Luxor Sunrise Balloon and Sunset Felucca Full-Day Tour

Luxor

An early pickup by the I Like Egypt Tours representative starts the day. There are soft drinks at the marina before the motorboat takes you across to the west bank, and from there a transfer to the take-off area for a balloon ride over the biggest open-air museum there is. The balloon trip departs every day, though confirming in advance is still recommended. The flight lasts 45 minutes before you land again. After that comes a private full-day tour of Luxor's East Bank and West Bank, paced the way you want it. The day ends at sunset with an hour on a felucca on the Nile.

Colossi of Memnon

Once the balloon is down, the guide meets you at the Colossi of Memnon and the Luxor full-day tour starts there. The two statues are the largest ancient statues in Egypt and date from the era of King Amenhotep III.

Valley of the Kings

Next is the Necropolis of Thebes, the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank of Luxor, which is on most Luxor itineraries for good reason. Four royal tombs are included, among them the Tomb of Ramses, the Tomb of Horemheb and the Tomb of Merenptah.

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Tomb of Ramases IX

Ramesses IX was the third pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom, called Amonhirkhopshef before he took the crown. He was the fifth son of Ramesses III and became crown prince by the twenty-second year of his father's reign, after all four of his elder brothers died before that promotion. The tomb keeps a lot of its colour and detail, including the ceiling above the sarcophagi where the goddess Nut stretches across the space. The sarcophagus is among the largest in the valley, and although some of the painting has deteriorated the tomb remains one of the most decorated.

Tomb of Merenptah

In Egyptian mythology Ptah is the demiurge of Memphis, god of craftsmen and architects, and in falcon form the deity began to be placed in tombs to accompany and protect the dead on the journey to the West of Luxor. Tomb 8, in the Valley of the Kings, was the burial place of the Pharaoh Merneptah, a son of Ramesses II and Queen Isis-Nofret, and it is the model of royal tombs. Howard Carter discovered it in 1903. There are materially fewer lateral rooms than before and the corridors and rooms are dramatically higher. The jogged axis used since the time of Horemheb was abandoned here for a single axis running the length of the tomb, and for the first time the entrance was cut considerably wider than in earlier tombs.

Tomb of Ramses III

The tomb of Ramesses III, designated KV 11, is a complex system in the Valley of the Kings and has been known since antiquity. The decoration is colourful painted sunken relief, carrying the traditional ritual texts (Litany of Ra, Book of Gates and others) and Ramses before the gods. The unusual part is secular: in small side rooms off the entrance corridor there are foreign tributes, including highly detailed pottery imported from the Aegean, the royal armoury and boats. The last of those chambers holds the blind harpists that gave the tomb one of its other names, the Tomb of the Harpers.

Tomb of King Tutankhamun (Tut)

Entry needs a separate ticket, bought if you want to go in.

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Temple of Hatshepsut

After the tombs comes the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahari. Hatshepsut was the only woman ever to reign over Egypt as pharaoh. She was an ancestor of King Tutankhamun and belonged to the same dynasty.

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The Karnak Temple

Karnak is a complex of temples on the East Bank of Luxor, built across different reigns and counted among the world's great architectural works. It starts at the Avenue of Sphinxes, then the Hypostyle Hall and its 134 gigantic columns, the obelisks of Queen Hatshepsut and Tutomosis I, the Temple of Amon with its lotus and papyrus designs, the granite scarab of Amenophis III and the Sacred Lake. The operator rates it above every other pharaonic monument in Egypt.

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Temple of Ramesses III, Karnak

The same Karnak complex on the East Bank, built up over successive reigns. The route through it takes in the Avenue of Sphinxes, the Hypostyle Hall with its 134 gigantic columns, the obelisks of Queen Hatshepsut and Tutomosis I, the Temple of Amon with its lotus and papyrus work, the granite scarab of Amenophis III and the Sacred Lake.

Obelisk of Queen Hapshetsut,

The obelisks of Queen Hatshepsut and Tutomosis I, and the Temple of Amon with its lotus and papyrus designs.

Avenue of Sphinxes

The Avenue of Sphinxes ran 3 km from Luxor to Karnak, with sphinxes lining both sides. Only a few hundred metres of it are left today, and it is still impressive. This was the road that connected Karnak temple to Luxor temple.

Obelisk of Thutmoses I

The obelisk of Thutmose I stands with that of Queen Hatshepsut, near the Temple of Amon and its lotus and papyrus designs.

Luxor Temple

Luxor Temple is dedicated to the Theban Triad of Amun-Ra, Mut and Khonsu. The granite statues of Ramses the Great stand at the front of it.

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