Valley of the Kings

KV62 does not mean Tutankhamun was the sixty-second pharaoh buried here. It means his tomb was simply the sixty-second one catalogued, a numbering scheme drawn up by John Gardner Wilkinson in the 1820s that has nothing to do with age or importance. Ramses VII, who ruled centuries after several higher-numbered kings, got KV1 purely because his tomb sat open and visible for millennia while others lay buried under debris. That mismatch between number and history trips up almost every visitor who assumes the valley is laid out chronologically.

The site on Luxor’s West Bank holds more than 60 known tombs cut into the limestone hills, and archaeologists are still finding more. In May 2025 a team working in the nearby Dra Abu el-Naga necropolis uncovered three New Kingdom tombs belonging to officials named Amun-em-Ipet, Baki, and a third man identified only as “S,” administrators rather than royalty, but a reminder that this stretch of desert has not given up all its secrets. Ground-penetrating radar surveys keep flagging promising spots, so the count of 60-plus tombs is not final.

Ticketing here works on a tiered system that catches first-timers off guard. The standard entry ticket runs around 750 EGP for foreign nationals and grants access to only three tombs from a rotating pool of roughly ten that are open to the public at any given time. Which three tombs are included changes periodically, so do not assume the tomb you read about in an old blog post will actually be on your ticket. Want to see something specific? You will likely need to pay extra. Tutankhamun’s tomb, KV62, requires its own separate ticket at roughly 700 EGP, a steep price for a tomb that is small and largely stripped of its funerary goods (those are now mostly at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza), but the wall paintings of Tutankhamun greeting the gods are worth it if you have the budget. Seti I’s tomb, KV17, the longest and most elaborately decorated in the valley, costs around 2,000 EGP separately and is capped at limited daily visitors, so book ahead through an agent if you have your heart set on it. Ramesses V and VI’s shared tomb, KV9, is a cheaper add-on at around 220 EGP and rewards the extra spend with a spectacular astronomical ceiling.

One genuine piece of good news for 2026: the tomb of Amenhotep III, one of the largest in the valley, reopened to the public in October 2025 after more than two decades of conservation work. It had been closed so long that most guidebooks still list it as inaccessible. If your ticket rotation includes it, take it, the restoration addressed serious deterioration and the results are worth the detour.

Getting here from Luxor is straightforward but has a pricing trap. The classic route is the public ferry across the Nile, which costs a few dozen EGP and runs every ten to fifteen minutes, followed by hiring a taxi or minivan on the west bank for the day. Driving the long way around via Luxor Bridge instead takes about 45 minutes each way and costs more, since the bridge sits well south of both the city and the valley. Whichever way you arrive, you cannot drive up to the tombs themselves. Everyone parks at a visitor center and rides a shared tram the final stretch, a few EGP per person for a short ride that saves you from trudging through open desert in Upper Egypt heat.

The valley opens at 6am and closes around 4 or 5pm depending on season. Conventional wisdom says arrive at opening to beat the crowds, but so many people follow that advice that 6am is often the most crowded window of the day. Visitors who show up around 11am or in the early afternoon frequently report near-empty tombs, especially on days when tour buses have already moved through and gone. If you can stand the heat, midday to early afternoon between roughly December and February is genuinely pleasant; from June through August the same hours are punishing, and an early or late visit becomes less about crowds and more about survival.

A few practical notes that matter more than the usual packing list. Photography inside tombs generally requires an extra camera ticket and flash is prohibited everywhere, it damages the pigments. There is no shade and very little water for sale once you are past the visitor center, so bring more than you think you need. The tombs are also genuinely narrow and hot inside, not a good match for anyone with claustrophobia or mobility issues, since several require descending steep ramps or stairs. My honest opinion: skip the multi-tomb rush that many day tours push and instead pay for one or two premium tombs you actually care about. Racing through six mediocre tombs in ninety minutes leaves you with tired legs and blurry memories, while lingering properly in Seti I’s corridor or Amenhotep III’s newly reopened chamber gives you something you will actually remember. Bring cash in small denominations for the tram and any optional camera fees, since card payment is unreliable this far from central Luxor.