There are unique things to do in Luxor, Egypt; Compared to other Egyptian cities, Luxor has more ancient tourist attractions and things to do for visitors. This town is like a living museum because it has many massive temples and tombs with wall paintings from ancient Egypt.
Luxor is the largest city and capital of Upper Egypt. There are some of the most critical sites from ancient Egypt. Luxor, which used to be called “Thebes,” is known as the “World’s most incredible outdoor museum.” Here, in the rocky valley of the West Bank, are the vast tombs that were started by the pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom. These pharaohs built so many buildings that they covered the banks of the Nile river.
Their work is best shown to modern people at the magnificent Karnak Temple complex. But there are so many buildings here that you could spend a whole week just taking in the grandeur and ambition of Ancient Egypt. On the East Bank, old temples have stood for a long time, and life on East Bank has mostly stayed the same. Valleys of the Kings and Queens are in the West Bank.
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Residents and tourists get to and from Luxor City daily on Felucca boats and Ferries to enjoy their vacation and visit the best Luxor attraction.
Luxor, Egypt, the Ancient City of Thebes
During the New King Dynasty, Luxor was the capital of Egypt. It was called the “Glorious metropolis” of Amon-Ra. Amon-Ra called Luxor (Thebes) the “City of Gods.” During the 11th Dynasty, Luxor grew into a big, busy city. It used to be a small village and was the center of government, religion, learning, and culture. In a short time, the city became a center of wealth worldwide.
After the 18th Dynasty, Luxor (Thebes) became a center for government, religion, and the military. It was the center of power from the 18th to the 20th Dynasties, and it was Egypt’s religious center until the time of the Greeks. At Luxor, people would pray to Amon, Mut, and their Moon God son Khonsu.
When Egypt’s most important city, Thebes (Luxor), became more important and loved, the God Amon joined with the God Ra, the sun, to become Amon-Ra. His temple at Karnak, north of Thebes, was and still is an essential building in Egypt, and it was Egypt’s religious center up until the time of the Greeks.
Luxor loved Amon, Mut, and the Moon God Khonsu. When Thebes (now Luxor) became Egypt’s most important city and capital, Amon-Ra was named “King of Gods.” This made Amon more essential and loved. His huge temple at Karnak, north of Thebes, was Egypt’s most important building until the end of the ancient world.
Top Attractions & Unique Things to Do in Luxor, Egypt
Luxor East Bank Attractions
1. The Temple of Karnak
Visiting the Karnak Temple Complex is undoubtedly one of the unique things to do in Luxor, Egypt. It is the city’s crowning architectural achievement. The Great Temple of Amun, the Temple of Khons, the Festival Temple of Tuthmosis III, and other smaller temples and sanctuaries may all be found inside its walls.
The facility was not constructed according to any one blueprint. Instead, it commemorates the construction efforts of numerous New Kingdom pharaohs, who competed to improve and embellish Egypt’s most incredible temple to the god Amun.
The scale of all the monuments here is so enormous that tourists feel like ants when they stand in front of the towering pillars and massive statues. Take your time here, no matter how busy you are.
The Temples of Karnak are a maze of pyramids and other structures, and you should set aside at least three hours to try to investigate and make sense of them.
Numerous trips will quickly take you around the highlights of Karnak if you only have a little time. Consider booking one of our Luxor Tour Packages with Travel Door Tours to the Temple of Karnak and the East Bank of Luxor. A knowledgeable Egyptologist will accompany you on your half-day excursion to these historic locations.
Karnak Sound & Light Show
If you only see one light and sound show in Egypt, make it the Karnak Sound & Light Show; it is one of the best things to do in Luxor, Egypt. This was the most impressive and enjoyable presentation I’ve ever seen, and it offers a novel perspective from which to appreciate Karnak.
While at the other temples, you must remain seated for the performance; visitors to Karnak can explore the complex at their leisure. You get to be in the thick of everything, which is a tonne of fun. Walking around the temple at night is an unnerving experience, capped with the view of Karnak (the ancient city of Thebes) illuminated from across the lake.
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2. The Luxor Temple
Visiting Luxor Temple, which overlooks the city as it is today, is one of the Luxor things to do, a monument to the ebb and flow of Egypt’s history. Known as “the southern harem of Amun,” this temple was the first to be constructed by Amenophis III (on the site of an older sandstone temple), and it was devoted to Amun, his spouse Mut, and their son, the moon deity Khons.
It consists of the usual elements in Egyptian temples: a massive colonnade leading in from the north, a Hypostyle Hall, and an open Peristyle Court.
A succession of pharaohs made additions and modifications to the temple, beginning with Amenophis IV, who removed all references to the god Amun and added the Sanctuary of the god Aten, continuing with Tutankhamun, whose had the walls of the arcade embellished with reliefs and then destroyed the Temple of the Aten, continuing with Seti I who reinstated the reserves of Amun and culminating with Ramses II who reconstructed the obelisks who extended the temple significantly, adding a new colonnaded court at the north end.
3. The Avenue of the Sphinxes
This is the most well-liked and shortest route for those who wish to walk between the two temples of Luxor and Karnak. In the yearly Opet Festival, priests from Karnak Temple would have brought the shrines of Amun, Mut, and their son Khonsu to Luxor Temple, a distance of 1.7 kilometers.
Sphinxes and ram statues flank the path. In the beginning, 1,057 of these statues lined the entire boulevard, and about a third have been uncovered by excavation and returned to their pedestals.
After decades of restoration and excavation, this historic procession route between Karnak and Luxor temples finally reopened to the public.
4. The Luxor Museum
About halfway between Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple is one of Egypt’s finest museums. A collection from the area spans from the Old Kingdom to the Islamic Period, magnificently displayed at the Luxor Museum.
Located in separate rooms on the ground floor, the Royal Mummies of Ahmose I and someone who may have been Ramses I are the museum’s crown jewels. Amulets, silver bowls, grave and tomb furnishings, and votive tablets line the center of the upper level in a stunning exhibition.
View the Akhenaten reliefs on the rebuilt wall while you’re in town. The 283 painted sandstone blocks were taken from Akhenaten’s Temple of the Sun at Karnak.
5. The Mummification Museum
The Mummification Museum is a main Luxor attraction located in the heart of Luxor; this small but intriguing museum provides an excellent overview of the methods used in ancient Egyptian mummification. Human and animal mummies and mummification implements (such as spatulas used to remove the brains) are on display.
Masaharta, a high priest of Amun in the 21st dynasty, was buried in remarkable preservation; therefore, his mummy is worth a look. Those with a weak stomach may want to go elsewhere, but anyone curious about ancient Egyptian culture would visit this museum and learn more about the pharaohs’ elaborate funeral rituals.
Luxor West Bank Attractions
6. The Valley of the Kings
The 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasty monarchs of Egypt were buried in the Valley of the Kings, tucked away amid the rocky escarpments of Luxor’s West Bank. The tombs, decorated with elaborate and colorful wall paintings, are among the most popular tourist destinations in Luxor, West BankEgypt.
Since it was believed that the dead, accompanied by the sun god (or maybe having become one with the sun god), traveled through the underworld in a boat at night, the walls of the tombs were decorated with words and scenes illustrating this voyage and providing the dead instruction on its course.
There are 63 tombs in the valley, whose occupants read like a who’s who of ancient Egypt, from the famed boy-king Tutankhamun to lesser-known but no less important figures.
They are opened on a rotational basis to protect the paintings inside the tombs as much as possible from the effects of humidity.
At the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, you can see the coffins, jewelry, smaller sarcophagi that held his organs when he was mummified, and the famous gold death mask. Before him, Ramses I and III were buried, and their tombs were full of gold and diamonds. These are on the other side of the river from Tutankhamun’s Tomb. There are steps, murals, and hieroglyphics for you to see.
The colors yellow, orange, and red are so bright that it’s hard to believe they were made more than a thousand years ago. True. Archaeological finds show that Egypt’s New Kingdom kings were buried in the Valley of the Monarchs, and dynasties 18 through 21 have been buried here for at least 500 years. It is a well-known place for archaeology. Since 1979, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
7. The Valley of the Queens
What is today called the Valley of the Queens was where the pharaohs’ wives were laid to rest. Except for one exception, the tombs here are smaller and less impressive than those in the Valley of the Kings.
Queen Nefertari was an important figure in Egyptian history, and her tomb is one of the country’s most famous landmarks and Luxor things to do. There is an unbelievable amount of detail, and the colors are much more vibrant than anything you’ll see in Egyptian tombs, temples, or pyramids.
You can get a sense of what ancient Egyptian tombs were like by touring Queen Nefertari’s burial site.
8. The Temple of Hatshepsut
The Deir el-Bahri Temple, also known as the Temple of Hatshepsut, is undoubtedly one of the unique things to do in Luxor, Egypt. The West Bank offers a stunning backdrop for the Temple of Deir el-Bahri, which sits at the base of towering cliffs bordering barren hills and is built of a pale sandstone that nearly appears white compared to the background rocks.
Three stepped platforms rise from the plain and are connected by ramps to form the temple’s layout, roughly divided in half from north to south. An elevated arcade runs along the west side of each terrace. The finest sandstone was used for the retaining walls surrounding and behind the terraces, cut into the hillsides on the eastern side. The temple building itself was carved out of rock.
The interior of the building is decorated elaborately with statues, reliefs, and inscriptions. Queen Hatshepsut wanted to show that she had the same power as a king; thus, she had herself shown with a beard and a short apron, both of which are traditionally associated with men.
9. The Valley of the Nobles
The Valley of the Nobles are less well-known than the Valley of the Kings, but they contain some of the best-surviving examples of tomb paintings. There are about 400 tombs of various nobility in this West Bank location, with a handful exposed to the public. These tombs range from the 6th dynasty through the Ptolemaic period.
These tomb paintings are more interested in depicting everyday life in ancient Egypt than in attempting to provide the dead with instructions for their journey into the hereafter. Some of Egypt’s most vibrant and lifelike tomb paintings can be found at Sennofer, Rekhmire, Khonsu, Benia, Menna, and Nakht.
10. Madinet Habu
Medinet Habu is one of Egypt’s most gorgeously painted temples, yet it is typically neglected on a West Bank journey because of more well-known sites like the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Deir al-Bahri (Queen Hatshepsut).
In addition to the smaller, earlier temple from the 18th dynasty that was expanded during the Late Period, the complex also includes the massive Temple of Ramses III, which was connected to a royal palace and enclosed by a four-meter-tall battlemented wall.
The central temple complex was designed just like the Ramesseum and devoted to the god Amun. These reliefs are among the finest on the West Bank.
11. The Ramessum
The Ramesseum is a mausoleum built in honor of King Ramesses II. An estimated 20-meter-tall statue of Ramesses II once stood in this spot. In any case, it toppled over and is now scattered around the floor in numerous sizeable pieces.
Ramses II built and consecrated to Amun a substantial mortuary temple on the fringes of the field about 1.5 km south of Deir el-Bahri on the West Bank. Half of the original structure has been destroyed by time and weather, yet it is still a stunning monument.
The North Tower and the South Tower feature scenes from Ramses II’s war with the Hittites, similar to the reliefs at Abu Simbel.
The left part of the wall on the south tower is dedicated to the Battle of Qadesh. Images show Ramses leading his chariot charge on the Hittites, slaughtering them with arrows, and dispersing the survivors into the River Orontes. It’s possible to make out the Hittite prince and the retreating enemies within their fortress, which is located off to the right.
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12. Deir El-Medina
The West Bank of Luxor is where you’ll find Deir el-Medina, where you may visit a tiny temple, the ruins of a workers’ hamlet (where the artisans of the royal tombs resided), and the tombs of the workers.
The bright murals depicting everyday life in ancient Egypt set these tombs apart from the pharaoh tombs in terms of aesthetic appeal.
Visit the tomb of the 19th dynasty painter Sennedjem. The tomb chamber is vaulted and decorated with religious reliefs and paintings, such as a stunning depiction of a funeral feast. The artifacts from the 1886-discovered tomb can be seen at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
13. The Colossi of Memnon
Located on the western bank of the Nile, near Luxor, are the Colossi of Memnon, two gigantic seated sculptures of 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III. These statues previously stood to watch at the entrance to the king’s temple, of which only ruins remain.
It is a popular Luxor attraction where travelers to the West Bank often get their first glimpse of ancient monuments at the Colossi of Memnon. This is not surprising considering their height (60 ft/18 m) above the plains and their estimated weight (720 tonnes).
Egyptologists believe these were carved from sandstone from quarries near Cairo and brought overland from Cairo to Thebes, or modern-day Luxor, since they were too heavy to float down the Nile.
14. The Temple of Abydos
One of the best things to do in Luxor, Egypt, located on the western side of Luxor, is the Mortuary Temple of Seti I. Seti I initiated the construction of this Amun-Re temple. Ramesses II rebuilt the temple that had been left unfinished after the death of Seti I; its reliefs and inscriptions are on par with those of contemporary Abydos.
The original length of the temple was 158 meters, but now only the sanctuary, consisting of several rooms and chambers, and a few scattered pieces of the courts and pylons survive.
15. The Hot Air Balloon
Take a hot air balloon ride to see the West Bank of Luxor at sunrise in a way you’ll never forget. Expect to start the day early, but it will be worth seeing Luxor’s sights from above. When you go on a balloon ride here, you leave just after sunrise and float over the West Bank, where you can see the area’s temples and tombs from high up. The West Bank has green farming fields tucked between rocky cliffs.
Usually, a hot-air balloon ride in Luxor will take about three hours from when you are picked up at your hotel until you are dropped back off there.
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16. Sail the Nile on a Felucca Ride
In Luxor or Aswan, taking a felucca ride down the Nile is one of the unique things to do in Luxor, Egypt. Nothing compares to the magic of sailing when the sun goes down and the stars come out. To sail a felucca requires the use of only one person’s hands. Two men are typically needed for control, one on each side to row the oars.
Finding a felucca to the charter will be easy. Boat captains call out to potential customers along Corniche Road in central Luxor. Hourly rates are usually for boat rentals. As the felucca’s sail is hoisted and it glides up the Nile, passengers may relax and take in the sights. However, it would be best if you didn’t count on making any quick progress. The felucca won’t move if there isn’t a strong wind.
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How Much Time Do You Need in Luxor?
It would take at least three days to complete this itinerary. You can still see the top attractions even if you need more time.
Visit the West Bank first in the morning if you only have one day in Luxor. The top three must-sees in Egypt are the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hatshepsut at Medinet Habu.
The tomb of Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens is impressive, but only if you’re in excellent time and don’t mind paying the steep admission fee.
If you have two days in Luxor, Visit the West Bank and the East Bank. Visit the Luxor tourist attractions on the West Bank in a flurry on one day, and take it easy on the East Bank the next.
Those with only three days in Luxor can see everything on this itinerary. For the West Bank, you’ll need to add another day, giving you two full days on the West Bank and one day on the East Bank.
Best Time to visit Luxor, Egypt
The weather in Egypt is mildest from October to April, but the crowds and higher prices may discourage you from visiting then. June or September offer the best of both worlds, with milder temperatures and fewer crowds at popular destinations.
Luxor Travel Tips and What to Pack
- You should also bring a high-quality camera on your trip so that you may record the fantastic sights you see and the unforgettable moments you experience.
- A Power Bank with a capacity of 20,000 mAh or higher will allow you to keep your electronic devices powered while you’re on the go.
- Bringing along a single universal adaptor is all you need to charge your electronics in whatever nation you visit.
- Keep in mind that the weather may get relatively warm when the sun is shining and the sky is clear, so it’s a good idea to bring several lightweight, airy shirts to wear while exploring.
- You will be doing a lot of walking while on vacation, so bring a few pairs of lightweight shorts.
- For Women: Pack some leggings; they’re great in warm and cool weather.
- Comfortable shoes for walking or hiking should be packed for this vacation.
- To be prepared for jumping into a body of water, travelers to Luxor, Egypt, in the summer should bring along a pair of swim trunks.
- An ideal towel for a traveler is a tissue because they are compact and lightweight.
- Water bottle for staying hydrated on the go, whether in the city or the wilderness.
- You’ll need a substantial backpack to transport all of this gear.
