Our travel editor enjoys a dip in the pool at Mercure 5 * Hotel Luxor Photo| Burbidge Studios

Where to go & stay?

When you think of two weeks in a five-star hotel, you might think “expensive”. Not to the extent you might expect! This package holiday at the 5* Mercure Luxor Karnak Hotel was on offer including flights, room, and board to Luxor Egypt was available at £650pp all-inclusive from Luxury Holiday specialists hayesandjarvis.co.uk what a bargain! Unfortunately, the destination has been removed from their roster due to recent political unrest in the country. But, you can still visit and arrange something for a similar price elsewhere. There are many cheap hotel optionis, but we found that the cost of the flight ticket alone outside of a package holiday could be more expensive than an all-inclusive deal including both flights, accommodation, with breakfast when we were looking.

We did our research on destinations in Egypt and we think if you are looking for a historic traveling experience the best destination to fly out to is definitely Luxor, for the simple reason it is the closest in proximity to many of the famous temples and sights you would want to visit and is away from the hustle and bustle of Cairo. Luxor has the best onward travel links to other desirable destinations to visit in Egypt.

money saving tips for booking experiences & money exchange

1. First of all! Do not book any experiences through a travel agent at home, on trip advisor before your arrival or through the hotel on your arrival.

The most economical way is to book with an Egyptian travel agent in town when you arrive.

2. Do not change GBP or USD at home to Egyptian currency you will get a much better exchange rate in Egypt.

Luxor Temple, Luxor, Egypt Images | Burbidge Studios

VISIT THE TEMPLES

It is a surreal experience to witness in person the scale of the temples and monuments of Luxor, which are wondrous. The detail and precision make one consider the engineering behind their creation. Some people believe they were built by aliens, due to the advanced precision engineering, but the certain truth is lost, as the construction process is not historically documented. There is only speculation of historians and archaeologists regarding the construction. It was once believed that slaves built monuments, such as the pyramids, yet historians now have found evidence that Egypt was largely built by the paid/ housed Egyptian working class and skilled architects.

2. SEE THE SOUND & LIGHT SHOW

After you have explored the Luxor Temples (there are 2) located within the city, the main one is Karnak Temple and the Luxor temple. We recommend going back at night to the Karnak temple, which has a spectacular sound and light show. Lit up is not only the Karnak temple but the Eastern located temple, the West Bank and the Nile river. Voiced by Hollywood legends Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor providing an immersive voice-over that describes what life in Egypt was like. We enjoyed the light show, as it shows you a different perspective of the city and allows you to further imagine what Luxor would have looked like in all its glory.

Karnak Temple, Luxor, Egypt | Light Show Burbidge Studios

TAKE DAY TRIPS TO SEE MORE TEMPLES & SIGHTS CLOSE TO LUXOR

The cheapest and best way to do day trips is to hire a car and driver for the day at a cost of about £5-20 depending on distance travelled. This has to be done at least a day in advance, as they need to apply for a legal document to carry a tourist outside the city and to pass through security checks. It’s for your safety, as a busload of tourists got blown up by a terrorist organisation and many countries including the UK did not allow tourists to travel to Egypt for at least a year after, which impacted the tourist market negatively, hence the cheaper prices available.

When you visit the temples buy your own tickets. If you get a guided tour you will either be stuck in tourist groups with no freedom to explore at your own pace or take good pictures and there is always that one loud obnoxious tourist that appears as though they want everyone to hear them talk, It’s like ok... we get it you exist!

Or if you want a private tour with a guide it will cost you extra and we found that the guides were just a social and financial drain. Think forced conversation & inappropriate questions e.g. “how much do you earn a year?” and statements like “You need to get married before you get too old and nobody wants you!” Thanks, but no thanks, if I wanted to hear that I would go to my parent’s house. The guides generally push for you to book more through them and not at market cost, it is beyond obvious they are trying to scam you, they are always asking for a tip, which is really cringy and just does not build a good rapport.

After the first day, we told him we did not want a guide, as we were going to just enjoy the hotel to let him down gently. Then we booked what we wanted to do elsewhere cheaper, without the guide as we wanted, but the same guide turned up the next day as our taxi driver! Awkward! And he called us out Ha! He was like “I thought you said you were going to stay at the hotel today” We were just like yeah…we changed our mind and decided to do some more exploring… then he started offering his guide services again and we were just like… no thanks!

The Temple Of Kom Ombo

DENDERA TEMPLE

SUNRISE HOT AIR BALLOON

VALLEY OF THE KINGS

The Hot Air Balloon Experience at a travel agent in the UK can cost up to £250 GBP pp
If you book the Hot Air balloon Experience at the hotel in Egypt it can cost up to £150pp
We booked through an Egyptian travel agent for just £35pp

A retired British woman spoke to us before boarding the balloon and asked us how much we had paid, as she said she had paid £250 and her friend had saved £100 by booking at the hotel in Egypt and she felt ripped off. When we told her we had only paid £35pp at an Egyptian travel agent. I think we ruined her holiday because her face dropped and she was gutted.

The hot air balloon experience was amazing! We had to wake up very early at 4 am to be picked up at the hotel and then we had to catch a boat to the West Bank, which was all included in the price of the Hot Air Balloon Experience.

The hot air balloon experience was 45 mins long flying above the Hatshepsut Temple and Valley of the Kings around and back. The views from the hot air balloon were truly amazing! While we gradually ascended we saw farmers working, children playing. We were really excited, as the sunrise was beautiful and lit up the ridge. We flew over the location we had only seen before in Rodger Moore’s James Bond movie, ‘The Spy Who Loved Me.’

Our hot air balloon guy asked if we wanted to go up as high as possible, do this at your own peril! This is a bit risky and is something that is not possible with wind or an inexperienced driver… as you can see the majority of balloons did not ascend to our high altitude. Luckily everyone on board was risk takers and was just like let’s go for it!

For all the flat earthers and conspiracy theorists that may be reading! If you go high enough, you can actually see the curvature of the earth, the horizon doesn’t look flat when you reach a certain point, which was really cool to see first hand.

The landing of the ballon was a bit harsh and we hit a few of the farmer’s wooden fences separating the fields, which the driver admitted was unplanned…but apparently crashing through the cornfield to a halt was part of the plan! Ha!

HATSHEPSUT TEMPLE & VALLEY OF THE KINGS.

The Hatshepsut Temple is a modern reconstruction of the only female pharaoh’s temple. Rebuilt using some of the ancient artefacts from the site which is located near The Valley of the Kings. Most of the artefacts depicting Hatshepsut were defaced by her son when he assumed power.

3 day | Nile cruise

We could have taken the train, to continue the journey to see the next 3 temples, but we decided to take the scenic route on a 5* 3-day cruise up the Nile to Aswan for the price of £150pp all-inclusive. When we arrived we realised it was an Egyptian 5* rather than English standard, but it was not too bad. Being on the cruise was rather boring. Tavelling by boat rather than the train is a slow travel option and the cruises are mostly occupied by the elderly. There is no WIFI unless you want to pay outrageous prices. We spent our time between the sundeck and shallow pool. We always looked forward to a nice but crowded and competitively spirited buffet. Note we took the train to return.

TEMPLE OF ISIS

First Temple on the tour.

TEMPLE OF EDFU

Second Temple

TEMPLE TIPS

TEMPLE GUIDES: Do not get a guide unless they are official and you want one for history, or you need one to be your personal photographer. Both official and non-official guides generally do not demonstrate care about your enjoyment or experience, only money. They will lie to you and say you need a guide to be allowed in, this is not the case.
Guides try several techniques overly sweet or aggressive. The sweet ones will often turn aggressive and curse you if you make it clear you are not interested and want to be left alone to experience the temple.
Yes, they will tell you the history, which you can look up online in your own time or buy a book sold at the temple. They often will not let you explore and walk around freely, as we experienced in the first temple we visited. They may stalk you after the tour to try and get more money out of you for other tours.
PICTURE SCAM: People at the temples will offer politely to take group photos, once the photo is taken, they will demand money and refuse to return your camera until payment is made. If you refuse on principle and retrieve your camera as our photographer did, they may spit on you and curse you as they did Ha!.
CROOKED TEMPLE GUARDS. The crooked temple guards can be a blessing or a curse. The temples have restricted areas that are not accessible to the public. If you want to experience these restricted areas (that are not worth it other than at one temple) there are guards that will escort you for money and not a lot like 1 or 2 USD is normal.
There are guards that will tell tourists to come with them, then show them restricted areas and then ask for large amounts of money and if you don’t pay they may make a loud fuss and call other guards in on the scam to threaten you for money, which is what happened to us.
There is really nothing they can do to you, as it is well known that some guards do this. They won’t arrest you or take you down the station even if they may threaten to, but it can ruin your experience if you are caught off guard. Luckily, we had read about this so just laughed it off. We also did not have any money or anything valuable on us, as we left it in the boat's safe in our room.
TICKET SCAMS| Buy your own tickets. Temple tickets are cheap a few Egyptian pounds, which is next to nothing, but if you get your tickets from a hotel or a guide they will often scam you in exceeding the face value of a ticket many times.

ABU SIMBEL TEMPLE

This is considered the most impressive temple and is definitely the most unique. Getting to this destination is comparable to The Venician Gondolas, Venice. In that, they try to charge tourists an arm and a leg for the privilege. The reason being you need to pay for a horse or camel ride to get to the destination. Bring negotiation skills or money as they don’t want to take less than £45 GBPpp which is a joke when you consider the same distance via the same mode of transport anywhere else would be £5 Even a flight from Luxor to Cairo starts at £50 easily with advanced booking.

Temple art & hieroglyphics Burbidge Studios

OUR CAIRO MUST SEES

Transport options

Flights Luxor to Cairo £50 - 100 average £70pp
Private Car - Luxor to Cairo £40-60 - Day or Overnight
Minibus or coach - £10 -15 pp - Day or Overnight

The Sphinx, Giza, Eygypt

The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan

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Cairo MUSEUM artefacts

Markets

best buy in the markets ?

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BUY YOUR FAVOURITE DESIGNER FRAGRANCES AT a pure QUALITY.

MADE WITH 100% REAL ESSENTIAL OILS RATHER THAN DILUTED WITH ALCOHOL FOR A FRACTION OF THE PRICE !

It is all about haggling and finding the right place, also the place that does the scent you want! They tend to focus on traditional fragrances e.g. Lily of the Valley or popular fragrances e.g CHANEL No. 5 You have to be careful not to get fake or diluted essential oils. If you look around many shops, you’ll become a conasuir and you will be able to sniff out a fake or diluted batch from the real deal and gauge the prices.

For example, my favourite fragrance is a toss up between Paco Rabanne’s One Million original and One Million, Lucky, I had a long convo and purchased 5 x 25 mill bottles for £45, which is a good deal. It is strong stuff, so you only need a dot of the oil on the wrist and you can tap the dot of oil to cover each wrist, each side of the neck and I put a bit in my hair, as hair absorbs oils. The scent lasts all day and then some, just don’t put it on your clothes as it is oil. A 25m bottle will last you all year with everyday use, with some leftover! People will recognise the fragrance and you’ll always get compliments on how good you smell :)

Watching the artists blow the glass to make the bottles is spectacular, but if you want a fancy bottle you will need to buy these bottles separately. You can get standard pretty ones at a reasonable price, but the prices climb the more complicated the design are and the larger they get.

Looking for a Luxury Adventurous Experience On A Budget ?| EGYPT 14 Nights £650pp All-Inclusive 5*