Karnak Temple, Luxor: tickets, hours and how to visit

The Precinct of Mut is priced separately, and the sources disagree. Wikivoyage gives a much lower adult price of EGP 60 (about US$1) than the Ministry’s figure in the table, and says you buy it at the Karnak Temple ticket office². Ask at the desk.

Karnak opening hours

Egypt’s official monuments site lists Karnak as open every day from 6AM to 5PM⁵ (checked October 2026). Some guides give a later close, so plan around the official time:

Luxor’s main temples keep the same basic hours and rarely, if ever, close⁸, so a holiday is unlikely to catch you out.

Your options without a car:

• Taxi: agree the fare before you get in.
• With a stop at Luxor Museum: the museum is on the Corniche el-Nil, about halfway between Luxor and Karnak temples², so it breaks up the trip.
• Guided tour: the East Bank tour further down includes pickup from your hotel.

Can you walk from Karnak to Luxor Temple?

The distance is short, about 3 km¹³, but check locally before counting on walking the whole Avenue of Sphinxes. The avenue runs 2.7 km¹⁴ between the temples and opened to the public on 25 November 2021¹⁵.

Egypt’s official tourism site recommends walking the newly reopened Sphinx Avenue¹⁶, and the sphinx-lined avenue between the temples has its own page. In summer, with highs above 40 °C¹⁷, a taxi is the kinder choice.

The Karnak Sound and Light Show is watched from a nearby hill and gives no access to the temple², so it doesn’t replace a daytime visit. Ticket prices are in the table above.

If you’d rather not sort out an evening taxi, the private Sound and Light Show tour with transfers picks you up and brings you back.

• Luxor Temple, about 3 km south: largely the work of Amenhotep III and Ramesses II², and Egypt’s official monuments site names its great festival as the Opet Festival²¹. Check the Luxor Temple entry fees and hours before you go.
• Luxor Museum, on the Corniche between the temples: it shows selected artefacts from the tomb of King Tut¹⁶.
• Temple of Montu at Medamud, 5 km northeast of Karnak².
• Hatshepsut’s temple, at Deir al-Bahari, on the west bank of Luxor²², with Thutmose III’s smaller temple, Djeser-Akhet, just above it²³. Read up on visiting Hatshepsut Temple near Luxor.
• The Ramesseum: the Ramesseum papyrus and temple guide has the details.

Visiting on a Nile cruise? The day-by-day plan for a short Nile cruise shows where Luxor’s temples fit around the sailing.