About 90 minutes south of Luxor, the Temple of Horus at Edfu rises almost intact, the best-preserved major temple in Egypt. You pass between two huge pylons carved with the pharaoh smiting his enemies, into a courtyard ringed with columns, past the great black granite falcon that guards the entrance, and into the dim inner sanctuary where the cult statue once stood. Built by the Ptolemies over 180 years, its walls are a complete textbook of temple ritual. Your guide reads the carvings that cover nearly every surface.

Further south, the Temple of Kom Ombo sits right on a bend of the Nile, unusual for being perfectly split between two gods: Sobek, the crocodile god, on one side, and Horus the Elder on the other, with twin entrances, twin sanctuaries, and mirrored halls. On the walls your guide points out what may be the oldest depiction of surgical instruments anywhere. Next door, the small Crocodile Museum displays mummified crocodiles once raised here as living gods. The riverside setting at sunset is hard to beat.