Tourist Attractions in Luxor

There is a guy from Luxor who apparently picks his potential "victims" at airports. He´s handsome, will be very helpful with your bag, will be coincidently going to the same place as you. He´ll invite you for dinner in a nice restaurant. After it he´ll take you to some shop, where you´ll get a gold cartouche with your name, with chain and all. Even if you refuse it, he´ll seem completed charmed by you, even proposing, lol. It doesn´t matter how much you say that you are only friends and absolutely nothing will happen between you, he´ll try to see you again. So he´ll mention that he´s a tourist guide and wants to help you. He may try to charge up to ten times the right price for something. So girls, if you have suddenly turned hotter than Marilyn, be suspicious, lol.

Baksheesh is part of the culture of Egypt and is something that generates much discussion among people not used to the culture. Baksheesh is basically tipping. In Egypt you are expected to tip anyone and everyone who helps you (or not in many cases) no matter how small the help.
When visiting temples, museums, at the airport, asking the way, hailing a taxi etc someone will appear and give you some "help" whether you want it or not.
My advice is to just go with the flow. Keep a pocket full of small change or notes and dispense them everytime someone assists you in any way. Sometimes they will complain you haven't tipped them enough but generally a tip is expected and so you should give one.
Don't forget, its part of the culture and we are the visitors.

Unique Suggestions: As stated above always carry small notes and coins otherwise a larger tip will be expected.

Fun Alternatives: You can refuse to tip if you really want to appear to be a cheapskate.

make sure that you understood clearly the english of your taxi driver when he tells you the price of a taxi fare, because he may tell you in soft english a price you agree to pay, but at the end of the ride he will pretend a completely different summ, claiming that it was what you had accepted in the beginning.

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This tourist trap is waiting for you if you have only one-day excursion in Luxor. After visiting Karnak Temple you will go to the West Bank and see Hatshepsut Temple and the Valley of the Kings. After that guides usually take you to the numerous shops. And that’s all! You may miss the Luxor Temple, because the excursion time is over and you have to go to the boat!

Ask your guide to stop shopping and to make a stop at the Luxor Temple before the embarkation onboard. An hour would be enough!

Beware caleche drivers who offer a cheap trip for only 1-2 L.E. We fell for this one - we said we didnt want a caleche as we were only walking up the road to the bank - he said "I will take you to the bank and back to the hotel fro 2 L.E." This seemed OK so we got in - Big Mistake. After we finished at the bank, we got back into the caleche, which promptly went in the opposite direction to the hotel - hold on, where are we going? Reply "I like you so I am taking you round the city, you can pay what you like at the end". We should have bailed out then! But no, we wanted to see round the city so we stayed in the caleche - and were promptly taken for a ride for 4hours (yes really - through outlying villages etc - we had to stay put as we had no idea where we were!) This included a visit to an alabaster shop called St Marie Stones next to a renault garage where we were totally ripped off when we bought alabaster figures that we could have got at a tenth of the price at the airport, and a silver ring - it even had a silver mark 925 - my finger was green the same evening! When the trip was over, he carefully asked for the money well away from the hotel and rather than the "pay what you like" we ended up paying far more because we didnt know where the hotel was!

Unique Suggestions: Dont use the caleche drivers - other people at our hotel had the same experiences. Its much cheaper (whatever tips tell you) to use the hotel's taxi - and its air conditioned. Just bear in mind that if you do use them, only ask for one way as they charge waiting time.

Fun Alternatives: Hotel taxis are air-conditioned.
Use a reputable travel co for local trips - they are cheaper than the travel agents from the UK. We used Karnak Travel who were brilliant but Jolleys next door is equally as good.

Before booking any trips, check with the local Tourist Travel Agents. Sometimes you will find they are a lot cheaper.
Change youre Travel cheques etc in local banks. Better exchange rate.

Unique Suggestions: If you find a good Taxi, try and keep him for all youre trips out. He will often give you a good service providing you stick with "What you want NOT what he would like you to do".

Fun Alternatives: Buy bottled water outside youre Hotel. A lot cheaper.

Luxor's souk is as touristy as it could get - a BIG tourist trap. The whole place has been prettied up for tourists, and gone is the authentic souk experience. It's cleaner and more clinical than your regular Middle Eastern souks.

Unique Suggestions: It's worth a visit only if you are after some photo opportunities. But be warned, you will be hassled to death by merchants - which is just fair since you are in their territory.

Fun Alternatives: Aswan and even Cairo's Khan el-Khalili offer more authentic souk experience, although the one in Aswan is undergoing a massive facelift that when completed, would make it as clinical as the one in Luxor. So hurry up before the authentic souk atmosphere in Aswan dissipates. In Khan el-Khalili, sure there are many touristy areas, but the sheer size and chaos of the place provide the more adventurous tourists with lots of surprises and hidden gems within its labyrinthine alleys.

Excuse me sir ! Excuse me sir ! I wondered, did I loose something, did I forget something, did I do something ???
Yes ?
Where are you from ?
Holland
Holland, prachtig allemachtig (that's about the only thing they can say in Dutch)
Would you like a ride in an Egyptian Ferrari ? One hour, only five Egyptian pounds.
Well, the Egyptian Ferrari is carriage (fleas and lices included in the price). The guy takes you to shops (where he gets his commission if you buy and get pissed off if you don't buy). Anyway, at the end of the ride he asked us for 10 pounds, the ride lasted more than an hour (because of the shops) and asked 5 pounds bakshish for the mule. I paid him with a smile