Hatshepsut Temple is the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut — one of only a handful of women to rule ancient Egypt as pharaoh and the most successful by every measure — built into the limestone cliff at Deir el-Bahari on Luxor’s West Bank around 1470 BCE. The temple’s three superimposed terraces connected by long central ramps are an architectural achievement without precedent in Egypt, designed by Hatshepsut’s chief steward and architect Senenmut. It sits directly across the Theban hills from her tomb in the Valley of the Kings and was conceived as the daytime endpoint of her funerary procession. Most visitors see the temple on a Luxor West Bank day tour that also covers the Valley of the Kings and the Colossi of Memnon, or as the second stop on Day 1 of a 4-night Nile cruise.
Hatshepsut Temple was commissioned by Pharaoh Hatshepsut shortly after her assumption of the full pharaonic titulary around 1473 BCE. She was the daughter of Thutmose I, the wife and half-sister of Thutmose II, and the regent for her young stepson Thutmose III. Roughly seven years into the regency, she dropped the regent title and declared herself pharaoh — taking the male royal titulary, the false beard, and the iconography of a male king.
Her 22-year reign was prosperous and almost entirely peaceful. She rebuilt the trade networks disrupted by the Hyksos occupation, sent a famous expedition to the land of Punt (probably modern Eritrea/Somalia) to bring back myrrh trees, incense, and exotic animals, and commissioned an extraordinary building program across Egypt — at Karnak, in the Sinai, at Beni Hassan, and most ambitiously here at Deir el-Bahari.
The temple was designed by Senenmut, her chief steward and the architect of most of her royal projects. The site sits next to the much older mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II (c. 2050 BCE), whose three-terrace design Senenmut adopted and surpassed. Construction took roughly 15 years. The temple’s interior reliefs document her divine birth (claiming the god Amun as her father), her coronation, and the Punt expedition in narrative detail.
After Hatshepsut’s death around 1458 BCE, Thutmose III ruled alone and eventually — possibly 25 years later — ordered her name and image erased from many monuments. At Deir el-Bahari, her cartouches were chiseled out and her statues smashed. The temple was further damaged by an earthquake in the first century BCE and partially converted to a Coptic monastery in the seventh century CE (hence the modern name Deir el-Bahari, “Northern Monastery”).
Polish-Egyptian archaeologists led by Mieczysław Marciniak and Zbigniew Szafrański have led a careful restoration program since the 1960s. Most of what visitors see today is the original stone restored to its original position.
The temple is approached across the open desert plain via a long causeway that originally led from a valley temple by the river. The visitor experience moves through three terraces connected by central ramps.
The Lower Terrace contains the colossal Osiride statues of Hatshepsut and her sphinxes flanking the lower colonnade. The painted reliefs on the back wall of the lower colonnade originally depicted the transport of two giant granite obelisks she erected at Karnak.
The Middle Terrace holds the two most famous reliefs in the temple: – The Punt Reliefs (south colonnade) — narrative scenes of Hatshepsut’s expedition to the land of Punt. The reliefs show the Puntite queen Ati with an unusual anatomy, the trade goods loaded onto ships, and the myrrh trees brought back to be planted in front of the temple. – The Birth Reliefs (north colonnade) — the divine birth narrative claiming the god Amun as Hatshepsut’s father. These scenes were a major part of her religious justification for ruling as king.
The Middle Terrace also contains the Chapel of Anubis (jackal-headed god of mummification, north end) and the Chapel of Hathor (cow-headed goddess of love and music, south end). Both still have well-preserved painted color in their inner shrines.
The Upper Terrace contains the Sanctuary of Amun cut into the cliff itself, surrounded by Osiride pillars. The two outer rooms hold a relief calendar of festivals and a niche-shrine for offerings. The inner sanctuary was the holiest space — opened only on the New Year for the cult statue’s ritual feast.
The Sanctuary of Amun ceiling was carved as a vaulted starfield. Original blue and gold pigment is partly preserved in protected sections.
The temple sits 10 km from Luxor city center on the West Bank, 1.5 km from the Valley of the Kings entrance and 2 km from the Colossi of Memnon. From Cairo, fly to Luxor (1 hour, multiple daily, from $80 one-way) or take the overnight sleeper train. From Hurghada, drive 4 hours.
A free shuttle tram runs from the parking lot to the temple base (300 m). Walking the same distance is also fine.
Opening hours: 06:00 to 17:00 daily (October to April); 06:00 to 18:00 (May to September). Visit early — the unshaded terraces become punishing by 10:00.
Entrance fee (2026, subject to change): Approximately 450 EGP (around $9 USD) for foreign-visitor adults. Egyptian nationals and students receive significant discounts.
Best time of day: First thing at 06:00 opening. The morning sun hits the cliff face at the right angle to define the terraces in shadow. By 09:30 the terraces are crowded and the heat reflecting off the limestone is intense.
How long to allow: 1.5 to 2 hours. Combine with the Valley of the Kings and Colossi of Memnon for a full West Bank morning.
Photography: Permitted throughout without flash. Tripods require a separate paid permit. Some of the side chapel interiors restrict photography due to pigment-conservation concerns.
Accessibility: The lower terrace is accessible. The ramps to the middle and upper terraces have gentle grades but no handrails. Two flights of steps in the upper sanctuary area limit wheelchair access to the lower two terraces only.
Go very early. The terraces face east and trap heat. By 09:00 the limestone is reflecting 35 degrees back at you in winter and over 45 degrees in summer.
Bring sunscreen, a hat, and 1.5 liters of water per person. There is zero shade on the open terraces and only one small shaded café near the parking lot.
Use the free shuttle tram from the parking lot. The 300 m walk in summer is unnecessary punishment.
Look closely at the Punt and Birth reliefs. These are the temple’s two most important narrative sequences and most visitors walk past them in 60 seconds. Spend 10 minutes at each.
Pair with Valley of the Kings on the same morning. The two sites are 1.5 km apart and most efficiently visited together. Add the Colossi of Memnon on the way back to the river — it is a five-minute stop.
Hatshepsut Temple is included in every Luxor West Bank and Nile cruise itinerary. The five most popular options:
– Luxor West Bank private tour — 5-hour private morning tour covering Hatshepsut, Valley of the Kings, and the Colossi of Memnon with a licensed Egyptologist.
– Luxor full-day tour with East and West Bank — 10-hour day combining Hatshepsut, Valley of the Kings, Karnak, and Luxor Temple.
– 3-Night Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor — Hatshepsut is included on Day 3’s morning West Bank visit.
– 4-Night Nile Cruise from Luxor to Aswan — Hatshepsut is included on Day 1’s morning West Bank visit before sailing south.
– Hot air balloon over Luxor and the West Bank — sunrise balloon flight directly over Hatshepsut and the Valley of the Kings, followed by the standard West Bank tour.
All Egypt Day Tours West Bank visits include private transport, entrance fees, bottled water, and a licensed Egyptologist guide.
The Punt reliefs are mind-blowing. Our Egyptologist guide spent 20 minutes walking us through them and suddenly 3,500 years of trade history made sense. The most underrated stop in Luxor.
Arrived at 6am and had the lower terrace to ourselves for 30 minutes. The morning light defining the colonnades against the cliff is the photo of the trip.
Knowing a woman built this 3,500 years ago and ruled longer than most male pharaohs gave the visit a power I wasn’t expecting. Bring an Egyptologist — context matters here.
The three-terrace design was an architectural innovation by Hatshepsut’s chief steward Senenmut, who adapted and surpassed the earlier two-terrace design of the neighboring mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II (c. 2050 BCE). The terraces were designed to dissolve visually into the limestone cliff at Deir el-Bahari behind them, making the temple appear to grow out of the rock itself.
Hatshepsut was the fifth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, daughter of Thutmose I, wife and half-sister of Thutmose II, and stepmother of Thutmose III. She ruled as pharaoh in her own right from approximately 1473 to 1458 BCE — one of the very few women in Egyptian history to take the full royal titulary. Her reign was peaceful and prosperous; she rebuilt trade networks and commissioned a major building program.
1.5 to 2 hours for the temple itself. Combine with the Valley of the Kings (1.5 km away) and the Colossi of Memnon (2 km away) for a full 4 to 5 hour West Bank morning.
No. Her temple at Deir el-Bahari was for mortuary cult ceremonies; her actual burial was in the Valley of the Kings (tomb KV20, attributed first to her father Thutmose I and later expanded for her). The two sites sit on opposite sides of the same Theban hill.
Lower terrace yes. Middle terrace via ramps with gentle grades but no handrails. The upper sanctuary requires two short flights of steps and is not accessible. The free shuttle tram runs from the parking lot to the temple base.
The motive is debated. The traditional view — that Thutmose III hated his stepmother for usurping his throne — has lost favor with modern Egyptologists who note that the erasures began roughly 25 years after Hatshepsut’s death, well into Thutmose III’s solo reign. The leading current theory is that he was establishing a male-only royal succession for his son and wanted to remove the precedent of female kingship.