Valley of the Kings – How to Visit on Your Own

The Valley of the Kings lies on the west bank of the Nile, across the river from modern Luxor. From central Luxor, which is situated mainly on the eastern bank, allow around half an hour by road to reach the large car park by the entrance, depending on traffic. You can get there by taxi, although many visitors arrive by coach as part of an organised tour from Luxor or one of the Red Sea resorts.

You can read more about how to get to the Valley in this article.

Tombs

The Valley of the Kings covers approximately 0.8 square miles (2 square kilometres), not including other parts of the vast Theban Necropolis nearby, such as Deir el-Bahari. It comprises more than 60 known tombs and burial structures, carved into the limestone mountains.

Each tomb is identified by the letters KV and a number, and the KV numbering now extends to KV65. The first 21 numbers were assigned geographically in the 19th century. Later discoveries were generally numbered in the order in which they were found. KV6 is the tomb of Ramesses IX, KV17 that of Seti I, KV62 that of Tutankhamun, and so on. Contrary to what you may sometimes read online, only a relatively small selection is open to visitors at any given time. Even among these, some may be temporarily closed for conservation or rotated to protect them from excessive visitor numbers. So the exact choice may differ from one visit to the next.

It is worth deciding in advance which tombs you would like to visit, if only to avoid unnecessary trips back to the ticket office to buy additional tickets. We have prepared a separate article with suggestions on which ones to choose and why. We also have an audio guide for each of these sites – and you can even listen to them before your trip (available in English, German, French, Italian and Polish).

Tickets

A standard ticket allows you to visit three of the tombs included in general admission and open on the day of your visit. If you want to see more, simply buy another standard ticket. Some of the most famous tombs – including Tutankhamun (KV62), Seti I (KV17) and Ramesses V and VI (KV9) – require separate tickets and are not included in the basic admission price,  so it is worth deciding in advance whether you want to add any of them.

You can read more about the tombs – including our suggestions on which ones to choose – in this article,  particularly useful if you only have a few hours at the site.