Few hotels put you this close to ancient Thebes. Iberotel Luxor sits right on the east bank of the Nile in the centre of Luxor, around ten minutes on foot from Luxor Temple, with lawned gardens running down to the water and a heated pool that genuinely floats on the river.
The position is the story here. The hotel stands on Khaled Ibn El Walid Street with the Corniche and the river directly in front of it, feluccas tacking past all day and the Theban hills glowing pink across the water at sunset. Gardens of palms and clipped lawns run from the building down to the bank, where the hotel's own Nile boat, the Iberotel Lotus, is moored beside the floating pool. Step out of the gate and you are in the middle of everything: Luxor Temple is around ten minutes on foot, the souk about twenty, and the ferry to the west bank leaves from along the riverfront.
It suits culture-first travellers best. If your week revolves around Karnak, the Valley of the Kings and early starts, you want somewhere central, calm and comfortable to come back to, and that is exactly what this hotel does well. Couples rate the Karkadeh Bar terrace with its live music, dinner afloat on the Lotus Boat and felucca sails arranged straight from the hotel. It also works beautifully as the Luxor leg of a twin-centre holiday with the Red Sea, something we put together often.
What your money buys is the location, the gardens and that floating pool, and on those counts our customers come back telling us it delivered exactly the Luxor they wanted. It is also one of the very few hotels in the city we can sell on a genuine all inclusive basis, alongside B&B and half board.
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All 185 rooms share the same footprint of around 23 m² and the same essentials: a furnished balcony or French window, individually controlled air conditioning, satellite TV, minibar, in-room safe, hairdryer and shaver point. Non-smoking rooms are available on request. The only real decision is the view, and it is worth getting right.
Bathrooms come with a bathtub, and the practical bits are covered too: 24 hour room service and laundry are available for a charge. Expect comfortable rather than cutting edge; the style is classic Egyptian four star, kept clean and well drilled rather than fashionably minimal.
The rooms to ask for. All 100 face the river head on, so you get feluccas, cruise boats and the west bank hills from your balcony, and some of the best sunsets in Egypt without leaving your room.
Forty rooms look over the streets and rooftops of central Luxor instead of the water. A livelier outlook, with minarets and the comings and goings of the city, and exactly the same room inside.
The 45 simplest rooms overlook the hotel's interior lobby rather than the outside world. Cool, quiet and perfectly comfortable for a short sightseeing stop between cruise, train or flight.
We sell this hotel three ways, and unusually for Luxor the third is a genuine option: this is one of very few hotels in the city offering all inclusive at all. Every board basis centres on the Coté Jardin restaurant and its terrace above the Nile.
A generous morning buffet of Egyptian specialities, warm dishes and fresh pastries, taken out on the Nile terrace in fine weather. The rest of the day is yours, and the streets behind the Corniche hold plenty of well-priced places to eat.
Adds the evening buffet at Coté Jardin, the easy option when you have been on the west bank since dawn and nobody wants to go hunting for a restaurant. Lunch stays flexible for full days out at the temples.
Covers the three daily buffets plus afternoon snacks, tea, coffee and cake, and local beer, wine, spirits and soft drinks served by the glass from mid morning until around midnight. Imported brands carry a supplement, and arrangements at the à la carte venues vary, so we confirm the exact dining package with your quote.
Breakfast deserves a mention in its own right: local specialities sit alongside the usual warm dishes and fresh pastries, and on still mornings the terrace tables above the river are, in our view, the best seats in Luxor. Evenings stay relaxed rather than raucous; live music drifts across from the Karkadeh Bar, and the Lotus Boat, home to the city's only floating bar, can host dinner afloat under the stars on request.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets with a spacious terrace looking straight over the river, so even a quick lunch comes with a west bank backdrop.
An intimate dinner spot for classic Italian favourites and Mediterranean bites. Small and deservedly popular, so reserve a table early in your stay.
The fresh flavours of the Middle East served à la carte in a warm, welcoming room. In our view, the one to pick for your first proper Egyptian meal of the trip.
Dinner aboard the Iberotel Lotus Boat, moored at the hotel's bank. Lunch and dinner cruises run on request for an extra charge, and the boat also sails on full-day trips to the temple of Dendera with lunch on board.
The signature here is a proper novelty: the swimming pool sits on a pontoon moored at the hotel's own stretch of riverbank, so you swim on the Nile itself with feluccas gliding past at eye level and the Theban hills across the water. It is heated during the winter months, which matters more than you might think; from December to February many pools in Egypt are too cold to use, and our customers regularly tell us this one saved their afternoons.
Around the pool you will find a sun deck with loungers, the Pool Bar for cold drinks, and massage treatments offered on the deck itself from mid morning until sunset for an extra charge. Behind it, lawned gardens with palms and shaded corners fill the space between the river and the hotel, and they are a genuinely lovely place to do nothing with a book.
Expect a compact wellness set-up rather than a full resort spa: a sauna, a small fitness area and a straightforward menu of massages. For a city sightseeing hotel, we think that is fair. Table tennis, darts and table football are free during the day, billiards carries a small charge, and the front desk can arrange a felucca or motorboat for a private sunset sail, including a romantic dinner afloat if you ask ahead.
One thing you will not find is resort-style animation, and we count that as a feature. Days here fall into a gentle rhythm: temples in the cool of the morning, a swim and perhaps a massage in the afternoon, drinks on the terrace as the light goes soft over the west bank. If you want organised entertainment from breakfast to midnight, a Red Sea resort will suit you better, and we will happily build a twin-centre holiday that gives you both.
Classic Holidays when selling travel arrangements is a trading name of Co-op Travel Services Ltd. Classic Holidays is an Accredited Body Member of Co-operative Travel Consortium. (ABTA P7508, ATOL 12904).
Your Financial Protection: Book with Confidence. Classic Holidays is a Member of ABTA. ABTA and ABTA Members help holidaymakers to get the most from their travel and assist when things don’t go according to plan. We are obliged to maintain a high standard of service to you by ABTA’s Code of Conduct.
All of the flights and flight-inclusive holidays on this website are financially protected by the ATOL scheme but ATOL protection does not apply to non-flight holiday and travel services offered on this website. Classic Holidays will provide you with information on the protection that applies in the case of each holiday and travel service offered before you make your booking. If you do not receive an ATOL Certificate then the booking will not be ATOL protected. If you do receive an ATOL Certificate but all parts of your trip are not listed on it, those parts will not be ATOL protected. Please see our booking conditions for information, or for more information about financial protection and the ATOL Certificate go to: www.caa.co.uk
