Luxor

Buy

There are at least two different markets in Luxor. One is located in an air-conditioned hall, with shops located on either side of the hall. This market hall connects two major streets.

The older market takes up several streets near the Luxor temple. It is a joy to walk through, as it is mostly pedestrian and is a welcome respite from the horse and carriages on the main streets. This market really feels like an old souk and the visitor is taken back in time. It is covered with a wooden trellis, shading people from the sun. Many of the shops offer the same items, so the wise buyer shops around and looks for the best price. One can often bargain better after going to several stores.

Once you find a merchant you like, sit down, have some tea and begin the game of bargaining. It can feel like you are becoming a part of the family. Buying something as simple as a cotton galabeya can take hours, as you try on almost every single galabeya in the store, and then move on to items that they think you may want for the rest of your family.

Buying anything may be very frustrating due to constant bargaining if you are not used to it. This trick has proven to work well: usually their first offer for the price can be ten or even a hundred times bigger than a reasonable price. First decide what you are actually willing to pay. Let us say that in this example it is LE20. If you ask for the price, you may get a reply "LE120". Now you offer LE22. You may then be offered something like LE110. …

Eat

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 is never hard to find reasonably well-executed Western food.

Dairy products, such as yoghurt or gibna bayda cheese (like feta but creamier), might accompany your main meal.

Finally, many good 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 does not meet the energy requirements of a busy tourist. It is advisable to eat a hearty breakfast, drink lots of water and snack frequently during the day.

For restaurants by district, see: Luxor, East Bank Luxor, West Bank

Drink

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.

However, 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 200 m south of the main entrance which serve Stella lager for LE14 including tax (as of September 2011) and other local beer and wine for fairly reasonable prices. The huge Stella signs outside give them away. If you can not find somewhere convenient serving alcohol, it may be an idea to ask the staff in your hotel for directions. 'Cafeteria' can be the euphemistic name for a pub in Egypt, and pubs can be quite hard to find if you do not know exactly where to go.

There is a duty-free shop close to the north end of the Luxor Temple, slightly to the right across the busy junction. It has plastic see-through shutters at its windows and a guard outside. If you take your passport and go within two days of arriving in Egypt, up to three bottles of main-name spirits and beer, etc. at reduced prices, per person, can be bought. After the two days you can only bu…

Sleep

Luxor has an extremely wide variety of accommodation options, from camping and hostels, right up to 5-star luxury hotels like the Old Winter Palace Hotel which is of extreme opulence and has played host to both movie stars and heads of state. Luxor probably has the greatest seasonal variation in hotel rates in Egypt, with some hotels being up to 50% cheaper (or more) in the low season (summer). Others do not change their prices.

Whilst the vast majority of accommodation options are to be found on the East Bank, an increasing number are to be found (and are being developed), however, on the more laid-back and isolated West Bank, close to the tombs and the Valley of the Kings. A lengthy stay in the area might benefit from staying on both sides of the river for some time.

If you are arriving in Luxor by train or bus, beware the over-friendly and sometimes pushy hotel touts, especially at the station (these guys are a symptom of the sometimes fierce competition between rival hotels, especially at quiet times). Remember you do not owe them anything, but that they get 25-40% commission for convincing you to stay at their "cousin's" or "brother's" hotel, which is then added to your final bill. It is usually best to pre-book accommodation. Also, use a map or a taxi to find your hotel and discourage attempts to guide you to your hotel, as you may end up somewhere else altogether, in the expectation that you will give in and stay where your "guide" has led you after all.

Women trave…

Connect

See the various Luxor district pages for details of telephone, internet and postal services - being a major tourist town, Luxor is extremely well-served with communication facilities.

Most of the best outlets are to be found where the bulk of the local population lives, in the East Bank of Luxor.

Luxor telephone number format is +20 95 2xxx xxx, while on the West Bank +20 95 2060xxx.

Stay safe

Stay alert – For those not on fully organised tours, touts can make sight seeing very frustrating. (Although they tend not to stray into the actual temples.) However within temples, one must contend with the government tour guides. The guides are legitimate government workers, but also extremely aggressive about "guiding you" and then demanding a tip. Rule of thumb: If anyone shows you anything, for any amount of time, they will want a tip. It may be worthwhile to give a small tip upfront while asking to "self tour". It is wise to know which accommodation you are heading to and where, or just pre-book accommodation. Otherwise, you will have to deal with the touts at the station. As tourism is the main source of income in Luxor, and has been for centuries, many people have made scamming into an art form. You should assume that any statement from someone who comes up to you out of nowhere is a lie. Some of the older tricks in the book: The "I need a letter translated" opener, used to draw you into a shop The "I need a letter writing to my friend in your country" opener (they show you an address that is in your country), again used to draw you into a shop The alabaster factory. A large percentage of alabaster is imported, and is hardly made on site. The vast majority of other stones such as jade are imported from China and India. "The temple is closed"- Check opening times before you arrive. Find out on your own whether something is open or closed, whether you are walking …

Go next

Dendera — Luxor is a good base to visit this site of a fantastically well-preserved Ptolemaic temple of Hathor. A number of hotels organise day-trips, and you don't need to be staying with them to use these services. However, it can also easily be reached by taxi or, even cheaper, by (local) train to Qena and local taxi from there. For those with more time on their hands you can add a visit to the Temple of Seti I at Abydos, featuring some of the best relief work in Egypt. This is a lengthy road trip from Luxor, but can be combined with a day trip to Dendera. The city is also a good staging post for onward travel through Upper Egypt and on to Aswan and Abu Simbel.