5.0 on Tripadvisor Licensed by the Ministry of Tourism and AntiquitiesMinistry licensed guides On the river since 2011 Luxor and Aswan, every week
Karnak is not one temple but a city of them, built, enlarged and rebuilt for around two thousand years in honour of Amun, the king of the gods. Every Nile cruise that starts or ends in Luxor comes here, and for most people it is the first place where the scale of ancient Egypt really lands.
Seven things not to miss, in the order you meet them.
113 metres wide and never finished. It was begun by Nectanebo I around 2,400 years ago, and the mud-brick ramps used to build it can still be seen inside the court.
The one column still standing of ten raised by Taharqa, a king from Kush in what is now Sudan, about 2,700 years ago.
A colossal statue of Ramesses II in front of the second pylon, with his daughter Bent’anta standing between his feet.
134 columns in 16 rows over about 5,000 square metres, begun by Seti I and finished by his son Ramesses II. The twelve central columns stand about 21 metres high.
Some reliefs still hold their paint. Here the king kneels to offer lotus flowers, and Ra-Horakhty, the falcon-headed sun god, stands with his staff and an ankh.
Pink granite from Aswan, almost 30 metres tall and weighing more than 300 tons, the larger of the two obelisks here. Beside it stands the obelisk of her father, Thutmose I.
Where the priests purified themselves before serving the god. The granite scarab beside it is walked around for luck.
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Building began in the Middle Kingdom, around four thousand years ago, and carried on into the time of the Ptolemies. Almost every pharaoh who could afford it added a gateway, a hall, an obelisk or a chapel, so the temple grew outwards from its sanctuary like the rings of a tree. The main precinct belongs to Amun; smaller precincts for his wife Mut and for the war god Montu lie to the south and north.
Karnak and Luxor Temple are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis, listed in 1979.
Every cruise we sell visits Karnak with a licensed Egyptologist.
Yes. Entrance to Karnak is part of the price on every cruise we sell, together with the other sites on the programme between Luxor and Aswan.
Yes. On our cruises you visit Karnak first and then Luxor Temple, the two great temples of Amun on the east bank, on the same afternoon.
Comfortable shoes, a hat and water. The site is large and mostly in the sun; the hypostyle hall is the one place with real shade.
Yes, as an optional excursion in the evening. Tell us when you book and we will arrange it.
Tell us your dates and we will send back two or three ships that fit, with real prices.
