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The Valley of the Kings was the final resting place for Pharaohs and nobles made famous by the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Carter and his team in 1922. In 2005 a new tomb was discovered only 15 meters from the Tutankhamun tomb. This being the first discovery since 1922 and leading to the idea that there are still tombs yet discovered in the valley.
WHAT IS valley of the kings KNOWN FOR?
The valley has 63 royal tombs all from the new kingdom period. The tombs are all different from each other. Each tomb is intricately decorated and contain different chambers leading to the burial chamber. The valley is one of the most famous archeological sites in the world. The entrance price into the valley is £10 or 240 Egyptian pounds and gives you access to 3 tombs. You can pay to visit more tombs and Tutankhamun’s tomb is an additional fee.
Most notably the valley is famous for the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, which had yet to be disturbed and was full of the Pharaohs personal objects and many spectacular gold covered objects including chariots and Tutankhamun’s gold covered mask.
WHERE IS the valley of the kings?
The valley is located on the west bank of the Nile opposite modern day Luxor (Thebes). Luxor itself has many incredible Egyptian sites and the Valley can be reached in less than 50 minutes by taxi from Luxor airport.
The road leading to the valley, the first and only photo that survived!
HOW TO GET TO the valley of the kings?
During our visit to Egypt we were staying in Giza/Cairo. We caught a sunrise flight from Cairo to Luxor and then hired a local taxi driver for the day to drive us to all the sites in Luxor. This was the most convieniet and cheapest way for us to visit the sites including The Valley of the Kings. You can book a day trip here with get your guide.
You can also visit during a Nile river cruise or hire your own private tour guide.
This was our taxi driver for the day.
WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO VISIT Valley of the Kings?
We visited Egypt in April and the recommend months to visit is between October - April. This is when the weather is cooler than the summer heat, yet it is still warm and sunny. When visiting the ancient sites there is little to no shade and the sun is intense. There for we do recommend avoiding mid summer as this would make the experience less enjoyable.
Is it safe to visit the valley of the kings?
We felt very safe during our time in Egypt and felt free to explore the sites without any worry. Be aware that as a white westerner we did get hassled a lot by people trying to sell us things or trick us with local scams. During our visit to the Valley of the Kings there was a no photo policy. We had seen online other people being allowed to film or photograph though and this led us to try take a photo of the interior of a tomb with a phone. A local snatched our phone and threatened to report us to the police. After several minutes of threats towards us, we persuaded him to let us delete the photo and we quickly left only to be met by another local man asking if we wanted to take a photo of the tomb he was watching over. We declined his offer. In this instance if we had a local guide with us then we could avoided this situation.
when is the best Time of day to visit the valley of kings?
We arrived first thing in the morning. This meant that the valley was mostly empty of tourist and the tombs were fairly quiet. By the time we were leaving buses and crowds of tourists were arriving.
