Al Kharga Oasis attractions

It may not look like much from afar, but this necropolis is one of the earliest surviving and best-preserved Christian cemeteries in the world. About 1km north of the Temple of Hibis, it’s built on the site of an ea…

Set amid a desertscape of duney desolation, Qasr Al Labakha is a micro-oasis some 40km north of Al Kharga. Scattered among sandy swells and rocky shelves are the remains of a towering four-storey Roman fortress, two…

The garrison’s massive outer walls enclose a 25th-dynasty sandstone temple, dedicated to the Theban triad Amun, Mut and Khons. In later centuries, the fortress served as the perimeter for a village, with some houses…

The town of Hebet (‘the Plough’, now corrupted into Hibis) was the capital of the oasis in antiquity, but all that remains today is the well-preserved limestone Temple of Hibis. Once sitting on the edge of a sacred …

About 13km to the southeast of Baris, Qasr Ad Dush is an imposing Roman temple-fortress completed around AD 177 on the site of the ancient town of Kysis. A 1st-century­ sandstone temple abutting the fortress was ded…

Dominating the cliffs 2km to the north of the Necropolis of Al Bagawat, the ruined Monastery of Al Kashef is strategically placed to overlook what was one of the most important crossroads of the Western Desert – the…

This impressive fort sits on a ridge rising grandly out of the desert plains about 20km west of Qasr Al Labakha. It has one of the most complex underground aqueduct systems built in this area by the Romans. Trips he…

Designed to resemble the architecture of the nearby Necropolis of Al Bagawat, this two-storey museum is an old-school dusty trove of archaeological finds from around Al Kharga and Dakhla oases. The collection is sma…

One of the major monuments of the Kharga Oasis is the Graeco-Roman temple of Qasr Al Zayyan, in the ancient village of Takhoneourit. The town, mostly unexcavated, was an important stop on the desert route to Esna. T…

The mud-brick houses of Baris Al Gedida lie about 2km north of the original town. Hassan Fathy, Egypt’s most influential modern architect, designed the houses using traditional methods and materials, intending Baris…