I am considering visiting Luxor from Marsa Alam. (leave on day 1 morning, spend one night in Luxor, return to Marsa Alam the evening of day 2).
I have only found tour companies offering such overnight trip but they are ridiculously expensive (500+ e) and I would prefer to travel independently.
Is it possible to do the Marsa Alam-Luxor – Marsa Alam trip on public transport?
Thanks!
I have done Quseir - Luxor by public bus. No problem, there is public transport all over the country, how do you think the locals move around...
However, the distance is a bit long, and I doubt that it would be enjoyable to do in two days. You will have too little time in Luxor, and possibly miss the opening hours of most of the attractions.
We went from Marsa Alam to Luxor by public transport, and it took nearly 7 hours in total: Shared Peugeot from the hotel to Marsa Alam (10 LE p/p), minibus to Edfu (20 LE p/p), minibus to Luxor (15 LE p/p). (Needs some haggling, and even so you sometimes end up paying more than the official, posted price). Especially the last leg was very slow because of the traffic and the bad road. In general, it is better to travel in the morning – you may have trouble finding a minibus going in the afternoon on the lesser-travelled road (i.e. back through the desert). Also, don't travel on Fridays.
You should consider making it two nights in Luxor (you can get a room with bathroom from about 120 LE), which would give you a full day for the West Bank sights plus the afternoon for Karnak, Luxor Temple and one of the museums. Alternatively, even a taxi for some or part of the distance might be cheaper than the tour (especially for more than one person).
Photos, hotel reports and texts from our Egypt trips: http://westwards.typepad.com/westwards/egypt/