How do I get from Cairo to Luxor?

Overnight sleeper train (10 hours, first class USD 80-100 per person, Abela Egypt Railway) or domestic flight (1.5 hours, EgyptAir, USD 40-80 one-way). The sleeper train is an experience worth choosing if time permits.

How many days should I spend in Luxor?

Three to four days is ideal. Day 1: Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, Medinet Habu. Day 2: Karnak and Luxor Temple (evening). Day 3: Balloon at dawn, Valley of the Queens (Nefertari's tomb if budget allows), the Colossi of Memnon.

What is the entry fee for the Valley of the Kings?

Standard ticket: EGP 240 (USD 5) for 3 tombs. Tutankhamun's tomb: additional EGP 300. Seti I: additional EGP 1,500 (when open). Camera fees used to apply but are no longer charged in most tombs.

Is Luxor safe for independent travellers?

Yes — Luxor is one of the safest cities in Egypt for tourists. The sites are well-policed. The main caution is transport: use your hotel's recommended taxi service rather than accepting rides from strangers at the site entrances.

Luxor and the Valley of the Kings — The World's Greatest Open-Air Museum

64 pharaohs buried in a dry limestone valley to keep them safe. Most tombs were robbed before archaeology existed. The one that wasn't — Tutankhamun's — produced 5,398 objects. What remains in the Valley is the architecture of eternity.

The Valley of the Kings is a dry limestone canyon in the Theban Hills where the New Kingdom pharaohs — Ramesses II, Seti I, Tutankhamun — were buried between 1550 and 1070 BCE. The valley was chosen because it was remote and defensible and its natural peak (the Qurn, 420m) has the shape of a pyramid. None of these defences prevented the systematic robbery that emptied virtually every tomb before modern archaeology began. The exception was Tutankhamun's — sealed under debris from the cutting of Ramesses VI's tomb above it, undiscovered until 1922 — which produced 5,398 objects now split between Cairo's museums. What remains in the Valley is the architecture of the tombs themselves: kilometres of painted descending corridors, the hieroglyphs as sharp as the day they were cut 3,200 years ago, the geometry of a civilisation that took the afterlife seriously.

The Tombs

The standard Valley of the Kings ticket (EGP 240) includes entry to 3 tombs chosen from a rotating selection. The main extra-ticket tombs:

Tutankhamun (KV62): EGP 300 extra. Small, significant, emotionally powerful. The boy king's mummy remains in the golden sarcophagus.
Seti I (KV17): EGP 1,500 extra when open. The most elaborate paintings in the Valley — the full astronomical ceiling of the burial chamber is extraordinary.
Ramesses V/VI (KV9): Included in standard ticket. One of the largest tombs, excellent painted ceilings.

Karnak Temple

Karnak is not one temple — it is a vast complex of temples, pylons, obelisks, and sacred lakes built by at least 30 successive pharaohs over 2,000 years. The Hypostyle Hall (the room of 134 massive columns, each 23m tall) is one of the most extraordinary interior spaces produced by any civilisation. The Sacred Lake (where the priests purified themselves before rituals) is still full. Karnak is 3km from central Luxor and easily reached by taxi; allow 3 hours.

Luxor Temple at Night

Luxor Temple (in the centre of the city, 3km from Karnak) was built by Amenhotep III in 1400 BCE and added to by Ramesses II and various pharaohs thereafter. At night, illuminated from below, the warm limestone turns gold against the dark sky. The seated colossi of Ramesses II at the entrance pylon are best seen in this light. Entry is EGP 200 and the temple is open until 9pm.

Balloon Safari

Dawn hot-air balloons over the Theban Hills depart from the west bank of the Nile before sunrise (5am in winter). The flight lasts approximately 45-60 minutes and the view — the Nile and Luxor below, the Valley of the Kings and Temple of Hatshepsut in the hills, the sunrise arriving from the east in oranges and reds — is extraordinary. Cost: USD 80-120 per person. Book through your hotel the evening before. The landing site varies with the wind.