 1.5 km away
- El Bawaba Lodge & Luxury Retreat 1.7 km away
- Lilys Garden Guest House 2.2 km away
- Villa Nile Rayan 2.4 km away
- Family Guest House 2.4 km away
- Villa Farida Palace 2.6 km away
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