Unique Royal Tombs: Seti I, Tut & Nefertari

Start your private tour with a hotel pickup in Luxor, and travel by air-conditioned minivan to the West Bank of Luxor. Head into the site with your Egyptologist guide and marvel at the Necropolis of Ancient Egyptians during the New Kingdom, Take snaps and listen as your guide explains how these monumental tombs were cut down in the rocks in around 1250 BC for the royal members of the New Kingdom (18th.19th. and 20th dynasties).

Start by the Magnificent tomb of King Seti I which located in the Valley of the Kings, known as KV17, is the longest tomb in the entire necropolis. It’s about 137 meters (449 ft.) long. The tomb of Seti I consists of a total of seven corridors and ten chambers, decorated with painted, raised relief is still recognised as an elaborately decorated monument from the times of Seti I and his son, Ramses II. The tomb decorated with the Litany of, Book of the Dead, Book of Gates and Opening of the Mouth ritual.

Then proceed to visit the tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun, Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb was sensational at the time because it was the first time a royal tomb found which still contained an intact burial. The tomb is accessed by a staircase which leads to a series of corridors and chambers which are decorated with scenes from the 'Opening of the Mouth' ritual and the Ameduat, a magical text which would help the pharaoh through the perils of the Underworld so he could reach the Afterlife. The tomb had been robbed several times in antiquity, and although a vast hoard of the funerary treasures remained in the tomb, it was obvious that they had been hurriedly ‘restored to order’ by the necropolis officials. The robbers, however, had never got as far as the king’s mummy and this is still in situ today, displayed in the centre of the burial chamber in a gilded wooden coffin inside his sandstone sarcophagus. The treasures from the tomb can be seen in the Cairo Egyptian Museum in a newly-renovated exhibition hall and are well worth a visit.

Continue to visit the tomb of King Ramses the Sixth which is known to Romans as the tomb of Memnon, situated just behind Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings. The decoration from the entrance as far as the well-room was done for Rameses V but it is not known for certain whether the pharaoh, who ruled for only four years, was ever buried in the tomb. It completed by his successor Rameses VI whose sarcophagus fragments found in the burial chamber. The enormous amount of graffiti in the tomb shows that it has been open since antiquity.

Move to the Valley of the Queens & visit one of the essential tombs in Egypt which is the tomb of Queen Nefertari “Meryt-out”, Living in the XIX th Dynasty (c. 1295-1255 B.C.), her full name was Nefertari Meryt-mut, meaning "Beautiful Companion, Beloved of Mut". She was the Great Royal Wife of Ramesses II the Great, one of the best known of the Egyptian queens, next to Cleopatra, Nefertiti and Hatshepsut. Her tomb, QV66, is the largest, most richly decorated and spectacular in the Valley of the Queens.

Before driving back to your hotel take your lunch at a quality local restaurant in Luxor, then back to the hotel.