Private Day Trip to Luxor from Hurghada with Temple Visits

Highlights

• A private day tour to the most important temples in Luxor
• Luxor is the once magnificent capital of the Old Kingdom and the city is known as "the largest open-air museum in the world"
• The world-famous terrace temple of Queen Hatshepsut is one of the most famous and most important structures of ancient Egypt
• The Karnak Temple is located in the center of the city and is also the largest in Egypt
• In the Valley of the Kings, the great city of the dead with the 64 pharaohs tombs awaits you
• Discover the idyllic Nile landscape on a traditional Egyptian felucca

Description

Experience a private day tour to Luxor and explore the history of Egypt on your own. The city with its impressive monuments of an ancient civilization is also known as the world's largest open-air museum.

In the new empire (1567-1085 BC), the city of Luxor was the capital of the then world empire for over 500 years under the name “Waset”. As Thebes, Homer called it "the city of one hundred gates". The current name of the city means "city of palaces". Today's center is on the eastern bank of the river. Here are great temples amid markets and luxury hotels. The famous Corniche embankment is part of Luxor. An experience that everyone should treat themselves to after visiting the huge temple of Karnak, which was the most important religious cult center in Egypt for over 13 centuries. Accompanied by your personal guide, visit the following highlights on your private guided tour:

● The Valley of the Kings
On the west bank of the Nile, across from the modern city of Luxor, the Valley of the Kings is home to the grandest royal temples, tombs, and palaces that Egyptian culture produced.

Visit the main attraction of any trip to Luxor with the Valley of the Kings. Thutmose I. was the first pharaoh to be buried here, following Amenhotep I, the founder of the New Kingdom, who was the first king to have a secret rock grave built nearby. It was hoped that the hidden location would provide more protection for the royal tombs, but this expectation turned out to be wrong. All graves discovered so far had been looted and even in the grave of Tutankhamun discovered in 1922, grave robbers had left their traces.

● Admire the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut
The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut in Deir-el-Bahri is particularly impressive. The temple building, rising like a terrace, is located directly in front of an imposing steep rock face and shows an architecture that was unusually modern for Egypt at the time. After the death of Hatshepsut, who ruled as the only female pharaoh for 20 years, her successor Thutmose III. partially tried to destroy the temple and carve out the reliefs of the ruler.

● The Karnak Temple ... always worth a visit!
Who does not know the scene in “Death on the Nile”, where a boulder falls from one of the pillars. Ten of these gigantic pillars once stood here, erected by Pharaoh Taharqa. The great pillared hall, built by Seti I and Ramses the Great, is even more powerful. 134 columns form one of the greatest structures in human history. And further pylon after pylon, there were ten in total. In between obelisks, sanctuaries and statues, the sacred lake and walls are covered with reliefs. Remarkably, all these buildings were reserved for the gods and priests. The people had no access to the temple complex and only got to see the idol during the annual processions.

● The Colossi of Memnon are two colossal ancient Egyptian statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III from the 14th century BC. They are located in the Nile Valley not far from the Valley of the Kings in Thebes-West. The two colossal statues were built around 1379 BC. on either side of the entrance of his mortuary temple. With these large statues, the temple must have been gigantic. Unfortunately, two earthquakes between 1213-1204 BC and 27 BC have destroyed this temple.

Annotation:
- Not all graves are open to the public. Some of the graves are permanently closed, while others may be closed for restoration purposes. In the Valley of the Kings, you can visit 2 to 3 graves

- If you want to see the resting place of Tut Ench Amuns, you have to pay an additional entrance ticket.

- There is now a complete ban on photos for the entire Valley of the Kings. Cameras have to be handed in when entering and are only given again when leaving.

- With the purchase of a video ticket for EGP 300, you can take photos/videography in one grave per ticket. An exception is the grave of Seti I. Tickets are only available at the ticket booth near the Colossi of Memnon, not on site. All graves now have an explanation at the grave entrance on a modern and informative board about the history, architecture, and decoration.

- Basic plans and important detailed recordings are presented. These tables were created with the support of the Theban Mapping Project by the Egyptian Antiquities Authority.

You may also like