Top-Rated Things to Do in Luxor

Feb 8, 20234 min read

Updated: Feb 16, 2024

1. Temple of Karnak

Of Luxor's many monuments, the Temple Complex of Karnak has to be its most astonishing and beautiful feat.

Within its precincts are the Great Temple of Amun, the Temple of Khons, and the Festival Temple of Tuthmosis III, as well as surrounding minor temples and sanctuaries.

The complex is not built to a single unified plan. Instead, it represents the building activity of many successive rulers, who vied with one another in adding to and adorning this great national sanctuary, which became the most important of Egypt's temples during the New Kingdom.

2. Valley of the Kings

Hidden between the rocky escarpments of Luxor's West Bank, the Valley of the Kings was the final resting place for the kings of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties.

Covered in intricately detailed, vibrant wall paintings, the tombs are normally every visitor's number one stop on a West Bank visit and among the very top tourist attractions in Egypt.

Since it was believed that the dead, accompanied by the sun god (or perhaps having become one with the sun god) sailed through the underworld at night in a boat, the walls of the tombs were adorned with texts and scenes depicting this voyage and giving the dead instruction on its course.

3. Luxor Temple

Presiding over the modern downtown district, Luxor Temple is an ode to the changing face of Egypt through the centuries.

Built first by Amenophis III (on the site of an earlier sandstone temple), it was known as "the southern harem of Amun" and was dedicated to Amun, his consort Mut, and their son the moon god Khons.

Like all Egyptian temples, it comprises the chapels of the deities, with their vestibules and subsidiary chambers; a large Hypostyle Hall; and an open Peristyle Court, which was approached from the north by a great colonnade.

4. Temple of Deir al-Bahri (Queen Hatshepsut's Temple)

The Temple of Deir el-Bahri is magnificently situated on the West Bank, at the foot of the sheer cliffs fringing the desert hills, the light-colored, almost white, sandstone of the temple standing out prominently against the golden yellow to light brown rocks behind.

The temple complex is laid out on three terraces rising from the plain, linked by ramps, which divide it into a northern and a southern half. Along the west side of each terrace is a raised colonnade.

The terraces were hewn out of the eastern slopes of the hills, with retaining walls of the finest sandstone along the sides and to the rear. The temple itself was also partly hewn from the rock.

Inside, the complex is richly adorned with statues, reliefs, and inscriptions. Note how Queen Hatshepsut had herself represented with the attributes of a male pharaoh (beard and short apron) to demonstrate that she possessed all the authority of a king.

5. Colossi of Memnon

The Colossi of Memnon are the first monuments most travelers see on the West Bank.

These giant statues sit beside the main road that runs from the Luxor suburb of Al-Gezira on the west shore of the Nile bank, just before the main West Bank ticket office.

Carved out of hard yellowish-brown sandstone quarried in the hills above Edfu, they represent Amenophis III seated on a cube-shaped throne, and once stood guard at the entrance to the king's temple, of which only scanty traces are left.

In Roman Imperial times, they were taken for statues of Memnon, son of Eos and Tithonus, who was killed by Achilles during the Trojan War.

The South Colossus is better preserved than the one to the north. It stands 19.59-meters high and the base is partly buried under the sand. With the crown that it originally wore but has long since vanished, the total height must have been some 21 meters.

The North Colossus is the famous "musical statue," which brought flocks of visitors here during the Roman Imperial period.

Visitors observed that the statue emitted a musical note at sunrise and this gave rise to the myth that Memnon was greeting his mother, Eos, with this soft, plaintive note. The sound ceased to be heard after Emperor Septimus Severus had the upper part of the statue restored.

If you walk behind the statues, you can see the vast site (currently being excavated by archaeologists) where Amenophis III's temple once sat.

6. Valley of the Queens

The tombs in the Valley of the Queens, on the West Bank, mostly belong to the 19th and 20th dynasties.

A total of almost 80 tombs are now known, most of them excavated by an Italian expedition led by E. Schiaparelli between 1903 and 1905.

Many of the tombs are unfinished and without decoration, resembling mere caves in the rocks. There are few incised inscriptions or reliefs, with much of the decoration consisting of paintings on stucco.

Only four tombs are open for public viewing, but one of the group is the famed Tomb of Queen Nefertari, only reopened in 2016, making a trip here well worth it.

The Tomb of the Queen Nefertari, Wife to Ramses II, is regarded as the finest of the West Bank's glut of tombs. The walls and ceilings of the chambers here are covered with dazzling, highly detailed and richly colored scenes, which celebrate Nefertari's legendary beauty.

Of the three other tombs that can be seen here, the Tomb of Prince Amen-her-khopshef is the best, as the wall paintings of its chambers have well-preserved colors. A son of Ramses III, Amen-her-khopshef died while still a teenager.

If you have time, or simply just like tombs, the Tomb of Khaemwaset (another son of Ramses III) and the Tomb of Queen Titi both contain some interesting preserved scenes, though those in the Titi tomb are more faded than Khaemwaset. There is no consensus in the archaeology world over who Titi's husband was.