Best seller4.9
Luxor
Luxor Full Day: Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, Colossi of Memnon, Karnak and Luxor Temples
Both banks of the Nile in one day: the tombs of the pharaohs in the morning, the great temples in the afternoon.
8 hPrivate
€75
Luxor and the Nile
Karnak Temple
The largest religious building ever built, 2,000 years in the making.
- Built
- c. 2055 BC to 30 BC, thirty pharaohs
- Area
- 100 hectares; the precinct of Amun alone 30 ha
- Hypostyle Hall
- 134 columns, 5,000 m², Seti I and Ramses II
- Obelisks
- Hatshepsut 29.5 m; Thutmose I 21 m
Karnak is the temple of Amun at Thebes, built and extended from about 2055 BC to the Ptolemies over 100 hectares: the Great Hypostyle Hall of 134 columns, the obelisks of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, the sacred lake, and the Avenue of Sphinxes to Luxor Temple. Two hours with a guide; ticket about 600 EGP; the Sound and Light Show runs in the evening. Included on every Luxor day tour.
Visiting
Every pharaoh of the New Kingdom added to Karnak, so walking from the first pylon to the sanctuary is walking backwards in time. The Avenue of Ram-headed Sphinxes leads through the pylon of the last dynasty into the courtyard, then the Great Hypostyle Hall: twelve central columns 21 m high with open papyrus capitals, 122 smaller ones around them, all carved and once painted.
Beyond the hall stand the obelisks of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut, the sanctuary of the sacred bark, the Festival Hall of Thutmose III with its tent-pole columns, and the sacred lake where the priests washed before dawn. The open-air museum keeps the reconstructed White Chapel of Senusret I and the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut.
At night the Sound and Light Show leads you through the same route with the columns lit from below; by day the site opens at 06:00 and the first hour is the quietest.
Tips from our guides
- Two hours minimum; three with the open-air museum
- Morning light is on the hypostyle hall; afternoon on the obelisks
- The Sound and Light Show is best after a daytime visit
Best time: Early morning or from 15:00; October to April for the heat.
Questions
Two hours with a guide for the main axis, the obelisks and the sacred lake; three if you add the open-air museum.
No. Karnak is the vast temple complex north of the town; Luxor Temple is the smaller, more elegant temple in the town centre, joined to Karnak by the Avenue of Sphinxes.
25.7188 N, 32.6573 EOpen in Google Maps
