On Monday 2 August 2027 the Moon covers the Sun completely over Luxor for six minutes and twenty-three seconds — the longest totality anywhere on easily reached land until 2114. This Valley of the Kings solar eclipse day tour watches it from the west bank, in the valley where the pharaohs of the New Kingdom were buried.
Of every place in Egypt you could stand for this, the argument for the Valley of the Kings is the strongest, and it is not about scenery. The west bank is where the sun goes to die. Ra crossed the sky by day and sank behind these cliffs each evening, and the walls of the tombs in this valley carry the account of what happened next — the Amduat and the Book of Gates, hour by hour through the twelve hours of night, the sun god travelling through the underworld, uniting with Osiris at the deepest point, and coming back at dawn. Those texts were painted here so the dead king could make the same journey.
You will have spent the morning three metres from those walls. Then, at two minutes past one in the afternoon, the sun goes out above the valley.
The day starts early, before the heat. Two hours inside the valley with a qualified Egyptologist while the light is still low and the tombs are still cool — your ticket admits you to three, and your guide picks the best three open on the day rather than the busiest. Then a break at the visitor centre, and a briefing covering both halves of the day: how to watch safely, and what the men who cut these tombs believed was happening. By eleven you are in position and you do not move again until it is over.
One honest warning, and it is a serious one here. The Valley of the Kings is a limestone amphitheatre with no vegetation and almost no natural shade. The rock absorbs sun all morning and radiates it back, so the valley runs hotter than Luxor city — and Luxor city on 2 August will pass 40°C. We build the day around it with an early start, shaded seating at the viewing area and no walking once the eclipse begins. But this is the hottest place on our eclipse programme, and you should book it knowing that.
Small group, maximum 25 people. Eclipse day is not available as a private tour.
| Date | Monday 2 August 2027 |
|---|---|
| First contactpartial eclipse begins | 11:40 |
| Totality beginssecond contact | 13:02:14 |
| Maximum eclipse | 13:05:26Sun 82° above the horizon |
| Totality endsthird contact | 13:08:36 |
| Duration of totality | 6 minutes 22 seconds |
| Last contacteclipse ends | approximately 14:30 |
| Total event duration | 2 hours 50 minutes |
| Local time zone | EEST, UTC+3 |
| Viewing site | Valley of the Kings, Luxor west bank |
| Tour duration | 8½ hours west bank · 9½ hours east bank |
| Group size | Maximum 25small group only — not available privately on eclipse day |
East bank guests go first today. The bridge crossing sits some seven kilometres south of the centre and adds the better part of an hour to the run out to the west bank. Your guide travels with the vehicle and checks the group in at each stop. Cold bottled water is on board from the moment you get in, and stays on board all day.
Take breakfast at your hotel before you are collected. The tour does not stop for a meal.
Collection from west bank hotels and guesthouses, which sit much closer to the valley.
Vehicles meet at the visitor centre. Tickets are already held by your guide, so there is no queue at the ticket office.
Two hours with your Egyptologist, in the coolest air and the best light you will get today. Your standard ticket admits you to three tombs and your guide chooses them on the day, weighing what is open, what is crowded and what is worth your time.
Sixty-five tombs are numbered here. The New Kingdom pharaohs gave up pyramids and cut their tombs deep into the rock beneath el-Qurn, the natural pyramid-shaped peak that dominates the valley and was sacred to Meretseger, the cobra goddess whose name means “she who loves silence”. Inside, your guide will show you the solar texts — the Amduat, first set out in full in the tomb of Thutmose III, and the Book of Gates — which is the material that makes today’s timing extraordinary rather than merely convenient.
Out of the sun. The cafeteria here sells cold drinks, tea, coffee and light snacks, which you buy for yourself. Our vehicle carries cold bottled water throughout the day, but drinks are not provided at the site itself, so bring some money if you want a coffee or a snack. From this point the day stops being about sightseeing and becomes about staying cool and hydrated. The valley is already well into the thirties and it climbs from here.
Forty-five minutes, seated in shade. Your guide covers two things.
Safety first: how to use certified glasses, the exact moments they come off and go back on, and the rule that they are never used with a camera, binoculars or a telescope. Glasses are checked individually for scratches and tears.
Then context: what the tombs you walked through this morning say about the sun’s nightly death, and what the priests and workmen of Thebes would have made of it happening at midday.
We settle into our reserved ground with shade cover and seating. This is the last movement of the day. Nobody walks between the tombs once first contact begins, and there is no returning to your hotel in between — expect the west bank roads to be closed or gridlocked from late morning.
A question people ask about this site specifically: no, the cliffs do not get in the way. At maximum the Sun sits 82 degrees above the horizon, almost directly overhead, so the valley walls are irrelevant to the view. You will be looking very nearly straight up.
The Moon touches the Sun’s edge. Glasses on, and they stay on. Over the next eighty minutes the crescent narrows.
In the final fifteen minutes the change accelerates. Colours flatten, shadows sharpen to knife edges, and the temperature drops noticeably — a real relief here. Watch the pale limestone for shadow bands in the last seconds, faint ripples of light racing across the ground. This valley is close to the ideal surface for seeing them.
Baily’s beads, then the diamond ring, then the corona. Glasses off. For six minutes and twenty-three seconds you look at it directly, with your own eyes, and you should. The horizon turns sunset-coloured in every direction at once. Venus and Mercury come out at one in the afternoon, and the cliffs above you go the colour of old bone.
The Sun sits 82 degrees up, almost overhead. It is not a comfortable angle to hold for six minutes, which is why our shade structures are built to move aside rather than be looked through.
The diamond ring returns on the opposite limb. Glasses back on immediately, at the first spark of light. This is the moment eye injuries happen at eclipses, because people keep looking a few seconds too long.
The hard part is over and the heat is at its worst. You can walk back to the visitor centre cafeteria for a cold drink at your own expense, and there is cold water waiting on the vehicle.
Last contact, approximately. Normal daylight, and by now around 42°C in the valley. Final group photographs.
Allow extra time on the road. Every tour on the west bank will be leaving inside the same half hour.
West bank hotels first, since they are closest.
Back across the bridge to Corniche hotels and cruise-ship moorings. Roughly nine and a half hours door to door for east bank guests, eight and a half for west bank.
