Luxor, Egypt (*cruise tour) Nearby:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Luxor is a city in Upper (southern) Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate. The area of approximately 416 square kilometers (161 sq mi). As the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-air museum", as the ruins of the temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor stand within the modern city. Immediately opposite, across the River Nile, lie the monuments, temples, and tombs of the West Bank Necropolis, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens. Thousands of tourists from all around the world arrive annually to visit these monuments, contributing greatly to the economy of the modern city.
Districts
Although a relatively small town by Egyptian population standards, Luxor is quite extensive and is best divided up into several... Read more
Luxor is a city in Upper (southern) Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate. The area of approximately 416 square kilometers (161 sq mi). As the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-air museum", as the ruins of the temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor stand within the modern city. Immediately opposite, across the River Nile, lie the monuments, temples, and tombs of the West Bank Necropolis, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens. Thousands of tourists from all around the world arrive annually to visit these monuments, contributing greatly to the economy of the modern city.
Districts
Although a relatively small town by Egyptian population standards, Luxor is quite extensive and is best divided up into several 'districts' or areas that group the main attractions on their respective sides of the river Nile:
Luxor has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh) like the rest of Egypt. Aswan and Luxor have the hottest summer days of any other city in Egypt. Aswan and Luxor have nearly the same climate. Luxor is one of the hottest, sunniest and driest cities in the world. Average high temperatures are above 40 °C (104 °F) during summer (June, July, August) while average low temperatures remain above 22 °C (72 °F). During the coldest month of the year, average high temperatures remain above 22.0 °C (71.6 °F) while average low temperatures remain above 5 °C (41 °F).
The climate of Luxor has precipitation levels lower than even most other places in the Sahara, with less than 1 mm (0.04 in) of average annual precipitation. The desert city is one of the driest ones in the world, and rainfall does not occur every year. The air is mainly dry in Luxor but much more humid than in Aswan. There is an average relative humidity of 39.9%, with a maximum mean of 57% during winter and a minimum mean of 27% during summer.
The climate of Luxor is extremely clear, bright and sunny year-round, in all seasons, with a low seasonal variation, with about some 4,000 hours of annual sunshine, very close of the maximum theoretical sunshine duration.
In addition, Luxor, Minya, Sohag, Qena, and Asyut have the widest difference of temperatures between days and nights of any city in Egypt, with almost 16 °C (29 °F) difference.
The hottest temperature recorded was on May 15, 1991 which was 50 °C (122 °F) and the coldest temperature was on February 6, 1989 which was −1 °C (30 °F).
Luxor is a vegetarian's paradise with lots of fresh seasonal vegetables such as tomato and cucumber.
A meal often begins with pita-bread and mezze such as baba ganoush or taboulé.
Your main course may include meat or poultry, or regional dishes such as pigeon or rabbit. (To avoid an upset stomach, you may prefer to stick with the beef.) As with any heavily touristed area in Egypt, it's never hard to find reasonably well-executed Western food.
Dairy products, such as yogurt or gibna bayda cheese (think feta but much creamier), might accompany your main meal.
Finally, many fine vegetarian desserts are available, though some might seem overly sweet to western tastes. (If you can, specify low or medium sweetness.)
While the evening meal is often filling, you may find this doesn't meet the energy requirements of a busy tourist. Be sure to eat a hearty breakfast, drink lots of water, and snack frequently during the day.
For restaurants by district, see:
On the road, nearby television street and the train station are lots of fruit vendors - be sure to pick up some fruit that is delicious and cheap. These guys make an honest living with their shop and will not try to scam you. You will find the non-tourist part of Luxor to be very friendly and inviting, indicative of true Egyptian culture.
There is something of a social stigma attached to public drunkenness. Although Egyptians themselves sometimes choose to ignore this, for a foreigner to be drunk in public can give a bad impression. Most local pubs tend to be testosterone-filled hard-drinking dens where lone foreigners and especially lone women may feel uncomfortable.
That said, there are numerous places in Luxor to buy alcohol. Many restaurants, above the basic on the street places, sell lager and wine. They are generally made obvious by Stella signs outside or by having people drinking inside them. There are two open-air restaurants opposite the temple about 200m south of the main entrance. The huge Stella signs outside give them away.
The duty-free shop has moved (2014) from next to the Emilio Hotel (close to the north end of the Luxor Temple) to next to the Sheraton Hotel further south along the Nile. They also sell electrical products.
To buy local Egyptian beer and wine, there are a handful of shops near the train station on Ramsees Street - they are easy to find as they have shelves full of wine and beer behind the counter.
Drinking in the street or in parks, although fairly widely done by locals, is not recommended for foreigners as it is technically illegal and alcohol is generally cheap enough in restaurants anyway.
LOCAL TIME
8:37 am
May 22, 2022
|
|
LOCAL CURRENCY
EGP
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
![]() |
Hi, everybody! I have already come back from Luxor . Author: Nikolkaya Source: nikolkaya.livejournal.com Translated by: Zoozi |
After visiting
the Karnak Temple,
we went to the
Valley of the Kings.
There are two options - either to drive 12 miles (20 kilometers) across the nearest bridge or to take a walk along the Nile. We chose the second option.
In my understanding, the Nile was... |
While we were in Egypt, we just could not help visiting
Luxor
and enjoying the biggest temple complex in Egypt -
the Karnak Temple Complex
, the Valley of the Kings and the Nile. But first things first - today we'll talk about the Karnak Temple.
You can comfortably... |