Tour Overview
This private 2-day trip takes you from Hurghada to Luxor by car and gives the city a night instead of a few rushed hours. Day one covers the East Bank, Karnak and Luxor Temple, with lunch on a Nile island and the Karnak Sound and Light Show after dark. You sleep in a 5-star Luxor hotel, then spend day two on the West Bank at the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple and the Colossi of Memnon before driving back to the Red Sea.
Tour Highlights
- Split Luxor over two days, so the long desert drive from the Red Sea is not followed by a race through every site before dark.
- Walk through Karnak's Great Hypostyle Hall, then visit Luxor Temple, the East Bank sanctuary of Amun that the one-day trip from Hurghada leaves out.
- Take a short boat ride to lunch on a Nile island, then check in to a 5-star hotel in Luxor for the night.
- Return to Karnak after dark for the Sound and Light Show, when the pylons and statues are lit and the story of Thebes is told aloud.
- Start day two at the Valley of the Kings, then see Hatshepsut's terraced temple and the Colossi of Memnon before the drive back.
Tour Route
Is a 2-day Luxor trip from Hurghada worth it?
Yes, if you can spare the night. Luxor is a long drive from the Red Sea, and on a day trip you see four sites and head straight back. With a night in the city you add Luxor Temple, the Karnak light show and a calmer West Bank morning, without rushing any of them.
The trade-off is one night away from the beach and a higher price than the day trip. For travelers who care about ancient Egypt, the extra temple and slower pace are worth it, and you reach the Valley of the Kings fresh, not after a long morning in the car.
What is the Karnak Sound and Light Show like?
It is an evening show inside Karnak Temple. Lights fall on the pylons, columns and statues in turn, and a recorded narration tells the history of Thebes and its great temple. It is a very different way to see a place you already walked through that morning, quieter and cooler than the daytime visit.
What is the difference between Luxor's East Bank and West Bank?
The ancient Egyptians linked the east side of the Nile, where the sun rises, with life, and the west, where it sets, with the dead. So Karnak and Luxor Temple, the houses of the gods, stand on the East Bank, while the royal tombs and memorial temples lie on the West Bank.
How is this different from the Luxor day trip and the other 2-day trips from Hurghada?
The Luxor day trip from Hurghada fits Karnak and the West Bank into one long day and skips Luxor Temple. This trip adds Luxor Temple, the light show and a night in Luxor, and it stays in one city instead of moving on.
If you want a second city, the 2-day Luxor and Aswan trip takes the train south after Karnak, and the Luxor and Abu Simbel trip swaps Aswan's sights for the temples of Ramesses II. With more time in Luxor, browse our Luxor day tours, such as the hot air balloon.
Tour Itinerary
Day one is the full one, with the drive, two East Bank temples and the evening show; day two is a West Bank morning, lunch and the drive back to Hurghada.
Early in the morning your private guide and driver collect you from your hotel in Hurghada in an air-conditioned car. The road leaves the coast and crosses the Eastern Desert to the Nile Valley, and your guide uses the drive to outline what you will see over the next two days.
Karnak was the great temple of Amun, Mut and Khonsu, the gods of Thebes, and pharaohs kept adding to it for some two thousand years. Your guide leads you through the pylons, the Great Hypostyle Hall with its 134 columns, the obelisks and the sacred lake.
Next is Luxor Temple, built mainly by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II in the center of the modern city. It was the setting for the Opet Festival, when the statue of Amun traveled from Karnak along the Avenue of Sphinxes. Look for the seated colossi and the obelisk at the entrance.
A short boat ride across the Nile takes you to lunch on one of Luxor's river islands, and lunch is included. Afterward you check in to your 5-star hotel in Luxor and have time to rest before the evening, which is the main gain over seeing Luxor in a single day.
In the evening you return to Karnak for the Sound and Light Show. Lights pick out the gateways, columns and statues while a narration tells the story of Thebes and the kings who built the temple. Then you go back to your hotel for the night; dinner is not part of the program.
After breakfast you check out and cross to the West Bank with your guide. In the Valley of the Kings, rulers of the 18th to 20th dynasties were buried in tombs cut deep into the hills. About 63 tombs are known, and your ticket opens a selection of them.
Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahari rises in three terraces joined by ramps against the cliffs, built for one of the few women to rule Egypt as pharaoh. On the way back you stop at the Colossi of Memnon, two seated statues of Amenhotep III about 18 meters high.
Lunch is at a restaurant with a view of the Nile and is included. Then you leave Luxor with your driver for the road back across the desert to your hotel in Hurghada, where the trip ends with two days of Luxor behind you.
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 Hurghada, where your private guide and driver pick you up early on day one. The trip ends with a drop-off at the same hotel after lunch and the drive back on day two. Tell us your hotel name when you book so we can confirm the pickup.
The price covers one night in a 5-star Luxor hotel with breakfast, two lunches, a private Egyptologist guide, a private air-conditioned car for all transfers, entrance fees to every site in the program, the Karnak Sound and Light Show, and taxes. Dinner, tips and personal extras are not included.
Yes. The guide and car are private to you and your companions, and no other travelers join. The per-person price falls as your group grows, because the car, guide and fuel costs are shared, and it changes by season, with higher hotel rates in winter and over Christmas and New Year.
Bring a small overnight bag with your passport, a change of clothes and anything you need for the evening, since you go from the sites to the hotel and then to the show. A light layer helps at the show in winter, and a hat, sunscreen and comfortable shoes are useful on the West Bank.
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.
