Things to do in Luxor

Luxor is ancient Thebes, and the Nile divides it into two jobs. The east bank was for the living, the west bank for the dead. Every itinerary here is built on that split.

The east bank

This is where the town is, and where the temples stand in it. Luxor Temple sits in the middle of the modern centre. Karnak is three kilometres north.

• Luxor Temple. Lit at night and best seen then, with a mosque still in use built into its upper wall.
• The Avenue of Sphinxes. Reopened in 2021 after decades of excavation, running the full distance to Karnak.
• The corniche. The riverfront walk, with feluccas and motor boats working from it all day.

The west bank

Across the water the green strip ends abruptly and the desert begins. The tombs are cut into that hillside. Everything here is done early.

• Hatshepsut's temple. Terraced into the cliff at Deir el-Bahari, and visible from a long way off.
• The Colossi of Memnon. Two seated statues of Amenhotep III, eighteen metres high, alone in a field.
• The valleys. Kings, queens and nobles are three separate sites with three separate tickets.

How a day is shaped

West bank first, starting at dawn, because the heat wins by noon. Balloons go up before that. The east bank is the afternoon and the evening.

Cruise boats to Aswan start or finish here, usually three or four nights. Shorter water is a sunset felucca. Both are sold on their own as well.

Practical

• Season. November to March. Summer regularly passes forty degrees, and the west bank has no shade at all.
• Crossing. A public ferry and private boats both run, and most tours use the bridge south of town.
• Tickets. Bought per site, and the big tombs cost extra on top of the valley ticket.
• Guides. Sites here are dense and unlabelled. A licensed Egyptologist is the difference between stones and history.