Luxor & Valley of the Kings
We chose to start our Egypt adventure in Luxor and end our travels at the Great Pyramids in Giza, which in reality is working a bit backward historically but made sense for us from a travel logistics standpoint. Luxor is an hour flight from Cairo, served by Air Egypt which runs several flights per day. Our initial late flight night flight was canceled so we had to spend the night at the Cairo Le Méridien Airport Hotel and take an early morning flight the next day, which actually worked out just fine as we were able to be picked up at the airport and head straight to the West Bank to start exploring.
We began by heading south, crossing the Nile, and then a quick jaunt back north to the Valley of the Kings, home to over 60 known tombs. In Giza, the earlier tombs eventually manifested as pyramids, but it was discovered that pyramids were (surprise!) too easy for grave robbers to determine where all the goods were stashed away, so in the middle dynasty, Pharaohs began building tombs underground or into the side of the mountain in hopes that perhaps they would be harder for grave robbers to loot (nope, they weren’t).
Each tomb in King’s Valley is labeled in the order that they were discovered (KV 1, KV 2, etc). Many tombs are still undergoing excavation and/or preservation, so only a handful are open for tourism at any given time; there is a rotating schedule of which tombs are open and a general entry ticket allows you to enter three of the open tombs. In addition, there are two other tombs available for an additional ticket, and well worth the expense: Seti I and Ramses VI. On our drive to the West Bank, the tour guide asked why we had chosen the temples we picked, and why had we not chosen King Tut’s tomb? The answer: I read our guide book’s advice. Of the options that day, King Tut’s tomb by far is the least interesting but typically the ones that tourists always want to visit because of the name – who hasn’t heard of King Tut? In actuality, King Tut died very young and his tomb was unfinished so it’s very small and far less decorated than his celestial neighbors. And this is why it pays to get a good guide book and do some research before you arrive – any good guidebook will tell you that King Tut’s tomb should be low on your priority list. Of note, if you visit the Howard Carter house, you can actually visit a complete full-size replica of King Tut‘s tomb, accompanied by interesting pictures of the excavation back in the day, which I found far more interesting than just seeing the tomb would have been (the photos document the historical reminders of the challenges of excavating a tomb 100 years ago; in fact, multiple members of the expedition including its financier Lord Cavernan died of sepsis acquired from the tomb.)
On arrival at Valley of the Kings, you will park at a visitor’s center that has a model of all of the tombs depicting how they appear underground. Bathrooms are available, of course, in exchange for baksheesh (5-10 EGP). You then board a small train that takes you up to the base of the Valley of the Kings.
The morning we went, crowds were limited – the first tomb we visited was Ramses III which was the most crowded, with about 12 other visitors with us. By the time we got to Seti I and Ramses VI, there were no other tourists to be seen, just us and the guards. I find it strange to travel all the way to Egypt and skip the best tombs because of the extra fees for the additional ticket – unless you are on the strictest of budgets, you should absolutely splurge on at least one of the bonus tombs! Both Seti I and Ramses VI were stunning. The downfall of being the only visitors was that we were pestered by the well-meaning guards, who were eager for their baksheesh and were happy to see newly-arrived tourists who had not yet been able to find a place to get small change.
$20 USD lighter, we departed the Valley of the Kings and stopped by the Howard Carter House (as mentioned above, more interesting than the actual King Tut tomb itself) and then on to Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple. Carved into a cliff, it blends seamlessly into the landscape. Having read about Hatshepsut’s life in one of the books I read on our trip, Child of the Morning, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by her tenacity and braveness as a female pharaoh. We saw our first tour buses of the trip here (several Ukranian buses pulled in, on a day trip from the Red Sea – I can’t imagine how miserable it must have been spending 3-4 hours each way in a bus only to inhale the highlights of Luxor like drinking from a garden hose…..). We were lucky to snap some photos before the buses descended upon the temple.
By now, the heat was catching up to us and we no longer had the coolness of the tombs for shelter – it was a dry heat thank goodness, but 100 degree temps is hot regardless. We headed back across the river into Luxor (a good 40 minute drive) to enjoy a leisurely late lunch. We arrived at our hotel, the Sofitel Winter Palace, in the late afternoon to take a nap and enjoy the pool. As the sun set over the Nile, we decided to head out for a stroll. I was a little leery of taking a walk initially, not sure of how safe the area was, but Luxor has a beautiful riverside boardwalk – and while not very crowded, we did see families and even some single women walking by themselves, which is generally a very good sign. We left all our valuables at the hotel except for one iPhone for photos (and emergencies!) and headed out. There were definitely several locals trying to sell us trinkets, rides on their boats, etc and we simply ignored them and kept walking and they left us alone. We walked to the Luxor temple and took pictures as dusk settled in and the temple lit up for night. I strongly recommend a nighttime visit to this temple (of note, to enter the temple, it is a much further walk to the actual entrance, with portions of the walk that have no sidewalk and could be dangerous for a pedestrian, so I would have the hotel arrange taxi from the Sofitel).
I do think if I were to return to Luxor I would try out the Hilton Luxor Resort and Spa which looked much more swanky and modern, as opposed to the Sofitel’s old-school British luxury, but the Sofitel’s proximity to the Luxor temple was convenient. (Of note, Luxor is a sprawl of a city scattered alongside the Nile, and the only river crossing over to the Valley of Kings is south of Luxor. The Hilton I think is probably the superior hotel, but the disadvantage of the Hilton is the further drive to all attractions since it is on the North end of Luxor).
There are two major temple complexes to visit on the East bank, best seen early in the morning or at dusk to avoid the heat and crowds. Early on our second day, we departed early for the Karnak temple complex while the weather was cool. This massive complex of temples and statues was begun around 2000 BC in the middle kingdom and progressed over the subsequent 2 centuries and was considered the most important place of worship. Hitting the temple early in the morning allows you to beat both the heat and the tour buses (while few and far between, we did see several Ukrainian tour buses arriving as we left). Karnak also offers a nighttime sound and light show which would be another great way to experience the temple complex; the show was not running while we were there. From Karnak, we took a horse carriage down to the Luxor temple, a nice scenic way to see modern Luxor. In front of the Luxor temple, you can see remains of the great road, lined with hundreds of Sphinx statues, that used to connect Karnak and Luxor temples (now, much of the road is buried under houses and newer construction.) Both temples are incredible, with splashes of the colored paint from thousands of years ago still visible on the ceilings and some of the more sheltered wall panels. For a break from the heat, we visited the Luxor museum in early afternoon, which a small museum but contained some interesting sculptures and items that are worth seeing if you need some air conditioned bliss. We rounded out the day with lunch and a felucca sail on the Nile – a perfect way to cool off.
On our third and last morning in Luxor, we saw a few additional West Bank sites – the Ramesseum temple, the Temple of Ramesses II at Medinet Habu (lovely!), the nobles tombs, and the ancient workmen village of Deir el-Medina. Dier el-Medina is worth a visit as it contains some very small tombs with incredible painted artwork that remain so vivid even today – and again, we were the only tourists there. My regret for the morning is that we did not see Queen Nefertari’s incredible tomb in Valley of the Queens, as it is reportedly spectacular (rumors are, a complete reconstruction of it will be placed in the new Grand Egyptian Museum at some point to help preserve the original tomb from tourist traffic). Our day ended at noon, when we transferred to our dahayaba where we would spend the next 5 days cruising the Nile.
Overall, Luxor left me with incredible awe. While there are day trippers who try to see the highlights in a day, I think 2 cram-packed days minimum, and ideally 3-4 days total, are necessary to truly experience the area surrounding Luxor. With additional time, we would have seen Valley of the Queens and perhaps made a trip up to the Dendera and Abydos temples north of Luxor. A guide/driver is not essential for visiting the tombs in Valley of the Kings (the guides are not allowed inside the tombs), and visiting the two East bank temples, can be done easily on your own with transportation arranged by your hotel, but we felt like having a guide made our visit to the temples much richer, the driver was indispensable for covering a lot of ground safely and securely, and for the sites we visited on our third and last day, I found having a guide and driver was absolutely essential. Our tour guide company, Real Egypt, included all ticket prices (along with our guide, driver, and tips) but if you are piecing together your own tour, a trip on your own, I would recommend the Luxor Pass (the standard Luxor Pass includes all of the archaeological sites mentioned above for about $100 USD adults/$50 USD students, while the Premium Luxor Pass includes all of the sites plus the tombs of Seti I and Nefertari for $200 USD adults/$100 USD students. Both are valid for 5 days, allow you to bypass lines (though lines and crowds are not a current problem at any site) and can be purchased in Luxor near the Luxor Museum – ask your hotel. In addition, be sure to budget baksheesh or tips for the guards at the tombs and various sites (10-20 EGP per guard, our guides suggested 10) as well as for the bathrooms (5-10 EGP is fine), and bring plenty of water and sunscreen.
For more information about our itinerary, traveling to Egypt on points & miles, and other logistics of traveling to Egypt, see our related post, Planning a Trip to Egypt on Points & Miles.
