Luxor after the crowds leave

Everyone visits Luxor between nine in the morning and four in the afternoon. That window is not wrong — it is the only window in which the heat is survivable and the sites are open — but it is the worst possible time to see any of it, because the temples are full.

At five in the afternoon the light goes low and gold, the heat comes off the stone, and the place empties. Luxor has been occupied for five thousand years and it has never closed.

Karnak, at the end of the day

The Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak is best seen when the sun is high, because that is when the shafts of light through the clerestory do their work. But the temple as a whole is a different place in the late afternoon. The obelisks turn the colour of the sky. The courtyards fill with shadow and the reliefs become legible again in a way they never are in flat midday light.

The sound-and-light show is, in fairness, a gimmick, but it also empties the site for an hour, which means that the people who wait it out get the place to themselves afterwards.

The west bank at dusk

Cross the river in the late afternoon and walk towards the Valley of the Kings. The heat is still there but it is on the sand rather than on the stone, and the mud-brick villages of the Banana Mountains turn gold exactly when the temples do.

The Valley of the Kings at closing time is empty in a way you will not see at any other hour. The tickets stop at four in winter and five in summer, but the light keeps going for another hour after that, and standing at the entrance to KV9 looking down into the valley while the last coach empties out is worth a lot.

Practical notes

• The felucca across the river costs a few pounds and takes ten minutes. It is far better than the motorised version.
• Bring water and a hat for the west bank, and more water than you think.
• Buy a combined ticket if you plan to visit more than two sites; the single-site ticket is poor value.
• Dress for the sun, not for the photos. You will be outside, in the sun, for most of the day regardless of which shade the photographs show.