Sofitel Winter Palace Luxor

On 4 November 1922 Howard Carter found the first step of a staircase in the Valley of the Kings. The news reached the world from the notice board of the Winter Palace, where Carter and his patron Lord Carnarvon stayed, across the Nile from the valley. Sofitel Winter Palace Luxor stands on the Corniche el Nil in Luxor, a few hundred metres north of Luxor Temple, in a garden laid out when the hotel opened in 1907.

History

The Upper Egypt Hotels Company, in which Thomas Cook & Son held an interest, built the Winter Palace to house the wealthy Europeans who wintered on the Nile, and it opened in January 1907. The Egyptian royal family used it as a winter residence; King Farouk kept a suite. Carnarvon and Carter were regulars through the 1920s, and Agatha Christie stayed in the 1930s while writing 'Death on the Nile', published in 1937. A modern annexe, the New Winter Palace, was built alongside in the 1970s and demolished in 2008. Accor's Sofitel brand has managed the hotel since the 1990s and restored the historic building.

Architecture and design

The facade is a long symmetrical front in salmon pink, with a double horseshoe staircase climbing from the Corniche to the first-floor entrance and a terrace running the length of the river side. The style is Victorian with French and Moorish details. Inside, the public rooms keep their original proportions: a lobby with a marble floor and a grand stair, high corridors hung with photographs of the 1920s, and the Royal Bar panelled in dark wood. Behind the hotel, the Royal Garden covers about four hectares, with mature palms, mango trees and a swimming pool at its centre.

Rooms and suites

The historic building has 86 rooms and suites with ceilings of four metres or more, parquet floors, period furniture and bathrooms added in the restoration. The best rooms face the Nile from the first and second floors, with balconies above the terrace; those at the back face the garden. The Pavilion Winter Palace, a separate modern building in the garden, offers simpler rooms at a lower price and shares the pool.

Dining

The 1886 Restaurant is the formal dining room, with chandeliers, a French menu and a dress code of jackets for men. The Royal Bar serves drinks under the old panelling and photographs of Carter and Carnarvon. The Victoria Lounge takes afternoon tea, and the terrace facing the Nile serves breakfast and dinner outdoors in the cooler months. The garden has a bar beside the pool.

Wellness

There is a swimming pool in the Royal Garden, with lawns and loungers under the palms, and a small fitness room. The garden is the hotel's wellness in itself, a quiet space of shade in a city where the day is spent in the sun.

Weddings and events

The hotel takes wedding dinners in the 1886 Restaurant and on the garden lawns, and receptions on the terrace above the Corniche. Meetings use a set of rooms in the historic building and the Pavilion. Egyptology conferences and dinners have been held at the hotel since the 1920s.

Location

Luxor Temple is a short walk south along the Corniche; Karnak is 3 kilometres north. Ferries and motor launches cross from the Corniche to the West Bank for the Valley of the Kings and the temple of Hatshepsut. Luxor International Airport is about 8 kilometres east, a drive of 15 to 20 minutes; the railway station, with overnight sleepers from Cairo, is 2 kilometres away. A luxury hotel in Luxor that was the only one of its kind for decades, it is still the address for the winter season on the Nile.