We were accompanied most of the way by a guy, who claimed he only wanted to practice his English, but was firmly directing us to another supposed government shop

Luxor is, together with the Pyramids in Giza, one of the crown jewels of Egyptian tourism. This unfortunately means that just like in Giza, the town is rigged with tourist traps. Without any knowledge about the correct prices and practices, you will get ripped off. Find out how we experienced Luxor and prepare yourself for your own adventure.

Luxor Day 1: The Train

• Sights:       Esquire
• Lodging:   Happy Land
• Budget:    £ 767

Train, train and train

Once we had stuffed ourselves with the Hilton breakfast, we packed our stuff and took a cab to the train station. It wasn’t indicated anywhere which platform we needed to be. So we found a friendly Egyptian heading the same way and followed him. Once the train arrived we found our spots and settled in. It was gonna be a long ride. We started sliding through the Nile Valley landscape towards Luxor. The train ride was uneventful and incredibly boring. We kept ourselves busy with music, books and annoying each other for the entire 12 hours.

Happy Land

We even ended up getting a discount for the huge amount of laundry we had saved up

Just when we were about to go crazy we finally got to Luxor. We walked from the station to our hostel called Happy Land. It was about half an hour walking and when we finally got there we got a basic room with a small double bed. It was exactly what we expected and it’s not like you can ask for much more at a rate of $ 8 per night. The owner was super friendly, we even ended up getting a discount for the huge amount of laundry we had saved up. The only downside was that the pillows were basically bricks.

Esquire

The super friendly owner of Esquire reopened his kitchen especially for us

We headed out for some much-needed food. After getting totally misled by TripAdvisor, we finally found the restaurant we were looking for. It ended up being around the corner of the hotel. The super friendly owner reopened the kitchen especially for us! We enjoyed his fresh food and juices and even a beer and some wine. His steak in pepper sauce was amazing! We walked back to the hostel which was actually around the corner and after improvising a new pillow with towels and a sweater, we went to sleep.

Luxor Day 2: Life

• Sights:       Temple Complex of Karnak, Luxor Temple, Souks
• Lodging:   Happy Land
• Budget:    £ 706

Timing

The next morning we received a very big and yummy breakfast on the rooftop lounge of Happy Land. He also notified us that our laundry was already clean and dry. The planning for today was to do the East Bank: basically the two famous temples. On the owners advice, we decided to take a cab to Karnak first since that one closed earlier. It was only a 10 minute drive along the river and a beautiful one at that! The Nile view was so different and nicer than in Cairo.

In our own way, our timing was impeccable

The Karnak Temple Complex is huge and we spent more than two hours exploring all of it. When we arrived a couple of busses full of tourist were just leaving. They we’re the smart ones and came to visit before the midday heat. However that did mean we had way fewer people crowding the place. So in our own way, our timing was impeccable!

Karnak

The Grand Hypostyle Hall was by far the most impressive, but also the side buildings and chapels were definitely worth it. Lots of pictures and dropped jaws later we had explored the temple. We often had to ignore random dudes trying to point out a wall was for money. We had learned our lesson in Giza so we did just politely mumbled “La Chokran” and moved on. By the time we got out it was already late afternoon.

Luxor Temple

We took a short cab ride to the Luxor temple. A far smaller one but very well-preserved and beautiful. The people of Luxor once used the walls of this temple as refuge, when Thebes heyday had long passed. A result of those times is the still active mosque inside the temple walls. Again we had the place almost to ourselves. Although this time I guess we just got lucky, since a large German group arrived when we were leaving. We left when the sun was setting and we walked out and crossed the street into the souk.

Shopping

First we found Habibi, a crafts store run by an Australian grandma. She was so nice and had great souvenirs. Next we dived into the real souk.

It was a long walk through the entire street and unfortunately we were accompanied most of the way by a local guy. It started of innocent as usual: he claimed to only want to practice his English. However he did not even talk that much and was firmly directing us to another supposed government shop “only open today”. We went along with it only to walk out of the shop one minute after he dropped us off in front of it. Eventually we did not buy anything but by now had a pretty good idea of the prices.

We had arranged with our hostel for a tour of the west bank the next day. So we went back to the hotel to take a shower and went back to Esquire. The owner was very happy to see us again and we got the same table (the place was empty save for 2 non-sober regulars). I enjoyed another steak and Daisy tasted the chicken in mushroom sauce. Since our tour would start early, we went to bed full with yummy food and anticipation.

Luxor Day 2: Death

• Sights:       Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hatsjepsut, Medinat Habu
• Lodging:   Eatabe Hotel
• Budget:    £ 860

Habibi

I was a firm believer in Horus we ended up with Habibi, basically Arab for ‘baby’ and by far the most common word on the radio

Our friendly neighborhood guide was picked us up right in time. But only after we had enjoyed our very nice and elaborate breakfast on the roof. Our guide took a vote on how to call our group. Although I was a firm believer in Horus we ended up with Habibi, basically Arab for ‘baby’ and by far the most common word on the radio. Romani (the guide) gave his humoristic introduction while we drove across the bridge to the entry of the valley of the kings.

There we got on the tuf-tuf train, one of those little tourist trains you see in a lot of cities. The reason for this train was a mystery to me. Although I suspected it had to do with the 10 extra pounds you pay to take it. I asked our guide and he confirmed: not taking it was not an option and the sole reason was to earn something extra. The ridiculous thing was that the entrance of the canyon wasn’t even that far.

The Tombs

The ticket includes entrance to three tombs of your choice (not all of them are always open). Romani had picked the most unusual ones: the deepest, the most colorful and the most complex. The tomb of Tutankhamun is the same price as the three others and way less spectacular than any of them. So just don’t do it. During our visit we got to know some of our fellow travelers. This was clearly the cheap bus, arranged out of hostels mostly, since almost all of them (except me) were students. We met sole traveling Gino The Argentino and Jordan the Xanaxed Brit (he claimed he was sick but thanks to the Xanax just did not care anymore). Unfortunately pictures are not allowed in the Valley.

Hot Chicken Soup

Romani called her HotChickenSoup, since it basically sounded the same according to him

Next destination was Deir el Bahari or the Temple of Hatsjepsut: the queen who ruled Egypt for 18 years. Romani called her HotChickenSoup, since it basically sounded the same according to him. The decorations on the temple showing her trade mission to Punt (Somalia) were beautiful and the temple itself is wonderfully restored. As a stopover we got dropped of at an Alabaster factory. We ended up buying some canopy jars in basalt for a tenth of his original price. Since we did not really need it I just kept walking away until he met my price. I got him down from 600 to 50.

Medinat Habu

As a last stop on the tour we went to Medinat Habu, the palace and temple of Ramses II. For the first time we saw remains of a real palace, up until then we had seen places of burial and worship. It was rather modest, small and built out of mud brick while the temples are pure sandstone and limestone. On our way back we also passed by the famous Colossi of Memnon, the only thing left of a once gigantic palace.

Souvenirs

Our shuttle bus driver dropped us off at Happy Land after the tour. We moved our luggage  by taxi from Happy Land to the Eatabe hotel, a slightly fancier establishment which I managed to book with my miles. We really enjoyed our afternoon of quiet at the pool of the hotel.

Once the sun had set and the pool closed we washed up and went out into the souks for souvenir shopping. Daisy bought some pants and rings and I bought Egyptian hammam towels for my parents at Habibi. We took our souvenirs and went for a rather fancy dinner at Sofra, a beautiful rooftop restaurant. Despite of the very nice setting, I had some rather dry stuffed pigeon with not a lot of meat on its bones. We walked back to the hotel and enjoyed our night in the soft hotel bed.