Your Egyptologist guide and driver collect you from your Luxor hotel in the morning in an air-conditioned vehicle. The group heads directly to the West Bank, historically known as the city of the dead and home to the funerary complexes of ancient Egypt.

Nestled between two limestone ridges near Gurna, the Valley of the Kings served as the royal necropolis during the New Kingdom period. Of the 63 registered tombs here, you will enter a selection of decorated burial chambers adorned with intricate religious texts and painted scenes.

Built into the cliff face in a rare three-tiered terrace formation, the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut stands apart from every other monument in Egypt. Hatshepsut ruled as pharaoh during the 18th Dynasty, adopting the ceremonial beard and full regalia of a male ruler to legitimize her authority.

The two seated statues of Amenhotep III, each standing around 18 meters tall, are all that remain visible of what was once the largest mortuary temple on the West Bank. The guide explains the history of these monuments and the ancient legends that surrounded them.

The group crosses the Nile to the East Bank and stops for a sit-down lunch at Maro restaurant. Note that drinks are not included in the tour price. After the meal, the tour continues to the East Bank temple sites.

The final stretch of the day covers the Karnak Temple Complex, a sprawling sacred precinct built and expanded over more than a thousand years, and Luxor Temple, a beautifully preserved ceremonial monument connected to Karnak by the ancient Avenue of Sphinxes. You are then returned to your hotel.