Valley of the Kings: Beyond Tutankhamun’s Tomb

The Valley of the Kings is a dry ravine on the Nile’s west bank opposite Luxor, used as a royal necropolis for 500 years during the New Kingdom period from the 16th to 11th centuries BC. Archaeologists have identified 63 tombs. Almost every single one was plundered in antiquity. This matters for understanding what you’re visiting: the dramatic gold masks and royal treasures are in Cairo’s museums because a boy king who died young at 19 was buried in such modest haste that tomb robbers overlooked his entrance, blocked by quarry spoil from the tomb above. That sealed accident is the only reason we know what a complete royal Egyptian burial looked like.

The tombs themselves have been stripped for 3,000 years, which means what you’re visiting are painted chambers without their contents - but those painted chambers are extraordinary. The ceilings, walls, and corridors are covered in texts from the Amduat (what the sun god does during the 12 hours of night), the Book of Gates, and the Book of the Dead. These are illustrated cosmological narratives in vivid colour. Some have survived remarkably well in the dry heat.

The Tombs Worth Choosing

Your standard ticket covers three tombs from those currently open. The rotation changes as conservation work proceeds, but:

KV9 (Ramesses VI): Consistently open, free with the standard ticket, 104 metres long. The astronomical ceiling in the burial chamber shows the Book of the Night in extraordinary preservation - the goddess Nut stretched across the full ceiling, the solar boat travelling through her body. This is the tomb that accidentally preserved Tutankhamun’s entrance for 3,000 years, as workers quarried spoil directly over KV62.

KV11 (Ramesses III): Long and varied, with side chambers including the Harper’s Room containing the famous blind harpists painting.

KV62 (Tutankhamun): Additional ticket, around £E300 on top of the standard price. The burial chamber is small - Tutankhamun died young and was buried quickly - but the sarcophagus and mummy remain in situ. The painted walls showing Tutankhamun’s burial ceremony are intimate and vivid in ways the larger royal tombs are not. Worth the extra cost.

The Practicalities

Open 06:00-17:00 daily. The heat inside the tombs is significant even in winter from accumulated visitor humidity. Photography is permitted (no flash). The site has a small tram between the entrance and the valley - take it in summer. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo holds the actual treasures; the valley gives you the architecture.

Nefertari’s Tomb (KV66, Valley of the Queens, separate site nearby) has some of the finest preserved painted plaster in Egypt. Separate ticket around £E1,400 - expensive, worth it for anyone seriously interested in New Kingdom art.

Getting to Luxor

Luxor is 670 km south of Cairo. Domestic flight on EgyptAir takes one hour from around $80. The overnight sleeper train from Ramses Station takes 12 hours and costs EGP 500-900 for a cabin. The west bank sites (Valley of the Kings, Medinet Habu) are across the Nile from east-bank Luxor by local ferry.

Sofitel Winter Palace is the historic Luxor choice - a colonial-era garden hotel where Howard Carter announced Tutankhamun’s discovery. From about $180 per night. October through February is the practical visiting window; summer exceeds 40 degrees regularly.