The rulers of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt’s prosperous New Kingdom (c.1550–1069 BC) were buried in a desolate dry river valley across the river from the ancient city of Thebes (modern Luxor), hence its modern name of the Valley of the Kings. This moniker is not entirely accurate, however, since some members of the royal family aside from the king were buried here as well, as were a few non-royal, albeit very high-ranking, individuals. The Valley of the Kings is divided into the East and West Valleys. The eastern is by far the more iconic of the two, as the western valley contains only a handful of tombs. In all, the Valley of the Kings includes over sixty tombs and an additional twenty unfinished ones that are little more than pits.

Hatshepsut (c.1473–1458 BC), the queen who became Pharaoh, built a magnificent temple at Deir al-Bahari, on the west back of Luxor. It lies directly across the Nile from Karnak Temple, the main sanctuary of the god Amun. Hatshepsut’s temple, Djeser-djeseru “the Holy of Holies” was designed by the chief steward of Amun, Senenmut. The temple consists of three levels each of which has a colonnade at its far end. On the uppermost level, an open courtyard lies just beyond the portico. Mummiform statues of Hatshepsut as Osiris, the god of the dead, lean against its pillars. The temple’s walls are covered with beautiful painted reliefs depicting temple rituals, religious festivals, and even the transportation of obelisks from the quarry to their destination in Karnak Temple. Perhaps most interesting are the reliefs in the portico on the so-called Middle Platform. The decorative programme on the left side depicts Hatshepsut’s expedition to Punt, believed to be located near modern Eritrea. The inhabitants of this land, their dwellings, and surrounding environment are vividly recorded, as are the riches and exotic animals that the Egyptians brought back with them. On the other side of the portico, Hatshepsut relates how she is the rightful king of Egypt. She does this not only by claiming that her father Thutmose I had designated her as his heir, but by stating that her true father was none other than the god Amun himself.

The Colossi of Memnon are two massive stone statues of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, which stand at the front of the ruined Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III, the largest temple in the Theban Necropolis. They have stood since 1350 BC, and were well known to ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as early modern travelers and Egyptologists.The statues contain 107 Roman-era inscriptions in Greek and Latin, dated to between AD 20 and 250; many of these inscriptions on the northernmost statue make reference to the Greek mythological king Memnon, whom the statue was then – erroneously – thought to represent.

The Temple of Horus at Edfu is widely considered to be the most impressive of all of the Nile-side temples along the journey between Luxor and Aswan. It is a required stop by all of the cruise ships that make the trip, also stopping at Esna and Kom Ombo. Like at Esna, the temple at Edfu is a late construction. It was built during the Greco-Roman Period, but the builders painstakingly preserved the form of Egypt’s true pharaohs. As a result, a visit to Edfu allows you to see what all of the other ruined temples around Egypt might have looked like had they been built 2000 years later. The Temple of Horus is located in the center of the town of Edfu. By the 19th century, the village extended into the temple with some houses actually standing on the roof of the sand-filled temple. Now the buildings have been cleared away, but the excavation is still very evident since the surrounding buildings look down into the temple complex, which is several meters below the modern ground level. The temple is very complete, including a pylon that was built by Cleopatra’s father in the first century BC, which leads into a peristyle court and then a hypostyle hall that precedes the sanctuary of Horus, the ultimate and most important part of the temple. All of this replicates the standard layout of a New Kingdom pylon temple, the ruins of which can be seen at many other sights around Luxor and along the Nile Valley. The Temple of Horus at Edfu is by far the most complete example of this architectural style.

Along with Esna and Edfu, Kom Ombo is the third major stop that most of the Nile cruises between Luxor and Aswan make on their journey. Located only 30 miles north of Aswan. however, The setting of this Temple of Sobek, the crocodile god, makes an approach by water the far superior way to visit this site. The temple is perched atop a picturesque bluff alongside the river and while there are no longer any crocodiles in the river or in the sacred lake inside the temple complex, this riverside temple is still worthy of a visit. Like the other two sites between Luxor and Aswan, Kom Ombo dates from the Ptolomaic Dynasty and it was only completed under Roman rule. The temple has a dual dedicatation to Sobek, as well as Horus, and the plan of the temple reflects this dual purpose. It is a symmetrical mirror of itself along its main axis with one half devoted to each of the two gods it honors. Like at Esna, the pylon entrance to the temples is no longer standing, leaving the hypostyle hall as the main feature that visitors see today. Also on the grounds of the temple is the Crocodile Museum, which has a display over crocodile mummies.

The monuments of Philae include many structures dating predominantly to the Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BC). The most prominent of these is a temple begun by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC), which he dedicated to Isis, the mother of Horus, the god of kingship. A scene in mammisi, or birth room, where the birth of Horus was celebrated, depicts Isis suckling her son Horus in the marshes. The temple of Isis was one of the last ancient Egyptian temples to remain active, as it continued to function until the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (527–565 AD), who ordered the foreclosure of all pagan temples. It is here that a priest of Isis named Esmet-Akhom carved the very last dated hieroglyphic inscription, which dates to the late 4th century AD (394 AD). The temple was converted into a Christian church and many inscriptions were deliberately destroyed. Nearby, there also is a temple dedicated to Hathor built by Ptolemy VI Philometor (180–145 BC) and Augustus, the first emperor of Rome (30 BC–14 AD). The Kiosk of Trajan (98–117 AD), which used to front the temple complex of Philae, still stands strong, despite its roof having disappeared. Its regular arrangement of columns made it an aesthetic delight and was regularly described or depicted by travelers to the island. Isis is once again central to this cult, as the emperor is shown making offerings to her, her consort Osiris, and their son Horus. All these monuments were relocated from the original Philae island to the nearby island of Agilkia during the UNESCO Nubia Campaign in the 1960’s to rescue sites flooded by the construction of the Aswan High Dam.

When construction began on the High Dam in 1960, it was the most heralded part of President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s effort to develop Egypt for all Egyptians. While the dam is certainly not the largest in the world, it is an impressive engineering feat nonetheless, over 360 feet tall and 12,500 feet across. The dam was completed in 1971 and the huge reservoir behind it, named for President Nasser, finished filling in 1979. The project has always carried controversy with it. The construction displaced over 100,000 Nubian, whose civilization had called the banks of the Nile in southern Egypt and northern Sudan home for millennia, and the rising waters threatened a number of important ancient monuments and archeological sites. Despite this, the dam provides significant benefits to the people of Egypt. At the time of its construction, the High Dam was responsible for around 50 % of the electricity production in Egypt, providing electricity to most of Egypt’ villages for the first time. By regulating the flow of the river, the dam also increased the cultivatable land in Egypt by around 30% and allowed development in new areas that were previously inundated annually when the river flooded.

Deep down south in Egypt on the West Bank of the Nile, near the town of Aswan, are the foremost colorful and feel good villages of the whole country. The Nubian Villages are painted all told the colours of the rainbow. To begin farming round the Nile, the friendly Nubians moved from Sudan over 8000 years ago, which is why they need a darker skin tone. they need their own unique language that they never teach to an outsider.

The Great Temple of Abu Simbel, in Nubia near Egypt’s southern border, is among the most awe-inspiring monuments of Egypt. It was cut into the living rock by King Ramesses II (the Great) of the Nineteenth Dynasty, around 1264 BC. The temple is most well known for the four imposing seated colossal statues that dominate its façade. One of these collapsed because of an ancient earthquake, and its fragments can still be seen on the ground. Colossal standing statues of the king line the main hall, leading to the sanctuary where four deities are sat: Amun‑Ra, Ra‑Horakhty, Ptah, and a deified version of Ramesses II. The temple was built with such precision that on two days a year, the 22nd of February and 22nd of October, the sun’s rays enter the temple, cross the main hall, and illuminate the innermost statues. These dates are thought to correspond to the coronation and birthday of Ramesses II. Another rock-cut temple to the north, known as the Small Temple, is dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Ramesses II’s Great Royal Wife, Queen Nefertari. On the façade of the Small Temple, her colossi are the same size as those of her husband, a very rare example of such display. The two temples were moved from their original location in 1968 after the Aswan High Dam was built, which threatened to submerge them. The relocation was completed thanks to an international effort led by UNESCO, and the temple was admitted into the list of World Heritage Sites in 1979.