Hotels in Luxor - quality overview

The best

Reputedly the best hotel is the opulent Old Winter Palace. This is where film stars and presidents stay. It is good for a special night but not many tourists spend a whole holiday there because of the cost.

The next best

The Sonesta St George, Nile Palace and Maritim Jolie Ville (previously the Mövenpick) are usually reckoned to be the best of the rest. Visiting dignitaries who don't make the Old Winter Palace usually stay at the Sonesta. The Sonesta is a traditional modern hotel under one roof with all the usual facilities, chandeliers and plenty of shiny marble. The Nile Palace is bigger with more amenities, less glitzy but at least as smart. They are both on the main road, surrounded by restaurants and tourist shops, so there is a certain amount of bustle as soon as you step outside. The Jolie Ville is further out, much quieter, but made up from individual bungalows in extensive grounds - only the reception, bank, main restaurant and shopping are in a central building.

And also

In terms of quality, the El Luxor (formerly the Mercure Hotel), Lotus, Pavilion Winter, Isis, Iberotel, Morris and Sheraton all have their fans and their detractors but it is hard objectively to rank them. All except the Lotus have reasonably good restaurants, some shops and outside areas. They all have good and less favourable points which reviews on this site and others try to identify. Since its refurbishment, and because it is relatively quiet, the Sheraton probably edges into the lead in this group but is more expensive. The Lotus is not the best by any means, let down by its food, but usually much lower cost than the others and wins on value.

The Sofitel Karnak was once regarded as on a par with the Sonesta, but more recently it has slipped to be grouped with the bulk of 4 and 5 star hotels listed above. It is a relatively new hotel and we will have to see where its reputation settles.

Budget hotels

More basic hotels include the rather old but friendly St Joseph, the newer and cheaper New Pola, the Gaddis, Tutotel, Emilio, Susanna and Philippe. These hotels are typically a stack of rooms with a reception and restaurant underneath and a patio, usually with pool, on top. These hotels will suit those who don't want galleries, lounge areas, restaurant variety etc but just somewhere safe and inexpensive to stay.

Cheaper still

There are plenty of backpacker hotels and hostels, mostly around the railway station and in the built-up area of town either side of Television Street. Here you can get a night's accommodation for a very few pounds.

Choosing

If money is absolutely no object, you will be spoilt in the (Old) Winter Palace.

If you want a quality hotel, close to restaurants and shops and reasonably close to the town, choose the Nile Palace, Sonesta or the quieter Sheraton.

For a quiet life with access to town, but where you can also stay away from the hustle in spacious grounds: the Maritim Jolie Ville.

Your choice from the rest of 4 and 5 star hotels will depend on whether you want to be in town or amongst the tourist restaurants in the south. On balance the Winter Pavilion is probably the best bet in town, because of its central location, extensive grounds and facilities shared with the Winter Palace.

From the economy group, St Joseph is usually favoured because of it's friendly management and excellent evening restaurant, but the New Pola is much more up-to-date, is usually cheaper and has the best views from the roof pool area. The Lotus is usually around the same price and is the only one of the budget hotels to be on a bank of the Nile (the others are across the road). On balance, the Lotus takes our vote (but see the minus points in the review, including the food). Of the other two, unless you have children (see the review), we prefer the New Pola as long as you don't want to eat in the hotel much - it is let down by its restaurant. If you don't like the ifs and buts of the New Pola and Lotus, the St Joseph is a friendly low cost hotel with decent food but is rather outdated.