Luxor is a must visit for every traveller passionate about Ancient Egypt, it is where history comes back to life through incredible architecture and art. Based on my own experience, in this two days in Luxor itinerary, I will tell you how to best organise your trip to the former capital of Egypt, and how to get there.
I had such a lovely time in Luxor and would love to return one day. There is so much history here, so instead of cramming too much into each day, I left plenty of time to properly explore the sites and the temples.
Luxor is split into two parts: the East and West of the Nile. The Ancient Egyptians believed that life started in the East and ended in the West, exactly as the sun rises and sets every day. This is why the city was on the East side of the river, whilst the burial grounds were on the West side.
The centre of Luxor, with Karnak and Luxor Temples (the former site of the ancient city of Thebes) as well as the necropolis including the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, have been on the Unesco Heritage Protected List since 1979.
I would say that it’s impossible to visit Egypt and skip Luxor. Without further ado, let me tell you all about my experience in Luxor and what the highlights of my trip were, to help you plan your own itinerary to this fascinating city!
How to Get to Luxor
Luxor is located almost half way between Cairo and the southern border with Sudan. You can get to Luxor quite easily, from either Cairo or Aswan. A lot of people who visit Egypt will choose a cruise on the Nile, starting from Luxor or from Aswan, so they will arrive either by cruise ship, or public transport.
From Cairo
By flight:
The easiest way to get from Cairo to Luxor is by plane. Egypt Air runs several flights a day connecting the two cities. If you fly to Cairo, you can connect at the airport with a flight to Luxor, if you don’t want to stay in the capital of Egypt.
By train:
The most picturesque way to get from Cairo to Luxor is by the classic night train, Ernst Watania. The journey lasts for around 12 hours and it’s a great experience which I wrote about here. You get a sleeper cabin, and the journey includes dinner, as well as breakfast.
By bus:
There are several Go Buses that connect Cairo with Luxor, but I wouldn’t recommend them as the journey is way too long and the roads in Egypt are not very safe. There are a lot of accidents, the last one involving a touristic bus which happened only a couple of months ago.
From Aswan:
By ship:
Most people who arrive in Luxor from Aswan will be on a cruise ship, sailing on the Nile. I was on such a cruise, and I highly recommend the experience, which was one of the highlights of my trip to Egypt. You can read more about my cruise on the Nile by clicking here.
By private driver:
Tourists who won’t want to join a cruise will usually hire a driver to take them from Aswan to Luxor, stopping at Esna and Edfu Temples on the way. This is a much cheaper option than the cruise, and it’s a great alternative if you don’t have a lot of time to spend in Egypt.
The Best Time to Visit Luxor
The best time to visit Luxor is during the winter when it’s the peak tourist season in Egypt. This is because the weather is much milder than in summer. To visit the temples in summer, you will have to wake up at 5am in order to avoid the scorching temperatures.
I visited Luxor at the end of February, and whilst it was still hot, it wasn’t extreme. The temperature during the day would go up to 25 degrees Celsius and drop to around 10 degrees at night. I needed a jacket at night and in the morning, to keep warm. For more tips on what to pack for Egypt, depending on the season, check out my packing guide by clicking here.
The average temperatures in Egypt in each season are as follows:
December – February: 25 degrees Celsius
March-May: 35 degrees Celsius
June – August: 41 degrees Celsius
September – November: 35 degrees Celsius
How to Get Around in Luxor
If you arrive in Luxor by cruise boat, you will have a driver and a private guide who will take you to see the temples and monuments around Luxor.
If you arrive in Luxor on your own, I recommend staying in the centre of town. If you are visiting the Karnak and Luxor Temples on your own, you can either walk between them (it’s a 3 kilometres walk) or take a taxi. Make sure to negotiate the fare before you get in the car.
When walking around Luxor pay attention and not fall for the “saffron scam”. I was walking towards a restaurant when a man started walking alongside me and said that he recognised me from breakfast and that he worked in the kitchen as a bread maker. He said he was going to the market to buy spices, as that day was the weekly spice market in Luxor. He pointed towards the market, and I thought it was a bit odd, as the souk was in the other direction. He said that I could go with him if I wanted to buy cheap saffron. I politely declined and continued on my way to the restaurant. I didn’t think any more of it until I was approached again, by a different man, with the same line: “I know you from breakfast“. So I asked him which hotel, and he said “Winter Palace” which is the most famous one in town. As I was staying on the cruise ship, I immediately realised that it was actually a scam. I researched it, and apparently these men will take you to a spice shop where you will be sold overpriced and low-quality saffron. So be aware!
Where to Stay in Luxor
One of the most recommended hotels in Luxor is the Winter Palace. This is a historical 5 star hotel which has had some very famous guests over the years: Agatha Christie, who wrote Death on the Nile whilst staying here, George Herbert who financed Howard Carter’s expedition to discover the Tutankhamun’s tomb, and Winston Churchill.
The hotel is situated on the banks of the Nile, it has rooms with views over the river, luxury restaurants, and an oasis of tranquillity around their outdoor pool.
You can check here the latest prices per night at Winter Palace or book directly on Booking.com
For other hotel recommendations based on your budget, check out this selection from my trusted partner Booking.com
How Many Days in Luxor?
I highly recommend spending two days in Luxor, if you want to visit all the important temples and monuments at your own pace. Whilst I visited everything with the guide from my cruise ship, I really felt that the last day was a bit too rushed, and I wished I had more time to explore each temple properly.
I have seen other guides leading their clients inside the temples and pointing out different paintings and symbols. My guide explained everything outside, and then I and my cruise buddy were free to wander around to try and find the things he had mentioned. For this reason, I would recommend hiring an extra private guide to take you around the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut, Karnak Temple, and Luxor Temple.
If you want to see the Valley of the Queens as well, I would highly recommend spending an extra day in Luxor.
Most of the tourists visit the Valley of the Queens to see the tomb of Queen Nefertari, the first of the Great Royal Wives or Ramses the Great. The price to enter the tomb is quite steep, so you would want to take full advantage of your time there. Same as in the Valley of the Kings, the ticket to the Valley of the Queens gives you access to three different tombs. The entrance fee is 100 EGP (£4.4), with an extra fee of 1400 EGP (£62.3) for Queen Nefertari’s Tomb.
Day 1:
Go on a Hot Air Balloon Flight
Start your first day in Luxor with a romantic sunrise hot air balloon flight over the Valley of the Kings. The most popular tours are the ones that take off at sunrise. If you are on a budget, you can choose a later flight, that departs after sunrise.
Luxor is one of the most affordable places in the world to experience a hot air balloon flight. It is a very popular activity, so make sure you book ahead of time. You can also book through your cruise, but the price will be much higher. Here are some high rated tours:
Explore Karnak Temple
After breakfast head to Karnak Temple, the largest temple ever built in Ancient Egypt. Whilst most of the other Egyptian temples are dedicated to one deity only, at Karnak Temple three different gods were worshipped: Amun-Ra, Mut, and Khonsu.
The construction of Karnak Temple started during the Middle Kingdom, and continued over 2,000 years, into the Ptolemaic times. Each pharaoh that ruled Egypt over this period added something to the temple, making it bigger, larger, and more impressive. It is believed that there were around 30 different pharaohs who contributed to making Karnak Temple the largest religious complex in Egypt.
My guide explained that the temples in Ancient Egypt were built from the back to the front, following the same structure: the sanctuary, the hypostyle hall, the courtyard, the pylon (the stone gate) and the Sphinx alley. Some temples also had a sacred lake, where the priests would lead purification ceremonies.
Karnak Temple is different from any other temple because of its size and orientation. Whilst at the beginning of the construction it followed the same structure as any other temple, over the years it was developed into a complex of temples of four different parts. Only one part of the temple is open to the public, which is big enough to spend half a day exploring.
There are many interesting things to see at Karnak Temple. As I am always looking for stories, one of the facts that impressed me most was the Obelisk of Hatshepsut, which is the tallest in all of Egypt. The top of the obelisk has a different colour to the rest of the stone, a fact that intrigued me. Hatshepsut was the queen who ruled Egypt as a man and delayed the ascent to the throne of her stepson, Thutmose III. After her death, when he finally became King, he ordered that his stepmother be erased from history. Her obelisk at Karnak Temple was covered up, except for the top, which was exposed to sunlight, changing its colour over the years.
Another thing that you will find at Karnak Temple is the statue of the scarab. Vendors were trying to sell me small scarab statues at all of the temples, but it was at Karnak where I understood the story and its significance. The Ancient Egyptians thought that the scarab was a symbol of growth and rebirth, development, and manifestation. The scarab has the shape of a beetle, and it was believed it was the Earthly manifestation of God Khepri of the morning sun. My guide said that if you walk around the scarab statue seven times and make a wish, it will come true. I didn’t want to miss the chance of a wish coming true, so I circled the statue seven times, together with other hopeful visitors.
Entrance fee: 200 EGP (£8.9)
Visit Luxor Temple
Luxor Temple is the second most important temple in the ancient capital of Thebes. Connected to Karnak Temple by an avenue of sphinxes in Ancient Egypt, Luxor Temple was the place where the Kings of Egypt would be coronated. Alexander the Great claimed that he was coronated in Luxor Temple, but it is believed that he actually never travelled that far south of Egypt.
Luxor Temple is sat on the shores of the Nile and makes a wonderful place to visit before sunset. The temple is the oldest building in the world used continuously for religious worship. Built in 1400BC, the temple was converted into a Roman church in 398AD and then into a mosque in 640AD. The mosque still stands, it’s functional, and you can see it over the ancient columns of the old Luxor Temple.
The Sphinx Avenue was re-opened last year by the Egyptian Antiquities Minister, connecting Luxor Temple with Karnak Temple. Whilst only a few sphinx statues are still intact, you can walk the entire one and a half miles between the two temples. The walkaway is over 3,400 years old.
Entrance fee: 160 EGP (£7)
Ride a Felucca on the Nile
To end the first of the two days in Luxor, consider taking a relaxing felucca ride on the Nile. It is a great way to experience the city from the water and enjoy some quiet time away from the loud noises of the city.
A felucca is a traditional Egyptian boat with massive sails, that uses the power of the wind to navigate the waters. It is made entirely from wood and the owners decorate the inside with beautiful, colourful carpets and cushions.
Here are some highly rated operators which you can book online, that offer pick-ups from and drop-offs to your hotel:
Day 2:
Explore the Valley of the Kings
Start your second of this two days in Luxor itinerary with a visit to the Valley of the Kings. Try to arrive there as early as possible to have the site to yourself. The site opens at 6 am all year-round. After 9 am the site becomes too crowded and the high temperatures quite unpleasant. The inside of the tombs are quite humid, so take that into consideration as well when you decide what time to start your visit.
The Valley of the Kings is on the West side of the Nile and reaching it from Luxor takes around one hour. The Visitors Centre is very interesting as they have a 3D map of the area where you can see how the tombs are positioned in the rocks, and how deep they are. Some tombs are very small, with only one room, such as the tomb of King Tutankhamun. This is because the kings would start building their tombs on the day they were coronated. The longer their reign was, the deeper the tomb. The pharaoh would come to the Valley of the Kings, pick a random place, and then have his tomb dug there.
After the funeral, the tombs would be sealed and covered with rocks, so that nobody knew where they were. However, many of the tombs were found and robbed over the years. The only tomb that was found intact was the one of Tutankhamun, discovered by the British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922. His tomb has only one room, because he died at 18-19 years old, and ruled Egypt only for a very short time. He was known under the name of the Child King.
The tomb of Tutankhamun
The entrance ticket allows you to visit three different tombs. If you want to see the tomb of Tutankhamun, you have to pay an extra fee of 300 EGP (£13.5). The tombs are open on rotation, to protect them from too many daily visitors. It is forbidden to take photos with a flash inside the tombs – and please respect this rule, and also respect that you are inside a tomb and not an amusement park. Sadly, I have seen way too many people taking photos with a flash, taking selfies with the sarcophagi, shouting and laughing loudly inside the tombs. Don’t be that person!
My guide suggested three tombs to visit, the most beautiful in his opinion: Ramses VI, Ramses III, and Merenptah. The entrance to each tomb is made through a corridor painted with different scenes from the Ancient Egyptian funeral books.
The tomb is Ramses VI is quite short, descending steeply inside the mountain rocks, and has very beautiful paintings and intricate sculptures in the walls. The corridor is tall and the ceiling is painted as well, so don’t forget to look up too.
Ramses III has one of the longest tombs in the Valley of the Kings because he ruled Egypt for around 31 years. His tomb was actually supposed to belong to his father, Seth Bakht, but as he was digging inside the rock, he stumbled upon the tomb of Amenmese and decided to stop. Ramses III took over the tomb and redirected the corridor. The paintings inside this tomb are so beautiful, with vibrant colours and easy to spot scenes from the Book of the Dead. The tomb is currently under restoration, so it can’t be visited all the way to the burial chamber.
The tomb of Merenptah is different from the other two because as you will see, in the centre is the large burial chamber with the sarcophagus.
Entrance fee: 240 EGP + 4EGP if you want to take the electric train to the site (£10.6 + £0.18)
Extra fee for the Tutankhamun Tomb: 300 EGP (£13.5)
Check Out the Colossi of Memnon
Whilst most guided tours will stop at the Colossi of Memnon on the way to the Valley of the Kings, I recommend stopping there on your way back to save time and get to the Valley of the Kings early.
The two giant statues that form the Colossi of Memnon were part of a much larger temple complex, but there is no longer anything left of it. The statues are not in great condition but looking at them, you can imagine how massive the mortuary temple of Pharaoh Amenhotep III used to be.
Entrance fee: free of charge
Visit the Temple of Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut was a one of a kind lady! She ruled Egypt as a King after her husband died and her stepson was only a few years old. When he became of age, she decided to send him to join the army and claim that she was the choice of God Amun-Ra to rule the country. With the help of a high priest, she proclaimed herself King of Egypt.
She ruled the country peacefully, conducting several expeditions and opening up trade routes on the coast of Africa, bringing to Egypt novelty things such as myrrh trees, frankincense, spices, ivory and ebony, and wild animals. It is the first recorded attempt of importing live trees from one country to another. The roots of two of these trees can still be seen in the mortuary complex of Hatshepsut’s Temple.
The record of the expeditions and the choosing of Hatshepsut as the King of Egypt was depicted on the walls of the temple. However, as I mentioned before, after her death, her successor and stepson Thutmose III tried to erase her existence from history, so a lot of these paintings and sculptures have been destroyed. All the cartouches with her name were erased as well.
Entrance fee: 140 EGP + 4 EGP for the electric train (£6.2 + £0.18)
Shop in the Luxor Souk
Significantly smaller than the souk in Aswan, the shopping area in Luxor is still a great place to go if you want to buy spices, tea, or just a souvenir. The souk gets lively in the evening, but it is open in the afternoon as well. Remember to always negotiate, as the vendors will quote you a much higher price than the item you want to buy really costs.
Negotiation is part of the Egyptian culture, and it’s a fun way of interacting with the locals. They seem to have a lot of fun chatting up tourists. I bought a souvenir fridge magnet from the Luxor souk and enjoyed going back and forth negotiating the price. I wanted a particular design, and the only one the vendor had was broken, so he kindly went around half the souk to find the same one from another vendor.
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Can’t wait to visit Egypt. Luxor is definitely on my list. Thank this guide was very detailed I got what I needed to know.
I heard about Luxor but your piat gave good details. If we go, we will visit the 2 temples, Karnak and Luxor, as a minimum. And I would love to experience the Nile@
Luxor’s architecture, particularly the temples and monuments, has left me speechless. Karnak Temple is my personal favorite. Thank you for giving recommendations on how to go to Luxor via various modes of transportation, as well as the average temperature levels in Egypt during each season – this is quite useful. I had no idea there were so many interesting locations to explore here; I hope to visit Luxor soon!
I would love to visit Egypt! It is definitely on my list of places I would love to go. I really appreciate the tips you included!
I know so little about Egypt so this was incredible to look through! Karnak Temple looks absolutely incredible and i’m definitely adding that to my bucketlist.
Wow this is stunning! Such a thorough explanation too, thanks so much
We have always wanted to visit Egypt but haven’t had the chance yet. Thank you for this very detailed post. Very helpful. Thank you too for the tip about the saffron scam. Love the idea of going on a hot air balloon ride. It would be nice to see everything from above.
I love Egypt so much! Thanks for such a wonderfully detailed guide about Luxor – I really hope I can visit one day. Saving your post for future reference 🙂
Egypt has been on my bucket list since I was a kid dreaming about becoming an archaeologist. No idea why I haven’t been there yet. I found this article very inspiring and detailed. Loved it. Thank you very much for all your tips and info.