The valley of Pharaohs
Prominent places to visit in Luxor include Hatshepsut temple, Valley of kings, Madinet Habu, Colossi of Memnon on west bank; Karnak temple, Luxor temple on east bank
We entered into Luxor midnight from Cairo by flight. We could find a driver on Careem, but had a tough time explaining where we are. He finally came in but asked for higher fare to get into West Bank where our hotel was. We agreed since we didn’t have many alternate options and were already tired to rebook and wait for a different drive. We also realized we might end up with same situation again as it is a common practice in Egypt to ask for different price vs what is shown on app, either in the form of Baksheesh or just like that. It was a relatively small amount so we gave in
He ended being quite helpful after that since our hotel was locked and we had to contact the manager midnight. He used his own phone to communicate, ensured that he waited till the manager came in. Egyptians are quite helpful by nature. Once you get past the haggling phase and agree on a price, they are usually reliable. You might still end up getting asked for extra Baksheesh at the end, but that is normal as per their culture
Hatshepsut temple – The famous one usually in pictures of Luxor. This was the first temple we visited in entire of Egypt, but we were a bit underwhelmed vs raving reviews. No doubt, the architecture is very beautiful and the three stories have sustained forces of time, but you can find better colors, artwork at other sites. We didn’t take the buggy to entrance and walked. In hindsight, we should have taken it to save up on our energy for the day. Entry 360 LE/ $7
Valley of Kings– Must visit for the beautiful artwork on the walls. We visited the tombs of Ramses III, IV, IX which were included in the ticket and additionally tombs of Ramses V and VI
Take the 20 LE buggy from entrance. Although short distance and walkable, it helps conserve energy for the day. Valley of kings entry fee was 600 LE/$12 with additional 180 LE/$3 for tomb of Ramses VI
These are the tombs which are open
- KV1 – Ramesses VII
- KV2 – Ramesses IV
- KV6 – Ramesses IX
- KV8 – Merenptah
- KV11 – Ramesses III
- KV14 – Tausert-Setnakht
- KV15 – Sety II
- KV16 – Ramesses I
- KV43 – Thutmose
- KV47 – Siptah
Additional fee for other tombs include
- KV9 – Ramesses V & VI : 180 LE/ $3.6
- KV17 – Seti I : 1800 LE/ $36
- KV62 – Tutankhamun : 500 LE/ $10
- Tomb of Ay – : 150 LE/ $3
Tombs we didn’t visit
Tombs of Ramses III and IV were somewhat similar, so suggest visiting tomb of Merenpetah or Tausert-Setnakht instead which was in our original plan of best five
The best tomb here is the tomb of Seti with the whooping 18600 LE entry fee/ $36 but we were too tired to walk in the hot sun and already mesmerized and satisfied with the tombs we had seen
Ting Tut’s tomb is interesting with his mummy inside the chamber, but the artwork is very limited since he died at a very young age at nineteen years. We decided to see other mummies in Cairo museum, along with his tomb treaures and give this a miss
Tomb of Ay is far away from the main entrance with some bit of walking and a ride on tomb guardian’s vehicle to reach there
Medinet Habu– one of the best temples in Luxor and entire of Egypt, usually not covered by cruise groups. The pillars, the colors, the setting were all out of the World. Entry 180 LE
Colossi of Memnon was a photo stop with two huge statues of Amenhotep
Karnak temple – known for its vast area, huge pillars and obelisks. Gives you an idea of scale of grandeur in old times
Luxor temple – Huge statues at the entry and Avenue of sphinxes stand out
How we travelled within the city
We asked around and got wide rates for day hire of taxi with driver from 1000-2000 LE. We started with taxi booking on Careem app from hotel to Hatshepsut temple and asked the driver if he was willing to go around for the whole day. He also quoted 1000+ LE. We finally went with the inDrive driver from Valley of Kings at 800 LE for the entire day covering West and East bank with drop at West bank hotel
Where we stayed
We had initially booked Hotel Kareem in West Bank. However, there was no one when we came to check-in midnight. Our taxi driver helped us connect with hotel manager. The hotel manager opened the door, tried looking for a triple occupancy room and finally asked if we were ok to shift to nearby Embrace Hotel managed by them at same price. It actually ended up being a better one with a nice garden, lift and decent breakfast included bread, foul, hummus, fruits, juice, coffee