Luxor on Egypt Tour with Nile Cruise

This is the Luxor area showing the Colossi of Memmnon in the forground.

Luxor has often been called the worlds greatest open-air museum, because number and quality of the monuments in the Luxor area is unparalleled anywhere else.

Actually Luxor is three different areas - the City of Luxor on the East side of the Nile; the town of Karnak just north of Luxor; and Thebes (which the

ancient Egyptians called Waset) is on the west side of the Nile across from Luxor.

To say that the Luxor area is a major attraction for tourists in Egypt would be an understatement. It has been a tourist destination since the beginning of tourism. Since ancient times people have been visiting the magnificent monuments of Luxor, Karnak, Hatshepsut and Ramses III - and today Luxor is well equipped to accommodate visitors with a tourist industry ready and willing to serve the people from many countries that descend on this area of the Nile Valley every year.

Situated about 670k south of Cairo and built on the site of the ancient city of Thebes, Luxor today is a city of some 150,000 people. Today, you can walk through history; ride in a horse-drawn caleche, sail in a felucca, take a sunset cruise or see the city from a hot-air balloon.

Testaments to the quest for immortality, the temples, tombs and palaces still stand; although now they are surrounded by building of more recent times. On the east bank of the Nile, in the City of the Living: the temples of Luxor and Karnak greet the sunrise. On the west bank the sunset throws shadows through the City of the Dead: the Tombs of the Nobles, the Valley of the Kings and Queen Hatshepsut's temple.

Luxor Temple was built by Pharaoh Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC) on the site of an older temple built by Hatshepsut and added to by Tutankhamun, Ramses II, Alexander the Great and various Romans. Excavation work has been under way since 1885.

The Temples of Karnak (pictured) are a spectacular series of monuments that were the main place of worship in Theban times.

The lonely statues of the Colossi of Memnon (the only remains of a temple to Amenhotep III) are the first things most people see when they arrive on the West bank; although the Valley of the Kings with the tombs of Nefertari and Tutankhamun are the big attraction.

One of the best-known tombs in the Valley of the Kings is the burial chamber of young Tutankhamen - his treasures, many in gold and encrusted with gems, are in Cairo's Egyptian Antiquities Museum. When you compare the size of some of the larger tombs with Tutankhamen's, you can only wonder what incredible treasures were plundered from them.

The most impressive tomb in the Valley of the Queens is Nefertari's. The colors of the wall paintings are vibrant, and you can get up close and see the detail of the workmanship.

On the eastern side of the Nile is the Temple of Luxor and the massive Temple of Karnak. Both are incredibly impressive structures, filled with statues, colonnades, obelisks and ornate wall murals. Of the two, Luxor is more compact and easier to take in; Karnak covers a large area and offers a sound-and-light show in the evening. The Luxor Museum has statues from various temples and you should visit the Howard Carter Museum - this was once the home of the man who discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb.