Photography in the Valley of the Kings: the permit is gone

What the sources actually say

The clearest statement comes from a Tripadvisor destination expert on 18 February 2026: “There are no permits needed for taking photographs inside tombs anymore, for any type of camera, including DSLR.” Two further independent 2026 sources say the same. And the negative evidence is unusually good: the Ministry’s printed price list, the document that sets out what you can be charged for at these sites, has no camera entry on it. A permit that has no price on the official price list is not a permit anyone is selling.

That matters because a great deal of what you will read about cameras in Egyptian tombs is old material with a new date on it. This site quotes no camera permit fee, in any currency, for exactly that reason: the only figure ever put about traces back to 2016 material republished with a fresh timestamp. An abolished permit does not have a price, and a page that gives you one is telling you about a rule that no longer applies.

The three prohibitions

• Tripods are prohibited. Plan on hand-held. That is the single biggest practical constraint on photographing an interior.
• Flash is prohibited. Turn it off before you go down rather than after someone tells you.
• Drones are prohibited nationwide. This one is not a site rule you can test at the gate; leave it at home.

Professional or commercial photography still requires prior authorisation. No public price for that exists, and this page does not invent one.

The carve-out this page will not make

You will find pages that tell you photography is banned inside Tutankhamun’s tomb, and pages that tell you it is not. Both exist for 2026, they contradict each other, and some hedge against themselves within a single article. The honest position is that the question is unsettled, so this site states the general rule and makes no exception for any individual tomb in either direction. If a sign at a tomb entrance or an attendant inside says otherwise on the day, that instruction is current and this page is not.

What is worth photographing, hand-held, without flash

Knowing the constraint changes what you plan for. The rewarding subjects here are surfaces you can stand close to rather than wide interiors:

• KV9, Ramses V and VI — a double elongated image of the sky goddess Nut framing the Book of the Day and the Book of the Night across the vaulted ceiling, an almost complete Book of Caverns, and roughly 995 ancient visitor inscriptions from the 1st century BC to the 4th century AD. EGP 220 on top of entry.
• KV2, Ramses IV — 656 individual ancient graffiti left by Greek and Roman visitors, plus around fifty Coptic ones, with Book of Caverns and Book of the Dead decoration. On the standard ticket.
• KV11, Ramses III — the two blind harpers it is named for, and the point where the axis shifts because the ancient excavators broke into KV10.
• KV8, Merenptah — a granite sarcophagus lid still in the burial chamber, on a modern limestone base. The wall painting is degraded, by two accounts, so shoot the stone.
• KV16, Ramses I — only 29 m, Book of Gates decoration and a red quartzite sarcophagus still in place.
• KV17, Seti I — painted raised relief through seven corridors and ten chambers, under a vaulted ceiling of golden stars on deep blue with circumpolar constellations. EGP 2,000 on top of entry, with no student discount.

Which of those you can reach depends on your three choices and on what is open that day; the tomb-by-tomb page compares them, and the three-tomb rule explains the allowance. The open-tomb page explains why nobody can promise you a particular one.

One practical note about time

Three tombs at a comfortable pace is about two hours, and photographing carefully is the thing that turns two hours into three. The valley opens at 6:00 AM and guides and experienced visitors put the crowds between 10 am and 2 pm. An empty corridor is worth more to a photographer than any piece of equipment on the prohibited list. How much time you need has the rest.

Frequently asked questions