We left our cab driver in the parking lot and walked towards the Valley of the Kings ticketing building and mini museum. You have to walk through a little market area to get to the Museum entrance, and the salesmen working there are VERY aggressive. Once inside the visitor centre/ museum we sat in the glorious AC for a moment and looked at some of the displays. There is a really interesting 3D map of the valley that shows you all of the tombs underground. We then made our way to the ticket booth and bought tickets for the entrance plus the additional tickets for the tombs of Ramses the V and VI (everything was half price). It cost 300 EGP each which was great because we had expected to pay more like 1200 EGP total. We then bought trolley tickets for 4 EGP and hopped aboard the trolley that would take us the short distance to the tombs. I would recommend the trolley as it is VERY hot in the valley, and walking along the black paved road would be quite intense. 

The first tomb we went into was Ramses the V and VI (one we had paid additional for, but known for its incredible colours.) The guard followed us for quite a ways into the tomb, as we were the only ones in there, pointing out very obvious things in hopes of getting a tip. 

The murals and writing were superb, hence why this tomb is suggested by every single post I have read online. The tomb is very long and descends multiple times before ending in a tomb chamber with a very intricate sarcophagus. The original sarcophagus is in the British Museum, but there is a replica in its place. The guard asked Jives for a tip, but he had just followed us all the way down the tomb, so we did not give him one (we did tip other tomb guards later on). We took quite a few photos on the way back out of the tomb, trying to absorb every detail with our eyes. 

Next we went into the tomb of Ramses the First. This tomb was much shorter, but much deeper with steep stairs inclined to the bottom. The guards at this tomb were eating lunch and couldn’t be bothered with us. The tomb at the bottom was super decorated with a huge stone tomb in the centre, the space was very small though, but for variety sake I think that this tomb was perfect as a second tomb to visit. 

Next we went into Ramses the III tomb. This was a very long and elaborately decorated tomb. I found a cat and rabbit hieroglyphic. 

The tomb chamberway made a sharp turn halfway, I am assuming to confuse tomb robbers? The end of the tomb was not open but you could look into the dark abyss and imagine what was lurking just beyond your sight. 

The last tomb we went into (you get to go into three tombs with the standard pass) was for Siptah. This tomb was further up the hill and the guards were all asleep in the dark chamber. This tomb said “no photos” at the entrance so we refrained. The tomb was very very long and dark, with next to no lights or writing on the walls. The guard told us that the tomb was unfinished and I’m unsure if that meant it was not excavated fully or not completed in the building process. We walked into the long dark  tomb with the one tomb attendant, and once in the main chamber the guard said we could take photos. The tomb was huge, the biggest we had seen thus far, with a huge sarcophagus in the middle. The guy asked Jives if he wanted to stand up on a huge rock to see the top of the sarcophagus, but I was terrified we would get in trouble. We gave the man 5 EGP and walked out of the tomb and back to our driver. 

Our driver tried to take us to an alabaster factory, but we politely said no and he obliged. We arranged with him to pick us up  and take us to the airport the next day (because he had been really excellent and we had seen how tough it could be to negotiate a ride in Luxor).