Cairo & Luxor, Egypt
Pyramids, the Valley of the Kings, and a Nile cruise. Winter is the only sane time for Upper Egypt.
Best time to visit
Weather by month
Cost
Serves travellers at Backpacker→Ultra-luxury level. Typically around $90 a day on the ground.
Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.
What's on
Abu Simbel Sun Festival February
Sun hits the inner sanctuary on 22 Feb and 22 Oct
Worth knowing
Cash, in small denominations, for almost everything outside hotels. Cards are accepted in larger hotels and restaurants and nowhere else reliably.
money · editorial
Small tips are a constant part of daily transactions here, for everything from a helpful gesture to a washroom, and you need a pocket of small notes for it. Mosques require covered shoulders, legs and hair, and shoes come off. Photography rules vary tomb to tomb and are enforced.
know before · editorial
Summer in Upper Egypt, when Luxor and Aswan pass 45 degrees and sightseeing outdoors stops being possible after mid-morning. During Ramadan, hours shift and many places close during daylight.
when not to go · editorial
In Cairo, Zamalek is the leafy island with the embassies and restaurants; downtown is louder and closer to the museum; Giza puts you beside the pyramids and far from everything else. In Luxor, the east bank corniche is convenient and the west bank is quieter and closer to the tombs.
where to stay · editorial
In Cairo, ride-hailing apps and the metro, which is fast and avoids the traffic entirely. In Luxor, the east and west banks are linked by ferry, and the west bank sites are spread out enough to need a taxi or a bicycle. Hiring a driver for the day is the standard arrangement at both.
getting around · editorial
Cairo airport is around an hour from the centre depending on traffic, which is the variable that matters. Luxor is an hour by air from Cairo or an overnight sleeper train down the Nile, which takes the whole night and is the more interesting option.
getting there · editorial
Quests
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The pyramids of Giza
Four and a half thousand years old, with the city pressed against them on the eastern side.
The Sphinx
Seventy-three metres long, carved from a single outcrop.
Karnak
One hundred and thirty-four columns in the hypostyle hall, some of them twenty-three metres tall.
Luxor Temple
In the middle of the modern city, with a mosque built on top of it.
Valley of the Kings
Sixty-three tombs cut into the mountain, with the colours still alive.
Khan el-Khalili
A market since 1382. Come in by the side alleys and the price changes.
See
Go down into the tomb of Seti I, in the Valley of the Kings
Eat
Eat koshary at a Cairo counter, with extra garlic sauce
Koshari
Rice, pasta, lentils, chickpeas, tomato sauce and fried onion. One bowl, one dollar.
Ful medames
Broad beans cooked all night, with olive oil and cumin. The country's breakfast.
Iced karkadé
Hibiscus tea, deep red, served everywhere.
Moment
Cross the Nile by felucca late in the afternoon, no engine
A felucca on the Nile at sunset
Sail only, no engine. If there is no wind, you sit still, and that is fine.
Balloon over the west bank at dawn
The Valley of the Kings, the colossi, and the desert starting where the green stops.
Trail
From Deir el-Bahari to the Valley of the Kings over the mountain
The workmen's path, over the ridge. Two hours and no shade.