Egypt Luxor Tours
EN

East BankLuxor tours · East Bank

Karnak & Luxor Temple tours — and when to go

The East Bank temples are the easy half of Luxor — close to the hotels, open long hours and simple to visit alone. Book a guided half day from about $25, or a QR entry ticket from about $12 and go at sunset.

Karnak ticket
600 EGP (~$11.50)
Luxor Temple
500 EGP (~$9.50)
Guided half day
from about $25
Luxor Temple open
6 am – 8 pm

Updated October 21, 2026

The colonnade of Amenhotep III at Luxor Temple
The colonnade of Amenhotep III at Luxor Temple Photo: Jorge Láscar from Melbourne, Australia, CC BY 2.0

The short answer

  1. Best overallKarnak Temple and Luxor Temple Tour with Lunch4.5869 reviewsfrom $52GetYourGuide

    The most-reviewed East Bank tour — both temples in four hours with an Egyptologist and lunch. Read the listing for whether tickets are in your option.

  2. Best privateKarnak and Luxor Temples Private Half-Day Tour4.88 reviewsfrom $39GetYourGuide

    Your own guide and car for both temples for less than the shared lunch tour, from about $39. Few reviews so far, but the format is simple.

  3. Best for photosPrivate Luxor Temple Sunset Tour4.84 reviewsfrom $39GetYourGuide

    Two hours at Luxor Temple timed for sunset, when the stone turns gold and the floodlights come on.

  4. Skip it ifYou want Karnak at night

    Karnak closes in the late afternoon. The only way in after dark is the Sound & Light Show.

What does a Karnak and Luxor Temple tour include?

A Luxor Temple and Karnak tour is the East Bank half day: about four hours with an Egyptologist, two to three of them inside Karnak and an hour at Luxor Temple, with hotel pickup and often lunch. The two temples are 2.7 km apart, joined by the Avenue of Sphinxes, and both are a short ride from the Corniche hotels — which is why this is also the half of Luxor that's easiest to do alone with a ticket.

Format Price on the platforms Duration Group Tickets included? Pickup Best for
Shared half day, optional tickets & lunch from about $25 half day shared optional Luxor hotels Lowest price with a guide
Shared half day with lunch from about $52 about 4 h shared check listing Luxor hotels The most-reviewed format
Private half day, both temples from about $39 per person about 4 h your party only check listing hotel or boat Your own pace and start time
Private Luxor Temple at sunset from about $39 per person about 2 h your party only check listing hotel or boat Photographers, an easy evening
QR entry ticket, one temple from about $12 your choice none yes none Independent visitors

Guided Karnak and Luxor Temple tours

US-dollar prices come from each platform's own feed and were checked on October 21, 2026. Dates and group size change them — the booking page has the final price.

Karnak: what to see and how long it takes

Karnak is less a temple than a religious city, built and enlarged by pharaohs for about two thousand years. The ticket — 600 EGP for foreign adults, 300 EGP for students — covers the main precinct of Amun and the Open Air Museum, with its reconstructed chapels. The separate Temple of Mut, to the south, is 200 EGP.

The essentials on a first visit: the ram-headed sphinxes at the entrance, the Great Hypostyle Hall with its 134 columns, the obelisks of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut, and the Sacred Lake. That's two to three hours at a steady pace. Karnak opens at 6:00 and the last entry is at 4:00 pm, so arrive early in summer — the stone radiates heat by midday.

Luxor Temple, the Avenue of Sphinxes and sunset

Luxor Temple is smaller and more compact, built largely by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II and later used by the Romans and by the mosque of Abu al-Haggag, which still stands on top of its courtyard. Foreign adults pay 500 EGP (250 EGP for students).

Its great advantage is the hours: 6:00 am to 8:00 pm, with last entry at 7:00 pm on the official booking site. Arrive about an hour before sunset and you see the colonnade in warm light, then floodlit after dark. In front of the pylon the Avenue of Sphinxes begins its 2.7 km run north to Karnak; it was reopened in a large ceremony on 25 November 2021.

The Avenue of Sphinxes in front of Luxor Temple, reopened in 2021
The Avenue of Sphinxes in front of Luxor Temple, reopened in 2021 Photo: Marc Ryckaert (MJJR), CC BY 3.0

The two opening hours suggest a natural plan for an East Bank day on your own — Karnak while it's open, a break through the hottest hours, Luxor Temple as the light goes:

An East Bank afternoon and evening, independently
  1. Taxi or calèche from the Corniche to Karnak (last entry 4:00 pm)
  2. Karnak: first pylon, Hypostyle Hall, obelisks, Sacred Lake — about two and a half hours
  3. Back to your hotel or a café on the Corniche; rest through the heat
  4. Walk to Luxor Temple about an hour before the sun goes down (last entry 7:00 pm)
  5. The colonnade and the sphinxes floodlit; dinner nearby

Should you buy temple tickets online or at the gate?

Headout carries skip-the-line tickets for both temples, Tiqets sells a Luxor Temple ticket, and GetYourGuide sells QR codes for each. In today's feed the GYG QR tickets are cheapest — Luxor Temple from about $12 and Karnak from about $14 — against face values of roughly $9.50 and $11.50. Headout's are from about $16 and $19, with only a handful of reviews so far.

Karnak and Luxor Temple entry tickets

US-dollar prices come from each platform's own feed and were checked on October 21, 2026. Dates and group size change them — the booking page has the final price.

Same trip, different desksLuxor Temple entry ticket
  1. GetYourGuideLuxor Temple QR Code Entry Ticket4.862 reviewsfrom $12Check dates
  2. HeadoutLuxor Temple Skip-the-Line Entry Tickets4.315 reviewsfrom $16Check dates
  3. TiqetsLuxor Temple: Skip The Line TicketNew listingfrom $13Check dates

The queues at these two ticket offices are rarely long. The real reason to buy online is payment: monument ticket windows in Egypt have moved to bank cards, so a QR ticket helps if your card is foreign and likely to be declined. Otherwise the gate is cheapest. See our Luxor tickets guide for every site's price.

Karnak or Luxor Temple — which one if you only have time for one?

Karnak, for scale; nothing else in Egypt matches the Hypostyle Hall. But if your only free slot is the evening, choose Luxor Temple — it's open after dark, and Karnak isn't. On a full-day tour of both banks you usually get Karnak in the afternoon; add Luxor Temple yourself after dinner. For more after-dark ideas, see Luxor at night, and for Karnak's evening show, the Sound & Light guide.

Questions travellers ask

How much is the ticket for Luxor Temple?

500 EGP for a foreign adult and 250 EGP for a student, as listed by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on 21 October 2026 — about $9.50 at 52 EGP to the dollar. Karnak is 600 EGP (300 EGP for students) and includes the Open Air Museum. Tickets are sold at the gate by bank card, or online as QR tickets.

What are the opening hours of Luxor Temple and Karnak?

Luxor Temple opens 6:00 am to 8:00 pm, with last entry at 7:00 pm on the official booking site. Karnak opens from 6:00 am to 5:00 pm, with last entry at 4:00 pm. That difference decides the plan for most people — Karnak in the morning or early afternoon, Luxor Temple toward sunset.

How long do you need at Karnak?

Allow two to three hours for the main axis — the first pylon, the Great Hypostyle Hall, the obelisks of Thutmose I and Hatshepsut and the Sacred Lake — and more if you add the Open Air Museum, which is on the same ticket. Luxor Temple needs about an hour, or 90 minutes if you linger after dark.

Can you walk the Avenue of Sphinxes?

The avenue runs for 2.7 km between Luxor Temple and Karnak and was reopened in a ceremony on 25 November 2021. Its best-known stretch, lined with human-headed sphinxes, leads up to the pylon of Luxor Temple, where it's part of a normal visit. Ask locally how much of the rest is open for walking on the day you visit.

Do I need a guide for Karnak?

Not to find your way around, but Karnak was built and rebuilt over roughly 2,000 years and the walls make far more sense explained. A guided half day costs from about $25 shared, and private guides for both temples start at about $39 per person on the platforms. A good guidebook is the budget alternative.

Is it worth buying skip-the-line tickets?

At Luxor's temples the queue is rarely long; the real benefit of a QR ticket is not having to pay at the gate. GetYourGuide's QR tickets cost a few dollars over face value; Headout's skip-the-line tickets cost a little more. Our tickets guide compares them site by site.

Sources and checks

  1. Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities — Karnak (tickets incl. Open Air Museum, Mut Temple, hours) — checked 21 Oct 2026
  2. Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities — Luxor Temple (tickets and hours) — checked 21 Oct 2026
  3. Egymonuments official booking — Karnak Temple (last entry) — checked 21 Oct 2026
  4. Egymonuments official booking — Luxor Temple (last entry) — checked 21 Oct 2026
  5. Egymonuments official booking — Luxor Museum (tickets and two daily sessions) — checked 21 Oct 2026
  6. Egymonuments official booking — Mummification Museum — checked 21 Oct 2026
  7. Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities — Avenue of Sphinxes reopening ceremony, 25 November 2021 — checked 21 Oct 2026
  8. Egypt Independent — bank-card-only ticketing at Egyptian monuments — checked 21 Oct 2026
  9. Headout — Karnak and Luxor Temple skip-the-line tickets — checked 21 Oct 2026
  10. GetYourGuide — Luxor Temple tours and tickets — checked 21 Oct 2026

Read next