Holger Uwe Schmitt · File:1550 bis 1070 v.Chr. ca. wurde der Luxor-Tempel erbaut. 02.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1550_bis_1070_v.Chr._ca._wurde_der_Luxor-Tempel_erbaut._02.jpg
Attraction · Luxor
Luxor Temple
A temple in the middle of the shops, with a working mosque built on top of one corner of it — the clearest proof in Egypt that these places were never actually abandoned.
Time needed1 – 1.5 hours
Best timeAfter dark, floodlit
WhereEast bank, town centre
Builtc. 1400 – 1250 BC
GuideHelpful, not essential
AccessLevel along the main axis
About
Luxor Temple
Luxor Temple was not a temple to a god in the ordinary sense but the setting for the Opet festival, when the images of the Theban gods were carried down from Karnak once a year along the avenue of sphinxes. It is smaller than Karnak, far easier to read, and it sits in the middle of the modern town rather than outside it — which is the point. Its history did not stop with the pharaohs: a Roman legion camped inside it and painted over the reliefs, a Christian church went into the sanctuary, and in the fourteenth century the mosque of Abu al-Haggag was built on top of the accumulated rubble filling the court. When the court was later excavated the mosque was left in place, so its door now opens several metres above the temple floor, and it is still in daily use. There is nowhere else that makes three thousand years of continuous occupation quite so obvious.
🗺 Interactive Map · Coming Soon
Explore Luxor Temple on the map
City locations, drawn from our published destination data. Attractions, hotels and restaurants are not mapped yet.
What to See
What to see at Luxor Temple
A single axis, walked in and walked back. Everything of consequence is on it.
The front
- The first pylon, with two seated colossi of Ramesses II and one standing obelisk. The obelisk’s pair has stood in the Place de la Concorde in Paris since the 1830s.
- The court of Ramesses II beyond it, with the mosque of Abu al-Haggag above the colonnade on the eastern side, its door opening into mid-air.
- The remains of the avenue of sphinxes running north from the entrance, re-excavated along its full length to Karnak.
The colonnade and beyond
- The great colonnade of Amenhotep III — fourteen columns nineteen metres high in two rows, with the Opet festival procession carved along its walls.
- The sun court behind it, with its double row of columns, and the chapel that the Romans converted, where the painted legionary figures are still visible over the Egyptian relief beneath.
- The sanctuary at the far end, rebuilt by Alexander the Great, who had himself shown as a pharaoh making offerings.
The layers
- The Roman apse and its painted plaster, which is the clearest single illustration of the temple’s second life anywhere in it.
- The recut and reused stone throughout — the temple has been quarried, added to, plastered over and dug out repeatedly, and the joins are visible.
- The rise in ground level between the excavated floor and the mosque above, which is the accumulated town of thirty centuries.
Getting There
Getting there
It is in the town. For most travellers this is the one Egyptian site reached on foot.
On foot
- Anywhere on the east-bank corniche is a short walk, and the temple’s enclosure fronts directly onto the main road through the town centre.
- The Luxor Museum is about fifteen minutes further north along the corniche and stays open into the evening, which makes an easy pairing.
- The souq runs back from the corniche a street or two behind the temple.
From Karnak
- Three kilometres south, ten minutes by car, or the length of the re-excavated avenue of sphinxes on foot in the cool of the evening.
- The classic Luxor afternoon is Karnak first, then this after dark, with dinner in between.
Tickets and hours
- Ticketed separately from Karnak, with a booth at the entrance on the corniche side.
- It stays open into the evening and is floodlit after dark — the hours are longer than most Egyptian sites and worth confirming for your dates.
- The mosque above the court is an active place of worship with its own entrance from the street, and it is not part of the temple ticket.
Best Time
When to visit
This is the one major site in Luxor that is better at night than in the morning.
Time of day
- After dark, when it is floodlit, the coach parties have gone and the columns throw shadows onto each other. It is the single most atmospheric hour anywhere in Luxor.
- Late afternoon works if the evening is spoken for, with the light coming in low along the colonnade.
- The middle of the day is flat, hot and crowded, and offers nothing the evening does not do better.
Time of year
- October to April is comfortable, and the evening visit needs a layer in December and January.
- May to September is very hot by day and pleasant after sunset, which makes the night visit less a preference than a plan.
- The Opet festival is no longer observed, but the mosque above the court holds its own moulid procession, which changes access for a day or two when it falls.
How long
- An hour covers it properly, an hour and a half if you stop at the Roman chapel and read the layers.
- It pairs naturally with the Luxor Museum in a single evening.
- Many people come twice — once in daylight to see it and once after dark to look at it.
Visitor Intelligence
Visitor intelligence
A small site with one unusual feature and a few practical quirks.
The mosque
- Abu al-Haggag is a working mosque, not a ruin, and it is entered from the street rather than from the temple.
- Visitors are generally welcome outside prayer times, with the usual dress and behaviour expected of any mosque; ask rather than assume.
- From inside the temple court, look at where its door sits relative to the floor. That gap is the excavation.
Photography
- The night lighting is uneven and warm; a fast lens is worth more than a tripod, which is generally not permitted.
- The pylon with the obelisk and the two colossi, shot from the enclosure entrance, is the frame that reads as Luxor.
- Rules vary and change; ask at the ticket booth rather than at the door.
Access and comfort
- The main axis is broadly level with a ramped descent into the excavated area, so it is more manageable than Karnak for anyone with mobility limits.
- There is no shade inside the enclosure at all, which is another argument for the evening.
- The corniche outside is where the caleche and felucca pressure is heaviest in Luxor. A firm, repeated no works.
Families
- The scale here is comprehensible in a way Karnak’s is not, and the mosque-above-the-temple story lands with children.
- An hour after dark is about right and the evening temperature makes it much easier than a daytime site.
- Ice cream and cold drinks are available on the corniche immediately outside, which is more useful than it sounds.
Nearby
Nearby
Everything here is within a short walk or a ten-minute drive.
Karnak
Three kilometres north, joined by the avenue of sphinxes. Give it an afternoon, not an hour.
Deir el-Bahari
Across the river on the west bank — Hatshepsut’s temple in its cliff amphitheatre.
Luxor
The town around it — corniche, souq, museum and the ferry across.
The Luxor Museum
Fifteen minutes north along the corniche, open into the evening. No page of its own.
Good to Know
Frequently asked
Because the temple never stopped being used. By the fourteenth century the court had filled with many metres of rubble and the town was built on top of it, and the mosque of Abu al-Haggag went up on that level. When archaeologists later excavated the court back down to the pharaonic floor, they left the mosque standing — so its door now opens several metres above the temple pavement, held up on the old columns. It is still in daily use. Nothing else in Egypt shows continuous occupation quite so plainly.
Yes, and it is the only major site in Luxor of which that is straightforwardly true. It is floodlit after dark, the day’s coach parties have gone, the temperature is bearable and the light throws the colonnade into relief in a way the flat overhead sun never does. Many travellers visit twice — once by day to look at the reliefs properly and once after dark for the effect.
In Paris. One of the pair that stood before the first pylon was given to France in the 1830s and has stood in the Place de la Concorde since 1836; the other is still in place. The empty base beside the standing obelisk is where it was. This is an ordinary part of the site’s story rather than a controversy anyone is hiding, and guides point it out.
An hour is enough for a proper walk in and back along the axis, and an hour and a half if you stop at the Roman chapel where painted legionary figures overlie the Egyptian relief. It is a much smaller and more legible site than Karnak, and it does not reward the same length of visit — what it rewards is coming at the right hour.
Yes. The avenue of sphinxes that joined them has been fully re-excavated along its length, about three kilometres, and it can be walked. In the cool of the evening it is a genuinely good way to see the two together and to understand why they were built as a pair. Between April and October in the middle of the day it is a mistake; take a car.
More so than most Egyptian sites. The main axis is broadly level, the descent into the excavated area is ramped rather than stepped, and the whole visit is a straight walk in and back rather than a circuit. The surfaces are still ancient stone and uneven in places, and there is no shade anywhere inside the enclosure — which is one more reason to come in the evening.
Make it yours
Plan your journey
Our travel designers turn knowledge and inspiration into a journey crafted entirely around you.
Plan My Journey →