Luxor is a lovely place to stay in, itself a vibrant Egyptian city containing two temples (Luxor and Karnak) and with the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens located only a few kilometres away on the other side of the Nile, it offers plenty of historical sightseeing as well a chance to sample modern Egyptian life.
All the hotels are either situated in the city centre, or just outside it. Those outside it have the advantage of being on the Nile and they do run free shuttle bus services to the town centre. We stayed at the Hilton which ran a free shuttle bus every hour (morning and evening), a ride of approximately 10 mins.
All the tour companies offer guided tours to the historic sites and you’re free to book with any of them. Most tours will also stop at a shop along the way (an alabaster factory on the West Bank or a papyrus shop on the East Bank) usually owned by someone the tour guide knows. You’re not obliged to buy anything, but the shops they go to are reputable and you won’t be buying junk. Tip: If you have time, go on the trip to see the Tombs of the workers as they have the best preserved colours inside!
You can also go out and about on your own – the Luxor museum is well worth a visit. The tour operators no longer recommend riding in a “kalesh”, a pony driven cart, as some people have had bad experiences, however we didn’t have any problems with the one journey we took. It is easier by taxi though, as the hotel should have a rough price list as a guide to what you should be paying for each journey.
You will find lots of people constantly offering to sell you souvenirs or take you on a trip. The best approach is to be sure what you want to do before you go out. If someone offers you a trip to Banana Island and you hesitate, they’ll see you as a possible sale. If you simply say “No, thank you” you’ll probably be left alone. If you do want to buy make sure you have plenty of change as a common trick is for them to pretend not to have any. The best way we found to get change was from the bank in our hotel.
Luxor is also well situated to go on trips further afield. We’ve stayed in Luxor for two separate weeks and have been on various trips – a 2 day cruise to Denderah (another temple), a day trip to Cairo by plane (very tiring as a long day, but amazing to see the Pyramids and could spend a lifetime in Cairo museum) and a 2 day trip to Aswan and Abu Simbel by train and road (very tiring two days with very early wake up calls – 4:30 am and 3:15 am!! – but well worth as Abu Simbel is breathtaking and Aswan is a beautiful African city). 2 or 3 day trips are also available to the Red Sea, but we had a week booked there anyway.
Top tip: don’t book full board. It was certainly the case in the Hilton, and from speaking to other people was the same at other hotels, that there is at least one alternative restaurant on site serving an evening meal for a lot less than the main restaurant. Going half board gives you an opportunity to eat somewhere else in the evening, including at another hotel or out in Luxor, and it was the cheaper eating venues at the Hilton that had Nile views!
Well written piece - I enjoyed reading it.
I was in Egypt several years ago and Luxor was my favourite city in the 2 week stay. We were doing it cheap on an Explore tour so the Hilton was certainly not our base but the comments on the town in general certainly hit the mark. My sister and I were just about kidnapped by the kalesh driver who wouldn't let us out until we had paid an amount much larger than agreed - we walked after that!
rustifer 20.07.2001 17:26
Good opinion. I stayed half-board in the St Joseph and ate most nights in the Sonesta which has several international restaurants in it including Japanese and Italian. I did the hot air balloon trip while I was there on my honeymoon and it was great.
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Jul 20th, 2001
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