Al Karnak Travel Guide

 DSwede Says:  With a front wall big enough to defy logic, the Temple of Karnak is in better condition than many sites in Egypt. Again, this site is easily accessed from the waterfront if you are doing a Nile cruise. 

 uglyscot Says:  The Sacred Lake is the final destination of the Sound and Light tour, There are seats where the audience sit and hear a history of Karnak.By day it is interesting to see this lake., artificially constructed in ancient times. It is 129x77 m and was surrounded by store rooms,... 

 uglyscot Says:  There are still a number of obelisks to be seen at Karnak.The obelisk of Tuthmosis I is 70 ft tall and that of Hatchepsut 97 ft tall [second only to the one in Rome].There is also the fallen obelisk.All were engraved with cartouches and hieroglyphic accounts. 

 uglyscot Says:  The temple of Amun is the heart of the Karnak Temple.. It begins at the Second Pylon which was built by Ramses I. Then the Hypostyle Hall during the time of Ramses I, Seti I and Ramses II. The walls, ceiling and columns are of natural earth colours. The ceiling was 82 feet... 

 jumpingnorman Says:  My guide took me to the side of the Karnak Temple and there was a chapel (less visited at the time because it was under renovation) which housed the lion goddess, known as the Powerful One, Sekhmet. She was standing alone in the darkness and I was the only tourist... 

 jumpingnorman Says:  Okay, so we see obelisks everywhere (one in Paris), I think I also saw obelisk-looking structures (not necessarily Egyptian) in Stockholm, in Buenos Aires, Washington DC...But if you want to see the tallest EGYPTIAN obelisk that is still standing, go to Karnak.The female... 

 jumpingnorman Says:  Wow, just walking through these gigantic columns in Karnak reminded me of that Disney movie (on Moses I think)...it is hard to capture the awe that you will experience walking through the Great Hypostyle Hall. You're transported back to 1500 years ago (at least)! The complex... 

 jumpingnorman Says:  I already went to the temple during daylight, but I also wanted to see it at night. So, my guides got the tickets for the evening show and we all went. Karnak has a different aura at night and the nice thing was that it was a full moon that night. You are met at the avenue... 

 MM212 Says:  Built by Thutmosis III, the Great Festival Hall (called Akh-Menou) was used in the celebration of the Pharaoh's 30th year of rule. It consists of a hypostyle hall with numerous columns which have conserved their original colours to this day. Beyond this hall are several... 

 MM212 Says:  Bordering one side of the Great Court, the Second Pylon leads to the Great Hypostyle Hall. The Pylon was constructed by Pharaoh Horemheb (c. 1300 BC) in the post-Amarna period, when Egyptian orthodoxy was being restored. After the rebellious reign of Akhenaten and Nefertiti,... 

 MM212 Says:  Built in the 4th century BC by Nectanebo I of the last indigenous (30th) Dynasty, the enormous First Pylon was never actually completed. It faces the Nile and is twice the size of the First Pylon at the Temple of Luxor. Nowadays, this is the main entrance into the Temple of... 

 Kuznetsov_Sergey Says:  An unpleasant tourist trap of Karnak were huge crowds of tourists which simultaneously were in the Temple. Though the operating time of the Temple is since early morning till the evening I've got an impression, that all tourists who this day intended to examine the Temple... 

 jumpingnorman Says:   The Egyptians believe that the preservation of a person's name and his image guarantees immortality and life beyond death. However, when you had some enemies left behind, they might cause trouble by erasing your name and defacing your images....I remembered this ancient... 

 MM212 Says:  The best time to visit al Karnak temples is during lunchtime, between 12 noon and 2pm. Organised tour operators allocate this time to feed the hords of tourists and therefore crowds tend to be relatively small at Karnak. Plan to have an early or a late lunch that day and...