Luxor

Introduction

Luxor Temple glows

Sited of the banks of the Nile roughly 650 kilometres (400 miles) south of Cairo, Luxor is one of Egypt's most popular tourist destinations and the base for several important archaelogical sites - the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Luxor. Thebes, the ancient Egyptian capital, was located on the West bank of the river Nile. That is where most of the ruins and tombs are. Because of this, Luxor is often referred to as the "world's greatest open air museum". Across the Nile on the East bank is the Luxor town. Most shops, restaurants and accommodations are located on this side of Luxor.

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Sights and Activities

East Bank

Luxor Temple
Karnak Temple
Luxor Museum
Mummification Museum

West Bank

Valley of the Kings
Valley of the Queens
Medinet Habu (memorial temple of Ramesses III)
The Ramesseum (memorial temple of Ramesses II)
Deir al-Madinah (workers' village)
Tombs of the Nobles
Deir el-Bahri (Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, etc.)
Malkata (palace of Amenophis III)
Colossi of Memnon (memorial temple of Amenophis III).

luxor - west bank

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Weather

Luxor is a very dry and sunny place with no rain whatsoever, making it one of the driest places on earth. Temperatures between November and February are pleasantly warm, between 22 °C and 27 °C, while average daytime temperatures in summer are above 40 °C, but temperatures close to 50 °C have been measured here! Winter nights are relatively cool, but rarely really cold, like desert areas more to the (north)west.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Avg Max	22.9 °C	25.2 °C	29.3 °C	35 °C	38.9 °C	41.1 °C	40.9 °C	40.6 °C	38.8 °C	35.3 °C	29.4 °C	24.4 °C
Avg Min	5.7 °C	7.1 °C	11 °C	16 °C	20.4 °C	22.8 °C	23.9 °C	23.5 °C	21.6 °C	17.8 °C	12 °C	7.5 °C
Rainfall	0.1 mm	0.1 mm	0.3 mm	0.1 mm	0.3 mm	0 mm	0 mm	0.01 mm	0.3 mm	1.2 mm	0.2 mm	0.04 mm
Rain Days	0.1	0.07	0.1	0.01	0.2	0	0	0.01	0.03	0.3	0.07	0.05

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Getting There

By Plane

Luxor is served by Luxor International Airport (LXR), located 6 kilometres east of the city. The only budget carrier currently operating direct to Luxor from Europe is Air Berlin, from several German cities. Jazeera Airways operate direct flights from Kuwait and Lebanon. Many national carriers offer direct flights. Egyptair flies direct to Luxor from Cairo nine times a day, with flights taking approximately an hour. They have more flights to Barcelona, Brussels, London, Madrid, Milan, Osaka, Rome and Paris, as well as a few more domestic cities like Aswan and Sharm el-Sheikh.

By Train

Direct trains from Cairo are frequent, convenient and reasonably priced. Most tourists take the comfortable Express trains. The rail line continues direct to Aswan. Check the Egyptian National Railways website for more information about prices and schedules.

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Getting Around

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By Public Transport

Horse carriages, called "caleches," are widely available and sold hard - be prepared to haggle for a reasonable fare.

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Sleep

Budget

Rezeiky camping offers comfortable, cheap, air conditioned rooms and extremely cheap camping, with free use of a pool.

Upscale

The Winter Palace (now owned by Sofitel) is the traditional upscale choice, a suitably opulent colonial-style building overlooking the Nile River.

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Keep Connected

Internet

Internet access is easy to find and cheap. Most cities, such as Greater Cairo and Luxor, and even smaller tourist sites, such as Edfu, boast a plethora of small internet cafés. The price per hour is usually EGP 2-10 depending on the location/speed. In addition, an increasing number of coffee shops, restaurants, hotel lobbies and other locations now provide free wireless internet access. Free wi-fi (Mobilnil) is also available at modern coffee shops such as Cilantro and Costa Coffee, where you obtain access by getting a 2-hour "promotional" card from the waiter, and if you go into almost any McDonald's, you will have access to a free WiFi connection.

Phone

Post

Egypt Post is the national postal service in Egypt. Services are generally reliable, affordable though pretty slow, even if you send post domestically. International letters and postcards take days, if not weeks if send to the US or Australia. They do have express mail services though, but these are relatively expensive. Opening hours of post officies are mostly from 8:30am to 2:00pm or 3:00pm daily except Friday, when all of them are closed. The central ones might keep longer hours, generally until 8:00pm. You can buy stamps here, or at certain newspaper kiosks. In touristic areas, these are available at many shops as well. For parcels, it's much better to use international courier services such as DHL, TNT, FedEx or UPS.

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