Tours in Luxor Governorate

Luxor Governorate is younger than most of what stands in it. It was split off from Qena in 2009. The unit is a stretch of the Nile with the city at its centre and farmland either side.

Up and down the river

The governorate follows the water, not a compass. Its towns sit on the banks. The desert starts a few kilometres out on both sides.

• Esna. The Khnum temple sits well below the modern street, dug out of the town that grew over it.
• The Esna lock. Cruise boats queue here to change level, and the wait usually runs two to three hours.
• Armant. Sugar-cane country south of the city, with a mill and a small ancient site.
• The west-bank villages. Gurna and its neighbours, built among the tombs and slowly moved off them.

The cruise stretch

Almost all Nile cruising happens between here and Aswan. Boats run in both directions on a fixed set of stops. Three and four nights are the standard.

The scenery is the argument for it. Cane fields, water buffalo and mud-brick villages pass at walking pace. Temples are the stops, not the point.

Practical

• Season. November to March. Inland here is hotter than the coast and drier than Cairo.
• Distances. Everything is strung along one road beside the river. Nothing is far, and nothing is quick.
• The lock. Ask your cruise how it handles Esna. Waiting time there is the main variable in the schedule.
• Countryside. Villages are working farmland, not exhibits. Ask before photographing people.