As someone who has been arranging private tours and hosting guests in Luxor for over two decades at Mara House, here’s my honest answer to the big question — how many days do you really need in Luxor? The answer is that it all depends on your level of interest in the temples, tombs, museums, daily life, culture etc. However, most of our guests at Mara House opt to stay with us for 3 nights and spend two and half days exploring. They also want some time to relax and usually enjoy our renowned Salahadeen Feast when they return from the Abydos and Dendera tour because that is a long day with only a packed lunch as there is no time to stop to eat.
You Need Minimum 3 Days to see Luxor’s Main Sites
- Day 1 – arrive in Luxor evening or night time
- Day 2 – Abydos/Dendera or West Bank
- Day 3 – West Bank or Abydos/Dendera
- Day 4 – Karnak & Luxor Temples, you might want to leave Luxor in the afternoon or night time if pressed for time.
An Alternative Itinerary for your days in Luxor would be:
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- Day 1 – arrive before mid-day and see Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple
- Day 2 – Abydos/Dendera or West Bank
- Day 3 – West Bank or Abydos/Dendera – leave on flight 6pm or later or the night train
Most people travelling to Egypt are coming from far-flung corners of the world — often spending over 24 hours in airports and airplanes just to get here. If you’re making such a journey, you deserve to experience the very best Egypt has to offer — and that means at least five of the must-see sites on Luxor’s famous West Bank. That’s exactly why I created my Luxor Tour + Mara House stay-packages — so you don’t have to worry about planning or logistics. I’ve already perfected everything for you — day by day — to give you maximum enjoyment and zero stress.
The 5 sites you should visit on Luxor’s West Bank are:
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- Valley of the Kings
- Hatshepsut‘s Temple
- Nobles Tombs (set of two or set of 3 tombs)
- Deir El Medina (the Workers’ Village – 2 pristine tombs)
- Medinet Habu Temple.
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So, you can see that you would need most of a day on the West Bank to see the main sites there.
SPECIAL TOMBS on West Bank:
Currently there are 3 special tombs open on the West Bank and perhaps for a limited time. These are definitely worth seeing if you are very interested in seeing the best tombs and ok with paying the extra ticket costs. They are
- Tut-Ankh-Amun in the Valley of the Kings
- Sety I in the Valley of the Kings
- Queen Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens
The Temples at Abydos and Dendera require 1 Full Day
These two temples are the absolute best in Egypt. They are the most intact, most colourful, most mysterious, most exciting, and best temples in Egypt. I am very passionate about these two temples and advise that if you see no other temple in Egypt SEE THESE TWO! They involve a day trip from Luxor and you get 1 – 2 hours in Abydos and 2 hours in Dendera.
At Mara House we give you information on arrival of everything you can do in Luxor and we never push tours on guests – with the exception of Abydos and Dendera 🙂 I really do try to get all my guests to go to these exciting and remote Temples with my guides for a few reasons.
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- There are quite a few things in these ancient sites that the usual guides will not tell you about or bring to your attention simply because they don’t have explanations for them – such as the helicopter etc. at Abydos.
- Going by cheap taxi, to save money, without a guide who really knows and loves these two Egyptian monuments is cheating yourself. You will be hassled by the guardians etc. there to let them show you around – and your experience will be marred by it. You will not know from any guide book what out-of-the-ordinary things you should be searching for in either of these two temples.
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75% of tourists coming to Luxor miss out on visiting these two amazing places
Karnak and Luxor Temples – half a day.
Karnak Temple will take you about 2 hours and Luxor Temple 1 hour so it is ideal to slot these into your arrival or departure days if you are arriving or departing around mid-day. Karnak Temple ticket office closes at 4 or 4.30pm, depending on time of the year. The Temple must be empty at 5pm – but Luxor Temple is open late every night and is beautifully illuminated after dark.
Are you ready to make your days in Luxor unforgettable? Click here to see my most popular 3 night offer that includes the tours to all the sites mentioned above as well as accommodation at Mara House — and let me take the stress out of planning for you
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