Luxor West Bank Tour

Across the Nile from the city of Luxor lies the great necropolis of Thebes — a landscape of desert cliffs and dry valleys where the pharaohs of the New Kingdom were buried and where their memory was kept for a thousand years by generations of priests, artisans and stonemasons. This private day tour delivers the essential west-bank experience with the depth and pace only a skilled Egyptologist can offer.

Morning: You are collected from your hotel or cruise vessel at 07:00, cross the Nile by bridge, and drive first to the Valley of the Kings, the desert wadi where sixty-three royal tombs have so far been discovered. Your general ticket includes entry to three tombs, which your Egyptologist selects according to what is open and least crowded on the day. Highly recommended supplements are the tomb of Seti I — the longest and most beautifully decorated tomb in Egypt, reopened after decades of restoration — and, if you wish to visit it, the tomb of Tutankhamun itself, small but unforgettable. Photography inside the tombs requires a separate permit.

You then continue to the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, one of the great architectural achievements of the ancient world — three terraces rising into the cliff face, decorated with reliefs of the queen’s divine birth, her expedition to Punt and the great festivals of the Theban year. Your guide walks you through the colonnades and the sanctuary at the summit.

Afternoon: Lunch is served at a well-regarded restaurant on the west bank or back at your hotel. In the afternoon you visit the Colossi of Memnon — two seated statues of Amenhotep III that once stood at the entrance of the largest mortuary temple ever built — and, on request, the Ramesseum or the Mortuary Temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu, whose reliefs of the naval battle against the Sea Peoples are among the most vivid military scenes in Egyptian art. Deir el-Medina, the village of the tomb-workers, can be added for those interested in daily life in pharaonic Egypt.

Evening: You return to your hotel or cruise vessel by late afternoon. On request the tour can be extended into the golden hour with a visit to the west-bank palm groves or a felucca crossing back to the east bank at sunset.

Photography is permitted throughout the temples; tomb interiors require a separate permit. Practical advice: the west bank is dry, dusty and warm — a hat, sunglasses, water and comfortable shoes are essential; carry a light scarf against dust. Modest dress is respectful. Family suitability is very good from age eight upward; children respond powerfully to the scale of Hatshepsut’s terraces and to the story of Tutankhamun. Accessibility is mixed — the Valley of the Kings involves gradients and steps into the tombs; Hatshepsut’s temple is largely accessible. Best months are October through April; hot-air balloon flights over the west bank (a separate experience) pair particularly well with this tour.