Luxor Favorite Tips by Kuznetsov_Sergey Top 5 Page for this destination

1 Luxor General Overview

Favorite thing: Luxor is situated in 670 km to the south from Cairo and 70 km to the South from Qina (Qena). It has about 100 thousand inhabitants.

Luxor is located on the right bank of the Nile. Nowadays silent and small town it was referred as Thebes in days of the New Empire and it is considered that it was the capital of Egypt.

Numerous architectural monuments of Luxor are entered into the List of the world cultural heritage of UNESCO. Because of the historical value and wide popularity among tourists Luxor is allocated in an independent administrative unit.

Inhabited quarters last along the bank of the Nile.

Fondest memory: You may watch my 2 min 31 sec VIDEO-Clip on my personal YouTube channel: Egypt Luxor Downtown and Temple in April, 2007

Temple of Hatshepsut

Favorite thing: The West Bank of the Nile near Luxor or West Thebes is even more interesting in many aspects than the East Bank, which often has the name of East Thebes with its Karnak and Luxor Temples. Colossi of Memnon, Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Valley of the Kings, Temple of Ramesses III (Medinet Habu), Village of Deir el-Medinah and others are the highlights of the West Thebes. They are the purls of the ancient Egypt history and culture.

The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut of untraditional appearance which appears to be in harmony with the surrounding environment.
The Temple nestles at the foot of the cliffs in a natural "bay" on the West Bank of Luxor. This area had long been sacred to the goddess Hathor. In the 7th century AD, it was named after a Coptic monastery in the area, known as the “Northern monastery”. There is a theory suggesting that the Temple, in the Early Christian Period, was used as a Coptic monastery.
After the introduction of Christianity, Hatshepsut’s temple was used as a monastery. Its modern name Deir el-Bahri is Arabic for "Northern Monastery."
The Temple served for her posthumous worship and to honor the glory of Amun and the other gods.
The individual parts of the Temple of Hatshepsut correspond to the classical form of Theban mortuary temples with pylon, courts, hypostyle hall, sun court, chapel for the royal cult, and sanctuary.

Admission price to the Temple of Hatshepsut is 25 LE ($5)
Open hours from 6.00 till 18.00 (in April).
Ticket kiosk is located 1 km to the North of Colossies on the cross of the road to the Nile and the road which is parallel to the Theban Hills.
You can buy all types of tickets for sightseeing of Western Thebes in this kiosk.
Colossies are free of charge.

Vt has the separate location for the West bank of the Nile (Thebes). I've put my page here with 21 tips and 74 pics.

Fondest memory: You may see more pics on my Travelogue

Valley of the Kings

Favorite thing: The Valley of the Kings is hidden behind the Theban Hills on the West Bank of the Nile near Luxor. It was chosen as the burial place for most of Egypt's New Kingdom rulers for several reasons. The Valley is very close to the cultivated banks of the river and ancient Thebes. It is surrounded by steep cliffs. That is why it was easily guarded. The local limestone, cut millions of years ago by torrential rains to form the Valley, is good for making tombs.

There are 62 numbered royal and private tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Some of them have a simple pit, like KV 54. Some of tombs are huge like KV 5 with over 121 chambers and corridors. Most were found already plundered. A few, like the tomb of Tutankhamen (KV 62) contained thousands of precious artefacts.

The Necropolis of Thebes is really a highlight of Luxor.
There are in fact two connected valleys, of which the eastern is the more important. A total of 62 tombs have been given an official number, and there are at least three unnumbered tombs. Not all the numbered tombs belong to kings, some of them were constructed for members of the royal family.

Admission 70 LE ($13).
This ticket allowers to visit three tombs at your choice.
To visit Tutankhamun Tomb you should buy the separate ticket. It costs 100 LE ($19).
Open hours: from 7.30 till 17.30 (in April).

VT has the separate location for the Valley of Kings (Necropolis of Thebes). I put my own page here with 12 tips and 54 pics.

Fondest memory: You may see more pics on my Travelogue

Karnak Temple

Favorite thing: A highlight of Luxor (ancient city of Thebes) is the Karnak Temple. It covers an immense more than 40 hectares. The main and the grandest place of worship is the Precinct of Amun. The Great Hypostyle Hall is 6000 sq m and filled with immense stone pillars. The whole site has colossal statues, reliefs, obelisks and halls and, of course, the Avenue of the Sphinxes.

The Karnak Temples are open from 6:30 am until 5:30 pm in winter and from 6 am to 6 pm during summer.

Admission is LE 50 for foreigners, LE 20 for foreign students, LE 4 for Egyptians and LE 2 for Egyptian students. Visiting the open-air museum, to the left of the second pylon, costs an extra LE 20. The museum contains a collection of statuary that was found throughout the temple complex. The ticket has to be purchased at the main Karnak ticket kiosk.

Karnak takes at least a half of a day just to walk around its many precincts and years to come to know it well.

VT has its separate location for Karnak Temple. I have my own Karnak Temple page with 22 tips and 114 pics.

Fondest memory: You may see more pics on my Travelogue

The Nile at Luxor

Favorite thing: Everybody knows that the Nile is the greatest river of the world. Even if there wouldn’t any sights on its banks, and I wouldn’t see Pyramids and Temples, the cruise over the Nile would have a great sense for me.

It is difficult to express the feeling covering you when, being on an upper deck, you understand, that the Great and Powerful Nile stretches in front of you. This feeling was one of the strongest among set of feelings which I have felt during my travel over Egypt.

For the first time it has happened, as soon as our ship left the mooring in Luxor. I was in the cabin at this time and almost missed the miracle. Having seen a leaving bank through the window of the cabin, I have run out on to the upper deck and have felt the happiness which has captured me with an evening breeze. It was fine!

The next three days I stayed on the upper deck many times before sunrises or during sunsets and admired the beauty of the Nile. I was admiring its wonder-working force, power and trying to understand reasons of appearing of the civilization on its banks.

Fondest memory: You may see more pics on my Travelogue