Luxor, Egypt
Luxor, Egypt: the ancient city of Thebes, where temples and royal tombs line the Nile.
Best Time to Visit
October to March
Region
Upper Egypt
Recommended Duration
4-6 days
Difficulty
Easy
Discover Luxor, Egypt
Luxor occupies the site of ancient Thebes, once the capital of Egypt's New Kingdom and the most powerful city in the ancient world. Karnak and Luxor Temple rise on the east bank, while the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut's temple lie across the river. No other city on Earth holds this concentration of pharaonic history.
Luxor, Egypt Highlights
Explore the treasures that make Luxor, Egypt one of Egypt's most captivating destinations.
Karnak Temple Complex
Karnak Temple, the largest religious site ever built, took over 2,000 years and 30 pharaohs to construct, its Great Hypostyle Hall raising 134 columns skyward.
Luxor Temple
Luxor Temple has stood at the heart of the city for over 3,400 years, its soaring obelisk and Ramesses II colossi framing layers of pharaonic, Roman, and Islamic history.
Luxor Museum
Luxor Museum, widely regarded as Egypt's finest, displays an alabaster statue of Amenhotep III and two royal mummies within an intimate, beautifully curated setting.
Mummification Museum
The Mummification Museum on Luxor's Corniche traces the ancient science of embalming through preserved tools, sacred animal mummies, and centuries of ritual belief.
Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut (Deir el-Bahari)
Hatshepsut Temple rises in three colonnaded terraces from the Theban cliffs, its vivid reliefs depicting the ancient expedition to the Land of Punt.
Ramesseum (Temple of Ramesses II)
The Ramesseum, immortalized by Shelley's Ozymandias, holds a colossal fallen statue of Ramesses II alongside some of ancient Egypt's finest surviving military reliefs.
Medinet Habu (Temple of Ramesses III)
Medinet Habu, Ramesses III's remarkably preserved mortuary temple, carries dramatic reliefs of the Sea Peoples' invasion behind a unique fortified Migdol gateway.
Colossi of Memnon
The Colossi of Memnon, two 18-meter seated statues of Amenhotep III, have watched over the Theban plain for more than 3,300 years.
Valley of the Kings
The Valley of the Kings, burial ground of Egypt's greatest pharaohs, holds 63 discovered tombs cut into desert rock across five centuries of royal history.
Valley of the Queens
The Valley of the Queens, burial place of royal consorts and princes, preserves some of the most vividly painted tomb interiors in all of Egypt.
Tombs of the Nobles
The Tombs of the Nobles, carved into the hills of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, depict scenes of everyday life rather than royal gods and the afterlife.
Tomb of Nefertari
The Tomb of Nefertari, created for Ramesses II's most beloved queen, contains the most beautifully painted burial chamber surviving from the ancient world.
Tomb of Tutankhamun
The Tomb of Tutankhamun, discovered intact by Howard Carter in 1922, remains the only substantially undisturbed royal burial ever found in Egypt.
Howard Carter's House
Howard Carter's House, the excavator's restored mudbrick residence near the Valley of the Kings, preserves period photographs and equipment from his historic 1922 discovery.
Gurna Village
Old Gurna, built directly above the Nobles' Tombs, reveals painted mudbrick facades depicting Hajj journeys in vivid traditional Egyptian folk art.
Malkata Palace
Malkata Palace, built by Amenhotep III as a vast royal city on Luxor's west bank, once housed festival halls, private apartments, and an artificial harbor linked to the Nile.
Deir el-Medina
Deir el-Medina, the ancient village of royal tomb builders, preserves artisans' houses, chapels, and vividly painted tombs revealing daily life during Egypt's New Kingdom period.
Temple of Seti I
The Temple of Seti I at Qurna, built for the pharaoh's mortuary cult, preserves finely carved reliefs completed by his son Ramesses II after Seti's death in 1279 BC.
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