Egypt · first visit
First Time in Luxor: What to See & Do — Trip Planner
Planning this trip in Luxor? Here’s how to decide what’s worth your time. The essential first-timer's hit list for Luxor — the tours, tickets and experiences worth your limited days, all bookable in one place.
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Top experiences in Luxor
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What first-timers get wrong in Luxor
Egypt's antiquities sites have gone cashless: Karnak, the Valley of the Kings and both museums take bank cards only at the window, so a fat wallet of pounds buys you nothing. Seti I's tomb is a separate and far steeper ticket than the standard three-tomb entry. The public ferry across the Nile costs a few pounds, though the drivers waiting at the West Bank landing do not.
What's actually worth your time in Luxor
Karnak deserves a whole morning; the Hypostyle Hall's 134 columns and the sacred lake reward slow walking. Luxor Temple is better floodlit after dark, with the reopened Avenue of Sphinxes running between the two. Across the river, the standard Valley of the Kings ticket admits you to three tombs, and the astronomical ceiling in Ramesses V and VI's tomb earns its surcharge. Hatshepsut's terraces are heavily reconstructed.
What things cost in Luxor
Karnak runs 300 pounds for foreigners and the standard Valley of the Kings ticket 750 for three tombs, with Ramesses V and VI another 220 and Seti I an eye-watering 2,000. Luxor Museum is around 400 and the Mummification Museum 220. The Luxor Pass at 130 US dollars covers both banks but excludes Seti I and Nefertari. A kushari plate stays under 100 pounds.
Luxor's museums, and which one to pick
Luxor Museum on the Corniche is small, superbly lit and undersold: the Akhenaten talatat wall and the statue cache dug from beneath the Luxor Temple court, roughly 400 pounds for foreigners, with a morning session and an evening reopening around five. The Mummification Museum, sunk below the Corniche, lays out embalming hooks and canopic jars in one room for around 220 pounds and shuts through the afternoon.
What to eat in Luxor
Eating in Luxor is cheap and unfussy. Kushari, layering lentils, rice, macaroni, fried onion and vinegared tomato sauce, is the standby along Television Street. Ask for ta'ameya at breakfast, Egypt's fava-bean falafel rather than the chickpea version, split into bread with tahina. Pigeon stuffed with freekeh is the celebration plate. Iced karkadeh, steeped hibiscus, is what everyone drinks against the heat.
When to go to Luxor
| Best months for first-timer guide | Avg daily high | Rain days |
|---|---|---|
| January | 22°C / 72°F | 0 days |
| February | 24°C / 75°F | 0 days |
| December | 25°C / 77°F | 0 days |
The month to avoid is August — around 43°C (109°F) with roughly 0 rain days. Prices and crowds track the weather here: January is the sweet spot, August the month most people skip.
Pack for peak season: Summer clothes, plus one light layer for air-con and evenings, Comfortable walking shoes — every guide on this site assumes you'll use them.
Where to base yourself in Luxor
- East Bank (Luxor town) — Main city — Luxor Temple, Karnak, hotels, the corniche promenade.
- West Bank — Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s Temple, Colossi of Memnon — quieter accommodation.
- Karnak — Massive temple complex north of town — best at dawn or for the evening sound-and-light show.