In short
Luxor is built on Thebes, capital of pharaonic Egypt, and the concentration of monuments here has no equivalent. The city reads across two banks that have not shared a function for four thousand years.
The east bank, of the living, carries the modern town, Luxor Temple in the centre and Karnak three kilometres north. The west bank, of the dead, holds the Valley of the Kings, the temple of Hatshepsut, the Colossi of Memnon and the Valley of the Queens.
Arriving and getting around
Luxor airport takes domestic flights and charters. The night train from Cairo takes about ten hours and remains the classic connection.
The two banks are linked by a distant bridge and by public ferries that cross in a few minutes for a trivial sum — that is the normal way, and by far the fastest.
On the west bank the sites are spread over several kilometres: a taxi for the day, a bicycle or a calèche. Walking between tombs is exposed and shadeless.
What it really costs
Entry tickets are the main item, and they add up: the Valley of the Kings sells a ticket giving access to a limited number of tombs, with the most famous — Tutankhamun's among them — charged separately. Check the official schedule from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities before setting a budget: rates are revised regularly.
Nile cruises to Aswan leave from here and form a budget of their own.
When to come
October to April. Summer is crushing: temperatures commonly exceed 40 °C and visiting the unventilated tombs becomes punishing.
December–January is high season, the most expensive and the busiest.
What nobody tells you
Hot-air balloon flights at daybreak over the west bank are the emblematic activity. They lift off before dawn and depend entirely on the wind: cancellations are frequent and normal.
Tombs close in rotation to preserve the paintings: the one you came for may be shut on the day, and the schedule is not published in advance.
Sales pressure around the sites is intense. Agreeing the price of a ride or a calèche before getting in avoids most disputes.