Things To Do In Luxor
Popular Activities In Luxor
Luxor is one of the busiest cities on your Egypt trip. No one can run out of activities in this amazing city. Sit back and enjoy in the city of palaces.
The Sound and Light Show at the Karnak Temple
This wonderful Egyptian project was first established in 1962 in the Giza Pyramids. Afterward, the sound and light show started performing in other historical sites like the Karnak Temple, Edfu Temple, Philae Temple, and the marvelous temples of Abu Simble.
In the Sound and Light Show in the Karnak Temple, the guests will get to listen to the stories of some of the greatest Pharaohs told by the kings themselves in a wonderful ambiance with the lights being animated all over the temple.
The performance, which lasts for about an hour, is carried out in the English, Arabic, French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Italian language according to the schedule of the performances every week.
Visit The Luxor Local Market
Each city in Egypt has a local market. However, the one of Luxor is quite distinctive as it offers a huge variety of goods and products from all over the Nile Valley.
Luxor was always an important point of the trading caravans between Africa and the Nile Valley. Commercial caravans loaded with spices, cloth, and different commodities used to land in Aswan, coming from different regions in Africa. Afterwards, these products used to reach Luxor through boats sailing down the Nile or by the land roads between the two cities. Included in almost all tour packages to Luxor, the local market is famous for selling different spices which are good at curing many diseases and for enhancing the health of all people in general.
most of the shops sell jewellery, bags and leather goods, souvenirs, spices, scarves, T-shirts and other clothing, and other items aimed at the tourist. As you progress through the market, the emphasis changes, with fewer shops targeting the tourist. There used to be lots of stalls selling fruit and vegetables, household utensils, tools and other goods providing for the needs of local people. However, most of these, especially the fruit and veg, have now been moved to a new fruit and veg market on the other side of the railway line, not far from the station.
Some guides and occasional visitors to Luxor will advise against shopping in the market. Their reasons may include the inevitable hassle from shop or stall holders and the possibility that you will pay too much for your purchases.
As far as the hassle is concerned, certainly there will be plenty of local people keen to ‘help’ you and you will not progress far in Old Market Street without being ‘encouraged’ to go into shops or to look at wares on a market stall. That kind of hassle is hard to avoid anywhere in Luxor. A little tolerance and good humour will usually be enough to get you by. What you pay for your purchases is largely up to you. Many of the stall holders work on commission. Everything has a minimum price that the owner will expect.
If the seller can get more than the minimum then the difference will probably be his earnings so yes, many may maximise their earnings when they have a chance. Some guides will suggest that you offer half the starting price. The sellers are wise to that advice and so will often start much higher than twice what you need to pay – even ten times as much. There is no magic formula. Do your homework in the hotel and local shops. See the haggling page for help with this.
With that background decide what you are prepared to pay, then barter. If you buy for that or a lower amount you have a bargain. If you want to know the lowest price, just show interest, barter a bit, then walk away. The price he shouts after you as you begin to disappear back into the crowd is probably as low as he will go.
Updated On May 03, 2020
