"Valley of the Kings" Luxor by JohnniOmani

The sheer scale of Luxor's monumental architecture and its excellent state of preservation, have made this village city on of the country's greatest tourist attractions. Ive personally never seen an area in the world that can compare to it with regards to local treasures. It is almost unfair to other places around the world because the city and surrounding area offer so much to travellers and historians. Built on and around 4000 year old site of Thebes, Luxor is one of the greatest open air museums, a time capsule of an incredible, long gone era. With so many tombs and temples on show, the challenge in Luxor is what to miss. There is the temple of Karnak, Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hatshepsut, Tomb of Nefertari, King Tut not to mention the Luxor Temple or Valley of the Queens. Luxor is like no other place in the world.

Karnak

Karnak is possibly one of the most overwhelming monuments of ancient Egypt and work was carried out here for more than 1500 years. It is a show case of the power and wealth of the Kings and Queens of Egypt's history and is awe inspiring. Karnak stands alone as one of the best preserved temples on the planet. You can easily spend half a day just roaming around with your mouth open taking in the site. Incredibly impressive.

Funerary Temple of Hatshepsut

The West Bank of Luxor was the necropolis of ancient Thebes, a vast city of the dead where amazing temples were raised to honor the pharaohs entombed in nearby cliffs, and where queens, royal children, nobles, priests and even workers built tombs that ranged in size and importance. The valley is dominated by the barren mountain called Al Qurn (The Horn). The tombs were designed to resemble the underworld, with a long, inclined rock corridor descending into either an antechamber or a series of pillared halls and ending in a burial chamber. More than 60 tombs have been found and a lot of them are not even pharaohs. The most famous tombs on display here are Tomb of Tutankhamun and Ramses VI and Tuthmosis III. Recently archaeologists have found yet another hidden tomb making this area an exciting place to be and despite suffering some tragic situations (killing of tourists)a few years ago it is recovering yearly from the wounds. To fully appreciate this area would take weeks and it ranks as one of the best tourist attractions anywhere.

• Pros:Best Sites in the World
• Cons:No single ticket to cover all sites
• In a nutshell:One of the best