Muzawaka Tombs

Cut into a low ridge in the Dakhla Oasis of Egypt's Western Desert, the Muzawaka Tombs hold Greco-Roman-era burials whose painted ceilings still carry startling colour, and whose mummies — some with gilded faces — earned Dakhla its reputation as a place where the desert preserves the dead almost perfectly.

These are rock-cut tombs of provincial notables rather than pharaohs, set in a landscape of ochre hills and palm groves far from the Nile Valley crowds. The star chambers belong to Petosiris and Sadosiris, their walls mixing Egyptian gods with Roman dress in a way you see almost nowhere else.

Note that the site has been listed as permanently closed to protect the fragile paintings, so treat it as part of the Dakhla story rather than a guaranteed stop.