- Inside Luxor, our full day on both banks visits five sites, with no drive longer than 14.9 km.
- Out of town it is two temples a day: Abydos is 171.2 km from a Luxor hotel, about 2 h 13 min without traffic.
- Luxor Temple's last entry is 7:00 pm and Kom Ombo's 8:00 pm; Karnak's is 4:00 pm and Philae's 3:00 pm.
- Abu Simbel is 283.4 km from Aswan, about 3 h 26 min without traffic: one site for the whole day.
- Two days in Luxor fit the West Bank full day and the East Bank tour: seven sites.
Inside Luxor, five sites fit in one full day, because they are a few kilometers apart. Temples outside the city fit two to a day, because the drive is most of the day: Dendera and Abydos, or Edfu and Kom Ombo. From Aswan, the two temples of Abu Simbel fill a whole day, while Philae fits into a day with the High Dam and the Unfinished Obelisk.
What fits in one day, tour by tour
| Tour | Sites | Longest drive, without traffic |
|---|---|---|
| Luxor East and West Banks | Five: Colossi of Memnon, Hatshepsut Temple, Valley of the Kings, Karnak, Luxor Temple | 14.9 km, about 18 min |
| Luxor West Bank, full day | Five: Colossi of Memnon, Hatshepsut Temple, Valley of the Kings, Medinet Habu, Deir el-Medina | 15.4 km, about 19 min |
| Luxor East Bank | Two: Karnak and Luxor Temple, back after lunch | 3.2 km, about 4 min |
| Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut | Three in a morning: Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, Colossi of Memnon (a photo stop) | 16.2 km, about 26 min |
| Karnak Temple with a guide | One in a morning: Karnak | 3.3 km, about 5 min |
| Dendera and Abydos from Luxor | Two temples | 171.2 km, about 2 h 13 min |
| Edfu and Kom Ombo from Luxor | Two temples | 173.3 km, about 2 h 8 min |
| Kom Ombo and Edfu from Aswan | Two temples | 109.2 km, about 80 min |
| Abu Simbel from Aswan | Two temples at one site: the Great Temple of Ramses II and the Temple of Nefertari | 283.4 km, about 3 h 26 min |
| High Dam, Unfinished Obelisk and Philae | Three stops, one of them a temple | 20.6 km, about 20 min |
The pattern is simple: count the kilometers before you count the temples. On the Luxor West Bank (the side of the Nile with the royal tombs) the stops are 1.9 to 8.3 km apart; Dendera is 74.1 km from Luxor on the way back, and Abydos 171.2 km on the way out. A day into Luxor from elsewhere works the same way: the Luxor day from Hurghada drives 289.7 km to Karnak, about 3 h 43 min without traffic, then fits four sites (Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple and the Colossi of Memnon) because they are close together.
Why the last stop is usually Luxor Temple or Kom Ombo
Most of these temples stop letting visitors in by mid-afternoon. Two stay open into the evening, which is why tours put them last. The official ticketing portal gives these last-entry times for summer and winter (checked August 2026):
| Site | Last entry |
|---|---|
| Philae Temple | 3:00 pm |
| Karnak Temple | 4:00 pm |
| Dendera Temple | 4:00 pm |
| Abydos Temple | 4:00 pm |
| Edfu Temple | 4:00 pm |
| Abu Simbel | 4:00 pm |
| Luxor Temple | 7:00 pm |
| Kom Ombo Temple | 8:00 pm |
Ramadan hours are shorter at some sites; at Abydos the Ramadan last entry is 3:00 pm. Visitors are advised to arrive at least one hour before a site closes. For the West Bank sites, which this table leaves out, the time of day is covered in what time of day to visit Luxor sites.
