Avenue of Sphinxes, Luxor

Avenue of Sphinxes tickets and opening hours

There is no Avenue of Sphinxes ticket on Egymonuments, the ministry's official booking site, and no published opening hours. The Explore Luxor guide calls it a public walkway with free access; treat that as unofficial. Guides disagree on hours, from daytime 6:00–17:00 to evening walks under the floodlights.

What you do pay for are the temples at each end and along the way. The first stretch of sphinxes in front of the pylon lies inside Luxor Temple — EGP 500, students EGP 250, last entry 19:00. Karnak costs EGP 600, students EGP 300, last entry 16:00. The Temple of Mut beside the avenue is EGP 200, students EGP 100. Children under 6 go free everywhere.

Ticket desks officially take Visa and Mastercard on every channel, and you can also book on Egymonuments or the Experience Egypt app. Carry small Egyptian pounds in cash for taxis, horse carriages and tips — drivers usually want cash, and card terminals do go down.

Where is the Avenue of Sphinxes?

It runs in a straight line on the East Bank of the Nile, from the north gate of Luxor Temple in the city centre to Karnak, passing the precinct of the goddess Mut. Most maps label it Avenue of Sphinxes; locals also call it Rams Road, Tariq al-Kibash in Arabic.

The road sits below today's street level: it was dug out from under centuries of later building, and the city grew up around it. So the avenue alternates between open stretches among the houses and points where modern roads cross it. Along it stand sphinxes — a lion's body with a human head — and ram-headed statues, though many survive only as empty pedestals.

Think of it less as a museum and more as an archaeological street linking the city's two great temples. It works best as the bridge between them: Karnak in the morning, Luxor Temple in the evening, and the sphinxes in between.

How many sphinxes are there?

It depends what you count. English Wikipedia and Egypt Museum give 1,057 statues at the 2021 reopening: 807 human-headed sphinxes and 250 ram-headed ones. NBC News reported 'over 600' statues. Many are just bases, so you will see far fewer complete figures than either number suggests.

The best-preserved row is right by Luxor Temple, where the sphinxes of Nectanebo I stand shoulder to shoulder. Towards the middle the lines thin out — not surprising for a road that spent more than two thousand years under sand and houses.

The Karnak end and the ram-headed statues

The avenue doesn't reach Karnak at the main gate by the Nile. It arrives from the south, past the precinct of Mut, Amun's wife. On this stretch the statues have rams' heads, because the ram was Amun's sacred animal — hence the road's Arabic name.

Don't confuse it with the short row of rams at Karnak's main entrance, which you walk through anyway between the ticket office and the First Pylon. The long road to Luxor Temple is a separate monument. If you took a taxi to Karnak, walking back into town along the avenue takes about 40 minutes without stops.

History: who built it and why

The road joined the two chief sanctuaries of Thebes and served the Opet Festival, when Amun's statue was carried once a year from Karnak to Luxor Temple. Building began in the New Kingdom and was completed under Nectanebo I of the 30th Dynasty in the 4th century BC; the sphinxes near Luxor Temple carry his face.

Then the road vanished under sand. The scholars of the Description de l'Égypte (1809) put its length at about 2,000 m and wrote of hundreds of sphinxes. In 1893 Georges Daressy judged the Luxor end impossible to dig because it lay below the water table. In 1949 Mohammed Zakaria Ghoneim uncovered the first eight statues in front of Luxor Temple.

The full route was traced by 2000, and stretches between the houses were cleared and restored over the following years, with pauses during Egypt's political upheavals. The whole avenue reopened on 25 November 2021 with a night-time parade modelled on Opet: costumed processions, a symphony orchestra, lights, boats on the Nile and three gilded barques for Amun-Ra, Khonsu and Mut.

What to see along the avenue

• The sphinxes of Nectanebo I at Luxor Temple's north gate — the most complete stretch, statues in a tight row.
• The view down the avenue to Luxor Temple — pylon, obelisk and floodlit columns at the end of a straight line.
• Empty pedestals midway — a measure of how many statues once stood here.
• Ram-headed statues on the northern stretch by Mut and Karnak.
• The Temple of Mut — a separately ticketed site beside the avenue that few tourists visit.
• Evening lighting — unofficial guides say the avenue is lit after sunset, the best time for photos.

Avenue of Sphinxes, Luxor Temple or Karnak?

The avenue is a free extra between the two great temples, not a substitute for them. With one day, do Karnak in the morning and follow the avenue down to Luxor Temple for the evening.

Is it worth walking the whole avenue?

Yes, if you're visiting Luxor Temple or Karnak anyway: it costs nothing and ties them into one walk. It isn't worth a separate trip. The most striking part is by Luxor Temple, so if you're short on time, walk the first 300–500 m and turn back.

For the full length, walk north to south towards sunset, so you finish at a floodlit Luxor Temple rather than walking away from it. There's almost no shade, which is hard going in summer. After dark the middle section is quiet and empty — stick to the lit stretches near the temples or take a taxi for that part.

Luxor's historic sites compared

Every historic place in Luxor rated by YesGo. Tap a column header to sort.

Nearby and on your route

37

Luxor Museum

Luxor, Egypt

1 h 15 min · EGP 400, students EGP 200 · 6 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Luxor Museum

52

Luxor Temple

Luxor, Egypt

1 h 15 min · EGP 500, students EGP 250 · 23 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Luxor Temple

50

Karnak Temple

Luxor, Egypt

2 h 30 min · EGP 600, students EGP 300 · 27 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Karnak Temple

How to do it right

• Start at Luxor Temple's north gate, where the sphinxes are most complete, and decide on the rest as you go.
• With a Luxor Temple ticket, see the first stretch of the avenue from inside the temple.
• After dark, the middle of the avenue is empty — stay near the lit sections by the temples.
• Agree the fare before you get into a taxi or a horse carriage.
• In summer, set off after 17:00; there's almost no shade during the day.
• Keep a separate early morning for the West Bank — the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut's temple.

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