Deir el-Medina
Deir el-Medina, or Dayr al-Madīnah, is an ancient Egyptian workmen's village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom of Egypt.
Deir el-Medina, or Dayr al-Madīnah, is an ancient Egyptian workmen's village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom of Egypt. The settlement's ancient name was Set maat, and the workmen who lived there were called "Servants in the Place of Truth". During the Christian era, the temple of Hathor was converted into a Monastery of Saint Isidorus the Martyr from which the Egyptian Arabic name Deir el-Medina is derived.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Deir el-Medina
8 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Deir el-Bahari
Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This is a part of the Theban Necropolis.
1.2 km · archaeological site · Wikipedia - 02Ramesseum
The Ramesseum is the memorial temple of Pharaoh Ramesses II. It is located in the Theban Necropolis in Upper Egypt, on the west of the River Nile, across from the modern city of Luxor.
900 m · memorial temple of Ramesses II · Wikipedia - 03Merneptah Stele
The Merneptah Stele, also known as the Israel Stele or the Victory Stele of Merneptah, is an inscription by Merneptah, a pharaoh in ancient Egypt who reigned from 1213 to 1203 BCE. Discovered by Flinders Petrie at Thebes in 1896, it is now housed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The text is largely an account of Merneptah's victory over the ancient Libyans and their allies, but the last three of the 28 lines deal with a separate campaign in Canaan, then part of Egypt's imperial possessions.
1.3 km · memorial plaque by Merneptah who ruled Egypt between 1213 and 1203 BC · Wikipedia - 04mortuary temple of Hatshepsut
The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut was built during the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Located opposite the city of Luxor, it is considered to be a masterpiece of ancient architecture.
1.2 km · temple in Luxor, Egypt · Wikipedia - 05Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III
Medinet Habu ϫⲏⲙⲉ, ⲉϫⲏⲙⲉ, ϫⲏⲙⲏ, ϫⲉⲙⲉ, ϫⲉⲙⲏ, ϫⲏⲙⲓ; Bohairic Coptic: ϭⲏⲙⲓ) is an archaeological locality situated near the foot of the Theban Hills on the West Bank of the River Nile opposite the modern city of Luxor, Egypt. Although other structures are located within the area and important discoveries have also been made at these sites, the location is today associated almost synonymously with the largest and best preserved site, the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III. It was an important New Kingdom period temple structure in the West Bank of Luxor in Egypt.
900 m · mortuary temple of Ramses III in Egypt · Wikipedia - 06Malkata
Malkata things are picked up'), is the site of an Ancient Egyptian palace complex built during the New Kingdom, by the 18th Dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep III. It is located on the West Bank of the Nile at Thebes, Upper Egypt, in the desert to the south of Medinet Habu. The site also included a temple dedicated to Amenhotep III's Great Royal Wife, Tiy, which honors Sobek, the crocodile deity.
1.8 km · Archaeological site of Egypt · Wikipedia - 07Dra' Abu el-Naga
The necropolis of Draʻ Abu el-Naga is located on the West Bank of the Nile at Thebes, Egypt, just by the entrance of the dry bay that leads up to Deir el-Bahari and north of the necropolis of el-Assasif. The necropolis is located near the Valley of the Kings.
2.1 km · village and archaeological site of Draʿ Abu el-Naga, Luxor West Bank, Egypt · Wikipedia - 08Aten
Aten, properly called The Dazzling Aten though dubbed initially by archaeologists the Rise of Aten, is the remains of an ancient Egyptian city on the west bank of the Nile in the Theban Necropolis near Luxor. Named after Egyptian sun god Aten, the city appears to have remained relatively intact for over three millennia.
600 m · archeological site · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Getting to Deir el-Medina
- Airports
- Luxor (LXR), 12 km · Suhaj (HMB), 110 km · Aswan (ASW), 198 km
- Suhaj → Deir el-Medina126 km · quickest by road, 3h 30m · E£290–390
- Aswan → Deir el-Medina185 km · quickest by road, 3h 25m · E£300–400
- Hurghada → Deir el-Medina208 km · quickest by road, 4h 53m · E£390–520
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Deir el-Medina
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Deir el-Medina. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inTaxis are available but, if on a budget and if you're reasonably mobile, it is a short walk to the ferry jetty from the railway station.
- Get inBy far the quickest, most authentic and romantic manner of crossing the Nile to the west is by ferry or motor launch.
- Get aroundFor a return trip to a particular site the price should not be more than LE100 for a minibus that takes up to 9 people.
- Get aroundThere are many tuk tuks as well, which charge a little less than standard taxis.
- Get aroundBicycles are available for rent at hotels (LE10-20) and beyond the ferry jetty on the West Bank (LE30-40).
From Wikivoyage: Luxor/West Bank, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01361 km
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If you know how people move in Deir el-Medina – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Deir el-Medina
Deir el-Medina is 5 km from Luxor, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Thebesancient Egyptian city1.2 km