Valley of the Queens and Deir el-Medina

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Ancient Thebes With Its Necropolis (1979). Nefertari'S Tomb Is The Most Beautifully Painted Chamber In Egypt And The Most Expensive Ticket In The Country, And Over The Ridge The Village Of Deir El Medina Housed The Men Who Cut And Decorated Every Royal Tomb In Thebes · Luxor, Luxor

Two valleys at the southern end of the Theban necropolis hold the other half of the story the Valley of the Kings tells. The Valley of the Queens was the burial ground for royal wives and children, and its one overwhelming tomb is Nefertari's - the wife of Ramses II, buried in a chamber whose painted walls are, by common agreement, the most beautiful surviving work of Egyptian art. It is sold on a strictly limited daily ticket at a price far above anything else in the country, and whether it is open at all varies. Over the ridge, Deir el-Medina is the village where the men who cut and painted every royal tomb in Thebes actually lived: streets of small stone houses, and above them their own tombs, decorated by the best craftsmen in Egypt for themselves rather than for a king - which is why Sennedjem's and Inherkha's chambers are brighter and stranger than anything in the royal valley. Together they are the most human part of the necropolis.

Two valleys at the southern end of the Theban necropolis, about 3 km from the Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Luxor, Egypt

Both sites open daily from early morning to late afternoon, shorter in winter, with separate tickets and Nefertari's tomb sold separately again. NEFERTARI IS THE THING TO CONFIRM: numbers are capped at a small daily figure, visits are time-limited to a few minutes inside, the price is many times any other ticket in Egypt, and the tomb has been closed for long periods - check before building a day around it. At Deir el-Medina the village is open ground and two or three tombs are open on rotation, unlocked by an attendant. Both valleys are furnaces by mid-morning in summer and have almost no shade. The west bank is reached by the local ferry or the bridge, and both sites are a standard stop on a hired-car morning that starts in the Valley of the Kings.

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