Top Pick Cemeteries, Memorials & Tombs Valley of the Kings The west bank of Luxor had been the site of royal burials since around 2100 BC, but it was the pharaohs of the New Kingdom period (1550–1069 BC) who chose this isolated valley dominated by the pyramid-shaped mountain...
Top Pick Religious Amun Temple Enclosure Amun-Ra was the local god of Karnak (Luxor) and during the New Kingdom, when the princes of Thebes ruled Egypt, he became the preeminent state god, with a temple that reflected his status...
Top Pick Religious Medinat Habu Ramses III’s magnificent memorial temple of Medinat Habu is perhaps one of the most underrated sites on the west bank...
Top Pick Museums & Galleries Luxor Museum This wonderful museum has a well-chosen and brilliantly displayed and explained collection of antiquities dating from the end of the Old Kingdom right through to the Mamluk period, mostly gathered from the Theban tem...
Top Pick Religious Karnak Karnak is an extraordinary complex of sanctuaries, kiosks, pylons and obelisks, dedicated to the Theban triad but also to the greater glory of pharaohs...
Top Pick North African Sofra Restaurant & Café Sofra remains our favourite restaurant in Luxor. Located in a 1930s house, away from all the tourist tat, it is as Egyptian as can be, in menu, decor and even in price...
Top Pick Ice Cream & Gelateria Wenkie's German Ice Cream & Iced Coffee Parlour For people who only opened a shop in February 2014, Ernst and Babette Wenk have quickly become legends, serving the finest, freshest most delicious ice cream in Luxor – some are saying even in the world...
Top Pick Arts & Crafts Caravanserai This delightful shop, the only one of its kind on the west bank, is kept by the friendly Hamdi and his family in their newly refurbished house near Medinat Habu...
Top Pick Mediterranean Al-Moudira In keeping with its flamboyant decor, Al-Moudira has the most sophisticated and most expensive food on the west bank, with great salads and grills at lunchtime...
Cemeteries, Memorials & Tombs Tombs of the Nobles The tombs in this area are some of the best, but least visited, attractions on the west bank...
Religious Luxor Temple Largely built by the New Kingdom pharaohs Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BC) and Ramses II (1279–1213 BC), this temple is a strikingly graceful monument in the heart of the modern town...
Religious Memorial Temple of Hatshepsut At Deir al-Bahri, the eyes first focus on the dramatic rugged limestone cliffs that rise nearly 300m above the desert plain, a monument made by nature, only to realise that at the foot of all this immense beauty lies...
Cemeteries, Memorials & Tombs Valley of the Queens There are at least 75 tombs in the Valley of the Queens, which sits at the southern end of the Theban hillside...
Religious Deir al-Medina This site takes its name from a Ptolemaic temple, later converted to a Coptic monastery, but the real attraction is the unique ruined settlement, the Workmen’s Village ...
Religious Ramesseum Ramses II called his massive memorial temple ‘the Temple of Millions of Years of User-Maat-Ra’; classical visitors called it the tomb of Ozymandias; and Jean-François Champollion, who deciphered hieroglyphics, called...
Landmarks & Monuments Colossi of Memnon The two faceless Colossi of Memnon, originally representing Pharaoh Amenhotep III and rising majestically about 18m from the plain, are the first monuments tourists see when they visit the west bank...
