Guides ·Day trips

Day trip to Esna from Luxor

Esna is 55km south of Luxor and its Temple of Khnum has emerged from a decade of restoration with astonishing painted ceilings — a half-day trip, easily.

Guide

Day trips

Length

5 min read

Region

Luxor

Recently cleaned polychrome ceiling at Esna Temple

How to get there

Private taxi with waiting is $30-40 for the round trip, four hours total. Faster: the second-class morning train from Luxor to Esna ($1) takes 90 minutes but the station is 3km from the temple, so add a tuk-tuk. Most Nile cruises stop at Esna to pass the lock; if you’re on one, you’ll see the temple anyway.

The temple that reappeared

Entry $6. The Temple of Khnum sits 9m below modern street level in a pit in the middle of the old town. A German-Egyptian restoration team spent 2018-2023 cleaning centuries of soot from the ceiling and the results are extraordinary — vultures, zodiac signs and hieroglyphs in original blue, red and gold. Just 24 columns are visible; the rest is buried under the modern town. Give it 90 minutes.

Around the temple

The Esna souq around the temple is one of the oldest continuously trading markets in Upper Egypt. Wander the caravanserai and the old wikala on your way back to the car. Lunch options are basic; hold out for dinner back in Luxor.