The best time to visit the Valley of the Kings

6 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Luxor has a desert climate with almost no rain, so the question is less about the weather turning bad than about how hot it gets. Long-term records for the Luxor weather station give average highs of about 23 °C in January and 41 °C in July. The season for most visitors runs from October to April. Outside it, the sites stay open and tours run, but the day has to be planned around the heat.

Month by month

The figures below are long-term averages for the Luxor station from an independent climate database. They are guide values, not official figures from the Egyptian Meteorological Authority.

December and January are the coolest months. Mornings start cold: lows around 7 °C mean a jacket for a balloon flight or the drive to the West Bank, while the afternoon can be warm enough for short sleeves. Explore Luxor advises booking balloon flights one or two days ahead at this time of year. November and February have a similar feel with slightly more warmth.

March and April warm up quickly. The German Foreign Office notes that sandstorms can occur in Upper Egypt, mainly in spring, and balloon operators report that the Khamsin wind grounds flights most often in March and April, sometimes for several days in a row. Keep a spare morning if the balloon matters to you.

From May to September the averages pass 39 °C. Tours run all year, and reviews come from every month, but a September 2026 review of a day trip from Hurghada mentions 42 °C. In summer, plan the West Bank for opening time and stay inside or on the water at midday.

The hour matters as much as the month

The Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s temple and the other West Bank sites open at 6:00. The valley is most crowded between about 10:00 and 14:00 and relatively empty around 8:00. Arriving at opening is worth it in any month: in December the sun rises at about 6:32, so you walk in at first light, and in June the sun is up at 5:59 and you get the coolest hours.

The tombs are warm inside all year; one guide found several of them very warm even in December. Sunset falls around 17:00 in winter and after 19:30 in midsummer. Luxor Temple takes visitors until a last entry at 19:00 all year, according to the official ticket portal, egymonuments.com, which makes it a good late visit after a West Bank morning.

Balloons and the seasons

Hot air balloons take off over the West Bank shortly before sunrise. Operators advertise flights all year, but in late May 2026 Le Petit Journal, a French-language newspaper in Cairo, reported that the civil aviation authority had suspended flights over Luxor from 1 June to 31 August 2026 because of the summer heat. Whether that will happen again in 2027 is not known, so check with the operator if you travel in summer. No flight is guaranteed in any season: wind cancels departures, sometimes at short notice. The balloon page explains how the morning works.

Clocks and dates

Egypt uses UTC+2 in winter and summer time at UTC+3 from the last Friday in April to the end of October. In 2026 the clocks went back on 30 October; in 2027 summer time runs from 30 April to 29 October. Most of the year Egypt is one hour ahead of Germany, and the gap changes for a few weeks around the switch dates, when the two countries change their clocks on different days.

The Luxor African Film Festival holds its 16th edition from 25 to 31 March 2027. The Moulid of Abu el-Haggag at Luxor Temple, with boats carried round the temple and Sufi music, takes place about two weeks before Ramadan; the date for 2027 has not been published in the sources used here. For clothing and the sun, see weather and what to wear.