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-   -   tomb of nefertari (https://www.fodors.com/community/africa-and-the-middle-east/tomb-of-nefertari-340542/)

judlar Apr 9th, 2008 05:14 PM

tomb of nefertari
 
is this tomb now open to the public and does any one know how much it costs to see
thank you

sandi Apr 10th, 2008 05:06 AM

Last I heard it was closed. You'd have to check with your tour operator if they've reopened this amazing tomb. If so, no cameras even allowed to be brought in, must be left outside; time is also limited to about 15/min.

Price when we visited was $30/person vs others at $3/person (except, of course Tut's tomb which we didn't visit).


TMP Apr 10th, 2008 11:49 AM

We were in the Valley of the Queens last week & our tour guide advised us the tomb was closed. There was a cable that ran across the entrance, and nobody around the site either.

P_M Apr 10th, 2008 03:09 PM

sandi, when were you there? I was there in December 2007 and we were told the entry fee was 25,000 Egyptian pounds, which is somewhere around $5,000 USD. We were told they charge this extraordinary fee to protect the tomb w/o making it off limits to everyone.

P_M Apr 10th, 2008 03:19 PM

OK I was mistaken, it's only 20,000 Egyptian pounds to see the tomb. Here's a link but the article is long so I'll copy and paste the paragraph about the tomb.

http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6567


The following is a statement from Dr. Zahi Hawass (whom I met in Egypt, BTW):

The tourism people have to understand that only people who really can spend money should come here and visit. If you go to Sardinia, a hotel is $3,000 a night. You have got to make Egypt expensive so that the people that can come are the people that will value the experience. Tourists come and they are happy when they see that I am closing Nefertari’s tomb because if you open Nefertari to the public, it will be damaged. If you need to see it, pay LE 20,000! One person or 20, it doesn’t matter. That is a way to let the tourists really see what they want but at the same time help us preserve the monuments, and we need a lot of money to do that

sandi Apr 11th, 2008 02:45 AM

P_M - Believe itwas '98. The Tomb was then closed about a year or two later.

Can't remember how many years had been spent to restore the tomb between the Getty Museum (CA) and Egyptian folks, but it's most delicate. With body humidity going thru even the few years it was open, the high fee (yes, $30/pp when we were) and limited to 30/peeps a day. From what I recall, being set so low on the water table, even in the desert... lots of salt desposits had taken its toll on the tomb over 2000+ years.

Guess we were most fortunate at the time and sad to learn it was later closed. I can see where Mr. Hawas wants big $$$ for entry which will go for ongoing repairs that will be needed.

Grcxx3 Apr 12th, 2008 06:14 AM

We went into it in the fall of 2002 and I think our cost was around $25 each - altho my DH insists it was much more - like maybe $100 each.


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