Sharm El Sheikh to Luxor: distance, flights, bus and what to know first

Sharm El Sheikh to Luxor: the honest bottom line

Luxor sits on the Nile in Upper Egypt, on the other side of the Red Sea mountains and a very long way from Sinai. On a map the distance looks like a short hop; on the ground it is a trip across the whole country. That is why almost everyone who asks how to get from Sharm El Sheikh to Luxor ends up on a plane.

There are three honest options: fly, take a long bus ride or drive. Flying is the only one that fits into a normal holiday. The road is a long day each way and the only sensible way to do it by road is with an overnight stop. Everything below is based on the sources listed at the bottom, checked on 16 October 2026. Where a source does not state something, we say so instead of guessing.

By road: about 1,030 km via Suez and the Red Sea coast

There is no direct road. A car has to go north through Sinai, pass under the Suez Canal in the Ahmed Hamdi Tunnel near Suez and reach the mainland. From there OpenStreetMap routing (OSRM, October 2026) gives two main routes. The first follows the Gulf of Suez and Red Sea coast through Hurghada and Safaga, then turns inland on the road from Safaga to Qena and on to Luxor: about 1,029 km and about 12 hours 24 minutes without traffic. The second goes round through Cairo and down the Nile valley: about 1,099 km and about 12 hours 20 minutes. Going via Hurghada, the first stretch to Hurghada is about 741 km and the second from Hurghada to Luxor about 295 km.

These are empty-road estimates. Real trips are longer because of police and army checkpoints, the tunnel approach, traffic and breaks. The UK Foreign Office (FCDO) advises not to drive outside main cities and resorts at night and notes that road accidents are common because of variable road conditions and dangerous driving. A single-day drive in either direction is therefore not something we would recommend. A rental car is a separate question: ask the company whether the car may leave the area, and do not assume it can.

Flying from Sharm to Luxor, direct or via Cairo

Flying is the practical way. The airport tables on Wikipedia, which are not an official schedule and carry no date, list Luxor as a destination from Sharm El Sheikh airport for Air Cairo and for EgyptAir, and list Sharm El Sheikh as a destination from Luxor for the same two airlines. The two tables disagree on whether the EgyptAir service is seasonal. We could not open an official EgyptAir or airport schedule page for this pair, so we do not state days, frequency or flight time.

Wikivoyage says EgyptAir and its competitors fly to Luxor directly from Cairo in about an hour, and that reaching Luxor from Sharm usually means a change in Cairo. Check airline schedules for the exact dates you want, and if you connect via Cairo, leave a generous gap between flights. Luxor International Airport is about 6 km east of the city; Wikivoyage lists no public bus from it, so you will need a taxi or a hotel shuttle.

Bus, train and ferry: what we could and could not confirm

Bus: the operator Super Jet lists both Sharm El Sheikh and Luxor among the destinations on its own site, and Wikivoyage names Go Bus and Super Jet for intercity services at Luxor. We could not confirm that a direct Sharm to Luxor ticket exists; a bus would most likely mean a change in another city, and the journey would be very long. We give no times or fares, so look in the operator's own app.

Train: we found no source for a train from Sharm El Sheikh. Wikivoyage describes Luxor's station on the Nile main line, with about 10 hours to Cairo, which does not shorten the trip from Sinai.

Ferry: we could not confirm a regular passenger ferry between Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada in 2025 or 2026. See our guide to the Sharm to Hurghada ferry. Do not plan a Luxor trip around a boat unless the operator confirms a date for you.

Day trips and excursions from Sharm El Sheikh to Luxor

Many visitors search for a day trip to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. Do the arithmetic before you pay a deposit for one: by road it is about 1,030 km each way, so a same-day return would mean more than 2,000 km in a day. Ask exactly how the excursion is done, by air or by road, when you leave, when you are back and whether a night is included. We do not name or vouch for any excursion seller and have not compared them.

Once in Luxor, Wikivoyage explains that the Valley of the Kings is on the West Bank, reached by crossing the Nile from the East Bank by the local ferry, a motorboat or a felucca. The FCDO regional advice lists Luxor, Qina, the Valley of the Kings, Aswan and Abu Simbel as exceptions to its warning against travel in the Western Desert; check the current advice before you go.

Visa: the Sinai-only stamp does not cover Luxor

Luxor is on the mainland, outside the Sinai resort zone. According to the FCDO (checked 16 October 2026), travellers who arrive by air at Sharm El Sheikh and stay less than 15 days at resorts in Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba or Taba do not need a visa and get a free entry stamp at Sharm El Sheikh airport. If you plan to travel outside those resorts or stay longer than 15 days, you must get a visa, which you can buy at Sharm El Sheikh airport or online.

Luxor is not one of the four resorts, so the free stamp does not cover the trip. Sort out the full visa before you go. Keep your passport in your hand luggage, because the FCDO notes that police check ID regularly and will ask to see your passport.

What we can do for you

We want to be straightforward: no partner publishes a price for the Sharm to Luxor drive yet, so it cannot be booked online. You can still request it on our Sharm El Sheikh to Luxor transfer page, where a WhatsApp message with your dates and passengers starts the search for a driver; plan it with an overnight stop. If you fly, we can take you to Sharm El Sheikh airport; see Sharm El Sheikh airport transfer, where the price per car is shown. For other trips around Sharm, a car with a driver can be arranged, and our pages show the price for the whole car, not per person.

For your own flight home or onward, give the flight number on the booking step. Sending a request is free and you pay nothing online. Each car shows its seats, luggage space and whether a child seat can be requested.