Things to do in Luxor

6 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

The royal tombs are across the river, but Luxor itself stands on the site of ancient Thebes, and its two great temples are in town on the East Bank. Karnak and Luxor Temple are 2.7 kilometres apart, linked by the Avenue of Sphinxes. Add the museums, an evening at Karnak and a long day north to Dendera and Abydos, and the East Bank needs at least a day of its own. The tours for the West Bank have their own page.

Karnak and Luxor Temple

Karnak is the largest temple complex of Thebes. Building began in the Middle Kingdom and continued into Ptolemaic times, and the Great Hypostyle Hall alone holds 134 columns in 16 rows, a hall that UNESCO describes as begun by Seti I and completed by Ramses II. At Luxor Temple, Amenhotep III built the main parts, Tutankhamun and Ramses II added to it, and the Abu Haggag mosque still stands inside the temple and is in use. The smaller western obelisk from its entrance now stands on the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

The two temples belonged together. Each year the Opet festival carried the statue of Amun in procession from Karnak to Luxor Temple, a temple dedicated to the renewal of kingship. The Avenue of Sphinxes between them opened to the public on 25 November 2021, after more than seventy years of work. From Karnak the Valley of the Kings is about 12 kilometres by road, so one day can join the East Bank temples with the West Bank tombs.

According to the official ticket portal, egymonuments.com, both temples open at 6 am, and last entry is at 4 pm at Karnak and 7 pm at Luxor Temple all year (November 2026). Because Luxor Temple takes visitors later, it makes sense to see Karnak first and Luxor Temple towards sunset. One group that took the shared tour reached the temples at sunset and found the light good for photos.

The shared tour with lunch lasts about four hours and visits both temples with a guide, with lunch by the river. Reviewers praise the guides and the pace and are less happy with the lunch, a cold buffet with drinks charged extra. Golden Joy Travel runs a private version of about four hours with hotel pickup. If you would rather go alone, entry tickets with a QR code for Karnak and for Luxor Temple let you skip the ticket office; they include no guide and no transport. The page on Karnak and Luxor Temple goes into the temples in detail.

The sound and light show at Karnak

In the evening Karnak reopens for a sound and light show of about an hour. According to a tour company that sells it, the first show starts at 7 pm in English, later shows run in Arabic and other languages in rotation, and during Ramadan the times move about an hour later. The same company describes October to April as the busy season. A private tour combines the show with a day on the West Bank: three tombs in the Valley of the Kings, not including Tutankhamun’s, Hatshepsut’s temple and lunch, ending among the columns at night.

The museums of Luxor

The Luxor Museum keeps unusual hours. The official ticket portal lists only a morning slot from 9 am, with last entry at noon in summer and 1 pm in winter, while a local travel portal also describes an evening opening from 5 pm, so plan a morning visit unless you have confirmed the evening on the day. Among its pieces are statues and fragments found at the temple of Amenhotep III behind the Colossi of Memnon. The Mummification Museum is separate and has its own ticket. A private four-hour tour takes in both museums with lunch included.

Day trips to Dendera and Abydos

North of Luxor, Dendera and Abydos make a long day out. At Dendera the temple of Hathor was begun in 54 BC under Ptolemy XII, and its hypostyle hall dates from the reign of Tiberius. The famous zodiac relief was removed in 1820 and is now in the Louvre; a copy fills its place on the ceiling. Abydos, further north and about 11 kilometres west of the Nile, has the temple of Seti I with the king list in its Gallery of Ancestors, and the Osireion.

The private day to Abydos and Dendera by Sun Pyramids Tours lasts about 10 hours, starts between 6 and 7 am and includes entrance fees; the company asks for a copy of your passport at least two days ahead. Another day tour to both temples also takes about 10 hours. For Dendera alone, a five-hour tour drives about an hour and a quarter each way and adds lunch in Luxor and a felucca ride. The longest version goes by boat.

Outside the temples

A quad bike trip on the West Bank lasts about two hours, with about an hour of riding in the desert; it includes pickup, a motorboat across the river and a local English-speaking guide. In town, a two-hour horse carriage ride goes through Luxor and the old souk. On the river, a sunset felucca ride takes about two hours, and our page on felucca rides and Nile cruises compares the options. Before dawn, balloons rise over the West Bank, as described on the balloon page.

Festivals in Luxor

The 16th Luxor African Film Festival runs from 25 to 31 March 2027. The Moulid of Abu el-Haggag, a festival centred on the mosque inside Luxor Temple with boats carried in procession, reaches its peak 15 days before Ramadan; the date for 2027 has not been confirmed yet.