# Luxor: map, what to do and when to go

In Luxor, the two banks of the Nile hold the temples (east) and the tombs (west) of ancient Thebes, visited early to beat the heat. Thebes was capital of Egypt in the New Kingdom; the city today has about 285,000 residents and lies about 650 km south of Cairo.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/luxor/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Luxor: How much does a taxi from the airport to the Corniche cost?** About 150 to 300 EGP, agreed before getting in the car, because no meter is in use; the airport is about 6 km east of the center.
- **Luxor: What's the currency, and how much is the pound worth?** The currency is the Egyptian pound (EGP), at around 45 to 50 to the dollar in September 2026, and the exchange rate has moved a lot since 2022.
- **Luxor: What's the climate like throughout the year?** Hot desert, with about 1 mm of rain a year: from December to February highs sit at 22 to 25 °C, with nights of 5 to 9 °C; October, November, and March give 28 to 35 °C; and from June to August highs run from 40 to 43 °C and top 45 °C in heat waves.

## East bank: temples, museum and market
Get to Karnak at opening, around 6am, enter through the avenue of rams and go straight to the hypostyle hall before the cruise-ship buses unload.
- Karnak (Ipet-isut)
- Luxor Temple (Ipet-resyt)
- Abu al-Haggag Mosque
- Avenue of Sphinxes
- Ramesseum

## West bank: Valley of the Kings and mortuary temples
Cross on the first ferry, around 5:30am; anyone taking a balloon boards earlier still, in the dark, for US$80 to 120.
- Valley of the Kings
- Deir el-Bahari
- Medinet Habu
- Colossi of Memnon

## Workers, mud village and river
Start at 8am at Deir el-Medina, the craftsmen's village, with the tombs of Sennedjem and Inherkha, small and with almost intact paintings.
- Deir el-Medina and Valley of the Queens

## Karnak (Ipet-isut)
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/luxor/#g-lugar-karnak
Luxor
Ancient Egypt's largest religious complex, with about 2 km² built and rebuilt over 1,500 years. The hypostyle hall of Seti I and Ramesses II has 134 columns across about 5,000 m²; Hatshepsut's obelisk, still standing, is about 29 m tall and weighs around 340 tons.
Check access

## Luxor Temple (Ipet-resyt)
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/luxor/#g-lugar-templo-de-luxor
Luxor
Built by Amenhotep III and expanded by Ramesses II, it was the destination of the Opet Festival procession, which brought Karnak's barques over once a year. One of the two pylon obelisks remains; the other has stood on the Place de la Concorde in Paris since 1836.
Check access

## Abu al-Haggag Mosque
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/luxor/#g-lugar-mesquita-de-abu-al-haggag
Luxor · Up to half an hour
A 13th-century mosque built over Luxor Temple's courtyard when it was buried under nearly 15 m of debris. After the excavation, the door was left several meters above the pharaonic floor level; the mosque is still in use and is the reason this corner of the temple was never dismantled.
Check access

## Avenue of Sphinxes
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/luxor/#g-lugar-avenida-das-esfinges
Luxor · One to two hours
A 2.7-km processional way between Luxor and Karnak, with about a thousand stone sphinxes and rams, excavated in stages since 1949 and reopened to the public on November 25, 2021. Walking it at the end of the afternoon takes about 45 minutes.
Check access

## Valley of the Kings
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/luxor/#g-lugar-vale-dos-reis
Qurnah District
The New Kingdom's royal necropolis, with more than 65 catalogued tombs cut into the rock between about 1500 and about 1070 BC. The standard ticket gives access to three tombs from the day's open rotation; Tutankhamun (KV62), Seti I (KV17), and Ramesses V and VI (KV9) charge separate admission, and KV22, Amenhotep III's tomb, rejoined the circuit in 2025.
Check access

## Deir el-Bahari
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/luxor/#g-lugar-deir-el-bahari
Qurnah District
Hatshepsut's mortuary temple, built in three terraces set into the cliff, designed by Senenmut around 1470 BC, with the relief of the expedition to the land of Punt on the middle portico. Beside it stand the ruins of Mentuhotep II's temple, about 550 years older.
Check access

## Medinet Habu
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/luxor/#g-lugar-medinet-habu
Ramesses III's mortuary temple, from about 1180 BC, the best-preserved on the west bank. The outer reliefs depict the battle against the Sea Peoples, and part of the interior ceilings still carries original pigment.
Check access

## Ramesseum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/luxor/#g-lugar-ramesseum
Luxor · Up to half an hour
Ramesses II's mortuary temple, now in ruins, with mud-brick storerooms around it and the fallen colossus, estimated at about 1,000 tons, that inspired Shelley's 1818 sonnet “Ozymandias.”
Check access

## Colossi of Memnon
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/luxor/#g-lugar-colossos-de-memnon
Tebas · Up to half an hour
Two quartzite statues about 18 m tall depicting Amenhotep III, the only remains still visible from a distance of the largest mortuary temple ever built in Thebes. The northern one gave off a sound at dawn after cracking in an earthquake in 27 BC, until it was restored by Septimius Severus around AD 199.
Check access

## Deir el-Medina and Valley of the Queens
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/luxor/#g-lugar-deir-el-medina
Qurnah District
The village of the workers who cut the royal tombs, with its own small, intensely painted streets, houses and tombs, like those of Sennedjem and Inherkha. A kilometer away is the tomb of Nefertari (QV66), on a separate ticket, expensive and with limited visiting time.
Check access

**Luxor: How much does a taxi from the airport to the Corniche cost?**
About 150 to 300 EGP, agreed before getting in the car, because no meter is in use; the airport is about 6 km east of the center.

**Luxor: What's the currency, and how much is the pound worth?**
The currency is the Egyptian pound (EGP), at around 45 to 50 to the dollar in September 2026, and the exchange rate has moved a lot since 2022.

**Luxor: What's the climate like throughout the year?**
Hot desert, with about 1 mm of rain a year: from December to February highs sit at 22 to 25 °C, with nights of 5 to 9 °C; October, November, and March give 28 to 35 °C; and from June to August highs run from 40 to 43 °C and top 45 °C in heat waves.

**Luxor: Do I need to cover my shoulders and knees?**
Yes: men and women cover shoulders and knees in town and at archaeological sites, even at 40 °C.

**Luxor: Is it safe to visit the city?**
Yes. Luxor is one of the most heavily policed cities in Egypt, with fixed posts at the sites, metal detectors at hotel entrances, and checkpoints on the roads to Dendera and Abydos.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 2 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/luxor/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/luxor/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/luxor.md