Setting the scene
Karnak Temple is the most beautiful historic site I have ever been to. Without a shadow of a doubt, this was the Highlight of my Egypt trip & I will definitely return one day. It is not a singular Temple as the name might suggest, rather an entire Complex of Chapels, Temples, Grandiose Halls, Pylons & the World famous Avenue of the Sphinxes.
Original construction began around 2055 (ish) BC & was being continually added to for circa 1,500 years with various rulers contributing to it throughout the years. The Complex is massive (that isn’t hyperbole, it covers around 250 acres) & it has a complicated layout as it stands now as it always has, so doesn’t have an obvious route to walk. I did not take a tour guide & I racked up around 35,000 steps, I am also confident I missed a lot of things out, so forward planning is highly recommended. My standard plan of ‘winging it’ failed me on this occasion. As you can see, my camera skills are non existent, however if you are a big fan of Instagram etc, you would be hard pressed to find somewhere to take better photos. If you do take a tour, it really should be 4+ hours if they are actually going to take you around everything. If it is only 2-3 hours either they aren’t explaining anything in detail or they are skipping half the sites within the Complex.
top tips!
If going in the summer, I highly recommend taking an umbrella & stocking up on water as there aren’t many cafes etc inside. It is very hot & whilst there is shade, a lot of the walking is out in the open so the heat can be quite unforgiving.
There are a lot of really awesome places that are either locked or off limits, however for a small tip you can just about get in anywhere. If you see a Temple or building that is padlocked up that you want to go into, just linger around for a couple of minutes. A worker will magically appear with a key & let you in for a small tip. I tipped around EGP50 to get into some extra places & it was well worth the cash, I am not uploading any photos though as I am a sweaty mess in those ones, well even more so than usual!😂 So definitely bring plenty of small notes with you if interested in the extra places to see.
Separately to the people guarding specific buildings, the rest of the workers here can be a bit of a pain & there are a lot of them compared to other sites. They will offer to take photos for you, or will tell you which angles & spots are best to get photos from, for which they will expect a tip. If you bring lots of small bills you should be fine, but otherwise you are best asking other tourists to take photos for you.
The Avenue of the Sphinxes, now this was a proper hassle to find, it might as well have been on an episode of Takeshi’s Castle. You definitely need to get a map of this place before going, after I had been I researched the Avenue, it turns out it runs all the way to Luxor Temple. If you are going to visit Luxor Temple, I wouldn’t bother with the Avenue of the Sphinxes at Karnak. It looks the exact same from both sides & it is very out of the way at Karnak. At Luxor Temple it is much easier to access.
Important Information
| Opening times | At the time of writing this (November 2024), opening hours were 6am-6pm with a lightshow in the evening. If you don’t mind an early start, it would be beneficial to get there as early as possible, you will avoid the crowds & avoid the hottest hours of the day. |
| Entry fee | Around EGP500-600 was what I paid, this worked out just under £10GBP. If you don’t have a tour guide, there are a lot of unofficial guides who will accost you if you enter solo. If you want them to show you round they will expect payment over & above your entry fee. |
| Time to complete visit | I was there around 5 hours, however a lot of that was going round in circles & getting lost. I heavily underestimated the scale of the Complex. If you take a map & go with a plan, you will be able to be much more time efficient. |
| Getting there | My hotel was on the River Nile so I just followed the road along the Nile, this did take over an hour. Other options are a Felucca ride (the Temple isn’t far from the Nile), a horse carriage or a taxi. There isn’t Uber in Luxor, I have seen people talking about a Careem app, but it wasn’t great. The taxi’s are a lot more expensive in Luxor than Cairo & they will try to take you on a magical mystery tour so best set a price & destination before getting in. |
| Tours | I have touched upon this above, I didn’t take one, however due to the size & complexity of the area it would have been useful. This comes with the usual caveats of making sure you book with someone reputable & check reviews etc. I used NASCO tours for the West Bank in Luxor & was very happy with them (I am not on commission but if they see this & want to give me free tours, I am more than willing to accept 😂) |
I am completely new to blogging & only set this up to help people out on their journeys. If you have any questions about the article or feedback, please do leave a comment & I will get back to you. You can also subscribe for free to get a notification when my next post goes live. Thanks for taking the time to read through ❤️
Tyler's Travel Tales 
Karnak was our highlight in Egypt too. Our first visit was in the evening for the light show which was amazing, then we returned the next morning to explore properly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for reading through! It is an absolutely incredible place to visit.
I missed the light show unfortunately, but do hope I can return one day. I will take a look through your old posts if you have any photos from the light show 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, none from that trip at all – it was way back when I was using 35mm film and we haven’t had the time/money to digitise all the old slides!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah I see, sounds like an awesome trip none the less! Hopefully I will be able to return some day & see the show
LikeLiked by 1 person