I am reading several older reviews that say the best way to get to Abydos from Luxor is by train. Alternative is in a tour with a police convoy. Does anyone know if that is still the case? If so, why the police escort? Also, the tour I was looking at was 10 hours and included Denderah. At three hours each direction and transit time between Denderah and Abydos, is there any time left to see the temples? I have heard Abydos is stunning, but is it worth an entire day of nothing but driving?
The police escorts and convoys are no longer in force, so that makes leaving times more flexible, but whether or not the temple will be worth all that time travelling will differ from person to person,. If you are quite interested in Egyptian temples, then Abydos and Dendera is a 'must see'. But if you are of the view that one temple is much the same as another, then possibly you may not feel the travelling time is worth it. With the more flexible times that KV mentioned, I find it worth the trip.
But then I am very interested in the artwork in Egypt as you won't find better carving anywhere else in the country in my opinion. You can have a look at the TripWow display I made from a trip last year to see what they look like.
Abydos has possibly the most exquisite artwork in Egypt and is worth it for that alone IMO. The temple is also Seti 1's "mission statement" for the rest of the New Kingdom, every inch of it specifically designed to convey religious and political meaning. It is a long trip and you get more value out of it by including Dendera. We did a trip to Abydos and Dendera in April with our favorite safe taxi driver. It takes all day and you need an earlyish start in order to visit Abydos, and then on to Dendera Temple before closing.
Its a very interesting journey. There seemed nowhere to buy drinks at Abydos so make sure you take plenty, also lunch. Well worth the trip, we had the temples pretty much to ourselves. You go up one side of the Nile and back down the other so the journey is quite varied, but the roads are very slow.
