The Valley of the Kings, The Valley of the Queens and Madinat Habu - near Luxor, Egypt.

Travelling too and touring Egypt Luxor's Valley of the Kings whilst on holiday in Egypt - a visitor guide with photos from around the Tombs.

It is simple (and a lot cheaper) to visit the Valley of the Kings on your own rather than go by an organised coach trip and of course you can then stay at various locations for as long as you want and go where you want to go - rather than be shuffled around on an itinerary. We decided we would go to the Ticket Office by taxi - visit several of the tombs and then walk back across the hills above Hatshepsut and drop back down to walk over to Seti before taking a walk back to the ferry on the Nile. The really nice thing about walking back was you get a much better idea of the amazingly fertile countryside, get the chance to talk to some of the local people and of course see all sorts of wildlife too.
We found the Egyptians to be really friendly - on our way down through one village in the hills we were invited into a small house and sat and had a cup of tea and quite a lengthy chat about all sorts of things. At Seti we had already met and talked to several of the secret police who guard the Temple so we also had the opportunity to see them again to say hello (for about an hour...).
The weather was reasonably warm - around 90 degrees - but in the Valley of the Kings area it did seem a lot hotter than that. Also up on the hills you do need to have water with you plus a hat etc. - we also wore our walking boots - a real bonus because the surfaces are scree in places and sometimes quite rocky underfoot.

There is not a lot to see externally around the site - just a variety of concrete entrance areas to the various tombs plus several areas where you can hide from the hot sun for a while. Not all the tombs are open - they are rotated presumably for maintenance reasons etc. - the tombs do generally have notice boards with plans of the tombs and a little information about the previous owner.
The tombs we visited were: KV34 Tomb of Thutmes III - there is quite a climb up steps to this tomb - once up you go steeply down into the tomb - the sarcophagus is still there and the wall paintings are excellent - well worth visiting.

KV2 Tomb of Ramses IV - the sarcophagus is there -
this tomb is quite elongated and again is well worth
visiting for it's ceilings and wall paintings.

KVKV11 Tomb of Ramses III - by far the best for it's amazing wall paintings.
This is a quite long tomb but just about everywhere was decorated.

Having finished looking round the tombs we now headed up into the hills - we took a stoney path which started on the right hand side of KV11 - this heads steeply up for a few metres and then meets a cross path. Go right and follow this narrow path as it winds up hill - the path is way-marked in places. The views back into the Valley of the Kings are excellent from up here as are the views of the surrounding hills. The path soon widens - ignore a wide path coming in from the left - just continue on up to the top of the saddle. (We diverted here by taking a path on the left which climbed even higher - the views were even better).

At the saddle go over the top and then follow the path on the left which winds round the hill and heads towards a red brick building and broken fencing. Once passed the red brick the path goes round to the right of the hill ahead and then Hatshepsut comes into view below on the right. Continue on the path over the next hill - then cross a rough and rocky open area where the path is somewhat indistinct. On the far side take the path on the left which goes round the hill - shortly a village comes into view.


Continue walking on round the hill and arrive just above houses. There are numerous paths down some better than others so carefully make your way down into and then through the village to the tarmac road. Cross the road and continue ahead over an open area to reach another tarmac road - there are several alabaster shops a little way to the right. Cross the road and continue on a track opposite which goes towards trees passing a small shop and houses on the right. Follow the track as it bends left in front of the trees and shortly comes out by the rear of Seti Temple.

Turn left following the outer wall of the Temple which is now on your right and carry on round the site to reach a tarmac road. Go right and now follow this road through the village to reach main crossroads. Now turn right and follow this road with fields on the right and a canal on the left - there are lots of things to see in the fields and around the canal and also good views back towards the Valley of the Kings and Queens. Eventually the road comes to a cross roads at the next village, turn left and follow the road back to the Ferry by the River Nile.

Egypt's Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Workers Touring Guide.

This topic is about a day trip to look round the Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Workers etc. including many photographs - some of which were of the drawings found inside the various tombs (not with a flash camera by the way - this is forbidden of course). Instead of taking organised sightseeing coach trips we decided we would do our own thing and tour Luxor's various tombs and temples locations using our own itinerary. This proved to be most successful and without doubt a far cheaper option than paying the often highly priced "holiday company" excursion fees plus the whole day out was far more relaxing since we obviously were not being moved from one place to the next to keep to a schedule or itinerary. We also visited the Tombs of the Workers - these are really good and should not be missed. Instead of taking a ride back to the ferry we decided to walk back - quite straightforward and most enjoyable.

It is straightforward to cross the River Nile on a ferry - we used the Worker's Ferry, then agreed a price with a taxi driver on the West Bank (around 20 to 25LE gets you to the Ticket Office) and then the taxi will take you on the short distance to the Valley of the Queens entrance gate. Note you can also take the local bus - arabaya - if you wish, this costs just about nothing and is quite an interesting way to travel.
Two other sets of Luxor Tomb Guides i.e. day 2 and 3 which cover walking and visiting other West Bank sites can be found via our Home Page. Note it does get quite hot out in these dusty valleys so it's well worth wearing a hat and taking some cold water - also lightweight walking boots or decent trainers are a very good option as some of the paths around the tombs were quite mucky and the paths out on the hills were steep, narrow and sometimes slippery.

Tickets need to be purchased at the Ticket Office - you will find a board listing the available open tombs etc. We wanted to visit the Valley of the Queens, Madinat Habu and the Valley of the Workers - each of these sites cost us 20LE each. From the Ticket Office we walked on up the road (signposted) to the Valley of the Queens entrance. The tomb we wanted to visit was the tomb of Nefertari but this was closed and had been for some time. There is not much to see externally - just various concreted entrances to the few tombs available for visitors to view. In fact when we visited there were only 2 tombs available to the public - QV44 The Tomb of Khaemwaset and QV55 Tomb of Amenherkhepfhef. Although the area is called the Valley of the Queens many of the tombs were for children - the aforementioned tombs were for the sons of Rameses III. Inside the tombs the paintings etc are excellent and we would love to have taken a few "non-flash" photos but photography was not permitted in these tombs.

Visiting and touring Madinat Habu Temple and the Temple of Rameses III in Luxor, Egypt.

Leaving the Valley of the Queens head back down the road with Dayr Al-Madina village up on the hillside to the left - the next destination being Madinat Habu. Just before the sharp bend in the road and the police checkpoint branch off half right across rough ground, cross a road and then walk on alongside the site's outer ruined walls to another road. Go right along this road and into the village - soon reaching Madinat Habu which is enclosed by a high defensive wall (There are shops and a cafe outside the gates). There are lots of excellent ancient Egyptian tombs and temple sites to tour around whilst on holiday in Luxor, Egypt and then there are several which are particularly remarkable (Karnak Temple is amazing for example) for various reasons maybe because of their sheer scale or perhaps because of the wall paintings and so on - we thought Madinat Habu was also exceptional and certainly not to be missed whilst on holiday in Egypt. Actually it is surprising how often Madinat Habu Temple is missed out by people when they are on holiday in Luxor - once the day trips out to the various Tombs in the Valley of the Workers and Valley of the Queens are completed perhaps they have had enough sightseeing and just go back to Luxor - missing out a visit to Madinat Temple is in our view a major omission.

The first picture is the Pylon of Ptolemy VIII and the next is a close up of the top of it's gate and the third photo is looking up under the archway. 4th and 5th photos are the ruins of the Temple of the 18th Dynasty and of the Migdol and the ruins of the chapels of the Divine Votaresses

Photos of the First Pylon showing the entrance to Madinat Habu Temple
 - this is really imposing and it has huge wall reliefs of Ramses III

Wall releifs and pylons to be found in the North and South Colonnades of the First Court.

There are a whole series of columns in the Temple -the photos were taken in the Second Court. They are massive as perhaps can be appreciated in the photos on the right where you can see someone is sitting.

The pillars are completely covered in paintings which show up really well - however they look particularly spectacular where the sun-light catches them.

This is the remains of the pillars in the Hypostyle Hall - most of the
upper parts of the pillars were subsequently removed and re-used
by builders elsewhere.

It's nice to be able to take your time wandering around the
outside of the main building - it is a maze of ruins which
include the Royal Palace and further along some magazines -
all extremely interesting.

Visiting Egypt's excellent Valley of the Workers and also the Ptolemaic Temple.

From the Temple head back along the road passing the Ticket Office to the road junction. Head across the open ground to Dayr Al-Madina village which is more or less ahead of you. Walk up and through the village - you will almost certainly find children asking for money but also someone will offer to show you the path which takes you round and over the hills to Deir al-Medinah - the Valley of the Workers. We all soon were accompanied by several small children trying to sell trinkets etc. but they were OK - we ended up giving our guide 20LE for his trouble. The path emerges above Deir al-Medinah and then it's just a question of finding the best route down to the car park. There is a small sun shelter and also it is possible to get drinks and some books here. The area has the ruins of the village and numerous tombs although only two were open.


We visited the Tomb of Sennedjem and the Tomb of Anherkhe - and they were fantastic.

From the tombs you can walk across to the Ptolemaic Temple - it was locked but we were let in by a guide and then shown round. It's well worth visiting since although not massive  compared with other Temples in the area it was very interesting with excellent drawings on the temple walls. Around the temple there were other interesting ruins to browse around and we spent quite a time wandering about. From the village we walked back along the main road to the junction by the Ticket Office (our "village" guide was still up in the hills shouting for us to come back up). This was now the end of our day as far as tombs and temples were concerned - the idea now was to have a wander back the 3kms to the ferry.

On the left of the junction a few metres across some bondoo is a small cafe where you can get a drink - they also have an outside toilet. As you wander back along the main road there is quite a lot to look at - with green fields, streams and water courses and of course quite a few trees - in a way it seems strange for this type of scenery when you remember you are in a desert in Egypt. After a short while you soon come to the Colossi of Memnon - these two imposing statues were unfortunately covered in scaffolding when we saw them but are nevertheless quite impressive.

Further along the road we saw various old looking pumping engines including an old Lister - when it's owner saw we were admiring it he came over and proudly showed it off to us - apparently it is still in full working order. Another interesting part of the walk occurred just as we came to a narrow gauge railway line - this had a series of wagons full laden with sugar cane. Later, as we passed through Qurna al-Gaddah village the railway line went across the road and we managed to get a photograph of the engine.

When you reach the crossroads carry straight on now passing shops and then open country until you come to the next village. Stay on the main road through the centre of this village and soon arrive at the arabaya bus terminal - cut through here and then down steps back to the River Nile and the ferry.

These are our Egypt related topics:-

Further related information: The following travel books may be of great benefit if travelling and touring around Egypt's Ancient Sites - Egypt Rough Guide  Egypt Insight Guide  Egypt Eyewitness Guide  Egypt Lonely Planet

Please see the bottom part of our Home Page - where there are links to our travel and holiday websites about Cyprus, England, The Canary Islands, Greek Islands and Athens, The Algarve, India, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand Bangkok, Bali and several other Indonesian Holiday Islands.   Visit our Resources to Email Us and/or to see our website privacy policy.

www.Egypt-Travel-Guide.co.uk