Luxor Pass and Cairo Pass: prices, rules and whether they pay

Luxor Pass and Cairo Pass prices

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities sets out both passes in a two-page document on mota.gov.eg. It is headed Visitor Permits, Last Update 2023, and the file was created in January 2024. We read it in October 2026. Prices are set in US dollars or euros.

Luxor Pass Standard: $130 or €120, or $70 or €60 for foreign students. Luxor Pass Premium: $250 or €220, or $130 or €120 for students. Cairo Pass: $130 or €120, or $70 or €60 for students.

Buy one pass and the other is half price, as long as you buy it in the same calendar year. You show a copy or a photo of the first pass when you buy the second. A Standard Luxor Pass and a Cairo Pass together come to $195, in either order.

With the Premium pass, the order matters. Read as printed, the Cairo Pass first and the Premium second costs $130 plus $125, which is $255. The Premium first and the Cairo Pass second costs $250 plus $65, which is $315. If you start your trip in Cairo, the cheaper order happens naturally.

The permit can be used for five days, says the ministry. The document does not say whether the days must run in a row, or how many times you may enter each site. It is also close to three years old, and Egyptian ticket prices have changed often. Ask about all three at the counter before you pay.

Standard or Premium: what the Luxor Pass covers

The ministry says the Luxor Pass covers all archaeological sites. It names two exclusions for the Standard pass: the tombs of Nefertari and Seti I. The Premium pass includes both. No other site is named, in either direction.

That leaves gaps you should close at the counter. Tutankhamun's tomb and the tomb of Ramesses V and VI each need their own ticket at the Valley of the Kings. The document does not say whether the pass covers them. It also does not say whether Dendera and Abydos count, which sit a long day trip north of Luxor. Museums are not mentioned either, so ask whether the Luxor Museum, the Mummification Museum and Carter House are included. Plan your sum on the sites you know you will see, and treat anything extra as a bonus.

Premium costs $120 more than Standard. It pays only if the Nefertari and Seti I tickets together cost more than $120 at the day's rate. The ministry's ticket site does not list either price.

Nefertari's tomb has some of the best-preserved painted walls in Egypt. The visit is short, around ten minutes, and the daily allocation is capped and can run out early. Seti I is the longest and finest tomb in the Valley of the Kings, and a steep descent. If painted tombs are why you came to Luxor, Premium is worth pricing. If you are mainly here for temples, Standard is enough.

What the Cairo Pass covers, and the Grand Egyptian Museum question

The Cairo Pass covers all archaeological sites and museums in Greater Cairo, says the ministry. It names one exception: the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. You pay for that separately.

The Grand Egyptian Museum is the open question. The pass document does not mention it, and we found no official statement that the Cairo Pass covers it. Budget for a separate museum ticket. If the counter accepts your pass there, that is money saved.

A Cairo visit built around Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum gets little from the pass. Giza alone is EGP 700 as a single ticket.

Does the Luxor Pass pay? The sum, site by site

These are single-ticket prices for foreign adults from egymonuments.com, the ministry's ticket site, checked October 2026. All are in Egyptian pounds. Valley of the Kings EGP 750, for three tombs from those open that day. Karnak Temple EGP 600. Luxor Temple EGP 500. Hatshepsut Temple EGP 440. Luxor Museum EGP 400. Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu, the Ramesseum, the Mummification Museum and Carter House EGP 220 each. Mut Temple and El Assasif EGP 200 each.

The ministry says the pass covers all archaeological sites and does not mention museums. So the sums below leave out the Luxor Museum, the Mummification Museum and Carter House.

A short Luxor visit usually covers four ticketed sites. Our Cairo and Luxor Short Break, for example, takes in the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, Karnak and Luxor Temple. Those come to EGP 2,290. The Standard pass beats that only while a US dollar buys fewer than about EGP 17.6.

Add the Valley of the Queens, Medinet Habu and the Ramesseum, and the total is EGP 2,950. The break-even rises to about EGP 22.7 to the dollar. Add Mut Temple and El Assasif for all nine archaeological sites above, and the total is EGP 3,350, with a break-even of about EGP 25.8.

To use these figures, look up the day's rate on the Central Bank of Egypt website or your banking app. If a dollar buys more pounds than the break-even, single tickets are cheaper. Paying in euros, the three break-even points are about EGP 19.1, 24.6 and 27.9 to the euro.

Students pay half for single tickets, so the four-site total is EGP 1,145 against a $70 pass. That breaks even at about EGP 16.4 to the dollar.

Three things can tip the sum towards the pass. One is the separately ticketed tombs, if the counter confirms they are covered. Another is going back to a site, if the pass allows re-entry. The third is the museums: if they count, all twelve sites come to EGP 4,190, a break-even of about EGP 32.2 to the dollar. None of these is in the ministry document, so ask before you count on them.

Does the Cairo Pass pay?

Single tickets for foreign adults are from egymonuments.com, checked October 2026. Giza pyramids EGP 700. Saqqara EGP 600. The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir and the Salah al-Din Citadel EGP 550 each. The Museum of Islamic Art EGP 340, the Coptic Museum EGP 280, and Memphis and Dahshur EGP 200 each. Going inside a pyramid at Giza is a separate ticket.

The ministry says the pass covers Greater Cairo, but the document does not list sites by name. Confirm at the counter that Saqqara, Memphis and Dahshur count as Greater Cairo. The sums below leave them out for that reason.

The three main sites, Giza, the Egyptian Museum and the Citadel, come to EGP 1,800. The pass wins only while a dollar buys fewer than about EGP 13.8. Add the Museum of Islamic Art and the Coptic Museum, and the five sites come to EGP 2,420, with a break-even of about EGP 18.6.

Bought second at half price, the Cairo Pass costs $65. Then the three main sites break even up to about EGP 27.7 to the dollar, and all five up to about EGP 37.2. The half price depends on buying a Luxor Pass first at full price, and that pass has to pay for itself.

How to buy an Egypt pass: counters, passport and photo

The ministry document describes two passes, for Cairo and for Luxor. It describes no single pass for the whole country. In practice, these two are what an Egypt pass means.

The ministry lists six counters that sell the pass. Four are in Cairo and Alexandria: the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, the Giza pyramids, the Salah al-Din Citadel and the Qaitbay Citadel. Two are in Luxor: Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings. The document names no online sale. Single tickets can be booked on egymonuments.com.

Bring a copy of your passport and a passport-sized photo, which is fixed to the permit. The ministry says the permit is issued on the spot. The document does not say how to pay, so carry a card and some cash.

Foreign students need a valid student card and must be under 30. The ministry's ticket site sets a lower limit of 24 for student single tickets. On the documents as written, a 26-year-old student qualifies for the student pass and pays the adult rate for single tickets.

Who should skip the pass

Skip it if you are on a guided trip. Our itineraries include all sightseeing listed in the itinerary. Additional entry tickets, such as Tutankhamun's tomb or going inside a pyramid, are paid at the gate. A pass adds nothing to that.

The Cairo and Luxor Short Break runs five days from US$1,480 per person. It covers Giza, the Grand Egyptian Museum and both banks in Luxor, with the flights between the two cities. Cairo, Luxor and the Red Sea runs eight days from US$2,040 per person. Both prices are land only.

Skip it for a two-day Luxor stay that covers only the four main sites, unless a dollar buys fewer than about EGP 17.6 that day. The same goes for a Cairo visit built around Giza and the Grand Egyptian Museum.

A longer independent stay in Luxor is the best case for the pass. Compare the Luxor break-even figures above with the day's rate on the Central Bank of Egypt site before you pay. The sum improves if the counter confirms the pass covers the separately ticketed tombs, such as Tutankhamun or Ramesses V and VI. The same goes for Nefertari and Seti I on Premium.