Valley of the Kings Guide: What to Know Before You Go

The smell hits you before your eyes adjust. Cool, mineral, ancient air rushes out of KV62 the moment you descend the first steps into Tutankhamun's tomb, a smell that has no equivalent anywhere on earth: dry limestone dust, old wood, and something else you cannot name. Outside, the Theban hills are bone-white under the morning sun, and the temperature is already climbing toward forty degrees. You have maybe three hours before the tour buses from Hurghada arrive and the narrow tomb corridors become a slow-moving queue of elbows and selfie sticks.

This is the Valley of the Kings at its best: early, direct, and slightly overwhelming. Egypt's most famous archaeological site contains 63 known royal tombs from the New Kingdom period (roughly 1550 to 1070 BCE), carved into the desert cliffs of the West Bank at Luxor. Of those 63, around 18 to 20 are accessible to visitors at any given time, with the open roster rotating as the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities manages conservation. What follows is everything you need to navigate this site intelligently.

Quick Facts

Best time to visit: October to February, arriving at opening time (6am) Entrance fee: EGP 560 for the general ticket covering 3 tombs (approx $11 USD). Tutankhamun (KV62): EGP 300 extra (approx $6 USD). Ramesses V/VI (KV9): included in general ticket. Ay (KV23): EGP 100 extra. Students with valid ISIC card receive 50% discount on base ticket. Opening hours: Daily 6am to 5pm (October to April), 6am to 4pm (May to September). Last entry 30 minutes before closing. How to get there: From Luxor's East Bank, cross by local ferry from the Corniche (EGP 10 per person) then take a microbus or taxi to the valley (EGP 20 to 40 per person microbus, EGP 80 to 120 for a private taxi from the ferry landing). From central Luxor by private taxi the whole trip runs EGP 200 to 350 return including waiting time. Felucca rides to the West Bank look romantic but add an hour each way. Time needed: 3 hours minimum for 3 to 4 tombs. A full West Bank day combining Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut's temple, and the Colossi of Memnon requires 6 to 7 hours. Cost range: Budget EGP 800 to 1,200 per person for Valley of the Kings alone with transport. Full West Bank day with a licensed guide: EGP 3,000 to 5,000 all in.

Choosing Your Tombs: What Is Actually Open

Your general ticket buys entry to three tombs of your choice from the standard rotation. The ticket booth staff will sometimes steer you toward quieter tombs to manage flow, which is not always bad advice, but you should know your priorities before you arrive.

KV9 (Ramesses V and VI) is the one I recommend making non-negotiable. The astronomical ceiling in the burial chamber, painted in deep blue with golden figures of the goddess Nut stretched across the vault, is one of the genuinely arresting sights in Egypt. The sarcophagus is enormous and intact. Arrive early and you may stand in that chamber alone for five minutes.

KV11 (Ramesses III) is the longest open tomb in the valley at over 180 meters, and its side chambers contain painted scenes of daily life that most visitors sprint past on their way to the burial chamber. Stop at the room with the musicians. The colors have held for 3,000 years.

KV14 (Tausret and Setnakht) is frequently overlooked because neither pharaoh is famous. That is your opportunity. The corridor paintings here are among the most detailed in the valley, and on most mornings you will share the tomb with almost no one.

KV62 (Tutankhamun) costs extra and is, objectively, one of the smallest and least decorated tombs in the valley. You pay for the name. If you have already seen the treasures in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, or plan to see them at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, you may decide the extra EGP 300 is not worth it. If you have not and will not, go. The mummy remains in situ, which is rare, and there is something undeniable about standing in the room where Howard Carter broke through in 1922.

Tombs Currently Closed or Restricted

KV5, the tomb of the sons of Ramesses II and the largest in the valley with over 120 chambers, has been under excavation for decades and is not open to the public. KV57 (Horemheb) opens intermittently; check with the ticket booth on the day. KV17 (Seti I), which contains the most extraordinary paintings in the valley, has been closed since 2012 due to conservation concerns around the moisture introduced by tourist breath and sweat. There is no confirmed reopening date.

Reading the Site: Layout and Orientation

The valley divides into two arms. The main valley (East Valley) holds the most visited tombs and is where your ticket gets you. The West Valley contains just one open tomb, KV23 (Ay, Tutankhamun's successor), which requires a separate additional ticket of EGP 100. The walk to the West Valley is about 15 minutes on foot and is almost never crowded. Ay's tomb contains the earliest known painted hunting scene in a royal Theban tomb, and if you are interested in the Amarna period, it is essential.

At the entrance, you will find a small visitor center with scale models of the tombs. Spend ten minutes here. Understanding the basic layout of a royal tomb, the descending corridors, the well shaft, the antechambers, the pillared hall, the burial chamber, makes every tomb you visit more readable. The tram from the visitor center to the main tomb cluster costs EGP 10 and saves a 500-meter uphill walk in full sun. Take it on the way up, walk down.

The Light Inside the Tombs

Electric lighting has been installed in all open tombs, but the quality varies considerably. In some tombs, the lights are positioned to illuminate specific painted registers beautifully. In others, a single strip of fluorescent light runs down the center of the ceiling and bleaches everything below it. Bring a small flashlight or use your phone torch to look at the upper registers of the walls and the details in corner sections that the installed lighting ignores. You will see things the group tours completely miss.

Common Mistakes Tourists Make

Buying the general ticket without a plan. The ticket is for three tombs and cannot be upgraded once purchased. Decide your tombs before you get to the booth, not while standing in front of it.

Arriving after 9am between October and April. Tour groups from Nile cruise ships disembark between 8:30 and 9:30am. By 10am, the popular tombs have queues in the corridors and the experience degrades significantly. The first hour after opening, 6am to 7am, is categorically different from midday.

Hiring a guide inside the valley from the group of men near the entrance. These are not licensed Egyptologists and not all of them are reliable. If you want a guide, hire a licensed one from Luxor before you arrive and establish the price in advance. A good licensed guide for a half-day West Bank tour runs EGP 600 to 900 and is worth every pound.

Photographing in KV62 without paying the camera fee. Photography is officially prohibited inside all tombs. In practice, phone photography happens constantly and guards rarely intervene except in KV62, where enforcement is stricter. Getting caught and asked to delete images while a guard watches over your shoulder is an unpleasant way to spend twenty minutes.

Skipping the visitor center. The model of the valley layout is free to look at and takes five minutes. Most people walk straight past it and then spend the first thirty minutes of their visit confused about which direction they are walking.

Not carrying enough water. The valley has one small kiosk near the main cluster selling water at elevated prices (EGP 30 to 50 per bottle). In summer this is not a place to run short. Bring at least 1.5 liters per person from Luxor.

Combining the Valley of the Kings with too many other sites in peak heat. Between May and September, the West Bank temperature regularly reaches 42 to 45 degrees by midday. Planning to do the valley, Hatshepsut's temple, Medinet Habu, and the Ramesseum in a single July afternoon will leave you heat-exhausted and retaining nothing. Pick two sites maximum in summer.

Practical Tips

Ticket logistics: Tickets are purchased at the main visitor center, not at individual tombs. The booth opens at 6am. Pay in Egyptian pounds: USD is sometimes accepted but at an unfavorable rate. The Tutankhamun supplement and West Valley tickets are sold at a separate window near the main tomb area.

What to wear: Closed-toe shoes with grip. The tomb floors are smooth stone and can be slippery when a lot of people have walked through. A light long-sleeved layer helps in the tombs, which are cool, and provides sun protection on the walk between them. A hat and sunglasses are non-negotiable outside.

Navigating this as a solo traveler versus a group: Solo travelers have a significant advantage in the Valley of the Kings. You move at your own pace, wait for the moment when a chamber empties, and can spend twenty minutes in front of a single painted wall without inconveniencing anyone. If you are traveling with a group, assign a meeting point and split up inside the valley.

When it is crowded: If you arrive and KV9 already has a queue, go first to KV11 or KV14 and return to KV9 in 30 to 45 minutes. The queues at individual tombs tend to pulse rather than build steadily, because they are driven by group arrivals.

Getting back: Agree a pickup time with your taxi driver before entering the site. Drivers wait in the car park. If you came by microbus, walk back to the main road and flag one down heading toward the ferry landing. The last ferry from the West Bank runs until around 10pm but public microbuses become infrequent after 5pm.

Combining with Deir el-Medina: If your interest is in who actually built these tombs, the workers' village of Deir el-Medina, 20 minutes away by taxi, contains painted tombs of the craftsmen themselves, often more intimate and personal than the royal tombs. Entry is EGP 240 (approx $5 USD) and it is rarely crowded even at peak times.