Valley Of The Kings travel, tours and holiday packages

A short guide about Valley of the Kings

Luxor, the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, has some of the most important archaeological attractions of the world. The Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens and the Tombs of the Noble are unique highlights of the ancient Egyptian Civilization. These complexes of graves and tombs are located 20 km west of town, and the most famous of these tombs is of course that of Tutankhamen.

In the town itself, superbly positioned on the banks of the Nile, is the beautiful Luxor Temple, built by Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC) on the site of an earlier sanctuary raised by Hatshepsut in the 15th century BC. The temple was added to by Ramses II, Alexander the Great and the Romans, and is a graceful and striking piece of architecture. It has four pillared courts and hypostyle halls of great beauty and in front of the enormous first pylon are some colossal granite statues of Ramses II and a pink granite obelisk – the partner of which was removed to Paris's Place de la Concorde. In the Great Court is a 13th century mosque.

The pleasant modern town is a sober town, but provides some good quality restaurants and an interesting sound and light show at karnak. An impressive presentation of visual and sound effects, that brings to life the history of Karnak temple in the ancient city of Thebes, shown in up to eight languages. Tourabout has many travel packages to Egypt that relive the ancient times in Luxor and include informative tours to the spectacular Valley of the Kings, with a professional guide to help unravel their mysteries.