Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut and Colossi of Memnon Tour

What Is in the Price

The listing includes a private qualified English-speaking Egyptologist guide, all transfers by private air-conditioned vehicle, hotel pickup in Luxor and return, and a bottle of water. The listing names a limousine, van or minibus. The tour is private, so it is just your party with the guide.

The Colossi of Memnon need no ticket at all, so that stop is effectively free once you are there. The Valley of the Kings sits under 5 miles from the Colossi, Deir el-Medina, Hatshepsut's temple and Medinet Habu.

• Private qualified English-speaking Egyptologist guide
• All transfers by private air-conditioned vehicle
• Hotel pickup and return in Luxor
• A bottle of water

What You Pay on the Day

All fees and taxes are excluded, and the exclusions list says the tombs of Tutankhamun, Ramses VI and Seti I have special tickets. The general Valley of the Kings ticket is EGP 750 for foreign adults and EGP 375 for students, and it covers three tombs of your choice from those open that day. Tutankhamun's tomb KV62 costs an extra EGP 700, Seti I's tomb KV17 costs EGP 2,000 and the joint tomb of Ramesses V and VI (KV9) costs EGP 220. Card payment only at the valley, so bring a card, not cash. The tram from the visitor centre to the tomb area is EGP 20 round trip.

Tipping is listed as excluded but not obligatory. Any extra not mentioned in the itinerary is also excluded. These official ticket prices are the Ministry and guidebook figures, not part of the tour price, and this listing shows no ticket price of its own.

Honest Notes Before You Book

Tickets are not included and are paid on the day by card, so plan for the EGP figures above in addition to the $40. The special tombs are exactly that, special tickets outside the general ticket, and the general ticket never guarantees a named tomb because the tombs open in rotation and some close for renovation. A guide in a language other than English costs $5 per person per tour.

There is no lunch stop, so eat before pickup or plan a meal back in Luxor.

Pickup at Your Luxor Hotel

The driver and guide collect you from your hotel in Luxor and cross to the West Bank. No departure time or pickup window is stated, so confirm the pickup time with the operator after booking. The crossing to the Theban Necropolis puts you across the Nile from ancient Thebes, where royal burial ran from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Dynasty between roughly 1550 and 1069 BC.

Valley of the Kings

The listing's itinerary puts the Valley of the Kings on the route, the burial ground of kings including Thutmose I, Thutmose III, Tutankhamun, Ramesses VI, Merenptah and Amenhotep II. The site holds over sixty tombs plus about twenty unfinished ones, split between an East Valley and a West Valley. Your general ticket covers three tombs of your choice from those open that day, and only around 18 of the tombs can be opened to visitors at all, rarely all at the same time.

One thing to expect: guides are not permitted inside the tombs, so your Egyptologist explains each tomb outside the entrance and you walk through in single file. The tram from the visitor centre to the tomb area takes about three minutes and costs EGP 20 round trip. Restrooms are at the visitor centre. Expect 1 to 3 hours here depending on pace and how many special tombs you add.

Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir El-Bahari

The guide takes you to the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut, known as El Dir El Bahari, built by the daughter of Thutmose I who ruled Egypt about 20 years in the 18th Dynasty, around 1490 to 1469 BC, the only pharaonic woman to reign over ancient Egypt. The temple is 273.5 metres long, has three terraces, and its middle terrace carries the reliefs of the expedition to the Land of Punt. The Polish-Egyptian mission has restored the whole temple since 1967.

Its own ticket is separate from the Valley of the Kings ticket.

Colossi of Memnon

The last stop is the Colossi of Memnon, the remains of the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. The two seated statues stand about 18 metres high including their bases, weigh about 720 tons each and sit about 15 metres apart. They have no entrance fee.

After an earthquake in 27 BC the northern colossus was reputed to sing within an hour or two of sunrise, a sound last reliably mentioned in 196 AD.

Return to Your Hotel

The driver returns you to your Luxor hotel at the end. Total time out is 4 to 5 hours, which usually leaves the afternoon free in Luxor.

Travellers Who Want Tickets Sorted

Nothing is prepaid here. The exclusions cover all fees and taxes and the special tombs, and the general tickets are yours to buy by card at the gate. If you want admission bundled in, the private West Bank day in Private West Bank, Kings and Queens includes entry fees to five sites, and Private Both Banks with Tut's Tomb describes Tutankhamun's tomb on its route, with entry fees only if you select its option.

Travellers Who Want a Group Price or Lunch

This is a private tour, so it is not a shared group, and there is no food. The West Bank Half Day with Lunch is a small-group morning covering the same three sites plus lunch at $23, and Kings and Queens Half Day with Lunch swaps Hatshepsut for the Valley of the Queens and adds an Egyptian lunch for $55.

Travellers Who Need a Full or Flexible Day

Four to 5 hours covers three sites only. No East Bank, no Karnak, no Valley of the Queens. If you want both banks, the Shared Full Day, Both Banks covers five sites in 8 hours with lunch, and the balloon package in Balloon Ride and Full-Day Sights adds a flight over the necropolis with entry fees included.

Heat, Access and Other Limits

The listing says the tour suits all fitness levels, but the tombs involve ramps, slopes and steps, and Luxor's mean daily maximum runs 39.1 C in May, 41.2 C in June and 41.4 C in July, so a midday summer visit is hard work. No wheelchair provision is stated. No departure time is stated either, so the pickup hour is whatever the operator confirms.

Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before departure, and the listing states no bad-weather cancellation clause. If any of these are dealbreakers, compare the rest of the Valley of the Kings tours from Luxor before booking.

The Official Tickets at the Valley

The general Valley of the Kings ticket is EGP 750 for foreign adults and EGP 375 for foreign students, and it covers three tombs of your choice from those open that day. Extra tickets are sold separately: Tutankhamun's tomb KV62 at EGP 700, Seti I's tomb KV17 at EGP 2,000 with no foreign student discount, Ramesses V and VI at KV9 for EGP 220, and the tomb of Ay in the West Valley for EGP 200. The full breakdown is in the Valley of the Kings tickets guide.

Card only at the valley, at the ticket office or online, so cash is useless there. The tram from the visitor centre to the tombs is EGP 20 round trip. Mobile-phone photography is currently listed as free, but flash is prohibited inside the tombs because it damages the painted walls.

Hours, Rotation and the Heat

The Ministry lists the valley as open daily from 6:00 AM, closing at 5:00 PM, though some sources give 4:00 PM in winter. Peak crowds fall between 10 AM and 2 PM, so arriving near opening helps. The tombs on the general ticket come from a rotating set, some close for renovation, and you cannot choose a tomb before you arrive.

Heat is the other constraint: Luxor's mean daily maximum tops 41 C in July, the record is 50 C, and US News advises avoiding the valley in summer or carrying plenty of water and sunscreen. Rock-cut tombs stay noticeably cooler than the desert outside. More detail is in the Temple of Hatshepsut guide for the second stop.

What Fits Around a Half Day

A 4 to 5 hour morning leaves most of the day free. Karnak Temple is open daily from 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM and costs EGP 600 for foreign adults including the Open Museum, so a late afternoon visit works. Luxor Temple stays open daily from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM and is the one major site open into the evening, at EGP 500 for foreign adults. The Karnak Temple guide covers the layout and tickets.

If you want a dawn flight over the necropolis before or after this tour, read the Luxor hot air balloon guide. And if Tutankhamun's tomb is the reason you came, weigh the EGP 700 extra ticket against what the Tutankhamun's tomb guide says about the visit.