The Cairo Pass is a ticket that allows you to visit all of the main sites in Cairo and Giza. The Luxor Pass is ticket that allows you to visit all of the archaeological sites on the East Bank and West Bank of Luxor.
In this article, get all of the details on how these passes work, how much they cost, how to get one, and if they are worth it.
Table of Contents
The Cairo Pass
The Cairo Pass gives you free entry to the sites in Cairo, Giza, Dahshur, Saqqara, and Mit Rahina. These sites include the Egyptian Museum, the Museum of Islamic Art, the Coptic Museum, Saladin Citadel, all sites on the Giza Plateau, all sites at Saqqara, the Red and Bent Pyramids in Dahshur, and the sites in Historic Cairo.
The Cairo Pass costs $130 USD. It is valid for 5 days.
Where Can You Purchase the Cairo Pass?
Points of sale for the Cairo Pass include the Egyptian Museum, the Giza Plateau, and Saladin Citadel. At one time it was available at the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities office but this is no longer true. If you read in the comments below, it sounds like easiest and fastest place to purchase the Cairo Pass is at the Giza Plateau.
You will need your passport, two black and white photocopies of your main passport page, and two passport photos. Students will need a valid student identification card. To purchase the Cairo Pass, you will pay with US dollars or euros and these need to be crisp, new bills, in perfect condition.
Is the Cairo Pass Worth It?
For most people, the answer is no. To make it worth the $130 USD, you need to visit A LOT of sites in Cairo and Giza, OR plan on more than one visit to the Giza Plateau and/or the Egyptian Museum.
However, with the Cairo Pass, you can visit the Giza Plateau and the Egyptian Museum multiple times. These are the biggest ticket items in Cairo.
PRO TRAVEL TIP: The Cairo and Luxor Pass are sold in US dollars and euros. Entrance fees into tombs, temples, museums and pyramids are in Egyptian pounds. Check the currency exchange rate before you go. As of January 2024, the US dollar is very strong, so it could be cheaper for paying each entrance fee, rather than getting the Cairo or Luxor Pass.
The Luxor Pass
The Luxor Pass is a single ticket that includes all of the archaeological sites on the West Bank and East Bank of Luxor. There are two versions of this pass.
The standard Luxor Pass includes all of the sites on the East and West Bank, with the exception of the tombs of Seti I and Nefertari. The Luxor Pass costs $130 USD for adults and $70 USD for people under 30 years with a valid student ID card.
The Premium Luxor Pass includes all of the archaeological sites on the East and West Banks, as well as the tombs of Seti I and Nefertari. The Luxor Premium Pass costs $250 USD for adults and $130 USD for people under 30 years with a valid student ID card.
The passes are valid for 5 days.
These passes also give you entry in each site without waiting in line. However, during our visit in 2019, we never had to wait in a queue to enter any site in Egypt.
Karnak Temple
Where Can You Buy the Luxor Pass?
The Luxor Pass can be purchased at the ticket booths at Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings. In both Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings, there is a room in the visitor center where you can purchase the pass.
You will need your passport, two black and white photocopies of your main passport page, and two passport photos (some people have been writing in that they needed one passport photo and three copies of their passport page). Students will need a valid student identification card. To purchase the Luxor Pass, you will pay with US dollars or euros and these need to be crisp, new bills, in perfect condition.
Is the Luxor Pass Worth It?
If you plan to visit Luxor for two days, with visits to everything we list on our West Bank of Luxor post, as well the main sites on the East Bank, then the Luxor Pass is worth it.
These sites include:
- The Valley of the Kings (including the tombs of Tutankhamun and Ramesses V and VI)
- Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
- Valley of the Queens
- Medinet Habu
- Ramesseum
- Deir el-Medina (Valley of the Artisans)
- Tombs of the Nobles
- Temple of Seti I
- Howard Carter House
- Karnak Temple
- Luxor Temple
- Luxor Museum
- Mummification Museum
All of these add up to a grand total of 3,710 EGP, excluding the tombs of Nefertari and Seti I. The price of 3,710 EGP includes the additional tombs of Tutankhamun and Ramesses V and VI. 3,710 EGP = $120 USD as of January 2024. So, the Luxor Pass is not worth it, not unless you plan to visit more than what is on this list.
However, if you also plan to visit both of the tombs of Seti I and Nefertari, then the Premium Pass is worth it (3,710 EGP for the sites listed above, plus 1,800 EGP for Seti I and 2000 EGP for Nefertari = 7,510 EGP ($243 USD).
Even if you don’t plan to visit everything on this list, I recommend adding up the cost that you expect to spend. If your total comes close to $130 (for example, if you think you will spend $120 USD) then it still could be worth it to purchase the Luxor Pass. It saves you the multiple visits to ticket offices, which is a slight time saver.
Important Note: The Cairo Pass and the Luxor Pass does not include the sound and light shows at the Giza Plateau and in Luxor.
Inside the tomb of Queen Nefertari
Cairo Pass + Luxor Pass
If you purchase both passes, you get a discount. If you purchase the Cairo Pass at full price you get 50% off of the Luxor Pass.
Cairo Pass + Standard Luxor Pass: $130 USD + $65 USD = $195 USD
Cairo Pass + Premium Luxor Pass: $130 USD + $125 USD = $255 USD
A recent traveler, Diego, wrote in with his experience (from February 2022). He purchased the Luxor Pass first. When in Cairo, at the Giza Plateau, he showed his Luxor Pass and was able to get 50% off of the Cairo Pass. No passport or passport photos were needed once he purchased the second pass. You can read more in his comment at the end of this post. Thanks Diego!!
The Cairo Pass and the Luxor Pass are rather new, and from what I have read, not everyone, including the ticket attendants in Egypt, are familiar with the passes.
Medinet Habu on the West Bank of Luxor
More Tips about these Passes
Durability of the Pass: This is a paper pass. All information, including the dates of validity, are written in ink. The passport photo is affixed with just one staple. You will be constantly taking this pass in and out of your pocket, so you risk knocking off the passport photo or wearing away the ink. Ankur recommends keeping the pass in an envelope to protect it. A money envelope would be the correct size.
More advice from Ankur about using the pass: Make sure when you are showing the pass to the attendants at the entrances you take good care of the pass. I felt that the guards did not care about the pass when handling it. (I think it’s due to the fact most of the time they are handling tickets, which are worthless the moment you pass the gate). So hold on to them, literally, when you show the passes. At my first location the guy was so careless the pass flew away from his hands! From then on, I held the pass to show to them, rarely letting go of the pass as they approved it.
More advice from Diego about purchasing the passes: You will need the exact amount of money when paying for the pass. He paid in euros and the pass cost 45 euros. He had 50 euros and they did not accept it. He had to change the bills in order to purchase the pass.
Final Thoughts
If you are on a short tour of Egypt and don’t plan on visiting a huge number of sites, it is not worth it to purchase these passes.
But if you are planning a longer stay, if you like the idea of visiting a long list of tombs and temples in Luxor, with the option for repeat visits to your favorite places, then the Luxor Pass, and maybe even the Cairo Pass are worth it.
It is a hassle to get both passes, but you can save a lot of money, depending on the places you plan to visit.
Help Keep This Article Updated
If you purchase the Cairo Pass and/or the Luxor Pass on your trip to Egypt and have any additional information that could be helpful to future readers, let us know in the comment section below. We really appreciate it!! And I recommend that you also read the comment section because people have been writing in with more information.
More Information about Egypt
CAIRO: Start with our article Best Things to do in Cairo. We also have a 2 day Cairo Itinerary, information on how to visit the Pyramids of Giza, and how to day trip to Dahshur, Memphis, and Saqqara.
VALLEY OF THE KINGS: Plan your visit with our Guide to the Valley of the Kings. Pick out which tombs you want to visit in our article Best Tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
TRAVEL ADVICE: Here is list of important things to know before visit Egypt. The Luxor Pass and Cairo Pass can save you a lot of money…learn more in our guide. And we also have information on how much it costs to visit Egypt.
EGYPT ITINERARY: With 10 days in Egypt, visit Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel.
ASWAN: For a list of the top experiences, read our article Best Things to Do in Aswan. We also have a guide on how to visit Kom Ombo, Edfu, and Esna while driving between Aswan and Luxor.
Read all of our articles about Egypt in our Egypt Travel Guide.
All rights reserved © Earth Trekkers. Republishing this article and/or any of its contents (text, photography, etc.), in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited.
Comments 137
As to the passes, we bought 2 Cairo passes on the 29th Jan (2 x 130 USD each, pristine notes). Later, on 8th Feb, we went to Luxor and bought 2 x Luxor Premium passes (2 x 125 USD each, 50% discount over regular price of 250 USD each one). It really paid off: we visited twice Nefertari, Seti I and Tutankhamon tombs (the most expensive ones), on different days. Also nearly all the other open tombs in King’s and Queen’s, Nobles and Artisans valleys, temples (Karnak, Luxor, Medinat Habu, Ramesseum), Carter house, museums, etc.. This way I could spare $250 in Luxor. However, our Cairo pass was not fully used (you must visit a lot of places to cover its cost) but Luxor more than justified it. Notice that Abydos and Dendera is not included.ñ in these passes.
Author
Thanks for writing in with this update!
Can you please confirm that both the Cairo and Luxor pass can both be purchased at The Egyptian Museum in Cairo?
How did you get the 50% discount?
Hello, if you buy the Cairo and Luxor passes, do you run the risk of not getting into places where there are no more available entry tickets?
In other words, does the pass override any situations where the attraction has no more capacity for that day (i.e. the attraction is sold out)?
Author
Currently, sites are not busy enough in Egypt that entrance tickets sell out or run out (as could happen in places like Rome and Paris). I haven’t heard of anything like that happening in Egypt. This post and comment section gets viewed a lot, so keep checking back, as someone else could comment with recent knowledge. Cheers, Julie
I just come back from Egypt (12th Feb) and I can confirm it. No place (museum, temple, tomb, etc) was much busy or crowded. Actually we were nearly alone in many places. Sites are big and people spread a lot.
I bought both passes in late December 2023, first the Luxor pass for 130 USD on December 21, then the Cairo pass for half price (65 USD) on December 30.
For both they wanted only 1 passport copy and only 1 picture.
After asking the staff where to buy it at both places: Karnak temple in Luxor and the north entrance of the Giza pyramids (next to the Marriott), the staff directed me and very likely you will see a poster with manually adjuo prices in USD and EUR.
There were some moments where I wasn’t sure if they were trying to extort a bribe or just pointing out some nonsense, but be prepared for any unpleasant interactions as such behavior is not unusual in Egypt.
The major challenge I had in Cairo was that they pointed out that my 100 USD bill was issued in 2013; however, the bank of Egypt does not like this and they prefer bills issued in 2017 or later. After I tried to “fix” this by pulling other bills I had with a more recent dates, they saw 50s and 20s and didn’t like them, and just said naah and kept the 100 bill.
I have my trip coming up in a couple of months. Could you please send me pin location of where I can buy the Cairo pass ?
The price has now increased to $130 USD each. They have made it near impossible to buy and they really don’t care. It actually is not worth it either unless you are there for 3-5 days, will visit every site, and go back again to places like Giza or Valley of Kings. I wanted to have the Luxor pass BEFORE I arrived as my cruise from Aswan would start taking me around sites in Luxor when we arrived. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo said they would NOT sell the Luxor pass. They also called the Ministry who said they will not sell it either and that I have to buy it in Luxor ONLY. As expected, my cruise from Aswan started taking me around sites and I ended up paying myself. For all sites (Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple, Valley of Kings incl King Tut & King Ramses, Hapshetsut) I ended up paying $66 USD so it was already half the cost of the pass. The passes would only be worth it if you were able to purchase both and have 50% off the second one. They sound good in theory if you are there for several days but if you are coming by cruise from Aswan and taking a tour on arrival in Luxor they can not be purchased ahead of time, only the day of use, and are not really saving any money.
My trip is coming up in a couple of weeks. Could you please provide me the pin location of where I can buy the Cairo pass ?
prices for all musuems and sites are increaing 1 December 2023 by about 33%-
Author
Thanks!
Not 30 but full 50%, some even more than that! check this site https://egymonuments.com and try to purchase ticket for October or November, and then try 1st of 15th December, ie.Philae temple in Aswan, easy to figure out. Only Cairo and Luxor pass are going 30% up.
I have one important question regarding Cairo and Luxor pass, so please, if anyone had similar recent experience with these, share here… is it true that the time gap (literally nr od days) between Cairo pass expiration and Luxor pass purchase must not exceed 5 days? Both are valid for full 5 days including the day of purchase, but on some discussions online I found info that second pass ‘must be purchased within 5 days or max. one week from the expiration of the previous pass’… If not, price for the second one will be full (and knowing that Luxor premium pass will costs 250$ instead of 130$ with discount, it’s not really ‘nothing’ in saving 120$…
Thanks for any useful info
Hello, just want to share my experience with Cairo and Luxor pass, bought in that order.
First attempt to buy Cairo pass was on Saturday 25th of Novembar at 9.15am in front of Cairo museum, where we were told to come back at noon with no explanation why is it so, we asked why but the guy couldn’t give us more precise asnwer, just said – come at noon. We were group of 3 and because we didn’t want to waste 3 hour in Cairo, we quickly took uber to Giza entrance (30 min ride) and 10 min after arrival we all had Cairo passes in our hands. Guy arrived in a second he heard we want to buy it, first asked for money (“give me money” :)), I payed for 3 of us (here in US$, 130*3=390$, in Luxor I payed in euros), I had euros and dollars with me but decided to pay in $ because it was a bit cheaper comparing to 120eur price (current $/eur rate). I pulled out all new bills I took in separate cardboard sleeve I hand made just for this ocasion. He just made a comment that they look new, counted again and gave it to another guy who now arrived with passes. I told him I went to bank just to get new bills which made him smile, and then I wrote names and our passports numbers on each Cairo pass – which is actually a peace of paper similar to entrance ticket with blank fields….and that was it, 10min exactly for 3 passes, peace of cake. I also had plastic transparent sleeves for passes, and it proved to be very handy and practical.
By comments here and what I’ve read online on other sites related to Cairo and Luxor passes, I was very afraid it would be a huge problem to get Luxor pass in half a price because of 5 day gap between our staying in Cairo and Luxor – it was 5 days Cairo, then 3 days Sharm elSheikh, 3 days Aswan, and 5 days Luxor as our last station. But it wasn’t problem at all.
So our Cairo pass expired on Wednesday 29th of November, and we arrived in Luxor on Monday 4th of Decembar in the afternoon, so we rushed with Cairo passes to Karnak temple to buy that one, came just before closing time at 4.35pm, and it was like this – “We want Luxor pass, we have Cairo pass…here it is”, we showed these to the older guy, first he looked at them slowly, and then pulled out 2 sets of passes – Luxor pass and Luxor premium pass, put them on the table and asked “Which one do you want, show me” I showed on premium and he said, 125$ or 110eur, again “money first” and I paid 330 euros, as I said before. I had to fulfill them for each person, he attached photo on each, and then he took both passes, new and old, put them side by side on the top of each of our passport copy, made photos with his phone..I guess this was for his evidence and safety (although I think he was boss there, in charge for issuing Luxor passes). All process took a while comparing to getting Cairo pass, but at 5pm we went out of that office with huge relief and big smile.
In both cases, we all had with us photograps (just in case they asked we all had 4 pieces 3x4cm), a few copies of first passport page, and our passports. On both sites they asked just for one photo and one passport copy, they didn’t even ask to see passports to compare do they match copies.
In Luxor we went to every possible tomb and site just with pass, including Ay tomb and Tombs of the nobles and Medint habu (which have so little visitors, expecially Ay tomb that is very far from King Valley). In Cairo we payed separately to see Abdeen palace (that one is under military jurisdiction), and all other places were free with pass. If I have to give my opinion whether it’s worth to buy Cairo and then Luxor premium pass – Yes, if you stay enough time in Cairo (to see Saqqara and Dashur, Serapeum also), and most important – if you stay at least 4 days in Luxor. If your plan is to see KV and just one Queen Valley tomb, then forget about it…not worth it.
They raised ticket price for all sites so much, and now it’s possible to buy these with cash just in few places – Abdeen palace (Cairo), Aswan damn and Qubbet Al-Hawa in Aswan, Abydos temple and entrance to St.Catherine area on Sinai (5$ per person, payment in $ only, prepare exact bills!). All other tickes can be bought with credit or debit cart on the site, or online on https://egymonuments.com . Mail is received with .pdf document attached with bar codes for each person, which is then scanned by guards or in person on entrance gates. Very easy.
If anyone need any further info, be free to ask. Our trip lasted 16 full days, and we saw everything in Luxor and Aswan (Abu Simbel of course), Cairo partly, too big, too congested, too suffocating city…sometimes unbearable, but at the end – it was FABULOUS!
Author
Hello Sandra. Thanks for writing in with your experience!! Cheers, Julie
The information here is out of date insofar as the Luxor Premium Pass at least is now $250. This is in line with significant price rises to all the sites that seem to been rolled out this summer. Whether the pass is worth it will main finely balanced i think. Otherwise thank for all the great information
I found its price is still 100$ in September 2023.
https://map-for-tourist.com/egypt/17-cairo-pass.html
But I travel in November and will watch closely if its price rises up.
Author
Thank you for this update! I just looked at the price sheet from Egypt Tailor Made and they list the same prices for the pyramids, tombs, and temples as we list throughout our posts. Have a great time in Egypt! Cheers, Julie
The Entrance Fees and both Cairo and Luxor Pass prices will be updated in 1st, Dec 2023
Hi!
Do the 5 days for the pass count from the day of purchase? Or the start counting after your first visit to one of the sights?
I’m flying into Cairo and spending a day there before going to Luxor for 5 days. I’ll visit Cairo for 5 days after Luxor.
I obviously want to purchase the Cairo pass first and get the discount on the Luxor premium pass and not the other way around.
Thanks!
Author
That’s a great question. I’m not sure when the pass becomes valid (on the day you purchase it or the day you start using it). Hopefully someone will write in with that info. However, with the exchange rate right now, the pass may not even be worth it, so you could purchase individual tickets and save money, unless you plan to visit some expensive sites multiple times. Cheers, Julie
Hi Julie,
Not entirely sure but I think this question was asked before and probably was answered that one can put a starting date of choice at the time of buying it. One has to search through all the posts. However, I understand that some or most sites have recently increased entry fees in EGP, such as QV66 to 1800, KV17 to 1400 etc. (they are smart too, LOL). Thus passes may still be worth cost wise, notwithstanding the huge inconvenience of lining up & buying tickets at each site. I will travel in November, still keeping any eye on all updates.
Thanks.
Author
Yes, if the prices to enter the temples have gone up, then the pass becomes worth it. We thought it was a huge hassle getting out the amount of cash needed at the ATMs. Cheers, Julie
Hi
Where can I obtain both the Giza/Saqqara/Cairo 5 day pass and the Premium Luxor pass
Thanks
Clive
Author
In this post, we have detailed instructions on where to get both passes (under the ‘Where Can You Purchase the Cairo Pass’ and ‘Where Can You Buy the Luxor Pass’). Cheers, Julie