Valley of the Kings: tickets and tombs for a day visit

On every one of our tours that stop at the Valley of the Kings, the general entrance fee is part of the included entrance fees. Tutankhamun's tomb is a separate ticket that none of them includes, and two of them also leave out Seti I's tomb. Our sources don't give the prices of these extra tombs, and only one tour says how many tombs the general ticket opens.

The tickets

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities sells a general admission ticket to the valley, and its ticketing portal and its monuments website give the same price. Special tombs, such as Tutankhamun's, Seti I's and Ramses VI's, are ticketed separately. Prices are for foreign visitors, in Egyptian pounds (EGP).

A student ticket needs a valid student ID, and the student must be 24 or younger; children under 6 enter Ministry sites free. The Ministry also says photography with a mobile phone is free of charge at its sites, but the West Bank tour lists camera tickets inside the tombs as extra, so ask what applies before you bring a camera.

Where the valley falls in each tour

Each tour lists its stops in order, with drives from map routing without traffic; their pages show approximate times, confirmed when you book.

On the two full-day Luxor tours, the first stop, the Colossi of Memnon (two statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III), is 14.9 km from your hotel, about 18 min without traffic, and Hatshepsut Temple is 4.3 km further. On the Aswan tour, lunch is optional and not included. On the Sharm El Sheikh and Cairo tours, lunch is included, but the domestic flights are not included in the tour price. The Hurghada tour goes by road: Karnak is 289.7 km from your hotel, about 3 h 43 min without traffic, with lunch included. The morning tour, the Hurghada tour and the Cairo tour are new on this site: each program follows how the day usually runs and is confirmed with your quote.

The tombs and the village of their builders

The valley holds tombs of the pharaohs, including the tomb of Tutankhamun, found in 1922. The Aswan tour's stop note says you enter decorated tombs, and the morning Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut tour lists three tombs on the standard ticket, but no tour names which tombs they are. The West Bank tour also stops at Medinet Habu, the mortuary temple (a temple built for a king's cult after death) of Ramses III, and at Deir el-Medina, 1.9 km away: the village where the craftsmen who built and decorated the royal tombs lived. None of our tours stops at the Valley of the Queens.

The valley is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis (a necropolis is a large ancient burial ground), inscribed in 1979; the same listing covers Karnak and Luxor Temple. To see the valley from above, the hot-air balloon ride lists views of the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple and the Nile; the balloon guide describes that morning.

Hours and heat

On the Ministry's ticketing portal, the valley's last entry (the latest time it lets visitors in) is an hour later in summer than in winter, and Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, keeps the winter time. The Ministry advises arriving at least one hour before a site's closing time. On the two full-day Luxor tours the valley comes before lunch, and the morning tour lists no lunch; ask for the pickup time when you book.

Luxor's average daily high is 39.0°C or more from May to September and between 23.0°C and 29.5°C from November to March, according to World Meteorological Organization climate normals, which are monthly averages, not forecasts.

For how the valley fits with the rest of the city, see West Bank or East Bank; for a day beyond it, Dendera and Abydos from Luxor. To plan the tombs and the order yourself with a licensed guide, book a guide only in Luxor; the entrance fees are then paid on the day or added to your booking on request. All our tours from the city are on the Luxor page, and questions about tomb tickets go through our contact page.