Karnak Temple, Luxor: the one sight you can't skip

Egypt’s Karnak Temple is an imposing display of ancient Egyptian artistry and architecture. Here’s what you need to know before you go, from tickets and opening hours to what to see, in the order you’ll walk it.

If you ever question whether the ancient Egyptians liked to show off, this temple should give you a clue.

It’s kind of tough to get your head around the scale of the place. It. Is. Vast. This sprawling temple complex was added to by around thirty (yes, thirty) pharaohs over nearly 2,000 years, so it’s hardly surprising that it’s anything but underwhelming.

I visited in early June, on my trip through Egypt, and to put it bluntly, if you’re going to skip anything on your Egypt itinerary, Karnak is not it.

Planning your visit to Luxor? You have to see this temple. It really is that simple. But what should you expect when you get there? And how do you plan your trip? Read on to discover…

At a glance

Where: the East Bank of the Nile, about 3 km north of Luxor Temple and the city centre
Ticket: 600 EGP (300 EGP for students)
Hours: daily from 6am to 5pm (last entry 4pm)
Time needed: at least two to three hours
Best time: as soon as it opens, or late afternoon
Photography: phones and cameras are allowed; no flash
Don’t miss: the Great Hypostyle Hall, Hatshepsut’s obelisk and the Sacred Lake

Why it’s worth the trip

Julianna Barnaby in a red skirt standing among the giant carved columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak — Me among the giant columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall

If you’re a bit stuck on why you should go, I’ll save you the effort. Why wouldn’t you want to visit one of the most impressive ancient Egyptian landmarks still standing?

Sure, other sites like the Valley of the Kings and Abu Simbel share equally in the majesty of ancient Egyptian splendour, but all roads lead here. It’s one of the largest ancient religious sites in the world, usually ranked second only to Angkor in Cambodia, and it’s often said to be the most visited site in Egypt after the Pyramids of Giza.

It’s best known for the monumental Great Hypostyle Hall, with its 134 gargantuan columns decorated with elaborate carvings, but there’s a lot more to see: towering pylons, two soaring obelisks, a sacred lake and a whole open-air museum of rebuilt shrines.

What is Karnak Temple?

To precisely define what this place is can be a bit tricky. Not impossible, though.

Karnak is a vast complex of temples, chapels, pylons and obelisks just north of the modern city. The ancient Egyptians called it Ipet-Sut, usually translated as “the most select of places”, and it was the main place of worship for the Theban triad: Amun (later Amun-Ra, king of the gods), his wife Mut and their son Khonsu, the moon god.

The complex is made up of several walled precincts. The biggest, the Precinct of Amun-Ra, covers around 25 hectares (62 acres) on its own, and it’s the part you’ll visit. The Precinct of Mut to the south and the Precinct of Montu to the north aren’t part of the standard visit.

Archaeologists suspect that the site had humble (yes, humble) beginnings. But, with what can only reflect the concept of “bigger is better”, it grew into an enormous temple city with its own lake, workshops, storerooms and thousands of priests and workers.

From humble shrine to temple city

Carved relief of a falcon-headed god between two figures on a weathered sandstone wall at Karnak Temple — Carved reliefs of the gods on a temple wall at Karnak

Although the jury is still out on exactly when building here started, the earliest known piece is an eight-sided sandstone column naming Amun-Ra, from the reign of Intef II in the 11th Dynasty, more than 4,000 years ago. Its presence suggests a temple already stood here.

In the Middle Kingdom, Senusret I built a temple to Amun on the site, and it really took off in the New Kingdom, between about 1550 and 1070 BC, when Thebes (modern Luxor) was the religious heart of Egypt. Most of the famous structures you’ll see, from the Hypostyle Hall to the obelisks, date from this time.

Later pharaohs kept adding to it, and building carried on into the Ptolemaic period, when the Greek-speaking kings who followed Alexander the Great added gateways and shrines of their own. That’s why you’ll find work by around 30 pharaohs here, spanning nearly 2,000 years.

The biggest event of the year was the Opet Festival. Each year, during the Nile flood, the statues of Amun, Mut and Khonsu were carried in sacred boats from Karnak to Luxor Temple, along the Avenue of Sphinxes or by river, in a celebration that lasted for weeks.

Who built it?

Forget the idea of armies of slaves. The temples were built and decorated by skilled stonemasons, sculptors and painters, helped by large teams of labourers who worked in shifts.

The temple of Amun was also one of the richest institutions in Egypt. A record from the reign of Ramses III (the Great Harris Papyrus) lists more than 80,000 people attached to the temples of Amun at Thebes, along with over 400,000 cattle, dozens of towns, 433 gardens and 83 ships. Most of these people were farmers, herders and craftsmen working the god’s estates.

Planning your visit

Tickets and opening hours

A standard ticket costs 600 EGP for adults and 300 EGP for students with a valid ID card. It covers the Precinct of Amun-Ra, the Great Hypostyle Hall and the obelisks.

The complex is open every day from 6am to 5pm, with last entry at 4pm. Hours can change during Ramadan and on public holidays, so check before you go.

Tickets

Ticket offices at Luxor’s main sites take cards (several are now card-only), so bring a bank card. Planning to see a lot of Luxor? The Luxor Pass covers the main sites on both banks, including Karnak, for five days.

How long to spend

Take at least a few hours to explore. Two to three hours is enough for the highlights, but if you want to wander into the quieter corners, see the open-air museum and walk around the Sacred Lake, allow half a day.

Best time to visit

Go early. The gates open at 6am, and the first couple of hours are the coolest and quietest, before the tour buses arrive from the West Bank and from the Red Sea resorts.

Late afternoon is the next best option, when the light turns golden and the crowds start to thin. Avoid the middle of the day if you can, especially between May and September: there’s very little shade outside the Hypostyle Hall.

Getting there

From the East Bank: The temple is about 3 km north of the city centre, a short taxi ride from most East Bank hotels. You can also take a horse-drawn calèche along the Corniche: agree the fare before you set off.

From the West Bank: cross the Nile on the public ferry or a private motorboat to the East Bank landing by Luxor Temple, then take a taxi or calèche north (about 10 minutes). By road, it’s around 30 to 40 minutes via the bridge south of the city.

Address: Karnak Temple, El-Karnak, Luxor, Luxor Governorate, Egypt.

Should you take a tour?

You don’t need a tour, but I’d recommend a guide. I’m a geek and wanted to know everything, and my visit to Karnak would not have been the same without my guide. There’s so much history packed into every wall here that it’s easy to walk straight past the best bits without one.

Here are a couple of options:

This guided East Bank or full-day tour takes you to Karnak and Luxor Temple with an Egyptologist guide, with the option to add the West Bank’s Valley of the Kings, the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon. Lunch is included.
Coming on a day trip from the Red Sea? This full-day trip from Hurghada covers Karnak, the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut’s temple, with lunch included. It’s a long day: the drive takes about four hours each way.

You can also hire a licensed guide at the entrance: agree the price and how long they’ll spend with you before you start.

What to see at Karnak Temple

So, you’re sold on adding a guided tour or solo mission to this Egypt temple, but what can you expect to find once there? Here are the highlights in the order you’ll reach them, walking from the entrance into the heart of the temple.

The avenue of ram-headed sphinxes

Row of ram-headed sphinxes with small royal statues between their paws in front of the first pylon at Karnak — The ram-headed sphinxes lining the way to the first pylon

Your visit starts on the western side of the complex, where an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes leads up to the main entrance. The ram was sacred to Amun, and each sphinx shelters a small statue of a king between its front paws. The inscriptions name the high priest Pinedjem I, who ruled Thebes around 1050 BC and added his name to them.

The avenue once ran down to a quay on a canal from the Nile, where the sacred boats set off during festivals.

The first pylon

The broad unfinished first pylon of Karnak Temple across a wide paved forecourt under a blue sky, Luxor — The unfinished first pylon, the main entrance to Karnak

Now, while all of the pylons here are noteworthy feats of Egyptian architecture, there is one I must highlight. The last pylon built is the first one you’ll see when approaching the complex.

At about 113 metres wide and 15 metres thick, the first pylon is the biggest of them all. It dates from around the 30th Dynasty (4th century BC) and was never finished: its walls were never decorated, and the remains of the mudbrick ramps used to build it can still be seen inside, against the southern tower.

The Great Court

Courtyard of the Temple of Ramses III at Karnak lined on both sides by tall Osiride statues of the king — The courtyard of the Temple of Ramses III, lined with statues of the king

As you cross through the first pylon, you’ll find yourself in the Great Court, a huge open-air courtyard and one of the largest temple courts in Egypt. Look out for:

The kiosk of Taharqa: a single 21-metre papyrus column in the middle of the court is all that’s left of a kiosk built by the Kushite pharaoh Taharqa around 680 BC.
The shrine of Seti II: on your left, a small shrine with three chapels where the sacred boats of Amun, Mut and Khonsu rested during processions.
The Temple of Ramses III: on your right, a complete small temple of its own.
The colossus by the second pylon: a giant granite statue of a king, probably Ramses II, later inscribed by Pinedjem I, with a smaller figure of a royal woman at his feet.

Temple of Ramses III

Row of weathered Osiride statues of Ramses III with arms crossed in his temple at Karnak, Luxor — Osiride statues of Ramses III in his temple in the Great Court

The Temple of Ramses III is a textbook New Kingdom temple, built as a resting place for the sacred boats of the Theban triad.

Two statues of the king flank its entrance pylon, which still shows Ramses III smiting his enemies before Amun. Inside, Osiride statues of the pharaoh line the courtyard. Although faded by time, you can still make out the crowns on some of them: the white crown of Upper Egypt (the south) and the red crown of Lower Egypt (the north).

The layout then leads to a hypostyle hall and, at the back, three chapels for Amun, Mut and Khonsu.

The Great Hypostyle Hall

The Great Hypostyle Hall is the crown jewel of the complex. It has 134 enormous sandstone columns arranged in 16 rows. The 12 columns along the central aisle tower about 21 metres high, with open papyrus capitals, while the rest are a “mere” 15 metres or so.

Rows of massive carved sandstone columns and stone roof beams in the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak — Rows of columns stretching away into the Hypostyle Hall

The hall covers about 5,000 square metres (around 54,000 square feet), and it’s often said that the whole of Notre-Dame in Paris could fit inside. Walking between the columns, you feel tiny. Bring a wide-angle lens if you have one: it’s almost impossible to fit it all in.

Carved relief on a Hypostyle Hall column at Karnak with traces of its original red, yellow and blue paint — Traces of the original paint on a column in the Hypostyle Hall

Near the top of many of the columns and on the stone beams above them, you’ll still spot traces of the colourful paintings that originally decorated them. In ancient times the hall was roofed, and light filtered in through stone window grilles high above the central aisle, some of which survive.

Looking up at a carved papyrus-bud column capital and the inscribed stone beams of the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak — A papyrus-bud column and the stone beams it supports

The hall was begun by Seti I (possibly planned under his father, Ramses I) and finished by his son, Ramses II, around 1300 to 1250 BC. On the outer walls, battle reliefs show Seti I’s campaigns against the Libyans and in Syria and the Levant, and on the south wall Ramses II recorded his campaigns and the text of his peace treaty with the Hittites, one of the earliest known peace treaties.

The third pylon and the obelisks

An obelisk framed between carved columns and walls, seen from the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak Temple — An obelisk seen from the Hypostyle Hall

The third pylon, built by Amenhotep III, was once the grand entrance to the temple of Amun-Ra. What makes it so intriguing is what was found inside it: hundreds of blocks from earlier buildings, used as filler. Archaeologists recovered them in the 20th century and rebuilt two complete shrines from them, which you can now see in the open-air museum.

The granite obelisk of Thutmose I standing on its base under a blue sky with palm trees behind, Karnak — The obelisk of Thutmose I

Beyond it is a narrow court with the temple’s first obelisks. Thutmose I raised a pair here in the 18th Dynasty, and one of them still stands, about 20 metres tall.

Hatshepsut's tall pink granite obelisk rising above ruined sandstone walls at Karnak Temple in Luxor — Hatshepsut’s obelisk, rising above the walls built around it

A little further on, between the fourth and fifth pylons, is the star of the show: Hatshepsut’s standing obelisk. Made from a single block of pink Aswan granite, it’s nearly 30 metres tall, the tallest ancient obelisk still standing in Egypt.

Close-up of large carved hieroglyphs on the polished pink granite of Hatshepsut's obelisk at Karnak — Hieroglyphs on the lower shaft of Hatshepsut’s obelisk

Hatshepsut raised it with a twin in the 16th year of her reign. According to the inscription on its base, cutting the obelisks from the quarry in Aswan took just seven months.

After her death, walls were built around her obelisks (usually credited to her successor, Thutmose III), hiding their lower parts from view, which may be part of the reason this one survived in such good condition. The top of its twin now lies by the Sacred Lake, where you can see its carvings up close.

Hatshepsut was crazy ambitious, too. The Unfinished Obelisk, still lying in a quarry in Aswan, may have been meant for her: it would have stood about 42 metres tall and weighed some 1,200 tonnes. PS: you should check out Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple on the West Bank too.

The sanctuary of Philip Arrhidaeus

The sanctuary lies at the heart of the temple, past the sixth pylon. Its red granite shrine was built in the name of Philip Arrhidaeus, half-brother of Alexander the Great, around 320 BC, on the spot where earlier sanctuaries of Amun had stood.

The walls are carved with scenes of the king making offerings to Amun and with the sacred boat in procession, and you can still see patches of the original colour. Around it, the walls of the earlier halls carry the Annals of Thutmose III, a record of his military campaigns.

Behind the sanctuary is an open court where the Middle Kingdom temple of Senusret I once stood, the oldest part of the temple’s core.

The Festival Hall of Thutmose III

Rows of carved name rings topped by the heads of bound captives on a temple wall at Karnak, Luxor — Carved name rings of foreign lands conquered by Egypt

Built to honour Amun-Ra and to celebrate his own jubilee, the Festival Hall of Thutmose III (known as the Akh-menu) lies in the eastern part of the complex. As one of the pharaohs of Egypt to have claimed victory in around 17 campaigns, Thutmose III certainly made sure the gods knew about it.

The main hall is 44 metres wide, with an unusual design: its central columns imitate the tent poles of a royal campaign tent. Off it are dozens of smaller halls and chambers, and very few of them are open to the public.

Don’t miss the so-called Botanical Garden, a room carved with plants and animals that Thutmose III is said to have brought back from his campaigns in Syria. The Karnak King List, a carved list of the king’s predecessors, was found in this hall too (it’s now in the Louvre in Paris).

The Sacred Lake

Leading south from the inner temple lies the massive Sacred Lake. This is where priests would come to purify themselves before religious rites, and where sacred geese were kept.

Walk around the lake to get an even better view of the magnitude of the site. By the north-western corner, you’ll find a giant granite scarab beetle dedicated by Amenhotep III: local tradition says walking around it brings good luck. Nearby, the fallen top of Hatshepsut’s second obelisk lies on its side.

The grandstand at the far end of the lake is where the evening sound and light show ends (more on that below).

The Cachette Court and the southern pylons

From the inner temple, a second axis runs south through the seventh to tenth pylons towards the Precinct of Mut.

The court in front of the seventh pylon is known as the Cachette Court. In 1903, the archaeologist Georges Legrain began digging here and found one of the most important hoards in Egyptian archaeology: nearly 800 stone statues and some 17,000 bronzes, buried by priests in the Ptolemaic period. Most of them are now in Cairo’s museums.

The ninth and tenth pylons were built by Horemheb, the last king of the 18th Dynasty, partly using blocks from the temples of Akhenaten. The area beyond the eighth pylon isn’t usually open to visitors.

The Temple of Khonsu

To the south-west of the Great Court is the Temple of Khonsu, dedicated to the moon god Khonsu, son of Amun and Mut. Ramses III began the temple, and it was finished by his successors, including Ramses IV and Ramses XI, with the high priest Herihor.

Its reliefs record a turning point in Egyptian history: Herihor appears with royal titles, a sign of how power was passing from the pharaohs to the high priests of Amun at the end of the New Kingdom. It’s often quiet, so it’s a good place to escape the crowds.

The open-air museum

In the north-western corner of the precinct, near the Great Court, is the open-air museum, where shrines rebuilt from blocks found inside the pylons are on display. The highlights are:

The White Chapel of Senusret I: a delicate Middle Kingdom shrine, almost 4,000 years old, carved with some of the finest reliefs in the complex.
The Red Chapel of Hatshepsut: a quartzite shrine for Amun’s sacred boat, pieced back together from blocks found in the third pylon.
The Alabaster Chapel of Amenhotep I: a calcite shrine, along with several other small chapels.

It used to need a separate ticket, but recent visitors report that it’s now included in the main ticket. Check at the ticket office, and don’t miss it: it’s one of the quietest corners of the complex.

Walk the Avenue of Sphinxes

In ancient times, Karnak and Luxor Temple were linked by a processional way lined with sphinxes. After decades of excavation, the Avenue of Sphinxes reopened in November 2021 in a spectacular televised parade.

The avenue is 2.7 km (1.7 miles) long and runs from the southern side of the complex to the front of Luxor Temple. It was once lined with hundreds of sphinxes; the southern stretch, with its rows of human-headed sphinxes built by Nectanebo I, is the best preserved.

You can walk sections of it, and it’s a lovely way to travel between the two temples just as the Opet processions did. Go early or late in the day: there’s very little shade.

After dark: the sound and light show

The temple also opens in the evening for its sound and light show, which tells the story of Thebes and its temples with narration, music and floodlighting.

The show starts with a walk through the temple in the dark, past the floodlit pylons and through the Hypostyle Hall, and ends with a seated section in the grandstand overlooking the Sacred Lake. In total it lasts around an hour and a quarter. There are usually several shows each evening in different languages, so check which one is in English before you book.

The show needs a separate ticket from your daytime visit. Reviews are mixed: some visitors love seeing the temple lit up after dark, while others find the soundtrack dated. If you’d like it all arranged for you, this private sound and light show with an entry ticket includes return transport from East Bank hotels.

Where to stay nearby

El Mesala Hotel is where I stayed. It’s on the West Bank by the ferry landing, so you’re a short boat ride and taxi from the temple and close to the Valley of the Kings. See my guide to where to stay in Luxor for more options.

Hilton Luxor Resort & Spa (high-end)

Set right on the bank of the Nile, north of the complex, the Hilton is one of the closest big hotels to the temple. It has infinity pools, a large spa and several restaurants, with views across the river to the West Bank.

Check availability and reviews on Booking.com

Jolie Ville Hotel & Spa Kings Island (mid-range to high-end)

The Jolie Ville sits on its own island in the Nile on the East Bank, about 6 km south of Luxor Temple and around 8 km from the complex. Surrounded by 165 acres of landscaped gardens, it has three outdoor pools by the river and several restaurants and bars, so it’s a relaxing base after a day of temple-hopping.