Middle East - Anthony Ham [130]
Africa Restaurant (Map; 012 266 1003; set menu E£25; 10am-11pm) Not a bad place to get away from the West Bank hustle, the Africa is in a pleasant secluded and green courtyard. Popular with tour groups, they serve up large and flavourful set meals of chicken, fish, kebab hala (kebabs in a tomato sauce) or kofta with an avalanche of side dishes. If you ask nicely, the waiter can usually find a cold Stella (E£10) somewhere under the counter.
Tutankhamun Restaurant (Map; 231 0918; mains E£35-45) Just south of the ferry dock, this outdoor terrace restaurant is run by a cook who once worked on one of the French archaeological missions in Luxor. He serves up respectable set meals of roast chicken, duck à l’òrange, kebab hala or chicken curry, accompanied by a generous array of vegetable dishes, bread, soup, salad and tahina. The view here is top-notch.
Drinking
Cocktail Sunset (Map; 237 2480; Corniche el-Nil; Stella E£11, cocktails E£48) This funky, retro lounge-bar is on a two-storey, fading yellow houseboat that looks like it’s been dragged straight from the Mississippi (replete with flashing ’50s neon ‘Cocktail’ sign). In the intimate, gently rocking upstairs lounge you can sip on some seriously dangerous (and pricey) cocktails, drink cheap beer and wine, snack on nibbles or sample some fancy-pants ice-creams (E£24). Belgian run, this bar oozes the sort of old-world elegance Luxor craves.
New Oum Koulsoum Coffee Shop (Map; coffee & sheesha E£4) A people-watching haven, this is deservedly the most popular ahwa in town. It’s in the souq, next to the Nefertiti Hotel.
Metropolitan Café (Map; Corniche; Stella small/large E£10/15) This chain of terraced, Nile-side cafés (run by the same people as the identical Kebabgy cafés) is great for an evening tipple, though views are often obscured by moored cruise ships and the food is average.
Ali Baba Cafe (Map; Sharia al-Karnak, opp Luxor Temple) On a second floor terrace looking onto Luxor temple, this place has oodles of shade, awesome views and a cool Nile breeze – perfect for a quick shai or cold Stella (E£8).
The Kings Head Pub (Map; 228 0489; Sharia Khalid ibn al-Walid; 10am-2am) is a British-style watering hole where you can watch English football on satellite TV over an Indian curry and wash it down with a cold beer (E£13). Not sure about you, but darts and pool feel just plain wrong to us in this heat. Murphy’s Pub (Map; 238 8101; Sharia al-Gawazat; 10am-2am), Kings Head’s Irish counterpart, is nearby.
Getting There & Away
Air
The EgyptAir office (Map; 238 0580; Corniche el-Nil; 8am-8pm) is next to Amex. There are several daily connections with Cairo (E£356 one way) and Aswan (E£200 one way), and thrice-weekly flights to Sharm el-Sheikh (E£470 one way). Flights to Abu Simbel (E£550 one way) operate only in the high season, when there are one or two departures a day via Aswan. These entail ridiculously long transits, so you’re much better off organising transport from Aswan.
Bus
The bus station (off Map; 232 3218; Sharia al-Karnak) is way out of town, located near the airport. There’s an Upper Egypt Bus Co ticket office (Map; 237 2118; Midan al-Mahatta) just south of the train station. Taxis often wait to transfer passengers from the booking office to the bus station for around E£20 to E£30. There is one daily services to Cairo (E£91, 10 to 12 hours), departing at 7pm – it’s best to book ahead for this service. There are six daily services to Aswan (E£20, four to five hours) via Esna (E£5, one hour), Edfu (E£10, two hours) and Kom Ombo (E£15, three hours). Nine buses run to Hurghada (E£30 to E£40, five hours) between 8.30am and 9pm, all travelling onto Suez (E£45 to E£60, eight to nine hours). There’s one service at 5pm daily for Sharm el-Sheikh (E£110, 12 to 14 hours) and Dahab (E£120, 14 to 16 hours).
There is also a Superjet ticket office (Map; 236 7732; Midan al-Mahatta) near the train station. Superjet