{"id":18813,"date":"2026-09-23T08:38:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T08:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/monuments\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T08:38:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T08:38:49","slug":"wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales","status":"publish","type":"monument","link":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/monuments\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\/","title":{"rendered":"Wadi El-Hitan (Valley of the Whales)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wadi El-Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Western Desert south-west of Cairo. Its sandstone beds hold hundreds of fossilised skeletons of archaic whales, some with hind legs \u2014 evidence of the transition from land to sea.<\/p>\n<p>Set in a striking landscape of dunes and rock formations, it also preserves fossils of sharks, rays, turtles and mangroves from a time when this desert lay under a shallow sea.<\/p>\n<h2>What you will see<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Fossil whale skeletons preserved in the rock.<\/li>\n<li>The &#8220;walking whale&#8221; skeletons with hind limbs.<\/li>\n<li>Desert scenery and the nearby Wadi El-Rayan waterfalls.<\/li>\n<li>The small on-site museum.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Practical tips<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a 4&#215;4 or day-trip destination about two hours from Cairo.<\/li>\n<li>There is no shade and little mobile signal \u2014 go prepared.<\/li>\n<li>Combine with the Fayoum oasis and Wadi El-Rayan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A desert valley of fossilised whales that records the evolution of land mammals back to the sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","monument-region":[563],"class_list":["post-18813","monument","type-monument","status-publish","hentry","monument-region-cairo-giza"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.5 (Yoast SEO v28.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Wadi El-Hitan (Valley of the Whales) - Egypt Monuments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A desert valley of fossilised whales that records the evolution of land mammals back to the sea.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/monuments\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wadi El-Hitan (Valley of the Whales)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A desert valley of fossilised whales that records the evolution of land mammals back to the sea.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/monuments\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Book Egypt Travel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BOOKEGYPTTRAVEL\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DSC082811-scaled.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1570\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/monuments\\\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/monuments\\\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\\\/\",\"name\":\"Wadi El-Hitan (Valley of the Whales) - Egypt Monuments\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-23T08:38:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"A desert valley of fossilised whales that records the evolution of land mammals back to the sea.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/monuments\\\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/monuments\\\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/monuments\\\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Egypt Monuments\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/monuments\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Wadi El-Hitan (Valley of the Whales)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Book Egypt Travel\",\"description\":\"Tours, Nile Cruises &amp; Packages 2026\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Organization\",\"TravelAgency\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Book Egypt Travel\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/log000000000000000000000.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/log000000000000000000000.webp\",\"width\":365,\"height\":120,\"caption\":\"Book Egypt Travel\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bookegypttravel.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/BOOKEGYPTTRAVEL\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/share\\\/187M38ppbo\\\/?mibextid=wwXIfr\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/bookegypttravel1\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tiktok.com\\\/@bookegypttravel1\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tripadvisor.com\\\/Attraction_Review-g294205-d34056415-Reviews-Mo_Mo_Guide-Luxor_Nile_River_Valley.html\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.trustpilot.com\\\/review\\\/bookegypttravel.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.google.com\\\/maps\\\/place\\\/Book+Egypt+Travel\\\/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x124c9571d0354772?sa=X&ved=1t:2428&hl=en-EG&ictx=111\"],\"telephone\":\"+20 102 697 9554\",\"address\":{\"@type\":\"PostalAddress\",\"addressLocality\":\"Luxor\",\"addressCountry\":\"EG\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wadi El-Hitan (Valley of the Whales) - Egypt Monuments","description":"A desert valley of fossilised whales that records the evolution of land mammals back to the sea.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/monuments\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wadi El-Hitan (Valley of the Whales)","og_description":"A desert valley of fossilised whales that records the evolution of land mammals back to the sea.","og_url":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/monuments\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\/","og_site_name":"Book Egypt Travel","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BOOKEGYPTTRAVEL\/","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1570,"url":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DSC082811-scaled.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/monuments\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\/","url":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/monuments\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\/","name":"Wadi El-Hitan (Valley of the Whales) - Egypt Monuments","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-09-23T08:38:49+00:00","description":"A desert valley of fossilised whales that records the evolution of land mammals back to the sea.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/monuments\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/monuments\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/monuments\/wadi-el-hitan-valley-of-the-whales\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Egypt Monuments","item":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/monuments\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Wadi El-Hitan (Valley of the Whales)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/","name":"Book Egypt Travel","description":"Tours, Nile Cruises &amp; Packages 2026","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Organization","TravelAgency"],"@id":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/#organization","name":"Book Egypt Travel","url":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/log000000000000000000000.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/log000000000000000000000.webp","width":365,"height":120,"caption":"Book Egypt Travel"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BOOKEGYPTTRAVEL\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/187M38ppbo\/?mibextid=wwXIfr","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bookegypttravel1","https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@bookegypttravel1","https:\/\/www.tripadvisor.com\/Attraction_Review-g294205-d34056415-Reviews-Mo_Mo_Guide-Luxor_Nile_River_Valley.html","https:\/\/www.trustpilot.com\/review\/bookegypttravel.com","https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/Book+Egypt+Travel\/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x124c9571d0354772?sa=X&ved=1t:2428&hl=en-EG&ictx=111"],"telephone":"+20 102 697 9554","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","addressLocality":"Luxor","addressCountry":"EG"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/monument\/18813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/monument"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/monument"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/monument\/18813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"monument-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookegypttravel.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/monument-region?post=18813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}