Marsa Alam is the furthest of the Red Sea resorts from Luxor – 4.5 to 5.5 hours each way depending on your hotel and the route. It can be done in a day, and we do it. But here is what that means: pickup at four, back after nine at night, roughly ten hours in the car and six in Luxor.
If you can spare two days, the version with a night in Luxor is considerably more pleasant, and it costs more in time than in money. Say the word and we will price both.
The essentials
| The essentials | |
|---|---|
| Distance to Luxor | about 350 km |
| Driving time each way | 4.5 to 5.5 hours |
| Hotel pickup | 04:00 |
| Back at your hotel | around 21:15 |
| Total | around 17 hours |
| Time in Luxor | 6 to 7 hours |
| Group | private, your party only |
| Guide | licensed Egyptologist |
| Price | from $200 per person |
Two routes – and why your guide decides on the morning
There are two ways from Marsa Alam to Luxor. The northern route via Port Ghalib and the Qena desert highway reaches the East Bank first, so Karnak comes early. The southern route on the Edfu desert road arrives near the West Bank, so the Valley of the Kings comes first.
Which one gets driven is decided on the morning, based on traffic and road conditions. Both cover the same sites in a different order, and there is a comfort stop each way.
Hotels in and north of Port Ghalib have it slightly shorter. If you are well south towards Hamata, the drive grows again – send us your hotel name and we will give you the real pickup time instead of a generic one.
How the day runs
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 04:00 | Pickup at your hotel in Marsa Alam |
| around 09:00 | Arrive in Luxor, breakfast stop |
| morning | West Bank: Valley of the Kings, three tombs |
| then | Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir el-Bahari |
| midday | Lunch at a restaurant by the Nile |
| afternoon | East Bank: Karnak, and Luxor Temple if time allows |
| around 16:00 | Start back |
| around 21:15 | Back at your hotel in Marsa Alam |
The order is deliberate. The West Bank comes first because the tombs are still cool in the morning and the coaches have not arrived. Karnak is left for the afternoon, when the light softens and the day groups are already on their way home.
What you see in Luxor
Valley of the Kings. Three tombs are included. Which ones are open rotates, because the authorities close them in turn to protect the paintwork. Which are worth choosing, and when the extra ticket is worth it: which tombs to pick in the Valley of the Kings.
Hatshepsut’s temple. Three terraces cut into the cliff at Deir el-Bahari, built for the woman who ruled as pharaoh and whose name her successor had chiselled out of the walls. The gaps are still visible. The Colossi of Memnon are on the way past.
Karnak. The largest temple complex in Egypt, built and rebuilt for two thousand years. The hypostyle hall has 134 columns, the tallest around 21 metres. This is where most people lose their sense of scale.
What is included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off, door to door
- Private air-conditioned vehicle with driver for the whole day
- Private licensed Egyptologist guide in Luxor
- All entrance fees to the sites listed – nothing to pay at the gate
- Lunch at a Nile-side restaurant
- Bottled water throughout
What is not included
- Tombs that need a separate ticket, such as Tutankhamun or Seti I
- A dawn hot-air balloon, if you add one
- Drinks beyond water, and gratuities – what to tip in Egypt
Price
From $200 per person – a private tour, not a seat on a coach. That means your own car, your own guide, and a departure time set around you rather than around a bus manifest.
Marsa Alam is the longest of the coastal drives, so pickup from here carries a surcharge on top of the tour price. We quote it with your booking, before you commit to anything, and we confirm the pickup time at the same point once we know which hotel you are in.
For rough context: a day in Luxor is sold in quite different forms. Large coach groups with a few hours on the ground start at around $55 or so per person; a private car with a licensed Egyptologist and all entrance fees included sits noticeably higher. Figures move with the season and with what is included, so treat this as orientation rather than a price comparison.
What you are paying for here is time on site, a guide who knows it, every entrance fee already covered, and no shopping stops.
What to bring
- Your passport. There are checkpoints on the desert road.
- Shoes you can walk in. Sand, stone slabs, steps down into the tombs.
- Sun cream, hat, sunglasses. Luxor is drier and hotter than the coast.
- Small notes in Egyptian pounds for drinks and tips.
- A layer for the drive out. The desert is cold before sunrise and the car is air-conditioned.
Who should not do this
This is the day trip we talk people out of most often. Not because it is bad, but because the arithmetic doesn’t suit everyone. Ten hours of driving for six hours in Luxor is a ratio you have to be comfortable with.
Clearly unsuitable: small children, late pregnancy, back trouble, motion sickness. If you are diving the day before or after, move it.
Our honest advice for Marsa Alam: either two days with a night in Luxor, or make Luxor a proper stop on a longer trip. A dahabeya cruise starting in Luxor removes the problem entirely – then the drive isn’t a detour, it’s the beginning.
Staying somewhere else?
We run the same day from the other Red Sea towns. The drive differs; the day in Luxor does not:
- From El Gouna – 314 km, 4 to 4.5 hours each way
- From Makadi Bay – 260 km, 3.5 to 4 hours each way
- From El Quseir – 218 km, 3 to 3.5 hours each way
- From Hurghada – the standard version, with full details and booking
If one day is not enough
A day trip shows you the highlights, but it stays a day trip. If you want Luxor properly, stay. Our dahabeya cruise starts in Luxor and sails on to Aswan – the same places, without a stopwatch. The West Bank day goes deeper into the tombs than a single visit allows.
Still weighing it up? We wrote honestly about whether Luxor is worth it from the Red Sea, and about when to come – the month you travel changes this day more than anything else.
Ask us
Tell us which hotel in Marsa Alam you are in and which day you have in mind. We will confirm the pickup time and the price, and we will say so plainly if we think this is not the right day for you.