Valley of the Kings, Luxor: visitor guide

What to expect at the Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings (Wadi el-Muluk) is the most significant royal necropolis of the ancient world, a dry limestone valley on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor where the pharaohs of Egypt's New Kingdom (about 1550–1070 BC) cut their tombs into the cliff faces in an attempt to conceal and protect the royal burials after the pyramids of the Old and Middle Kingdoms had proven vulnerable to robbers.

Over a period of about 500 years, 64 tombs were cut into the Valley of the Kings (with additional tombs in the associated Valley of the Queens and the workers' village of Deir el-Medina), their walls decorated with the religious texts of the Books of the Dead, the Amduat (Book of the Underworld) and other funerary literature in paintings of striking quality that preserve the finest examples of New Kingdom artistic achievement currently accessible to visitors.

Tomb of Tutankhamun

The tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62, additional entry about EGP 300 above the valley ticket) is the Valley's most famous tomb and the smallest of the royal tombs, its fame derives entirely from the striking intact burial assemblage discovered by Howard Carter on November 4, 1922, which revealed the complete contents of an unlooted royal tomb for the first time. The tomb itself is not particularly impressive artistically (the paintings are relatively crude compared to the great 19th and 20th Dynasty tombs) but the burial chamber, where the outermost gilded coffin remains in the sarcophagus, with Tutankhamun's mummy inside.

Also, the antechamber and treasury are deeply evocative of the discovery moment. The golden mask, coffins and about 5,000 objects from the tomb are in the Egyptian Museum (Cairo) and the new Grand Egyptian Museum (Giza, opened 2023).

Finest decorated tombs

Also, the best decorated tombs in the Valley are those of the 19th and 20th Dynasties (about 1292–1069 BC): the tomb of Seti I (KV17, currently closed for conservation), whose paintings of the complete Book of Gates in preserved vivid colours are the finest surviving New Kingdom royal tomb paintings. The tomb of Ramesses III (KV11, typically open), with its unusual side chambers decorated with painted reliefs of the pharaoh's earthly pleasures including musical instruments, food and captive peoples.

And the tomb of Ramesses VI (KV9, typically open), whose astronomical ceiling, the longest preserved ancient Egyptian astronomical ceiling painting, depicting the complete Book of the Day and Book of the Night with the sun's journey through the heavens, is among the most impressive single painted ceilings in the ancient world.

Standard valley ticket

The standard valley ticket (about EGP 200–240) includes entry to three tombs from a rotating selection. Specific tombs (Tutankhamun, Ay, Ramesses V/VI) require additional tickets. Photography inside the tombs is prohibited (strictly enforced since 2010, cameras are checked at the ticket office entrance). The best strategy for a valley visit is to arrive at opening (6 AM) when the tombs are cool and un-crowded, and to ask at the ticket office which tombs are currently open and in good condition before selecting.

Workers' village of Deir el-Medina

Besides, the workers' village of Deir el-Medina, 2km south of the Valley of the Kings on the road to the Valley of the Queens, is the essential complement to any Valley visit, a completely excavated walled village where the artisans and painters who cut and decorated the royal tombs lived for about 450 years. In fact, the village is the most completely documented ancient settlement in Egypt (the villagers were literate and left thousands of ostraca, pottery sherds and limestone flakes used as writing material, recording their daily life, disputes, love letters.

Also, complaints about late wages) and gives the closest available glimpse of ordinary life in New Kingdom Egypt. The workers' own tombs, cut into the cliff above the village and decorated with paintings of exceptional quality at their private expense, are accessible with the standard Deir el-Medina ticket (about EGP 100).

Colossi of Memnon

The Colossi of Memnon, two 18-metre seated statues of Amenhotep III standing in the Nile flood plain at the entrance to the Theban necropolis (free, visible from the road), are the standard first or last sight of the west bank visit, gigantic remnants of what was once the largest temple complex in Egypt, long since destroyed and the stone reused for other construction. Besides, the colossi are free to visit and are accessible independently of the valley tickets. This makes them a worthwhile stop when entering or leaving the west bank.