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Top 10 Things To Do in Luxor

Country
Egypt
Best months
Nov · Dec · Jan · Feb
Population
~285K
Language
Arabic (English widely used in tourism)
Budget / day
$35–80
Quick answer

Give Luxor three full days. One for the east bank (Karnak in the early morning, Luxor Museum through the hot hours, Luxor Temple after dark), one for the west bank (Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's terraces, Medinet Habu), and one for whatever you want to go back to, plus a sunrise balloon or a day trip to Dendera. Come between November and February: July highs run past 40°C and outdoor sightseeing stops being sensible by mid-morning.

Modern Luxor is built on top of Thebes, the capital of Egypt at the height of its empire, and the arrangement has barely changed in three thousand years. The living city keeps the east bank, with Karnak and Luxor Temple in the middle of the traffic. The dead keep the west. A ferry crosses in five minutes.

The 10 best things to do in Luxor

1
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Karnak Temple Complex

Temple· El-Karnak, north Luxor, East Bank

Not one temple but a walled city of them, added to by pharaoh after pharaoh for roughly two thousand years. The Precinct of Amun-Re is the part visitors walk, and the Great Hypostyle Hall is why they remember it: 134 columns in 16 rows, the twelve down the central aisle around 24 metres tall. Start early: there is almost no shade.

Time2–3 hours
CostTicketed
Best atFirst hour after opening
TipWalk the Sacred Lake side on the way out for the quietest corner of the precinct
Map↗ Website
2
Photo

Valley of the Kings

Tombs· West Bank, behind the cliffs at Deir el-Bahari

The royal burial ground of the New Kingdom, cut into a dry valley chosen because a natural pyramid-shaped peak rises above it. More than sixty tombs have been found, and around ten are open at a time on a rotation that spreads the wear. Tutankhamun's KV62 and Seti I's KV17 are sold separately. KV17 is the one to pay for: 137 metres, and the best painted.

Time2–3 hours
CostTicketed, headline tombs extra
Best atEarly morning
TipWhich tombs are open changes; decide at the gate rather than in advance
Map↗ Website
3
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Luxor Temple

Temple· Corniche el-Nil, central Luxor, East Bank

The temple the modern city grew around, built largely by Amenhotep III and extended by Ramesses II, whose colossi and single surviving obelisk front the entrance. Its twin has stood in the Place de la Concorde since 1836. The strangest thing here is vertical: the mosque of Abu el-Haggag sits metres up the wall of the court, and is still in use.

Time1–2 hours
CostTicketed
Best atAfter sunset
TipThe entrance is a short walk from the souk, so pair the two in one evening
Map↗ Website
4
Photo

Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari

Temple· Deir el-Bahari, West Bank

Three colonnaded terraces set straight into a semicircle of cliff, built in the 18th Dynasty for the most successful of Egypt's few female pharaohs. The reliefs are the reason to slow down: the expedition she sent to Punt, drawn ship by ship, and the sequence arguing her divine birth and her right to rule. There is no shade on the ramps at all.

Time1–1.5 hours
CostTicketed
Best atEarly morning
TipThe Punt reliefs are on the middle terrace, left-hand colonnade
Map↗ Website
5
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Sunrise balloon over the West Bank

Experience· Launch fields near the Colossi of Memnon, West Bank

The one activity here that changes how you read the place. From the air the pattern is obvious: a hard green strip of irrigated fields, the temples sitting exactly on its edge, then desert and the tombs cut into it. Flights lift at first light for about 45 minutes, which means a pickup before dawn. Operators cancel on wind, so book early in your stay.

Time3–4 hours door to door
CostOperators price by season
Best atSunrise
TipBook the first day you arrive so a wind cancellation still leaves you a second attempt
Map
6
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Medinet Habu

Temple· Kom Lolah, West Bank

The mortuary temple of Ramesses III, and the west bank's most complete building. Because it stayed occupied and then buried, the reliefs kept their colour: ceilings still blue, hieroglyphs cut deep enough to throw shadows. The outer walls carry the battle scenes against the Sea Peoples, among the most detailed military records left from the ancient world.

Time1–1.5 hours
CostTicketed
Best atLate afternoon
TipLook up in the small chambers off the second court for the surviving paint
Map↗ Website
7
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Luxor Museum

Museum· Corniche el-Nil, between Luxor Temple and Karnak

Small, tightly edited and lit like a gallery rather than a storeroom, which makes it the opposite of most Egyptian collections. Statues stand alone against dark walls with labels that actually explain them, including pieces from the cache found under the court of Luxor Temple. An hour here before Karnak teaches more than an hour of reading.

Time1–1.5 hours
CostTicketed
Best atMidday heat
TipPair it with the Mummification Museum, a ten-minute walk south along the Corniche
Map↗ Website
8
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The Avenue of Sphinxes

Landmark· Between Karnak and Luxor Temple, East Bank

A processional road roughly 2.7 kilometres long, lined with sphinxes and rams, connecting Karnak to Luxor Temple. It carried the Opet Festival, when statues of the gods travelled between the two once a year. Buried under the modern city for centuries, excavated in stages after 1949, it reopened on 25 November 2021. The stretch nearest Luxor Temple is the one to walk.

Time30–60 minutes
CostFree to walk
Best atDusk
TipStart at the Luxor Temple end and turn back when you have had enough
Map
9
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Valley of the Queens

Tombs· West Bank, south of Deir el-Medina

The burial ground of royal wives and children, known in antiquity as Ta-Set-Neferu, the place of beauty. A handful of tombs are open, and the one everybody comes for is Nefertari's QV66, sold on a much higher ticket with a strict limit on how long you stay. The colour in it is the best preserved in Egypt. The other tombs are quiet and cost very little.

Time1 hour
CostTicketed
Best atLate morning
TipDecide on Nefertari before you go; the ticket is bought at the site and the visit is timed
Map↗ Website
10
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Sunset felucca on the Nile

Nile· Corniche el-Nil landings, East Bank

A felucca is a wooden boat with a single lateen sail and no engine, and an hour on one at the end of the day is the cheapest good decision in Luxor. The river is wide and slow here, the west bank cliffs go pink before the sun drops, and most captains stop at Banana Island. Agree the price and the length before you step aboard.

Time1–2 hours
CostNegotiated at the landing
Best atThe hour before sunset
TipBoats moored away from the big hotels quote noticeably lower
Map

9 of the 10, mapped

Luxor · 9 spots
AllTemplesTombsMuseumsFree

Luxor travel FAQ

Is Luxor worth visiting?+
Yes, and for most travellers it is the reason to fly to Egypt at all. Karnak, Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings and the west bank mortuary temples sit within a few kilometres of each other, which puts more standing ancient Egyptian architecture in one city than anywhere else. Cairo has the pyramids; Luxor has the temples.
How many days do you need in Luxor?+
Three full days covers it: one on the east bank for Karnak, the museums and Luxor Temple after dark, one on the west bank for the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut and Medinet Habu, and a third for a sunrise balloon or a day trip to Dendera. Two days is possible and tiring. Four lets you add Abydos.
What is the best time of year to visit Luxor?+
November to February. January averages a high near 23°C, which is the weather the sites were built for. July and August average highs above 40°C and regularly go higher, and sustained sightseeing between mid-morning and late afternoon is genuinely unpleasant. Rain is close to nonexistent in any month.
Do you need a guide for the Valley of the Kings?+
Not to get in, and guides are not allowed to lecture inside the tombs themselves. What a guide buys you is the reading of the wall: which text is on which side, why one tomb is unfinished, what the rotation has opened that week. If you would rather go alone, spend an hour in the Luxor Museum first and the tombs will make far more sense.
How do you get from Cairo to Luxor?+
Three ways. Domestic flights take about an hour and are the fastest. Egyptian National Railways runs day trains and an overnight sleeper, roughly ten hours, which trades a hotel night for the journey. A Nile cruise reaches Luxor from Aswan rather than from Cairo, so it is a way to leave rather than a way to arrive.
Beyond the headline sites

Best temples and tombs in Luxor

Eight more places on both banks, several of them empty at the hours the coaches are elsewhere.
All 8 temples and tombs →
West Bank roadside

Colossi of Memnon

14th c BC · Free

Two quartzite statues of Amenhotep III, around 18 metres tall, standing alone in a field where his mortuary temple used to be. Roman visitors came to hear one sing.

Map
West Bank

The Ramesseum

13th c BC · Ticketed

Ramesses II's mortuary temple, half collapsed, with the shattered colossus that gave Shelley the idea for Ozymandias lying face up in the second court.

Map
West Bank

Deir el-Medina

New Kingdom · Ticketed

The village of the craftsmen who cut and painted the royal tombs, with their own small tombs above it. The best-preserved workers' settlement left from ancient Egypt.

Map
Sheikh Abd el-Qurna

Tombs of the Nobles

New Kingdom · Ticketed by group

Officials rather than kings, so the walls show harvests, banquets and bookkeeping instead of funerary texts. Scattered across the hillside and sold in small groups.

Map
El-Karnak

Karnak Open Air Museum

Inside Karnak · Separate ticket

A separate enclosure inside Karnak holding reassembled early chapels, among them the white limestone chapel of Senusret I.

Map
El-Karnak

Precinct of Mut

Karnak south · Access varies

The southern enclosure at Karnak, built around a crescent-shaped sacred lake and lined with granite statues of the lioness goddess Sekhmet.

Map
Qurna, West Bank

Temple of Seti I at Qurna

13th c BC · Ticketed

The northernmost of the west bank mortuary temples, finished by Ramesses II for his father. Fine, restrained relief carving and, most days, nobody else in it.

Map
West Bank

The West Valley

New Kingdom · Ticketed

A side branch of the Valley of the Kings, also called the Valley of the Monkeys, holding the tomb of Ay. A long dusty approach keeps the coaches out.

Map
Indoors and air-conditioned

Best museums in Luxor

Three collections, all small, all better used before the sites than after them.
All 3 museums →
Corniche el-Nil

Luxor Museum

Antiquities · Ticketed

A short, sharply chosen collection of statuary lit against dark walls, with labels that explain rather than list. The best hour of context available in the city.

Map
Corniche el-Nil

Mummification Museum

Funerary practice · Ticketed

Below the Corniche, and more about what Egyptians believed happened after death than about the embalming table. Tools, canopic jars and animal mummies.

Map
Dra Abu el-Naga, West Bank

Howard Carter House

House museum · Ticketed

The domed mud-brick house on the west bank where Carter lived through the seasons that ended with Tutankhamun's tomb, opened as a museum in 2009 with his books and maps.

Map
Where to eat

Best restaurants in Luxor

Six kitchens across both banks, from a 1930s house to the grandest dining room in Upper Egypt.
All 6 restaurants →
Sharia Mohamed Farid, East Bank

Sofra Restaurant & Cafe

Egyptian · Book at dinner

Egyptian home cooking in a 1930s house with a roof terrace: cold and hot mezze, tagens cooked in clay pots, molokhia, and Om Ali to finish. The reference meal in Luxor.

Map
Off Sharia el-Souk

Al-Sahaby Lane

Egyptian · Rooftop

A family-run rooftop a couple of streets from Luxor Temple, with mezze, grills and tagines and a view over the floodlit colonnade. Loud, cheap and reliable.

Map
Sofitel Winter Palace, Corniche el-Nil

1886 Restaurant

Fine dining · Dress code

The formal dining room of the Old Winter Palace, French-leaning and served under crystal chandeliers. There is a dress code: an occasion, not a walk-in.

Map
Gezira, West Bank

Africa Restaurant

Egyptian · Walk-in

West bank cooking on the main street at Gezira, a short walk up from the ferry landing. Egyptian plates and grills, and the easiest sit-down meal over there.

Map
East Bank centre

Pizza Roma-it

Italian · Small room

A small Italian kitchen near the Corniche turning out proper thin pizza and pasta. The break most people want on the third day of tagines.

Map
Behind Luxor Temple

Oasis Palace

Egyptian · Courtyard

Egyptian and Mediterranean cooking in the streets behind Luxor Temple, with a courtyard that stays cool once the sun is off it.

Map
On the water

Best ways to get on the Nile in Luxor

Four ways onto the river, one of which is also the cheapest transport in the city.
All 4 Nile trips →
Corniche landings

Sunset felucca

1–2 hours · Negotiated

An hour or two under a lateen sail with the west bank cliffs turning pink. Negotiate the price and the duration on the landing, not on the boat.

Map
Upstream of Luxor

Banana Island

Half day · Boat only

A palm and banana plantation on a sandbank upstream, reached by felucca in about half an hour. A short walk, some fruit, and the turning point of most sunset sails.

Map
East to West Bank

The public ferry

5 minutes · Local fare

The local crossing between the Corniche, beside Luxor Museum, and the west bank landing at Gezira. Five minutes, and a fraction of a private motorboat.

Map
Luxor moorings

Nile cruise to Aswan

3–4 nights · Booked ahead

Three or four nights upstream, stopping at Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo, which are awkward to reach any other way. Boats leave from the Luxor moorings year round.

Map
Shopping

Best markets and craft workshops in Luxor

Three places to buy something, and one rule: the price is the second number, not the first.
All 3 markets and workshops →
Behind Luxor Temple

Luxor Souk

Daily · Cash

Sharia el-Souk runs north from behind Luxor Temple, part covered and pedestrianised. Spices, galabeyas, scarves and silver. Haggling is expected and unhurried.

Map
Qurna, West Bank

Alabaster workshops at Qurna

Workshops · Cash

The villages below the Valley of the Kings cut and polish alabaster in open workshops. Watching a bowl turned is free, and buying at the source beats the souk.

Map
East Bank centre

The produce market

Mornings · Cash

The everyday half of the souk, north of the tourist stretch: vegetables, dates, sugarcane and spice sacks. Nobody is selling you anything, which is the appeal.

Map
Out of town

Best day trips from Luxor

Five trips north and south, four of them by road and one on a very good train.
All 5 day trips →
North of Luxor

Dendera

Half day · Ticketed

The Temple of Hathor, an hour and a half north by road, and the most vividly painted ceiling in Egypt after cleaning.

Map
Sohag Governorate

Abydos

Full day · Ticketed

About 135 km north, and worth the drive for the Temple of Seti I: the finest raised relief in Egypt, plus the king list naming his predecessors to the first dynasty.

Map
55 km south

Esna

Half day · Ticketed

The Temple of Khnum sits nine metres below the modern street, in a pit dug out of the town above it. Cleaning has taken soot off ceilings nobody had seen.

Map
Aswan

Aswan by train

Full day · Rail

Around three hours south through the whole cultivated strip. Enough for Philae and a felucca before the evening train back, though a night there is better.

Map↗ Website
South of Luxor

Edfu and Kom Ombo

Full day · Ticketed

The two Ptolemaic temples between Luxor and Aswan, usually taken together by road in a long day. Edfu's Horus temple is the most completely preserved temple in Egypt.

Map
Where to base yourself

Best neighbourhoods in Luxor

Three areas, and the choice between them decides how your days are shaped.
All 3 neighbourhoods →
Corniche el-Nil

The Corniche and city centre

East Bank · Most hotels

The east bank riverfront, where most hotels sit within walking distance of Luxor Temple, the museums and the souk. Convenient, busy, and the base that needs no planning.

Map
El-Karnak

Karnak village

East Bank · Quieter

The northern end of the east bank, around the temple complex. Quieter and cheaper than the Corniche, and close enough to be at Karnak for opening.

Map
Gezira el-Bairat

Gezira and El-Bairat

West Bank · Guesthouses

The west bank villages between the fields and the cliffs, reached by the ferry. Small guesthouses, donkey carts, sugarcane, and the sites on your doorstep.

Map
What's on

Festivals & annual events in Luxor (2026)

Time your trip around the city's biggest dates.
7 January

Coptic Christmas

A public holiday across Egypt. Churches in Luxor hold late services the night before, and government offices and some banks close.

January or February

Luxor African Film Festival

A week of African cinema founded in 2012, with screenings in and around the city.

January or February

International Egyptian Marathon

Held in the coolest weeks of the year, starting and finishing at the Temple of Hatshepsut and running through the villages.

Sha'ban, before Ramadan

Moulid of Abu el-Haggag

Luxor's own festival, honouring the saint whose mosque stands on Luxor Temple.

Ninth Islamic month

Ramadan

Daylight fasting changes the rhythm of the city: quiet afternoons, late and busy evenings, shorter hours at some sites.

End of Ramadan

Eid al-Fitr

Three days of family visiting and public holiday. Trains and flights sell out ahead and the sites fill with Egyptians.

Monday after Coptic Easter

Sham el-Nessim

A spring holiday older than either of Egypt's main religions, spent picnicking outdoors.

Twelfth Islamic month

Eid al-Adha

The larger of the two Eids and another multi-day holiday. Expect closures, heavy domestic travel and a festive city.

Getting around

Luxor transport & airports

How to arrive, and how to cross the river.
LXR

Luxor International Airport

One terminal, about 6 km east of the centre and 15 to 20 minutes in by taxi. Domestic flights reach Cairo in around an hour. There is no rail or bus link, so agree a fare first.

Map
Luxor station

Rail

Egyptian National Railways runs north to Cairo in roughly ten hours and south to Aswan in three. The station is in the middle of the east bank.

Map↗ Website
5 minutes

The Nile ferry

The public boat between the Corniche, beside Luxor Museum, and the landing at Gezira is the cheapest way to the west bank. It runs through the day at a local fare; private motorboats work any hour.

Map
Agree first

Taxis and bikes

Street taxis are not metered, so the fare is settled before the door closes; hotels will tell you the rate for the west bank circuit.

Map
Traditional food

Must-try dishes in Luxor, Egypt

The classics to order before you leave.

Koshari

Egypt's national dish and the cheapest full meal in the country: rice, macaroni, lentils and chickpeas.

Molokhia

A thick green stew of chopped jute leaves cooked with garlic and coriander, over rice with chicken or rabbit.

Ta'meya

Egyptian falafel, made with fava beans rather than chickpeas, so greener and lighter.

Hamam mahshi

Pigeon stuffed with seasoned rice or cracked wheat and roasted. A celebration dish restaurants expect.

Fattah

Layers of crisp bread, rice and slow-cooked meat under a garlic and tomato sauce.

Feteer meshaltet

A many-layered pastry brushed with ghee and baked until it flakes apart.

Om Ali

The national dessert: a hot bread pudding of pastry, milk, nuts and raisins, baked until the top browns.

Sugarcane juice

Cane grows in the fields on both banks and is pressed to order in green-tiled shops.

Luxor fact sheet

Luxor at a glance

The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Egypt
Region
Upper Egypt, Luxor Governorate
Population
About 285,000 in the city (2023), about 1.4 million in the governorate
Founded
Settled as Thebes more than 4,000 years ago
Nickname
The world's greatest open-air museum
Language
Arabic (English widely used in tourism)
Currency
Egyptian pound (EGP)
Time zone
UTC+2 (EET)
Calling code
+20 (area code 95)
Airports
Luxor International (LXR)
Power
220V, plug types C and F
Emergency
122 police, 123 ambulance, 180 fire, 126 tourist police
Ideal length
3–4 days
Getting around
Taxis, the Nile ferry, bicycles
Tourism board
↗ Website

Interesting facts

  • The Arabic name al-Uqsur means 'the palaces', which is what early Arab travellers took the temple ruins in the middle of the town to be.
  • The Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak covers 5,000 square metres. Its roof was carried by 134 columns, the central twelve 24 metres tall.
  • One of the two obelisks that flanked the entrance to Luxor Temple has stood in the Place de la Concorde since 1836.
  • The Avenue of Sphinxes, buried under the modern city for centuries, reopened on 25 November 2021 after decades of excavation.
  • Rain is rare enough that some years pass without a measurable fall. January highs average around 23°C; July highs run past 40°C.

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