I knew Luxor was going to be a reprieve, albeit a small one, from the absolute chaos that Cairo brought but outside of the attractions, I had minimal knowledge on what to truly expect from it. Laura and I decided to slow down once again and spend a week here and in retrospect, I am glad we did. Luxor ended up having some of our favorite moments of our entire month spent in Egypt. While it was sometimes overwhelming it also was filled with all of the romantic Egypt that you would hope to find on your trip.

As with Cairo/Giza, this city was built on tourism and when tourism fell during the 2011 revolution it hurt them badly. We were witness to it finally starting to come back but much like the other major cities in Egypt, it is mostly from large tour groups that would be shepherded by their “safe” tour busses from location to location. This meant that we, the non-shepherded, were targets to EVERYONE.

The two sides of Luxor

Since Luxor straddles the Nile it has an Eastbank and Westbank. The Eastbank has the bustling city life, larger chain hotels and features two of the main temple complexes; the Temples of Luxor and Karnak. The Westbank has a much slower pace as it is the beginning of the villages and farming culture. The Westbank is where you will find the smaller guesthouses and Airbnb’s and where we decided to plant ourselves. You can find access to the Valley of the Kings/Queens and Hatshepsut temple from here as well as the balloon liftoff point.

Crossing between these two sides is mainly done via boat. Technically it can be done by car but the bridge is inconveniently far away and a taxi will both take longer and be more expensive. Of all of our crossings, we only took a car upon our arrival and our exit to El Gouna. For reference, it cost us 236EGP($15USD) to take the car and took roughly half an hour. If you choose to take a boat you can either go by private boat which is roughly 30-50EGP($2-3USD) per person and depart immediately or take the public ferry right by the boats for 5EGP(0.30USD) per person and wait maybe 5 minutes until it fills up. Both options take around 2 minutes to cross the river.

Life on the Eastbank

Quickly we realized that we made the right choice (for us) by staying on the Westbank of the Nile. With its noisy, dirty and aggressive streets, the Eastbank didn't make us want to hang out much outside of the trips to the temples. The temples, however, were some of my favorite in all of Egypt so that is an upside to the chaos.

Luxor Temple

Situated smack dab right in the middle of Luxor on the banks of the Nile is Luxor Temple. I would argue that the Luxor temple could be thought of as a grandchild to Karnak and should be visited first. I only say that because it is much smaller than its “grandparent” but grand in its own right. It may be overshadowed a bit by the sheer massiveness of Karnak. Luxor was the first true temple that we saw in Egypt so it instantly spurred our imagination with its towering obelisks, grand hieroglyphics and examples of how religion through the centuries has repurposed this space from a temple, then a church and now a mosque. I maaaay have had a smile on my face the entire hour or so it took us to work through it.

Entrance to Luxor Temple: 160 EGP adult/80 EGP student ($10/$5 USD)

Karnak Temple

Karnak Temple is actually a complex featuring several temples, chapels, obelisks and even a lake spread out over roughly 200 acres. The grounds are about 2 miles north of Luxor but getting here is as easy as spending 15 seconds for a carriage or taxi to approach you or taking 45 minutes to walk along the Nile. I had previously done a little bit of research on Karnak going in but no pictures or video could do justice the feeling of walking up to the entrance of this place. You can easily spend 2 hours here and you should. Like much of Egypt’s attractions, it is missing signage explaining things which reminded me of Pompeii in that regard. In retrospect I think a guide would have been helpful but you certainly won't miss anything just basking in the impressiveness of this.

While much of the site is outdoing itself over and over, I have a hard time believing there was anything more impressive at Karnak than the Hypostyle Hall. Coming in at 50,000 sq/ft and comprising of 134 MASSIVE columns this room earns the phrase “breathtaking”. Pictures and videos may try to capture it but like many things in this world, you have to see it to truly experience it. This was my second-most favorite moment in Egypt after the initial approach of the Pyramids of Giza.

Entrance to Karnak Temple complex: 200 EGP adult/100 EGP student ($13/$6.50 USD)

Life on the Westbank - the best bank

Yes, you will get approached within 5 seconds of landing for a taxi ride to the temples. Even though there are many more things to see on the westside it is SO MUCH CALMER on this side. After an initial disastrous Airbnb experience (our first in 4 months!!) we found a hotel/guesthouse that could take us immediately.

It was here on the Westbank that we got to have our 2 favorite food experiences in all of Egypt. First was at a small place aptly titled Tout Ankh Amoun which had THE BEST Egyptian food we experienced all month in Egypt. Dinner was based on suggestions from the waiter and consisted of rice, roasted potatoes, fava beans, an eggplant dish, the most amazing apple coconut chicken curry I could have ever imagined and with plenty of Aish Baladi (flatbread) available to mop it all up. The chef trained in France and it showed. We were the only ones eating there that evening which is typically unsettling for a restaurant but honestly, tourism is so low on the Westbank that we soon found out this was the norm.

The second favorite experience was at a small…farm/home? The Nubian House restaurant is quite literally on someone's front porch. I found it on Google maps and thought we would check it out during the day for that evening (Its good to be food prepared in Egypt). The owner promptly greeted us on the street and immediately welcomed us into his home and treated us to hibiscus tea. He then introduced us to his children and his wife(the chef) and showed us all around his extended family farm. At first, this was all a little alarming as 99.9% of all of my eating experiences have been strictly transactional, Laura and I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. After about an hour he got to talking business about dinner ( I don't believe he would have taken no for an answer). We agreed on fish and set 6 pm as the time to return. That night ended up being one of the most unique dining experiences of our lives. All of the food which was cooked in an outdoor mud oven was delicious and featured whole fish, rice and a potatoe stew. After dinner, we continued to drink hibiscus tea with his family and H even learned a new card game.

H had been pretty bummed about not riding a camel in Giza so we promised him an experience once we got to Luxor. On the Westbank village there are a few very nice stables to choose from and while we were initially decided on a horse riding trip we talked ourselves back down to a camel trip due to H’s age and inexperience on a horse. A few stable boys led us through the town and to a smaller Nubian village while traversing through banana farms along the way. It was a slow-moving ride and about 50 minutes longer than it is comfortable being on a camel but still very much worth it and a highlight for H.

Hatshepsut Temple

Hatshepsut is a very unique temple that has been reconstructed but due to its massive scale and position, it could be seen even from the roof of our hotel in Luxor. It is in relative proximity to the Valley of the Kings and it tends to be grouped up together on a day out. Since we were in Luxor for a week we decided to head out to it on its own. The approach from the entry gate was by far the most unique that we experienced in all of Egypt and I feel it is the main attraction here. Because of this, we chose to walk although a trolley transfer is available for a small extra fee (of course).

Entrance to Hatshepsut Temple: 140 EGP adult/70 EGP student ($9/$4.5 USD)

Valley of the Queens

Located roughly 20 minutes from the Westbank the Valley of the Queens is a much smaller tomb complex than the Valley of the Kings but we still felt that we should go experience it. Consisting of approximately 80 tombs, admission includes 3 that are chosen to be open at a time which is also on a rotation of others to help keep the integrity of them from tourism. These tombs were MUCH smaller than the tombs of Giza and much easier to access but quite impressive and we had them almost completely to ourselves. In addition to the 3 tombs you can elect to purchase an additional ticket into Queen Nefertari’s tomb for a whopping 1400EGP ($89) per person which is SUBSTANTIALLY more than the entrance ticket cost. We thought it was a misunderstanding when the taxi driver told us this but we were shocked to see it was in fact correct. This tomb is considered one of the best-preserved tombs in all of Egypt so I get charging more for it but I really questioned how they came up with that price and the need for it. I also by this point was growing a bit cynical of some of the price gouging for tourists so that may have led to some of my feelings.

Entrance to Valley of the Queens: 100 EGP adult/50 EGP student ($6/$3 USD)

Valley of the Kings

Roughly 35 minutes from the Westbank you will get to the Valley of the Kings. This was one of my most anticipated sites in Egypt during the planning phase and it lived up to my expectations fully. After being some of the only people at the Valley of the Queens we assumed that it was still low season and there wouldn't be many people at the Valley of the Kings. Boy were we wrong. It wasn't Pyramids of Giza level but there were more tourists here than we had seen in all of our time in Luxor.

As there was for Hatshepsut, there is a trolley to bring you from the ticketing center to the actual tomb area for a little extra money. This time you couldn't see how long of a walk it is because of a winding road so we took it. In actuality, it really isn't a far walk and in cooler months would be fine. H and Laura got talked into sitting upfront on the trolley. At first, this appeared to be a genuine act of kindness but with this being Egypt it turned out to be an attempt to peruse his makeshift storefront or at least get a tip out of it. You gotta love Egypt!

Similar to the Valley of the Queens your ticket purchase includes access to 3 tombs. What's different this time is that you have to choose which base ones. Out of over 60 tombs, 8 are only open to visitors. This leads to a little bit of FOMO and quickly searching which are the "best" to spend your coveted three choices on. We finally decided on Ramses IV, Merenptah, and Ramses IX.

In addition to these tombs, you can elect to pay extra for access to 3 additional tombs. Tutankhamun for 300 EGP ($19 USD), Ramesses V & VI for 100 EGP ($6 USD), and Seti I for 1000 EGP ($63 USD). Those are pretty big upgrades for individual tickets. I had heard Tutankhamun’s tomb is pretty small but it is something H and I had been looking forward to seeing all of this time so we got tickets for that and Laura hung outside. It indeed is pretty small but still wonderful to experience. While I have heard amazing things about the quality of Seti’s tomb, spending an additional $180 just wasn't planned for so we had to pass on that.

We had read previous differing reports on photography in the Valley of the Kings. For this reason I left my main camera at the hotel and I’m glad I did. Camera charges are an additional 300 EGP ($19 USD) but everyone was allowed to use their cellphones without flash.

Entrance to Valley of the Kings: 240 EGP adult/120 EGP student ($15/$7.5 USD)

Total Spent on attractions in Luxor: $157.50 USD

Side Note about cash/prices

As with everything we had experienced in Egypt, often the reports of what was allowed or what the prices were are generally changing. Often times we found admission prices that were posted even 6 months earlier to be incorrect. While this isn't usually a huge deal and the prices only fluctuate a little, we had very very few times that we were able to pay for items with a credit card. Expect to visit atm’s often. Also, there are many many people expecting tips and is part of the culture. 5-10 EGP goes a long way and is very appreciated. With that being said those 5-10 EGP notes can be hard to come by and are usually in a very…worn condition. I was most of the time frustrated not by the act and expectation to tip but not actually having small bills available to me so that I could tip. Lastly, wash your hands after handling money, especially those old ratty 5’s. They have been many many places.

In the end, our time in Luxor started to feel a little bit like home. We had our markets we would like to go to and the routes we knew to take. That's honestly the best part of slowing down and not trying to do everything. While it was a little disappointing to miss out on some of the bigger ticket tombs, I’m still thankful for the wonderful time we were able to spend here. And there is always next time!

Jonathan