Valley of the Kings tickets and opening hours

6 min read Updated November 2026 Compare all tours

Every ancient site on the West Bank of Luxor has its own ticket, and the Valley of the Kings has several. The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities runs the monuments through the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The ministry’s official booking portal, egymonuments.com, lists the prices and times used on this page. We read them there on 2 November 2026. Prices in Egypt change from time to time, so look at the portal again shortly before your trip.

The main ticket and what it covers

Foreign visitors pay 750 EGP for the main ticket, and students pay 375 EGP. The student rate needs a valid student card, and one source adds that the holder must be 24 or younger. The ticket lets you into three tombs from the list that is open on the day. In July 2026 that list held ten tombs, among them those of Ramesses III (KV11), Ramesses IV (KV2), Ramesses IX (KV6), Merenptah (KV8) and Tausert and Setnakht (KV14). Tombs close for restoration from time to time, so the list at the entrance is the one that counts.

Guides are not allowed to explain inside the tombs, and you walk through in single file.

Tombs with their own ticket

Three tombs in the main valley and one in the West Valley are sold separately. The official portal lists them as add-ons to the main ticket, at these prices for foreign visitors.

These tickets are sold only at the visitor centre at the entrance. If you decide on an extra tomb once you are among the tombs, you have to go back down to buy it. Decide before you pass the gate. The open status of Seti I is not confirmed for the 2026/27 winter, and the page on the tombs and extra tickets goes through what each one shows.

Other sites on both banks

The official ticket portal lists these prices for foreign visitors as of November 2026, and students pay half. The times it gives are the last entry, not the time the site closes.

• Karnak 600 EGP, from 6:00, last entry 16:00 all year
• Luxor Temple 500 EGP, from 6:00, last entry 19:00 all year
• Temple of Hatshepsut 440 EGP, from 6:00, last entry 17:00 in summer and 16:00 in winter and Ramadan
• Medinet Habu, the Ramesseum and the Valley of the Queens 220 EGP each, from 6:00, last entry 17:00 in summer and 16:00 in winter
• Deir el-Medina from 6:00, last entry 17:00 all year (the portal shows no price)
• Luxor Museum 400 EGP, Mummification Museum 220 EGP; for both the portal lists only a morning slot from 9:00
• Colossi of Memnon free, beside the road

In the Valley of the Kings itself, last entry is 17:00 in summer and 16:00 in winter and during Ramadan. The portal does not say on which dates the summer and winter timetables begin, so in spring and autumn check it or ask at your hotel the day before. Luxor Temple takes visitors until 19:00, which is useful if you spend the morning on the West Bank. The tomb of Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens has been reported closed since March 2024; check before you go.

Paying at the ticket office

In May 2023 Egypt began switching ticket sales at its sites from cash to bank cards, and in January 2024 the first self-service ticket machines went into service in the Valley of the Kings. Visitor reports from 2026 still differ. Several say only cards are accepted, while a local portal recommends Egyptian pounds in cash as the safer choice. Bring a Visa or Mastercard that is enabled for payments abroad and keep some pounds in reserve for the tram, toilets and the ferry.

The ministry asks visitors who book online to use only its official websites, and names egymonuments.com for the sites of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Sources disagree on whether every site can be booked there in advance, so check the portal for the date you want.

Getting from the gate to the tombs

From the visitor centre a small electric tram runs up to the tombs in about three minutes. It has its own ticket, sold at a window beside the main entrance, and you can walk the stretch instead.

Photos and attendants

Phone photography in the Valley of the Kings is listed as free. The rules for cameras are reported differently: one guide wrote in 2026 that the separate photography pass no longer exists, while an older report from the Valley of the Queens still mentions a camera ticket. Ask at the entrance if you carry more than a phone. Attendants inside some tombs offer to show you a corner or take a photo for a tip, which is against the rules. The UK government adds that photographing military sites is illegal anywhere in Egypt.

When to arrive

The valley is busiest between about 10:00 and 14:00 and quieter in the first hours after opening and in the last two hours before last entry. In December the sun rises around 6:30, close to opening time; in June it is already up before 6:00, and the tombs are warm all year. The best time to visit covers the months, and our itineraries put the West Bank sites in a sensible order.