Luxor, Egypt

Luxor East Bank : Karnak and Luxor Temple by Day and Night

The largest religious building ever constructed, and a temple that is better after dark. Karnak in the morning, Luxor Temple floodlit in the evening.

Split day, about 5 hours across morning and evening Private tour Private — your group only Pick-up from any Luxor hotel or from your Nile cruise boat, included.

Cultural & Historical Family Day Trips

Trip highlights

The Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak and its 134 columns
The sacred lake and the standing obelisk of Hatshepsut
Luxor Temple floodlit after dark
The reopened Avenue of Sphinxes
Optional hour at the Luxor Museum

About this tour

Karnak is less a temple than a city of them, built and rebuilt over two thousand years by thirty pharaohs, each wanting to leave something larger than the last. The Great Hypostyle Hall has one hundred and thirty-four columns, the tallest twenty-one meters, and standing among them is the closest architecture gets to being overwhelming.

Luxor Temple sits three kilometers south, once joined to Karnak by the Avenue of Sphinxes, which has now been fully excavated and reopened along its entire length. We visit it in the evening, when it is floodlit, half-empty, and considerably better than it is at noon.

Between the two, if you want it, the Luxor Museum is small, beautifully lit, and a welcome hour of air conditioning.

How the day runs

1Step
Karnak in the morning

The avenue of ram-headed sphinxes, the Hypostyle Hall, the obelisks and the sacred lake. Two hours minimum; it is far larger than people expect.
2Step
Middle of the day free

Back to your hotel or boat through the hottest hours. Lunch and a rest.
3Step
Luxor Temple after dark

Collected again in the evening for the temple under floodlight, and the Avenue of Sphinxes running away from it into the dark.

What's included

Private air-conditioned vehicle and driver
Licensed English-speaking Egyptologist guide
Hotel or cruise-boat pick-up
Entrance to Karnak and Luxor Temple
Bottled water
all sites tickets

Not included

Luxor Museum ticket
Sound and light show at Karnak
Lunch and dinner
Tipping

Questions about this tour

Because the middle of the day in Luxor is unpleasant and Luxor Temple is genuinely better lit at night. Doing both back to back at noon is the common way and the worse one. If your schedule needs it in one block, we will do that instead — just say.

Opinions differ honestly. The setting is remarkable; the script is dated. If you have one evening in Luxor we would spend it at Luxor Temple instead. If you have two, the show is a reasonable second.

Yes, and many people do it that way when a cruise only gives them a day. It is a lot. Two days is much better and Luxor rewards it.

From

$120

Priced per group once we know your dates and numbers — tell us both and you will have a figure the same working day.

DurationSplit day, about 5 hours across morning and evening
DestinationLuxor
StylePrivate tour
Group sizePrivate — your group only
Pick-upPick-up from any Luxor hotel or from your Nile cruise boat, included.