What to Wear and Bring to Luxor

Dress for two climates: a cool pre-dawn start in an air-conditioned van, and an afternoon in the sun that reaches about 22°C in January and about 40°C in July. Wear light clothes that cover your shoulders and knees, a hat and walking shoes, and carry a warm layer, sunscreen, water and small change. The day itself is long, so the most useful thing to pack is food: lunch on some tours is not served until mid-afternoon. Ranco Travel’s Luxor Tour with Valley of the Kings and Tutankhamun hands out snacks and water on the road, from US$93 a person in current promotion (usually US$98) (checked October 2026), rated 4.9 from 2,873 reviews.

The weather, month by month

Luxor is a desert city on the Nile, well inland from the Red Sea, and it is hotter in the day and colder at night than Hurghada. January afternoons average about 22°C and the nights drop to about 7°C, so a 5 am pickup is genuinely cold. By July the afternoons average about 40°C, and the tomb corridors, with no air moving, feel hotter. A Dutch guest who went this October, in “30+ degrees”, wrote that he “would avoid this tour in summer (over 40) since the valley of kings is very very hot”, and a British guest the same month warned: “Dress appropriately it gets super hot in the tombs.”

That is why the trip is busiest in winter: searches for it from the UK peak in January. October to April is the comfortable half of the year. In summer some operators move the pickup earlier so the walking is done before the worst of the afternoon.

What to wear

• Light, loose clothes that cover your shoulders and knees. There is no formal dress code at the sites, but Luxor is a more conservative city than the resorts, and covered skin is also the best sun protection you have.
• A hat and sunglasses. The Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut’s temple sit in a bare limestone valley that reflects the light back at you.
• Walking shoes. The valley has uneven paths and steps down into the tombs, and Karnak is large, with a lot of walking on uneven surfaces.
• A warm layer for the morning and the van. A fleece or a scarf for the dark start, which you will carry by 10 am.

What to bring

• Water and food. Most vans hand out water and snacks, but on Ranco Travel’s most reviewed day, the small-group Luxor day trip, one guest this October noted that lunch came “pretty late @ 14:30” after a 4 am start, and advised “bring extra food”. Ask your hotel for a breakfast box the evening before.
• Cash in small notes or coins. Most toilets on the road and at the sites charge a small fee (one guest put it at about 1 euro a visit), tips for the guide and drivers are not included, and the extras on the day (a Nile boat ride, more tombs) are paid in cash.
• Your passport. Tour vans pass police checkpoints on the road, and some operators ask you to carry it.
• Sunscreen, a charged phone and something to sleep on. FTS Travels’ list includes a pillow, which tells you how much of the day is in the van.

What you can leave at the hotel

Large bags: you are in and out of the van all day and there is nowhere to leave them at the sites. If you plan to stay on in Luxor, the listing of that most reviewed small-group day offers to drop you there for an extra 10 euros for your luggage; the day trip or overnight guide covers that option.

If you have the choice of a month

Pick your Luxor day:

Prices and review counts as listed on GetYourGuide in October 2026, not a quote.

Temperatures are long-run monthly averages for Luxor; a single day can be several degrees either side.