Valley of the Kings, Egypt: tickets, tombs and how to visit

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities lists the valley as open every day from 6AM to 5PM¹ (checked October 2026). Wikivoyage gives a shorter winter day of 6AM–4PM², so don’t plan on a late finish in the cooler months.

Go at opening time. On most days 4,000 to 5,000 tourists⁸ visit the main valley, and Wikivoyage warns of a queue of at least 15–30 minutes² at each tomb, the ticket office and the car park.

• Best months: Luxor’s winter, November to early March⁶.
• Summer: average highs climb above 40 °C in June, July and August⁷.
• Time of day: arrive early in the morning, especially in summer⁶.

The Ministry counts more than sixty tombs, plus twenty unfinished ones¹, but only 18 can be opened, and rarely all at the same time⁸. So check which are open on the day before you choose.

• Tutankhamun’s Tomb (KV62): his mummy and sarcophagus are still on display¹¹ inside. Howard Carter and his patron Lord Carnarvon¹¹ found it in November 1922⁸. More in planning a visit to Tutankhamun’s tomb.
• Tomb of Seti I (KV17): the tomb of the Nineteenth Dynasty pharaoh Seti I¹². Wikivoyage calls it the longest tomb in the valley and one of the best decorated², and it has its own ticket.
• Hatshepsut’s burial: she wasn’t buried in her temple. Wikipedia says she lies with her father in tomb KV20¹³, first cut for him.

Many royal mummies left the valley long ago. A tomb at Deir el-Bahari held a cache of forty royal mummies¹⁴ moved from here, and Amenhotep III’s mummy has gone from the Egyptian Museum to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization¹⁵.

• Many tombs still mean long staircases and uneven stone surfaces¹⁶.
• Pyramids Land, a Cairo tour operator, says you go down steep corridors, often with metal ramp rails, into underground chambers¹⁷.
• The same operator calls it the most physically demanding major site in Egypt¹⁷ for anyone with mobility concerns.
• Wikivoyage notes that some travellers have slipped¹⁰ on the way up or down.

If you need wheelchair access on a guided tour, ask before you book: Civitatis lists its Karnak Temple guided tour as not wheelchair accessible¹⁸, while its Luxor Museum tour is accessible if you say so when booking¹⁹.

Deir el-Medina, the village of the artisans who built the royal tombs²⁷, is on the West Bank too. Read up on the Ramesseum’s dramatic papyrus story before you go, and browse what to do in Luxor for the East Bank temples.

Want a souvenir of the tombs to take home? Browse Valley of the Kings diorama shopping ideas.