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Travelling
in Luxor
Arrival
in Luxor
Arriving
by plane, the airport is on East bank,
at less than 10 kms from the city centre. You can buy
your visa (approximateky 15 Euros) at
the airport, in one of the banks located before police
controls. You can also change money there, rates are
similar to those down town.
To
get to the place where you stay you can either get a
taxi, in front of the exit, or have a taxi (hired in
advance by phone, sms or e-mail from the
list of
contacts)
waiting for you. To get to West bank, you will have to
cross the river on the only bridge located south of
Luxor, quite far, so that it will take about 40 minutes;
the, you will go from West bank to East bank by ferry
boat, but, with luggage, we rather recommend
taxi
Arriving
by train, you can also get a taxi at the station which
is in the city centre.
Renting
a car is not recommended
We
do not recommend to rent a car because:
-
it
is rather long to drive from one side of the river to
the other (about 30 minutes) while, by ferry boat, it is
only a few minutes and it is quite pleasant,
-
Egyptian
driving is surprising (on the wrong side of the road
depending on the direction where they go, at night
lights on only when the driver needs to see
etc.),
- there
are few road signs and they are all written in
Arabic.
Travelling
inside Luxor
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There
are plenty of taxis or horse cars ready to take
you to the Karnak
temple. You can walk to any other place,
especially along the nicely arranged riverside
which makes it very
pleasant. To
get to Karnak,
if you leave West bank with an individual motor
boat, you can request your driver to take you in
front of the temple
entrance
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From
West bank to East
bank
Three
possibilities :
1) Individual
motor boats can be found close to the ferry
wharf on West bank or along the riverside on East bank
(5 to 10 EGP whatever the number of
travellers.
2)
The ferry
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The
ferry
wharf is close to Luxor
temple on East bank and in the centre of
El
Gezira
village on West bank. For us, it is, the safest,
cheapest and most genuine way to cross the
Nile
(1 EGP/ person). It works day and night; you will travel
with West bank people going to East bank to work, to
school or
to do some shopping, young or elder people, women and a
charming girl who sells handkerchiefs to help her
family... |
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3)
Felucca, boats with Latin sails, can take
you to East bank but also to the Banana peninsula
(high rates to be negotiated)
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| Travelling
on West bank by collective taxi
To
go from El
Gezira
to any site of West bank, you can use collective taxis;
the station is above the ferry wharf, just follow the
people, you can't miss it!!
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Pick-ups
with two benches parallel to the road, generally
with bright colours, these taxis serve all places
where Egyptians need to go. Before
getting on, ask whether where you want to go in on
the route; stops are regular, you just have to
press the ring.
| The
foreigner rate: 1 EGP/ person. But, if there is nobody
else on board, you can use it to go wherever you like:
the driver will clarify "private taxi" and apply a
special rate (5 to 10 EGP for the drive). However, for
places where Egyptians would not go, such as King
valley, Queen valley or Hatshepsout temple, you wil have
to hire a private
taxi.
Riding a bike on West
bank
When the weather is not
too hot, a pleasant solution is to hire a bike for one
day (10 EGP) or for the duration of your stay (try it
first as a number of them are in poor condition). There
is a bike rental just above the collective taxi station.
Apart from King valley, a bit more difficult, other
routes are easy and you have time to enjoy the
landscape.
Dromedary or donkey
rides
Dromedaries
or donkeys can be hired for a short visit in the desert.
There are several dromedary and donkey keepers at El
Gezira.
List of useful
contacts
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