West Bank

[Zooropa]

Hi All, some advice please. I plan to hire a taxi for a morning (4 to 5 hours i guess). I plan to do Madinet Habu, Workers village, Seti Temple, Ramasuem. What else should i see? Is Carters house worth seeing? Is there anything i am missing? And can i do all of the above in the time frame?

Ive already seen Kings Valley, Queens Valley, Hatchepsut, Collossi, Tombs Of Nobels.

Oh and what would a reasonable price be for the taxi Hire?

Any ideas/suggestions?

Cheers,

[Lisak]

Deir el Medina the workman's village is well worth a visit.
I tend to get the ferry over then catch a microbus to the ticket office...go from there to Medinet Habu (Usually stopping off on the way back for a drink and food at Mohammed's) then you can walk to Deir el Medina and Queens Valley from here, actually, the nobles and Ramasseum as well. Oops just read you have Deir el Medina on your list.
I quite like Meremptah, that is before the Ramasseum, the temple is very badly damaged, but the museum is well worth a look.

Whatever you end up doing enjoy.

[Alistair1967]

Carter's House is worth a look IMO, depends on whether you find the man and his work interesting I suppose. It was free when I visited, now costs 20LE. I would rather put this money toward yet another visit to Medinet Habu, on balance.

All the sites you mention are easily do-able in a full morning by taxi. Last time I got a taxi ( on the West bank itself, you will obviously pay more if you hire on the East), it cost about me about 60 or 70LE for a morning. That was 3 years ago, but shouldn't be too much more in 2012.

[Yildez]

I visited Carter's House last December and felt it had an atmosphere of deep unhappiness; I left feeling quite down, not usual for me. I thought that the most interesting things were the photocopies of letters, journals etc; everything else - clothes, furniture etc - seemed highly dubious, although I am happy to stand corrected if someone knows better!! I would not return for a second visit, unlike all the other sites in Luxor.

As to your itinerary, it depends on how much time you want to spend at each site, and that depends on your level of interest. I spent a whole morning at the Worker's Village and the Ptolemaic temple, and will be returning again this winter as the tomb that particularly interests me was closed, and I want to re-visit the temple. If you want to visit so many sites in one go you won't have much time in each; Seti's temple is a gem, and Medinat Habu extremely interesting, those two alone could take up more than half a day.

As well as my usual research, reading etc, I used an excellent guidebook, purchased on-line from Amazon: The Treasures of Luxor and the Valley of the Kings by Kent R. Weeks, published byWhitestar.

[TonyC]

Last time I got a taxi ( on the West bank itself, you will obviously pay more if you hire on the East), it cost about me about 60 or 70LE for a morning. That was 3 years ago, but shouldn't be too much more in 2012.

Shouldn't be too much more? When the locals have suffered Egypt's soaring inflation for three years! I should think employing a man and his car for a whole morning would merit somewhat more than around £7. But business is bad, so beat 'em down!

[LivinginLuxor]

If you cross on the ferry or motorboat, you will see a few taxis waiting for just that! For a trip like you have proposed, the going rate is around 100LE today - and it's worth it - there are usually some modern air-conditioned taxis around which makes the journey even more pleasurable. You'll probably need to stop off for a cold drink - the cafes at Medinet Habu are excellent, so please include the driver when you do. He'll appreciate that certainly.

The drivers have had a hard time over the past months, so I wouldn't be penny pinching. You and your party will see what you want to do for a cost less than a quarter of what each of you will pay for a trip with a tour company - when I last checked, Kuoni were charging £45 per person for a basic trip around the West Bank.

[hatusu]

I agree with Stan re the price. 100LE is good value for money for the time spent (and remembering the driver has probably had to queue for hours to get the petrol in the first place). My personal favourite on the West Bank is Tomb of the Monkeys (also known as Ays Tomb) in the Western Valley. Look for Belzoni's name carved above the tomb entrance.

[chiddy]

to do what you want in 4/5 hours will be a quick in and out visit
to be realistic with proper time in each site would be two or three visits to allow wandering to get the atmosphere

agree with Lisa - Habu is a nice walk from the ticket office where you can spend 2/3 hours easily then on to Workers village if time permits

[Alistair1967]

Last time I got a taxi ( on the West bank itself, you will obviously pay more if you hire on the East), it cost about me about 60 or 70LE for a morning. That was 3 years ago, but shouldn't be too much more in 2012.

Shouldn't be too much more? When the locals have suffered Egypt's soaring inflation for three years! I should think employing a man and his car for a whole morning would merit somewhat more than around £7. But business is bad, so beat 'em down!

Don't misunderstand me, I was not suggesting that a rise of 5 LE would be appropriate. It's easier for you, Tony, living in Luxor to have a more accurate idea of what the 'correct' fare should be - and what do ex-pats pay anyway?. So please don't jump on my back just because I only spend about 10 days a year there and don't have the correct fares to hand.

[Zooropa]

Hi all, ive been to madinet Habu before so wont spend much time there its mainly the workers village and the seti temple that interest me. Can you take photos and film in the Carter house?

Cheers.

[Alistair1967]

Can you take photos and film in the Carter house?

Cheers.

I took plenty of still pics in there, don't what the situation is now. I didn't use flash either.

[TonyC]

Don't misunderstand me, I was not suggesting that a rise of 5 LE would be appropriate. It's easier for you, Tony, living in Luxor to have a more accurate idea of what the 'correct' fare should be - and what do ex-pats pay anyway?. So please don't jump on my back just because I only spend about 10 days a year there and don't have the correct fares to hand.

Sorry if I sounded snappy, but the phrase "shouldn't be too much more" set the hackles rising a bit. There are some visitors who try to get away with paying a pittance. They often use the words "rip off" quite a bit, too. The correct fare? I'm afraid I've always gone "free" in my half of a car but the 100LE mentioned would seem a minimum for four to five hours' work, I'd like to see it higher!

[Alistair1967]

Don't misunderstand me, I was not suggesting that a rise of 5 LE would be appropriate. It's easier for you, Tony, living in Luxor to have a more accurate idea of what the 'correct' fare should be - and what do ex-pats pay anyway?. So please don't jump on my back just because I only spend about 10 days a year there and don't have the correct fares to hand.

Sorry if I sounded snappy, but the phrase "shouldn't be too much more" set the hackles rising a bit. There are some visitors who try to get away with paying a pittance. They often use the words "rip off" quite a bit, too. The correct fare? I'm afraid I've always gone "free" in my half of a car but the 100LE mentioned would seem a minimum for four to five hours' work, I'd like to see it higher!

No problem, Tony. It's common on some other forums to see people recommending 50LE or so to first-timers, which is probably what leads to the 'rip-off' perception. Even at 150LE for a half-day, it would still compare favourably with an equivalent fare in the UK.

[Cyprus100]

Some photos on my TripWow photoshare site from Howard Carter house taken in Sept 2010.

Howard Carter house starts at 3.18 (mins) into the slideshow so feel free to fast forward

http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ ... c6-69a1?lb

[Who2]

Q: Can you take photos and film in the Carter house?
A: No they are screwed to the wall.
Q: "everything else - clothes, furniture etc - seemed highly dubious,
A: outrageous statement, they believed every word I told them when sold them. dubious!.....

[Zooropa]

Thanks Cyprus, nice images! Are you allowed to shoot video in there also?

Thanks.

[Cyprus100]

Hi Zooropa

It was 2010 when we were there last, while it was still free. We were certainly allowed to take photos but there was only our party of 6 people inside and one other guy on his own. We didn't have a video camera with us and although I do have video on my digital, we had only bought the camera on the morning before we flew out of Cyprus with the manual being all in Greek. I managed to download a PDF and have a quick read but only sussed out how to take video after we returned home to Cyprus....

I suppose with a digital camera/video they probably wouldn't know if you were taking photos or video if you didn't take too much footage in one go.

The hologram show was quite spectacular given the setting on the West Bank.

I would be perfectly happy to go back again for a revisit and pay the 20 LE charge.

[timetraveller]

Personally I would include Carter House in your trip if you have time. I have only been once, whilst it was free but would consider it well worth a 20le entrance fee. It's a much smaller house than you might imagine, but very interesting. Unfortunately I was with a group of people and the visit was a bit 'whistle stop' for my liking. The letters were really interesting and I would have liked more time to read them. I must go back and do that!

Hope you enjoy your trip Zooropa.

[LivinginLuxor]

One other place that you might be interested in - in fact it is a Hidden Gem! When you're at Habu, walk to the end of the car park, past the police post and you will see a small track ahead of you. Go down the track for about 30 yards, and you emerge in a small square of old buildings. At the end is a small Ptolemaic chapel dedicated to Thoth. It's been recently restored, and although not officially open, a little baksheesh to the guardian, and he will unlock the gate for you if it's not already open.

[Dusak]

I took some friends there, there was a lady in attendance then. My friend asked jokingly do they allow people to stay there. She was quite serious when she replied yes, gave my friend her card and told her to ring if she was interested. The cost per night? $10,000!