Attraction
Karnak Temple Complex
The vast temple complex of Amun-Re on Luxor's East Bank, built and rebuilt by around thirty pharaohs and famous for its forest-like Great Hypostyle Hall.
Most of the things to do in Luxor revolve around its extraordinary concentration of ancient monuments. The city stands on the site of ancient Thebes, split by the Nile into two halves. The East Bank holds the modern town, the Corniche, the souq, Luxor Temple, Karnak and the city's museums, while the West Bank, across the river, is a rural landscape of fields and villages backed by the Theban hills, where the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut, Medinet Habu and the Valley of the Queens lie.
Food is simple and satisfying, from koshari shops and grills to restored-house restaurants serving mezze and stuffed pigeon, with alcohol mostly found in hotels and a few pubs. Sunrise balloon flights, felucca sails and Nile cruises to Aswan start here, and day trips run to Dendera, Abydos and Edfu. Three days covers the main sights on both banks; four or five lets you add a day trip and slow down.
Attraction
The vast temple complex of Amun-Re on Luxor's East Bank, built and rebuilt by around thirty pharaohs and famous for its forest-like Great Hypostyle Hall.
Attraction
The desert valley on Luxor's West Bank where New Kingdom pharaohs were buried in painted rock-cut tombs, including the tomb of Tutankhamun.
Attraction
The riverside temple at the heart of Luxor, built mainly by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II and especially atmospheric when floodlit after dark.
Attraction
Queen Hatshepsut's terraced mortuary temple, set against the cliffs of Deir el-Bahari on the West Bank and decorated with reliefs of an expedition to Punt.
Attraction
Ramesses III's fortified mortuary temple on the West Bank, with deep-cut reliefs, surviving original colour and scenes of battles against the Sea Peoples.
Attraction
A compact, well-lit museum on the Corniche showing finds from Thebes, including the Luxor Temple statue cache, Tutankhamun objects and two royal mummies.
Café
A German-run ice cream parlour on the East Bank making creamy ice cream from local buffalo milk, in flavours such as hibiscus, guava and doum fruit.
Café
An inexpensive café opposite Luxor Temple, serving coffee, sandwiches, kofta, falafel and Egyptian desserts with views over the temple.
Café
The Hilton Luxor's waterfront shisha café, serving Arabian-style teas, Turkish coffee and flavoured water pipes with views over the Nile.
Café
A shaded garden café facing the temple of Medinet Habu on the West Bank, serving breakfast, cold drinks, Egyptian coffee and simple stews.
Café
A busy coffee shop in the heart of Luxor's souq, serving coffee, fresh juices and shisha, with misting machines to keep customers cool.
Café
One of the oldest café-restaurants on the West Bank, beside the Ramesseum in Old Qurna, serving cold drinks, beer and simple food to travellers.
Hotel
A palace-style West Bank retreat of domes, courtyards and antiques set in ten hectares of palm groves and gardens, and a member of Relais & Châteaux.
Hotel
A Nile-side resort and spa about a kilometre from Karnak Temple, with an infinity pool, a thermal garden and seven restaurants, cafés and bars.
Hotel
A large East Bank hotel right on the Nile with 303 rooms, four restaurants, three bars, a heated pool and its own boat dock.
Hotel
A Nile-front resort on the East Bank with two heated pools, a felucca dock and rooms ranging from city-view classics to a 150-square-metre Royal Suite.
Hotel
A 33-room West Bank hotel in Gezira el-Bairat with a pool and garden, close to the Theban tombs and temples and under Egyptian and English management.
Hotel
The oldest rest house on Luxor's West Bank, formerly the Sheikh Ali Hotel, with 36 simple rooms and a garden restaurant using home-grown produce.
Bar
An evening sound and light show inside Karnak Temple, telling the story of Thebes and its pharaohs with lighting and narration in several languages.
Bar
The Hilton Luxor's Nile-view bar and terrace, serving cocktails and traditional snacks with live entertainment and sunset views over the West Bank.
Bar
A long-running English-style pub on Khaled Ibn Al Walid Street, with a pool table, darts, sport on the big screen, cold beer and British pub food.
Bar
A riverside bar and lounge at the Steigenberger Nile Palace, serving drinks and light Thai, Italian and Lebanese bites on a patio beside the Nile.
Bar
The roof terrace of the small El Gezira Hotel on the West Bank, where dinner and drinks come with views across the Nile to the lights…
Bar
A pub and restaurant on Khaled Ibn El Walid Street opposite several big hotels, with an international and oriental menu, drinks and evening entertainment.
Restaurant
A much-loved Egyptian restaurant in a restored 1930s house in central Luxor, serving mezze, stuffed pigeon and clay-pot dishes on a shaded upstairs terrace.
Restaurant
A lively lane-side and rooftop restaurant beside the souq, serving Egyptian, Bedouin and international dishes with views towards the Nile and the West Bank hills.
Restaurant
A Corniche restaurant with tables overlooking the Nile and the West Bank, known for Egyptian grills, stuffed pigeon, fattah and candlelit evenings.
Restaurant
The Hilton Luxor's fine-dining Asian restaurant, serving dishes from across Asia, including Indian curries and Malaysian soups, in an elegant Nile-side setting.
Restaurant
The Italian restaurant at the Steigenberger Nile Palace, open to non-residents and popular for wood-fired pizzas, fresh pasta and evening entertainment.
Restaurant
A welcoming East Bank restaurant mixing Egyptian and English cooking, known for warm hospitality, lantern-lit rooms and puddings such as sticky toffee pudding.
Thing to do
The 2.7-kilometre ancient processional road lined with sphinxes that links Luxor Temple with Karnak, excavated and reopened in 2021 as a walking route.
Thing to do
The West Bank village where the craftsmen who built the royal tombs lived, with their own painted tombs and a small Ptolemaic temple to Hathor.
Thing to do
A day trip north of Luxor to Dendera's Temple of Hathor, a superbly preserved Ptolemaic and Roman temple with painted ceilings, crypts and rooftop chapels.
Thing to do
A long day trip north from Luxor to Abydos, where the Temple of Seti I holds some of Egypt's finest reliefs, the Abydos King List and…
Thing to do
A trip south of Luxor to Edfu's Temple of Horus, one of the best-preserved temples in Egypt, completed under the Ptolemies and once buried in sand.
Tour operator
A licensed Luxor balloon company offering sunrise flights from the West Bank over the temples, the Nile and the Valley of the Kings, with hotel pickup…
Tour operator
A Luxor-based balloon operator with an office opposite the Nile Palace Hotel, running traditional, private and tethered flights over the West Bank.
Tour operator
One of the first Egyptian-owned balloon companies in Luxor, operating since 1994 and flying at sunrise over the temples and tombs of the West Bank.
Tour operator
A licensed Luxor-based tour operator planning private day tours, Nile cruises and dahabiya trips, online since 1999 and holding ETAA licence 1119.
Tour operator
A five-star Steigenberger Nile cruise ship sailing from Luxor to Aswan and back, with 77 cabins, a sun deck pool and up to seven days on…
Three days covers Karnak, Luxor Temple and the main West Bank sites; allow four or five to add a balloon flight, a day trip to Dendera or Abydos, and time to rest.
The East Bank near Luxor Temple and along the Corniche or Khaled Ibn El Walid Street is best for restaurants and convenience; the West Bank suits travellers who want quiet guesthouses close to the tombs.
Luxor International Airport is east of the city; taxis and hotel transfers take you to the East Bank hotels, and many West Bank hotels arrange pickups.
Food, local transport and guesthouses are inexpensive by European standards, but entrance tickets to the major sites and special tombs add up, as do luxury hotels and balloon flights.
Luxor is generally safe for visitors, with a visible security presence at sites and hotels; the main nuisance is persistent touts, so agree prices in advance and check your government's travel advice before you go.
A licensed Egyptologist guide is not required but helps a great deal at Karnak and in the West Bank tombs, where guides cannot speak inside, so explanations happen beforehand.
The public ferry is the cheapest way across the Nile, motorboats run on demand, and taxis can drive over the Nile bridge south of the city.