Nicola · File:Trip to Egypt 1988 79.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trip_to_Egypt_1988_79.jpg
Attraction · Luxor
The Valley of the Kings
Sixty-odd tombs cut down into the rock of a dry desert valley instead of built above ground, precisely so nobody would find them — which did not work.
Time needed2 – 3 hours
Best timeFirst light
WhereWest bank, behind the cliffs
Standard ticketThree tombs, rotating
Extra ticketsSeti I · Tutankhamun
InsideHot, not cool
About
The Valley of the Kings
For a thousand years Egyptian kings had advertised their tombs by building pyramids over them, and every one of those pyramids had been robbed. From the early New Kingdom the royal burials moved here instead: a dry, roadless valley behind the Theban cliffs, with tombs driven downward into the rock and their entrances hidden, guarded by a village of workmen kept deliberately close. More than sixty tombs and chambers have been found. Almost all of them were robbed anyway, most of them in antiquity — which is why the one substantially intact burial, Tutankhamun’s, mattered so much when Howard Carter reached it in 1922, and why what it contained is now the centrepiece of the national collection rather than of this valley. What is left here is the architecture and the decoration, and the decoration is the reason to come: corridor after corridor of funerary texts and star ceilings, cut and painted to a standard that has no equivalent.
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What to See
What to see in the valley
Three tombs on the standard ticket from a rotating selection, plus two that are separately ticketed. What is open changes; a guide who knows this week’s list is worth a great deal.
The rotation
- Three tombs on the standard ticket, chosen from a set that changes to spread the wear — breath, body heat and humidity are genuinely damaging the paint.
- Ramesses IV, Ramesses IX, Merenptah and Ramesses III appear often and are all excellent, with long straight corridors and heavy, well-preserved colour.
- Ask which are open before you buy rather than after. The ticket office sells the standard ticket without telling you what is on it.
The separately ticketed
- Seti I — the longest and by common consent the finest tomb in the valley, with relief rather than flat painting and an astronomical ceiling. It is expensive and it is the one to spend on.
- Tutankhamun — small, comparatively plain, and the reason to go is the mummy itself, which is still there. The treasure is in Cairo.
- Nefertari’s tomb is in the neighbouring Valley of the Queens, not here, and is ticketed separately again with a strict time limit inside.
The valley itself
- Al-Qurn, the natural pyramid-shaped peak above the valley, which is almost certainly why this site was chosen.
- The visitor centre model near the entrance, which is the only place the tombs’ depths and lengths can be understood in relation to one another.
- The tomb entrances themselves, cut into the valley floor and walls, which show how completely they were meant to disappear.
Getting There
Getting there
The west bank, and the earliest start of any day in Luxor.
From Luxor
- The public ferry from the corniche takes a few minutes and lands you where you still need transport; the road bridge is some kilometres south and adds twenty minutes each way.
- A car with a driver for the west-bank morning is the normal arrangement, because the valley, Deir el-Bahari and the other sites are spread over several kilometres of open desert.
- The west-bank ticket office is passed on the way in, and some tickets are sold only there rather than at the tomb.
At the site
- A shuttle runs from the car park and visitor centre up to the tombs, which saves a hot, exposed uphill walk.
- The tombs are spread along the valley floor and its side branches; the three on your ticket may not be near each other.
- There is shade at the visitor centre and effectively none in the valley itself.
Timing
- Be at the gate when it opens. The valley is a rock bowl that heats through the morning and the first hour is the coolest and quietest by a wide margin.
- Allow two to three hours including the ticketing, the shuttle and three tombs at a proper pace.
- Pair it with Deir el-Bahari, which is fifteen minutes away and best done immediately afterwards while the cliff is still shaded.
Best Time
When to visit
There is one right answer here and it is early.
Time of day
- First light, without exception. The valley faces the morning sun, holds heat all day and has no shade.
- By ten the tombs are queued and the walking between them is unpleasant; by noon in summer it is genuinely punishing.
- The tombs themselves are hot inside, not cool — the rock holds the heat and the air does not move.
Time of year
- October to April is comfortable, with December and January cold before dawn on the way over.
- May to September routinely exceeds forty degrees and the visit has to be finished by mid-morning.
- Khamsin days in March and April fill the air with sand, which matters less underground than everywhere else in Luxor.
How long
- Two hours for the standard three tombs, done properly rather than at a march.
- Three if Seti I is on the plan, which it should be for anyone with a real interest.
- A cruise schedule usually allows ninety minutes, which is two tombs and a hurried third.
Visitor Intelligence
Visitor intelligence
A site with more practical traps than any other in Luxor.
Tickets
- The standard ticket covers three tombs from a rotating selection and does not name them; ask which are open before buying.
- Seti I and Tutankhamun are separately ticketed and are sold at the main ticket office, not at the tombs themselves.
- Photography inside has been ticketed separately at various times and the rules change. Confirm on the day rather than relying on what a guidebook says.
Inside a tomb
- It is hot, still and often crowded in the corridor. Anyone claustrophobic should know that some of the descents are long and narrow.
- Do not touch the walls. The salt from a hand is one of the two things destroying the paint; the other is breath.
- Look up. The ceilings — star fields, the goddess Nut, the astronomical charts — are the best-preserved surfaces in most tombs.
Comfort
- Carry more water than you think you need and drink it before you feel thirsty. There is a shop at the visitor centre and nothing beyond it.
- A hat and sunglasses matter between the tombs more than inside them.
- The shuttle costs a small fare and is worth it in both directions, particularly on the way back up to the car park.
Access
- Most tombs involve a ramped or stepped descent of some length and are not suitable for anyone who cannot manage stairs.
- A few of the shorter tombs are close to level inside, and a guide can steer the ticket toward those.
- The visitor centre, its model and the shuttle are all accessible even if the tombs are not, which makes a partial visit possible.
Nearby
Nearby
The rest of the west bank, all within fifteen minutes.
Deir el-Bahari
Hatshepsut’s terraced temple in its cliff amphitheatre, fifteen minutes away and the natural next stop.
Karnak
Back across the river, and the other half of a Luxor stay. Give it a late afternoon.
Luxor
The town on the east bank, where the ferry lands and the hotels are.
Medinet Habu and the Ramesseum
The two great mortuary temples further south on the same bank, with the best surviving colour in Thebes. Neither has a page yet.
Good to Know
Frequently asked
Three on the standard ticket, drawn from a rotating selection that changes to spread the damage caused by breath, body heat and humidity. Seti I and Tutankhamun are ticketed separately. Seti I is the longest and finest tomb in the valley and is the one worth the extra; Tutankhamun is small and plain, and the reason to go in is that the mummy is still there — everything that was buried with him is in Cairo.
It depends what you expect. As a tomb it is one of the smallest and least decorated in the valley — it was not built for a king and was pressed into service when he died young. What is in it is the mummy itself, in a climate-controlled case, which is the only royal mummy still lying in its own tomb. If that matters to you it is worth it. If you are hoping for the gold, that is in the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
At opening, and this is not a preference. The valley is a rock bowl with no shade that faces the morning sun and holds heat all day, and the tombs are hot inside rather than cool. The first hour is cooler and very much quieter; by mid-morning there are queues at the tomb entrances and the walking between them is unpleasant. From May to September the visit has to be finished before the middle of the day.
Sometimes, and the rules change. Photography inside has been permitted, banned and separately ticketed at different times, and the position can differ between tombs. Assume nothing from a guidebook, ask at the main ticket office on the day, and do not use flash under any circumstances. Where photography is allowed a fast lens is far more use than a tripod, which is not permitted.
Partly. The visitor centre, the model and the shuttle up the valley are all manageable, but almost every tomb involves a descent of some length — usually ramped, sometimes stepped, occasionally long and narrow. A few of the shorter tombs are close to level inside and a guide can steer a ticket toward them. Anyone who cannot manage a sustained slope should plan on seeing the valley rather than the tombs, which is still worth doing.
The Valley of the Queens is smaller, quieter and ticketed separately, and its case rests almost entirely on one tomb: Nefertari’s, which has the best-preserved painting in Egypt and is sold on a costly ticket with a strict time limit inside. For a first visit to Luxor with limited hours, the Valley of the Kings is the one to do. For a second visit, or for anyone whose interest is the painting rather than the architecture, Nefertari is the better hour.
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