Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut Temple in Luxor, Luxor, Egypt

The city of Luxor, which for centuries was the capital of Pharaonic Egypt, is home to some of the most impressive monuments of this ancient civilisation.

During my first day in Luxor, I explored the West Bank of the River Nile, where two of the most impressive funerary sites are located: the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut temple.

The visit to the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut temple in Luxor was the second day of my Essential Egypt tour with Travel Talk Tours, which lasted for a total of 9 days and covered the main highlights of Egypt from north to south. You can find the entire itinerary in my post Essential Egypt in 9 days: itinerary, arrival and first impressions of Cairo.

If you’re not part of a group and have organised the trip yourself, both sites are located 25km (about 45 minutes away) from the city of Luxor. As usual in Egypt, the best option to get there is to get a taxi from your hotel, as they are quite cheap and a better option than figuring out public transport. You can probably agree on a good price for the entire day if you ask your concierge or even a drive on the street, bringing you to both sites and back to your accommodation.

Both sites require tickets: visiting the Valley of the King has a cost of 200 Egyptian pounds (approx. €10), with an additional fee of 300 Egyptian pounds (approx. €15) to take photographs or video inside. Guards are extremely strict about this, so make sure you buy and show the ticket if you want to take photos. Otherwise, they will not only threaten you with fines and reporting you to the police, but you may end up having to pay a bribe that will cost you the same or more than the ticket itself. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).