Tour Overview
This private 2-day trip flies you from Cairo to Luxor and gives you one night in the city once called Thebes. Day one covers the East Bank: Karnak, Luxor Temple, a Nile boat to lunch on an island and the Karnak Sound and Light Show after dark. Day two crosses to the West Bank for the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple and the Colossi of Memnon before your flight back.
Tour Highlights
- Spend a night in a 5-star Luxor hotel, so you see both banks of the Nile without the rush of a same-day return to Cairo.
- Walk the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak by day, then come back after dark for the Sound and Light Show among the same columns.
- Visit Luxor Temple in the heart of the city, begun by Amenhotep III and later extended by Tutankhamun, Horemheb and Ramses II.
- Cross to the West Bank for painted royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, where Howard Carter opened Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922.
- Take a boat on the Nile to lunch on an island on day one, and eat at a Nile-view restaurant in Luxor on day two.
Tour Route
Is 2 days enough for Luxor?
Two days is enough for Luxor's essentials. You see Karnak and Luxor Temple on the East Bank, then the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple and the Colossi of Memnon on the West Bank. You would need a third day for sites like Medinet Habu, the Valley of the Queens or Dendera.
How is this different from the Luxor day trip from Cairo?
The day trip squeezes the West Bank and Karnak into one day and flies you back the same night. This trip adds Luxor Temple, the Karnak Sound and Light Show and a night in a 5-star hotel, and splits the two banks across two days, so each visit has more time.
It also differs from the 2-day Luxor and Aswan trip from Cairo, which spends the night in Aswan after a train ride and gives day two to the High Dam and Philae. Pick this one if Luxor is your only priority.
What is the Karnak Sound and Light Show like?
It is an evening walk-and-sit program inside Karnak Temple. Recorded narration and music tell the story of Thebes and its kings while lighting picks out pylons, statues and columns. You walk part of the route, then sit facing the sacred lake for the final section. Bring a light layer for the evening.
What else can you do in Luxor?
If you can add a day, our Luxor day tours include the Dendera and Abydos temples, north of the city. For a slower way to see the south, a Nile cruise between Aswan and Luxor covers the temples along the river.
Tour Itinerary
An early flight and a late evening show make day one long; day two is a steadier morning on the West Bank before you fly home.
Early in the morning a private air-conditioned car collects you from your hotel in Cairo or Giza and takes you to the airport for your flight to Luxor. Your private Egyptologist guide meets you at Luxor Airport, and you drive straight to the first temple.
Karnak grew over about 2,000 years as the main home of Amun, Mut and Khonsu, the gods of Thebes. Your guide leads you through the pylons into the Great Hypostyle Hall, with its 134 columns, past the obelisks of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut, and out to the sacred lake.
Luxor Temple stands in the middle of the modern city, linked to Karnak by the Avenue of Sphinxes. Amenhotep III built its core, and Tutankhamun, Horemheb and Ramses II added to it. It was the setting for the Opet festival, when the gods' statues traveled here from Karnak.
A boat takes you across the river to an island for lunch, which is included. The ride gives you a view of both banks of Luxor from the water, and the meal is an unhurried break after a busy morning that started with a flight.
After lunch you check in at your 5-star hotel in Luxor and have the rest of the afternoon to rest, shower and change. After the early start, this free time matters, because the day is not over yet. Many travelers take a short nap or a walk along the Corniche before the evening.
We pick you up again for the Sound and Light Show at Karnak, which is included. The narration tells the story of Thebes and of the kings who built the temple while lights pick out the pylons, statues and columns you walked through that morning. Afterward you return to your hotel for the night.
After breakfast at the hotel you check out and cross to the West Bank with your guide. In the Valley of the Kings, pharaohs of the 18th to 20th dynasties were buried in tombs cut deep into the rock, with walls painted with texts meant to guide them through the underworld.
Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahari, designed by her architect Senenmut, rises in three terraces against the cliffs. On the way back you stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two huge seated statues of Amenhotep III that once guarded the entrance of his temple.
Lunch is at a Nile-view restaurant in Luxor and is included. Then you transfer to Luxor Airport for the flight to Cairo, where a driver meets you and takes you back to your hotel in Cairo or Giza, with both banks of Luxor seen in two days.
What's Included
What the tour price covers, and what to plan for separately.
Paid
★
Your
Own
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers about this tour. For anything else, message us on WhatsApp — we reply fast.
It starts at your hotel in Cairo or Giza, where a private car picks you up early in the morning for the airport. Pickup from downtown Cairo and the Giza area is included; other areas can be arranged for an extra charge. On day two you are dropped back at your hotel.
The price covers return flights between Cairo and Luxor, one night in a 5-star Luxor hotel with breakfast, a private Egyptologist guide, a private air-conditioned car, the Nile boat trip, two lunches, the Karnak Sound and Light Show, entrance fees to all sites in the program, and taxes.
Yes. Your guide and car are only for you and your companions. The per-person price falls as your group grows, because the car, guide and room costs are shared, and it changes by season, mainly because domestic airfares and hotel rates rise in the winter months and over Christmas and New Year.
Pack a small overnight bag for the Luxor hotel and leave the rest in your Cairo hotel, if they can store it. Bring your passport for both flights and check-in, comfortable shoes, sun protection and a light layer for the evening show at Karnak.
Yes. Avicon Travel is a Class "A" travel agency licensed by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism under License No. 1962 and registered since 2010. Our office and team are in Karnak, Luxor, so the guides, drivers and cars on this tour are our own local team, not a booking desk abroad.
